AOMORI -- A British ship ferrying high-level radioactive waste reprocessed in France arrived Thursday to drop off its Japanese cargo at a port in Aomori Prefecture.
The Pacific Swan docked at Mutsu-Ogawara port in Rokkasho at around 8:10 a.m. with 40 rods of vitrified nuclear waste after leaving France on Feb. 25 and passing through the Panama Canal on March 15.
Vitrified waste is made by heating materials to extreme temperatures, which converts it into a glassy material that is shaped in blocks. The shipment is the fourth since 1995.
The waste was reprocessed by the French national nuclear power company Compagnie Generale des Matieres Nucleaires (Cogema) for three of Japan's power companies. It was to be transferred in the evening to a Rokkasho storage facility controlled by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., JNFL officials said. After cooling off for 30 to 50 years, it is to be buried somewhere in Japan, they said.
Aomori Gov. Morio Kimura, who last year delayed the ship from berthing in his prefecture, did not raise any objections this time. His actions last year forced a meeting with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who was asked to explain the central government's nuclear energy policy, especially with regard to future storage facilities.
Local authorities and residents still harbor fears that nuclear waste will find a permanent home in Rokkasho because the government has not yet chosen a permanent disposal site.