In selecting a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants, the government plans to ask the Hokkaido village of Kamoenai to apply for a first-stage survey as a step toward being chosen, sources said.
This will be the first case where the central government is making such a request.
The request will come on the heels of the village assembly's extraordinary meeting held Thursday when a majority agreed to the petition for the survey by Kamoenai's commerce and industry body.
A municipality's application or the central government's overture is necessary to implement a series of statutory investigations that include the first-stage so-called bibliographic survey to study documents, data and other materials.
The steps are based on the Designated Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Law, which stipulates procedures for selecting final disposal sites, among other regulations.
The government plans to send senior officials of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry to the village as early as Friday.
The central government is not excluding the Hokkaido town of Suttsu, which has expressed its intention to submit an application for the survey, and other municipalities that have yet to announce their intentions.
Suttsu held a meeting of all assembly members on Thursday afternoon to discuss the application for the survey. Mayor Haruo Kataoka then officially announced the town's intention to apply for the first-stage survey.
The government aims to conduct surveys at several candidate sites before deciding on a host municipality.
The bibliographic survey examines past records of volcanic and fault activities. This will be followed by the second-stage outline survey and the third-stage detailed survey. The entire survey process is expected to take about 20 years to complete.
To proceed to the next stage, consent from municipal leaders concerned is required each time.
However, the Hokkaido prefectural government currently opposes the acceptance of nuclear waste under an ordinance and it is difficult to see the survey proceeding.
The central government will provide up to 2 billion yen in subsidies to any municipality that accepts the bibliographic survey in the context that the municipality will cooperate in the nation's nuclear energy policy, which has an impact on the entire nation.
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