Japan’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (Numo) this week expressed “gratitude” for communities that have expressed interest in participating in preliminary surveys aimed at establish- ing the suitability of their locales for hosting a deep geologic repository (DGR) for reprocessing wastes. This comes amid con- troversy in Hokkaido Prefecture after the mayor of a small town there announced he was considering applying for the town to par- ticipate in such a survey to secure up to 2 billion yen ($18.9 mil- lion) in subsidies. His announcement led to an outcry from local citizens and a rebuke from the prefecture’s governor, underscoring the difculties Japan faces in its two decades-old search for a repository site.
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