Photo/Illutration A special committee of the Tsushima city assembly on Aug. 16 approves a petition calling for the city to apply for consideration as the final storage site for nuclear waste. (Yusuke Ogawa)

TSUSHIMA, Nagasaki Prefecture—A special committee of the Tsushima municipal assembly on Aug. 16 increased the pressure on the mayor to submit the city’s name as a candidate site for final storage of nuclear waste.

In a narrow vote, the committee approved a petition that asks Tsushima city to apply for the first of a three-stage process for central government consideration as a final nuclear waste disposal site.

Any municipal government that applies for the first stage can receive a subsidy of up to 2 billion yen ($14 million).

The first-stage process normally takes about two years. It involves having the central government check past records about natural disasters and geological conditions of the candidate site.

Two small villages in Hokkaido have already made such submissions.

But Tsushima Mayor Naoki Hitakatsu has taken a cautious stance about applying for the government subsidy.

And the close vote in the special committee showed the issue has divided this city of about 28,000.

Nine members voted in favor of the petition while seven were opposed.

Both sides were already threatening further action depending on Hitakatsu’s decision. His current term ends next March.

Those in favor of submitting the application said they would field a candidate who backed their stance in the next mayoral election if Hitakatsu rejected the proposal.

Opponents said they would field their own candidate should Hitakatsu apply for the subsidy.

Those in favor of the subsidy application include construction and local business groups. Opponents of setting up a nuclear waste site in the city include the fishing industry, which fears for the reputation and safety of its marine products.

Tsushima is an island located in the Sea of Japan between Japan and South Korea.

The Tsushima city assembly is scheduled to convene its next session on Sept. 12, and the full assembly is expected to pass a similar petition.

Hitakatsu could make a decision during that assembly session.

He said at a May news conference that the city government could not just receive the 2-billion-yen subsidy for the first stage and then withdraw from the project.

The closer-than-expected vote in the special committee caught some by surprise.

One assembly member said, “Some residents likely made known that they would be displeased if a special committee member were to vote in favor of the petition.”

(This article was written by Yusuke Ogawa and Ryo Aibara.)

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