Politics & Government

Saga Has No Plan to Host N-Waste Disposal Site

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Saga Governor Yoshinori Yamaguchi

Jiji Press

16:51 JST, April 17, 2024

Saga (Jiji Press)—Saga Governor Yoshinori Yamaguchi said Tuesday that the southwestern Japan prefecture has no plan to host a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.

“We have no intention to accept fresh burdens,” Yamaguchi told a news conference.

He spoke in response to a petition that local business groups in the Saga town of Genkai submitted to the town assembly seeking to accept a “literature survey,” or research into papers and data, to examine the town’s suitability for hosting such a site.

The literature survey is the first stage of the process to select a final disposal site. A special committee of the town assembly will discuss the petition Wednesday.

Yamaguchi expressed his intention to watch progress in the town’s discussions.

“Saga Prefecture plays a considerable role in energy policy,” Yamaguchi said apparently in mind of the town, hosting Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Genkai nuclear plant with two active reactors.