Nuclear wasteJapan testing underground nuclear waste storage depot, despite local concerns

Data is being collected at the Horonobe Underground Research Center, in Horonobe, Japan to determine whether the site is able to begin storing radioactive waste in conditions which could last for 100,000 years. The sprawling laboratory, carved into the ground, is outfitted with cables and gauges that measure the movement of groundwater and tectonic shifting, given Japan’s long history of ground fluctuation. Currently, if approved, the site is expected to begin operation in radioactive storage in 2015.

Japan Today reports, however, that some of the town’s 2,500 residents are worried about the possibilities of mismanagement and accidents.

“I’m worried,” said Atsushi Arase, “If the government already has its eye on us as a potential site, it may eventually come here even if we refuse.”

Others, such as the town mayor Akira Miyamoto have urged further development in the project, citing how it “helps revitalize our town.”

Japanese utility systems have produced more that 17,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from power plants which are no longer useful but are expected to remain radioactive for around several thousand years. The problem has been a tough one for the Japanese government, which is currently debating the validity of nuclear power following the devastating tragedy of the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant — a move that could ultimately result in much more spent fuel.

Many are viewing the Hornobe Underground Research Center and its geological data collection as a possible to solution to the growing crisis. To date, the facility has been given one billion yen in subsidies to finance the project. If selected to store waste, the site will eventually cost 3.5 trillion yen.

Waste would be fused with melted glass before being inserted into stainless steel canisters designed to last for 1,000 years. Following this, cylinders would be wrapped in a clay shield before lowered into deep tunnels.

Kazuhiko Shimizu, the general director for the lab, said that the overall plan is “A project that takes a lot of time and effort just get started. It’s not easy.”

Yet despite the likely solid scientific preparations for the storage center, cause for skepticism from local citizens comes from Shimizu’s logic that “exploring an alternative location would take another 20 years.”

Area farmer Satoshiu Sumi said that “There is no guarantee this test site won’t turn into a final repository. I’ve been skeptical about the agreement and I still am.”

Sumi cites tricky deals with other nations involving underground nuclear storage that ultimately went in circles, including France and the United States — which waged a costly and complicated battle at the Yucca Mountain storage site in Nevada over several years.

The government began a study in April to test the feasibility of direct storage.