Japan Wants To Store Nuclear Waste Under This Town – Its Citizens Aren't So Sure

Throughout the past century, nuclear technology has become a core fascination of the scientific world. Numerous countries have explored its potential and implemented it in medicine, energy, and, unfortunately, warfare, like the United States Army-built nuclear microreactor, to varying levels of success. One thing that is unavoidable through all of this nuclear exploration is the creation of nuclear waste: a byproduct of nuclear experimentation that is incredibly radioactive and dangerous to the human body. Still, once it's created, it has to go somewhere, and it's not unheard of for governmental bodies to put this stuff in less-than-ideal spots. For example, Japan is currently debating building a site to store its radioactive waste, and it's stirring up division.

Currently, the small fishing town of Suttsu is in the running for the responsibility, with a proposal floating around to build a storage facility deep underground. Fellow Hokkaidō municipalities Kamoenai and Genkai in Saga have also been considered. Naturally, this has led to some back-and-forth among the roughly 3,000 people of Suttsu. Some support the idea, noting that it would bring in significant financial gain – 2 billion yen, or $19.4 million, for the first survey stage and 7 billion yen, or $48.6 million, for the second – in subsidies for the town. Meanwhile, others are hesitant to sign on given the cost, extensive construction, and, naturally, the danger nuclear waste can pose.

While that amount of money could revitalize the small town of Suttsu, the risks can't be ignored. Even with every precaution taken, the downsides of radioactive waste are difficult to overlook.

There's a good reason for the citizens of Suttsu, Japan, to be apprehensive about the storage of nuclear waste beneath the town. It's well-documented that living in proximity to radioactive waste and contacting air, water, and soil contaminated by it can do serious harm. Case in point, Missouri's St. Louis County, where barrels of nuclear waste were disposed of back in the late 1940s. The waste seeped out, contaminated the nearby Coldwater Creek, and swiftly began to impact the residents of the area. In the decades that followed, rare cancers, autoimmune disorders, and childhood illnesses continually popped up among those in proximity to Coldwater Creek, with the Center for Disease Control in 2016 going as far as advising staying away from it altogether.

St. Louis County isn't isolated in this regard either, with other areas across the United States and beyond being contaminated to a frightening degree. Despite these tales, Japan and other nations continue to try to determine where this waste can be stored for the foreseeable future. As Suttsu and other areas of Japan are considered for underground storage, the likes of Finland and Sweden, among others, are addressing their waste problem with similar subterranean solutions. One can only hope that if more of these storage concepts become reality, proper care will be taken to prevent waste from reaching the surrounding water and soil.

Time will tell what the future holds for Suttsu and the nuclear waste Japan has accumulated. As clean as nuclear energy is for the most part, the byproduct of its creation is too dangerous to take lightly.