Genkai Town Mayor Shintaro Wakiyama heads to the council meeting at the Genkai Town Hall in Genkai Town, Saga Prefecture, western Japan and Kyushu island region, on May 10, 2024. The law has stipulated that high-level radioactive waste, so-called "nuclear waste," must be buried at least 300 meters underground for final disposal, and surveys to select disposal sites are conducted by three stages. In April, a petition requesting acceptance of the first step, the literature survey, was adopted by the assembly of Genkai Town, and in May, the national government applied to Genkai Town to ask the survey.( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )