is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in
Aomori Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. , the village had an estimated
population
Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...
of 9,845 in 4988 households, and a
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
of 40 persons per km².
The total area of the village is .
Geography
Rokkasho occupies the eastern coastline of the base of
Shimokita Peninsula, facing the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
to the east. The village forms the northern shoreline of
Lake Ogawara.
Neighbouring municipalities
Aomori Prefecture
*
Misawa
*
Shimokita District
**
Higashidōri
is a List of villages in Japan, village located in Aomori Prefecture, Aomori, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 5,913 in 2829 households, and a population density of 20 persons per km2. Its total area is .
Geography
Higashid� ...
*
Kamikita District
**
Noheji
**
Tōhoku
**
Yokohama
is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...
Climate
The village has a warm summer
Humid Continental Climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
characterized by cool short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall (
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Dfb'') bordering on the rare Oceanic Climate (''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Rokkasho is 9.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1410 mm with August as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 21.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around -1.5 °C as per the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Rokkasho has remained relatively stable over the past 70 years.
History
The area around Rokkasho was known for raising horses during the
Kamakura period
The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...
. During the
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
, it was controlled by the
Nanbu clan
The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Ge ...
of
Morioka Domain
300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle
was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū ...
, 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
The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...
, on April 1, 1889, the village of Rokkasho was created following the merger of six small hamlets.
Government
Rokkasho has a
mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a
unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...
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
Aomori 2nd district (青森県第2区, ''Aomori-ken dai-niku'' or simply 青森2区, ''Aomori-niku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives of Japan, House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located ...
of the
lower house
A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...
of the
Diet of Japan
, transcription_name = ''Kokkai''
, legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet
, coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg
, house_type = Bicameral
, houses =
, foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...
.
Education
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.
Economy
The economy of Rokkasho has traditionally been dependent on agriculture and
commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...
. From the 1980s onwards, the village has become a center for various energy developments, which now dominate the local economy.
Rokkasho's per capita income was $129,676 (1557,8000 Yen $1= 120.13 Yen )
Nuclear industry and research
Nuclear fuel cycle related facilities:
*
Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited headquarters
* The
Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant
The is a nuclear reprocessing plant with an annual capacity of 800 tons of uranium or 8 tons of plutonium. It is owned by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) and is part of the Rokkasho complex located in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori, Rokkasho ...
(currently under test operation)
* A
uranium enrichment
Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (23 ...
plant and
plutonium
Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...
reprocessing plant.
* A
MOX fuel
Mixed oxide fuel (MOX fuel) is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enr ...
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
The Japan Atomic Energy Agency is a Japanese atomic energy company. While it inherited the activities of both Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, JNC and Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, JAERI, it also inherited the nickname of J ...
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
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...
. 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.
In May, 2006, an international awareness campaign about the dangers of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant,
Stop Rokkasho, was launched by musician
Ryuichi Sakamoto
was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...
.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
has opposed operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant under a campaign called "Wings of Peace: No more Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Stop Rokkasho", since 2002 and has launched a
cyberaction to stop the project.
Rokkasho was a candidate to host the plasma
fusion reactor
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices ...
ITER
ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ''iter'' meaning "the way" or "the path" in Latin) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy through a fusion process s ...
, but lost out to
Cadarache
Cadarache () in Southern France is the largest technological research and development centre for energy in Europe. It includes French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, CEA research activities and ITER. CEA Cadarache is one of th ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Rokkasho has been hosting the Helios high-performance supercomputer centre capable of performing complex plasma physics calculations for fusion research, since January 2012.
Gas and wind power
* Mutsu-Ogawara Oil Storage Facility
** 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
**Established: January 2003
** Power: 31,500 kW (1,500 kW × 21 units)
** Managing company: Eco power
* Rokkashomura Futamata Wind Power Plant
[Japan Wind Development Company Ltd home page]
/ref>
** 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[
** 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
Grid energy storage, also known as large-scale energy storage, are technologies connected to the electrical power grid that store energy for later use. These systems help balance supply and demand by storing excess electricity from variabl ...
facility using sodium–sulfur batteries, manufactured by NGK, installed since 2008
Agriculture
Stock raising is prevalent.
Fishing
Three small fishing ports.
Transportation
Railway
*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
*
Shimokita Expressway
*
*
International relations
Waren, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...
, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, sister city since 1994.
Local attractions
*Rokkasho Prefectural History Museum
In popular media
A documentary, '' Rokkasho Rhapsody'', came out in 2006, which portrays the Rokkasho community's views on the nuclear reprocessing plant.
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Populated coastal places in Japan
Radioactive waste repositories
Villages in Aomori Prefecture