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U.S. pressing for deal with other countries to build nuclear fuel repository in Mongolia

Momentum has been quickly building behind the scenes for an ambitious and controversial project led by the United States and Japan to build a nuclear fuel repository in Mongolia as Washington is trying to secure a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with other countries concerned by the end of this year.

After the Mainichi reported on the proposal in May, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which wants to be able to buy nuclear fuel from Mongolia, joined the list of countries pursuing the project, and earlier this month the U.S. Department of Energy sounded out other countries concerned about signing a memorandum of understanding on the program by the end of this year. The project itself is to build a mechanism in which advanced countries force the maintenance of nuclear waste, which takes at least 100,000 years to break down to become harmless, onto developing countries.

On May 6, 2009, three men landed at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. Two men from an American think-tank and a bureaucrat from the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry held talks with then-Mongolian Foreign Minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold (currently the prime minister) and Defense Minister Luvsanvandan Bold, telling them, "Mongolia should become the Switzerland of the East." They then presented a proposal written in English on a spent nuclear fuel repository.

Mongolia, sandwiched between China in the south and Russia in the north, has long suffered from repeated interference by the two giants. Drawing on Switzerland, which declared itself a permanent neutral country and boosted its security by hosting United Nations organizations, the three men tried to persuade the Mongolian officials by saying, "If your country builds a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and has it managed by an international organization, China and Russia will no longer be able to meddle carelessly in your affairs. In doing so, your country will be able to contribute to the strengthening of security in Northeast Asia."

The proposal is to build a nuclear fuel production facility, nuclear reactors, a research lab and a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in an area near uranium mines in the Gobi Desert, southern Mongolia, and let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) manage the facilities.

Their explanations to the Mongolian side focused on security for Mongolia. The Obama administration withdrew its plan late in 2009 to build a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in an area near Yucca Mountain in Nevada due to strong resistance from local residents. Playing key roles in thrashing out the Mongolian plan were the U.S. Energy Department, which now found itself on a search for an alternative repository site abroad, and Toshiba Corp (including its subsidiary Westinghouse Electric Co.) -- the biggest nuclear reactor manufacturer in both the U.S. and Japan -- which predicts that securing a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel would boost its sales of nuclear power plants overseas.

According to the IAEA, an estimated 330,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel exist in the world. About 15,000 tons of such fuel is produced annually and 8,500 tons of such fuel is stored for disposal and 2,000 tons is reprocessed. Even if spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed, it will generate high levels of radioactive substances, and therefore it will need to be contained for the same length of time as that for spent nuclear fuel that is being disposed.

It is extremely difficult to build a nuclear waste repository in the United States and Japan due to fierce opposition from local residents. Therefore, Mongolia, which boasts the lowest population density among U.N. members and sits on solid ground, was singled out for the ambitious and contentious nuclear project.

(Mainichi Japan) August 1, 2011

世界を読む：モンゴル核処分場計画／フィンランドに建設中の最終処分場（その１）
　◇米「年内覚書締結を」　ＵＡＥも参加、安全保障前面に

　使用済み核燃料、いわゆる「核のゴミ」の国際的な最終処分場を日米主導でモンゴルに造る計画が、水面下で加速している。５月に毎日新聞が計画を報じた後、モンゴルから核燃料の供給を受けたいアラブ首長国連邦（ＵＡＥ）が新たに加わり、米エネルギー省が今月、了解覚書（ＭＯＵ）を年内に締結したいと関係各国に打診した。安全になるまで最低１０万年はかかる核のゴミを、未来の世代に押しつけ、先進国が途上国に負わせる構図。世界で唯一、最終処分場を建設中のフィンランドも訪ね、核のゴミを巡る問題に迫った。【オルキルオト（フィンランド南西部）会川晴之】

　３人の男がモンゴルの首都ウランバートル郊外にあるチンギスハン空港に降り立ったのは、春まだ浅い０９年５月６日だった。

　「モンゴルは東洋のスイスになるべきです」。米シンクタンクの２人と経済産業省の官僚が、バトボルド外相（現首相）、ボルド国防相ら政府要人に語りかけながら、後に最終処分場建設計画へと発展する提案書（英文）を差し出した。

　南を中国、北をロシアに挟まれた内陸国モンゴルは、両大国の度重なる干渉に苦しんできた。３人は、「永世中立国」を宣言したスイスが国連機関を誘致して安全保障を強化した例を引き合いにし、「使用済み核燃料を貯蔵する施設を建設、国際機関が管理すれば、中露両国も、うかつにはモンゴルへ手出しができません。北東アジアの安全保障強化にも貢献する」とたたみかけた。

　モンゴル南部ゴビ砂漠にあるウラン鉱山周辺に、核燃料製造施設、原発、研究所、使用済み核燃料貯蔵施設などの核複合施設を建設、国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）に管理を委ねる構想だ。

　モンゴル側への説明は、安全保障面を前面に押し出した。しかし、その後、米ネバダ州ユッカマウンテンの最終処分地計画が住民の反発で宙に浮き、オバマ政権は白紙撤回した。国外に代替地を探らざるをえなくなった米エネルギー省、使用済み核燃料の引き取り場所が確保できれば「原発輸出の起爆剤になる」とみる、日米両国では最大の原子炉メーカー・東芝（子会社の米ウェスチングハウスを含む）が、構想の主軸を担っていった。

　ＩＡＥＡによると、使用済み核燃料は世界で推計約３３万トン。年間１万５００トンが発生しており、うち８５００トンが処分に備えて貯蔵され、２０００トンが再処理されている。再処理しても、高レベル放射性廃棄物が生まれるため、使用済み核燃料をそのまま処分するのと同じ歳月の隔離が必要となる。

　日米では住民の反発で最終処分場の建設は現状では極めて困難だ。国連加盟国の中で人口密度が最も低く、地盤も強固なモンゴルに白羽の矢が立てられたのは、原子力を国家戦略に据えた先進国の「事情」があった。

　ところで、核のゴミ捨て場とはどんなものなのか。生命体に悪影響を及ぼさないようにするためどのように管理されるのか。安全になるまで最低でも１０万年が必要とされる。１０万年前はネアンデルタール人が暮らしていた時代だった。

　疑問の答えを探ろうと、「オンカロ」（隠し場所）と名付けられた、フィンランド南西部に建設中の最終処分場を訪ねた。
毎日新聞　2011年7月31日　東京朝刊

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