Mayor rebukes utility’s reported plan on storing nuclear waste via The Asahi Shimbun

MUTSU, Aomori Prefecture–The mayor here rejected and denounced Kansai Electric Power Co.’s reported intention to transfer spent nuclear fuel to an intermediate storage facility in the city.

“That can never be allowed,” Mutsu Mayor Soichiro Miyashita said at a news conference on Jan. 7.

Miyashita, 38, also blasted the utility for failing to even confer with the Mutsu city government before the reported suggestion that it may send spent fuel from three of its nuclear plants to the storage facility.

The Mutsu city government, the Aomori prefectural government, Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Japan Atomic Power Co. reached an agreement in 2005 about building the intermediate storage facility in the city.

Under the agreement, the two companies, which have paid capital into the project, will be allowed to store spent nuclear fuel for a maximum of 50 years at the Mutsu facility.

[…]

“We never envisioned Kansai Electric entering into the picture,” Miyashita said. “Their method totally ignores the sentiment of the local community.”

[…]

Miyashita also said he was angered by the fact that Kansai Electric was considering the plan while the Nuclear Regulation Authority was still continuing with its safety inspection of the storage facility.

[…]

Recyclable-Fuel Storage Co., which will operate the storage facility, also rejected Kansai Electric’s apparent attempt to secure a storage location for its spent fuel.