Bonn, Tokyo Draw Protests on Waste Sites

Protests in Germany and Japan failed to deter the delivery of radioactive waste to new storage sites in the two nations.

In northern Germany, thousands of anti-nuclear protesters faced off against riot police Tuesday to try to block the transport of radioactive waste to a new facility in Gorleben. Police used water cannon to disperse stone throwers and arrested 25 protesters.

Previously, Germany exported its nuclear waste to reprocessing plants in France and Britain. Those contracts have expired, and Germany now has to take care of its own waste.

Japan’s first high-level nuclear waste shipment was to be unloaded today after a day of wrangling.

Morio Kimura, governor of Aomori prefecture, Tuesday turned away a ship carrying 14 tons of radioactive material until the government promised that the temporary storage site--Japan’s first--would not become a permanent dump without his approval.

The waste from Japan’s nuclear power program will be held outside Rokkasho, 325 miles north of Tokyo. Japan does not have the capability to reprocess its own spent fuel, so it sends the waste to France and Britain, which then ship the reprocessed material back.

Both Germany’s and Japan’s facilities have been designated as temporary--but neither country has any permanent storage sites, and the waste is likely to stay at both sites indefinitely.