Rokkasho

Rokkasho occupies the eastern coastline of the base of Shimokita Peninsula, facing the Pacific Ocean to the east. The village forms the northern shoreline of Lake Ogawara.

Neighbouring municipalities edit

Aomori Prefecture

• Misawa
• Shimokita District
  • Higashidōri
• Kamikita District
  • Yokohama
  • Noheji
  • Tōhoku

Climate edit

The village has a cold maritime climate characterized by cool short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The average annual temperature in Rokkasho is 9.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1213 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around -2.0 °C.^[2]

Per Japanese census data,^[5] the population of Rokkasho has remained relatively stable over the past 70 years.

The area around Rokkasho was known for raising horses during the Kamakura period. During the Edo period, it was controlled by the Nanbu clan of Morioka Domain, becoming part of the territories of Shichinohe Domain in the latter half of the Edo period. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system after the start of the Meiji period, on April 1, 1889, the village of Rokkasho was created following the merger of six small hamlets.

Rokkasho has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral village council of 18 members. Rokkasho is part of Kamikita District which contributes four members to the Aomori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Aomori 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Rokkasho has four public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the village government and one public high school operated by the Aomori Prefectural Board of Education.

The economy of Rokkasho has traditionally been dependent on agriculture and commercial fishing. From the 1980s onwards, the village has become a center for various energy developments, which now dominate the local economy.^[6] Rokkasho's per capita income was $129,676 (1557,8000 Yen $1= 120.13 Yen )^[7]

Nuclear industry & Research edit

Nuclear fuel cycle related facilities:

• Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited headquarters
• The Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (currently under test operation)
• A uranium enrichment plant and plutonium reprocessing plant.
• A MOX fuel fabrication facility with an 800-ton per year capacity when completed
• A low level nuclear waste storage facility
• A high level nuclear waste temporary storage and monitoring facility

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency also has multiple facilities at the site like the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) devoted to the Fusion Energy Development Programme under the European Union-Japan Broader Approach agreement.

Since the 1970s, local opposition to plans to operate Japan's first large commercial plutonium plant at Rokkasho have focused on the threat of a large-scale release of radioactivity. During the 1990s anti-nuclear groups in Japan released studies showing the risks of routine operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant. The facility in full operation is designed to separate as much as 8 tons of plutonium each year from spent reactor fuel from Japan's domestic nuclear reactors. As of 2006 Japan owned approximately 45 tons of separated plutonium.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

In May, 2006, an international awareness campaign about the dangers of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Stop Rokkasho,^[16] was launched by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Greenpeace has opposed operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant under a campaign called "Wings of Peace: No more Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Stop Rokkasho",^[17] since 2002 and has launched a cyberaction^[18] to stop the project.

Rokkasho was a candidate to host the plasma fusion reactor ITER, but lost out to Cadarache, France. Rokkasho has been hosting the Helios high-performance supercomputer^[19] centre capable of performing complex plasma physics calculations for fusion research, since January 2012.^[20]

Gas and wind power edit

• Mutsu-Ogawara Oil Storage Facility ^[21]
  • Completed: September 1985
  • Max capacity: around 5,700 megaliters in 51 tanks
  • Current usage: 4,920 megaliters at end of March 2003
  • Managing company：Mutsu-Ogawara Oil Storage Co Ltd
• Mutsu-Ogawara Wind Farm^[22]
  • Established: January 2003
  • Power: 31,500 kW (1,500 kW × 21 units)
  • Managing company: Eco power
• Rokkashomura Futamata Wind Power Plant ^[23]
  • Established: December 2003
  • Power: 31,850 kW (1,500 kW × 20 units; 1,425 KW x 2 units)
  • Managing company: Japan Wind Development Company Ltd
• Rokkashomura Wind Power Plant^[23]
  • Established: May 2007
  • Power: 51,000 kW (1,500 kW × 34 units)
  • Managing company: Japan Wind Development Company Ltd
• Battery energy storage facility
  • 34 MW (204 MWh) grid energy storage facility using sodium–sulfur batteries, manufactured by NGK, installed since 2008^[24]

Agriculture edit

Stock raising is prevalent.

Fishing edit

Three small fishing ports.

Railway edit

• Rokkasho is not served by any passenger train service. The closest train station is either Noheji Station or Otomo Station on the Aomori Railway or Fukikoshi Station on the Ominato Line

Highway edit

• Shimokita Expressway
• National Route 338
• National Route 394

Waren, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany^[25] Sister city since 1994.

• Rokkasho Prefectural History Museum

A documentary, Rokkasho Rhapsody, came out in 2006, which portrays the Rokkasho community's views on the nuclear reprocessing plant.^[26]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rokkasho, Aomori.

• Official Website (in Japanese)