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Japan: Local Groups Call for Referendum on Rokkasho Nuclear Plant Test

Posted on: Saturday, 4 March 2006, 09:00 CST

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Aomori, Japan, 4 March: Local groups opposed to a planned test of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd's nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, called Saturday [4 March] for a referendum by prefectural residents. Representatives of eight such groups handed Aomori Gov Shingo Mimura an appeal calling for the referendum at a meeting Mimura hosted in the city of Aomori to hear opinion from area opponents. During the meeting, the anti- nuclear participants urged the prefectural government to halt the test-run plan.

"There would be no mending if an accident happens," one participant said. "Nuclear waste would continue piling up in the prefecture," said another participant, pointing to the fact that there are no concrete plans about where nuclear waste from the reprocessing would be disposed.

On 20 February, Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission endorsed Japan Nuclear Fuel's plan for the test run of the Rokkasho plant. The company has since been preparing so as to begin the trial run later this month, with an eye to completing the reprocessing plant by August next year.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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