{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Underground laboratory tackles nuclear waste issue' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bc7ad8eafeecae12cf3c' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bc7ad8eafeecae12cf3c' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nUnderground laboratory tackles nuclear waste issue\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eDeep below a sleepy dairy town in Japan, workers and scientists have carved a sprawling laboratory that, despite government reassurances, some of Horonobe's 2,500 residents fear could turn their neighbourhood into a nuclear waste storage...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eDeep below a sleepy dairy town in Japan, workers and scientists have carved a sprawling laboratory that, despite government reassurances, some of Horonobe's 2,500 residents fear could turn their neighbourhood into a nuclear waste storage site.\u003cbr/\u003eJapanese utilities have more than 17,000 tons of \"spent\" fuel rods that have finished their useful life but will remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years. \u003cbr/\u003eWhat to do with them is a vexing problem that nuclear-powered nations around the world face, and that has come to the fore as Japan debates whether to keep using nuclear energy after the 2011 disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima plant.\u003cbr/\u003eThe answer to that problem may lie in the Horonobe Underground Research Centre, which has been collecting geological data to determine if and how radioactive waste can be stored safely for as long as 100 thousand years in a country that is susceptible to volcanic activity, earthquakes and shifting underground water flows.\u003cbr/\u003eSeveral journalists including representatives from the Associated Press donned hard hats recently and crammed in small groups into a cage-like mesh elevator for a 350-metre (1,150-foot) descent to reach the laboratory.\u003cbr/\u003eThey emerged in a 760-metre-long tunnel cut in the shape of a figure 8, its bare walls showing 3 million-year-old sedimentary layers. \u003cbr/\u003eDozens of cables and gauges connected to biscuit-size holes in the wall were analysing the composition and movement of groundwater and other data around the clock.\u003cbr/\u003eIn return for hosting the research, which under an agreement with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency doesn't involve any radioactivity, Horonobe has received about 1 billion yen (10 million US dollars) in government subsidies and tunnel-related public works projects since 2000, according to town statistics.\u003cbr/\u003eOfficially, this is only a test.\u003cbr/\u003eBut as with America's doomed Yucca Mountain project, finding a community willing to host a radioactive dump site is proving difficult, even with a raft of financial enticements. \u003cbr/\u003eKazuhiko Shimizu, the underground lab's director general, noted that Horonobe is distant from potential risks, and data samples have so far indicated it might work as a storage site. \u003cbr/\u003eExploring an alternative location would take another 20 years, he added.\u003cbr/\u003eUnder the current plan, Japan would reprocess the spent fuel so most of it could be reused. \u003cbr/\u003eThe remaining waste would be fused with melted glass into cylinders, and placed in 19-centimetre - (7.5-inch-) thick stainless steel canisters designed to last for 1,000 years - the time it takes for most of the radioactivity to largely decline.\u003cbr/\u003eThe canisters would be put in cold storage at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant for up to 50 years. \u003cbr/\u003eThen they would be transported and entombed in a 70-centimetre- (2.3-foot-) thick shield made of bentonite clay before being lowered into deep underground storage in stable bedrock.\u003cbr/\u003eThe government envisions building a sprawling underground repository about twice the area of Tokyo's Disneyland at a cost of 3.5 trillion yen (35 billion US dollars) and filling it with waste by 2100.\u003cbr/\u003eBut more than a decade after Japan founded the Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NUMO) in 2000 to find a site, it is still looking.\u003cbr/\u003eFrank Von Hippel, a nuclear physicist at Princeton University told AP that he believes putting spent fuel rods underground is probably the best option for Japan.\u003cbr/\u003eThe government plans to compile a list of potential sites over the next several months and start negotiations with communities. \u003cbr/\u003eOfficials are tight-lipped about where, because of the strong opposition anticipated.\u003cbr/\u003eHoronobe, Hokkaido Prefecture - 19 June 2014\u003cbr/\u003e1. Horonobe Underground Research Centre, reindeer antlers in foreground\u003cbr/\u003e2. Various of reindeers grazing outside Horonobe Underground Research Centre \u003cbr/\u003e3. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Atsushi Arase, Reindeer handler:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Nobody wants materials that are hazardous to the environment and I wish that it wouldn't be brought here.\"\u003cbr/\u003e4. Horonobe Underground Research Centre official with journalists entering lift\u003cbr/\u003e5. Various of lift descending\u003cbr/\u003e6. Sign indicating 350 metres underground\u003cbr/\u003e7. Lift and lift shaft\u003cbr/\u003e8. Tracking shot inside underground research centre\u003cbr/\u003e9. Various of research centre official and journalists walking through tunnel\u003cbr/\u003e10. Official pointing out sedimentary layers in tunnel wall\u003cbr/\u003e11. Close of wall\u003cbr/\u003eHoronobe, Hokkaido Prefecture - 18 June 2014\u003cbr/\u003e12. News conference with Horonobe Underground Research Centre Director General, Kazuhiko Suzuki\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kazuhiko Shimizu, Director General, Horonobe Underground Research Centre:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Once a potential site is found, a general investigation must be done and then a more detailed investigation (to collect data). The investigation itself would take about 20 years.\"\u003cbr/\u003e14. Side view of Suzuki\u003cbr/\u003e15. SOUNDBITE: (Japanese) Kazuhiko Shimizu, Director General, Horonobe Underground Research Centre:\u003cbr/\u003e\"The project takes a lot of time and effort just to get started. It's not easy.\"\u003cbr/\u003eHoronobe, Hokkaido Prefecture - 19 June 2014\u003cbr/\u003e16. Official showing journalists shaft where canisters of nuclear fuel rods would be buried underground (PLEASE NOTE: The centre told AP it has no plans to bring fuel rods into this tunnel, which is for research purposes only)\u003cbr/\u003e17. Scale model showing the insides of a cylinder: stainless steel canister holding the fuel rods, entombed inside a shield of bentonite clay (looks like cement)\u003cbr/\u003e18. Various of model crane that carries blocks of spent fuel rod to store in the deep underground repository\u003cbr/\u003eTokyo - 1 July 2014\u003cbr/\u003e19. Frank Von Hippel, nuclear physicist at Princeton University\u003cbr/\u003e20. SOUNDBITE (English) Frank Von Hippel, Nuclear physicist at Princeton University:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think it would be better to put it underground.  What happens is any structure on the surface decays eventually and so then if you had the spent fuel sort of dissolving and contaminating the surface, that's much worse than if you had a worst case situation at 500 metres underground.\"\u003cbr/\u003eHokkaido - 19 June 2014\u003cbr/\u003e21. 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