A proposal to build an underground storage site for high-level nuclear waste is dividing the small Japanese fishing town of Suttsu.
The controversy caught many residents completely by surprise. Scienceline reported that Nobuka Miki, a local beauty salon owner, first learned of the plan when a TV reporter ambushed her about it at a festival in 2020.
"Everything was lovely and suddenly, I heard 'nuclear waste,'" Miki told Scienceline. "I felt surprised."
The real shock came when Miki learned why. Her town's mayor, Kataoka Haruo, had volunteered Suttsu back in 2020. With the village's main industry, herring fishing, in decline, a "subsidy incentive" was promised.
And it's a lot of money. We're talking up to 2 billion yen ($19.4 million) for the first survey stage and 7 billion yen ($48.6 million) for the second.
Five years later, that money has split the tiny village of less than 3,000 people.
Scienceline reported that neighbors who grew up together won't even speak to one another. Their kids don't play together anymore.
"People who support the decision wouldn't come to my salon and I wouldn't go to their shops either," Miki, who now helps lead the opposition, said.
Of course, not everyone is against it. Proponents see it as a necessary discussion.
"We all benefit from nuclear power, after all," local shop owner Tanaka Noriyuki told Nippon.com. "I don't feel any group has the standing to oppose the survey process."
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Would you be comfortable having nuclear waste buried in your town? Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Absolutely 👍 This local fight gets at the giant, messy debate over nuclear power.
On one hand, it's a massive source of low-carbon electricity that helps support energy security and back up renewables. On the other hand, it has huge upfront costs, safety risks, and this exact problem: toxic, radioactive waste.
In fact, more than a dozen nations are trying to develop underground storage facilities for high-level nuclear waste. None are open yet, and many are mired in controversy.
While nuclear waste isn't the green goo many imagine it to be, solving that waste problem is nonetheless key.
Researchers are already using advanced computers to predict how nuclear waste might move underground over thousands of years. Scientists at Ohio State are developing a device that uses special crystals to generate electricity from the waste's radiation. One company, Disa Technologies, even has a process that separates safe, usable sand from dangerous uranium mine debris.
But for Miki and other residents in Suttsu, those high-tech solutions feel a world away. Their main feeling is frustration.
"Nobody showed up and asked about our concerns," Miki said.
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