Group Intro: Aomori Prefecture Citizens’ Association to Protect the Future from Nuclear Waste
By Ito Kazuko
In December 1983, the prime minister at the time, Nakasone Yasuhiro, announced that the Shimokita
Peninsula would become a nuclear power Mecca, and on April 9, 1985, the governor of Aomori Prefecture announced at a plenary meeting of the prefectural assembly that the prefecture would accept the siting of nuclear fuel cycle facilities in the prefecture.
40 years have passed since that time.
At first, not only the residents of Rokkasho Village, but also many other people in the prefecture, such as labor organizations, farmers, fishermen, and citizens raised their voices in opposition, and a movement involving the entire prefecture was formed.
However, as the decision to accept the facilities was made and construction progressed, most people in Rokkasho Village in particular were involved in the nuclear fuel business in some way, and as the nuclear industry became a central business within the prefecture, fewer people voiced their opposition.
Nevertheless, for nearly 40 years, anti-nuclear fuel and anti-nuclear energy movements have continued in various forms and through various groups and individuals.
From the beginning, we had been warning that Aomori Prefecture would become a nuclear waste dump, but this was now about to become a reality. Wondering how we could possibly prevent this from happening, in August 2020 we organized a network of labor organizations, co-ops, farmers’ organizations, anti-nuclear fuel citizens’ groups, and other groups and individuals to petition Aomori Prefecture to enact an ordinance to prevent Aomori Prefecture from becoming a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Unfortunately, the petition was rejected at a plenary meeting of the prefectural assembly on October 11, 2022.
As it was necessary to have a body to carry on the work of the movement, on April 15, 2023 we formed the Aomori Citizens’ Association to Protect the Future from Nuclear Waste.
The Citizens’ Association cooperates with the activities of each group and individual, and holds lectures, submits open questionnaires to the prefectural government, holds meetings against transporting spent nuclear fuel into the prefecture, and responds to explanations from Aomori Prefecture in order to make further progress in the movement and to encourage the residents to think about the nuclear fuel cycle.
On November 30, 2024, we are planning to hold the Aomori Forum for No Nuclear Waste in Aomori City.
Thus far, we are planning to hold discussions on themes such as the Mutsu nuclear-powered ship, the Mutsu-Ogawara Mega-development, and the Mutsu Intermediate Storage Facility, as well as taking up the issues of the 40 Years of Verification of the Failure of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Toward a New Nuclear Waste-free Era Where Young People Can Achieve Their Dreams and Questioning the Nuclear Waste Policy that Focusses on Aomori Prefecture, as well as a lecture meeting on Dissecting the National Policy of Nuclear Waste and Contempt for Local Governments Beginning from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station Accident. With the completion of the reprocessing plant postponed for the 27th time, even after more than 30 years of work, there is no prospect for it coming into operation, and with no final disposal site secured, the amount of radioactive waste must not be increased beyond what exists now. To that end, we will continue to appeal for the abolition of nuclear fuel cycle facilities such as the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, suspension of the operations and plans for the Mutsu Intermediate Storage Facility, the Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant, and the Ohma Nuclear Power Plant, and the abolition of nuclear power plants nationwide.
(September 17, 2024)
