Photo/Illutration A special committee of the Genkai town assembly meets on April 25 to consider a request to host the final disposal site for nuclear waste. (Masaru Komiyaji)

GENKAI, Saga Prefecture—A special committee of the town assembly here on April 25 approved a request for the municipality to enter the process for becoming the final disposal site for nuclear waste.

Genkai is the first host of a nuclear power plant that is also seeking to become home to the final disposal site.

The entire town assembly is expected to vote and approve the request at a session scheduled for April 26.

It will then be up to Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama to formally decide whether to ask the central government to consider the town for inclusion in the first stage of a three-stage process for selection.

In the first phase, examinations of past records about natural disasters and geological conditions are conducted to determine if the area is suitable.

If Wakiyama gives the green light, Genkai would be the third municipality to enter the process, following two in Hokkaido.

Earlier this year, three local business groups submitted petitions to the Genkai town assembly asking it to consider entering the process for hosting the disposal site.

Those pushing the idea as well as assembly members in favor of the move said it was the responsibility of a municipality hosting a nuclear plant to also serve as the final disposal site for highly radioactive nuclear waste.

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