US CISF overview, for NDI/Japan

On September 27, 2024, Beyond Nuclear’s radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps, was honored and privileged to present on a panel hosted by the New Diplomacy Initiative (NDI) in Tokyo, Japan. Kevin provided an overview of the resistance to highly radioactive waste consolidated interim storage facilities in the U.S.

See Kevin’s slideshow, with Japanese translation of the text, here.

See Kevin’s script, which formed the basis for his verbal presentation accompanying the slideshow, here.

Watch the video recording (with English language audio) of the presentation, here (Kevin’s presentation begins at the 5 minute 20 second mark, and ends at the 31 minute 55 second mark; the question and answer period begins at the 1 hour 33 minute mark).

Kevin’s fellow panelists included Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter (New Mexico, west Texas); as well as the following Japanese speakers:

Kazuhide Sueda

Kazuhide Sueda has been involved in the anti-nuclear movement for many years, focusing on issues related to radioactive waste and nuclear disaster prevention. In 2022, he was appointed editor-in-chief of “Hangen Shimbun,” a nationwide anti-nuclear newspaper. He is a member of the NGO “Nuclear Waste Campaign Kansai.” Formerly an official of Osaka Prefecture (in charge of environmental administration). Author of a pamphlet, “Why KEPCO’s Nuclear Waste is Going to Yamaguchi Prefecture: The Problem of Intermediate Storage Facilities.” Other books he has co-authored include “Nuclear Waste is a Negative Legacy” (Soshisha), “What to do with Nuclear Waste” (Gensuikin et al.), and “Local Autonomy and Nuclear Power” (Nanatsumori Shokan).

Nobuo Kurihashi

Nobuo Kurihashi is the executive director of the Shimokita Association against Nuclear Waste Interim Storage, a local group in Mutsu City, Aomori, where Recyclable-Fuel Storage Company (RFS) operating the interim storage facility. He is also the secretary general of the Social Democratic Forum Shimokita.

Midori Takashima

Co-chair of the Association for Protecting Nature in Kaminoseki (formerly known as the Association for Protecting Nature in Nagashima) since 1999. She has continued joint research with the Ecological Society of Japan and other researchers to elucidate the ecosystem of the “Miracle Sea,” a unique marine environment, and to denounce the Chugoku Electric Power Company’s inadequate environmental assessment. She has also overcome opposition to nuclear power plants and interim storage facilities to create a town that makes the most of nature. As co-chair of the Kaminoseki Nature Project, she is engaged in activities such as direct sales of fresh fish, management of private accommodations, and efforts to preserve fisherman’s culture. (See information on the natural environment of Kaminoseki in English, here. Midori Takashima provided us with information on the very rare and precious natural environment and wildlife of Kaminiseki, where Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) is planning to construct the highly radioactive waste interim storage facility.)