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TSUSHIMA, Nagasaki Prefecture--With tensions still running high on submitting the city as a candidate for a nuclear waste storage site, Mayor Naoki Hitakatsu was told by the Tsushima city assembly to just do it.

However, the vote on Sept. 12, the first day of the September assembly session, was close with the petition passing by a vote of 10-8.

On Aug. 16, a special committee of the assembly passed a similar petition by a margin of 9-7.

Hitakatsu said on Sept. 12 that he would decide on where he stands on the issue before the end of the September session on Sept. 27.

The petition calls on Tsushima city to apply for the first of a three-stage process for central government consideration as a final nuclear waste disposal site.

In the 2020 mayoral election, Hitakatsu was re-elected on a pledge to not apply for consideration as a nuclear waste disposal site. Depending on his decision, the issue could become a key point in the city's 2024 mayoral election.

The villages of Suttsu and Kamoenai in Hokkaido have applied for the first stage of the consideration stage. Municipalities that do so can receive up to 2 billion yen ($13.6 million) in subsidies from the central government for the stage that normally takes about two years.

In Tsushima, construction and local business groups are in favor of the subsidy application while the plan is opposed by a local citizens group critical of nuclear energy as well as those in the fishing industry, who fear for the reputation and safety of its marine products.

(This article was written by Takashi Ogawa and Yusuke Ogawa.)

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