BY FILIPPO PEDRETTI
Despite making a comeback in recent years from the oblivion of the post Fukushima disaster era, and enjoying new-found favor by the government, a major challenge hangs over Japan’s nuclear energy strategy and stymies efforts for the sector’s growth. That challenge is a long-term storage site for nuclear waste.
As nuclear power plant restarts have followed one after the other since 2023, a permanent site where to send and store the byproduct of nuclear energy has yet to be found. Without such a site, all of Tokyo’s efforts to fully benefit from the atom’s potential will come to naught.
Since the early 2000s, the government has relied on a hand-raising model, hoping that cash-strapped municipalities across Japan would volunteer for geological surveys. But this strategy has mostly failed, leading to only a few candidate towns in the past 25 years.
The situation changed early this year when METI asked all prefectures to collaborate on finding candidate sites. This top-down approach reversed the previous methodology. Soon after, Ogasawara Village accepted Tokyo’s request to survey Minamitorishima, an uninhabited island far in the Pacific.
Still, the acceptance came with conditions. The mayor noted that Ogasawara’s citizens may worry about reputational damage in case of ocean contamination. Also, there could be political backlash from other Pacific nations.
While Tokyo is adamant about revitalizing nuclear power, and the 2025 Basic Energy Plan emphasizes its status as a vital baseload power source, the sector remains a ”mansion without a toilet.” Closing the cycle is imperative, and resolving the storage issue is key.