---
title: "Japanese Mayor’s House Firebombed to Protest Nuclear Power"
description: "Citizens were outraged after the mayor of the Japanese town Suttsu volunteered to be considered as a nucelar waste storage site."
date: "2021-03-11"
modified: "2021-03-11"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/japanese-mayors-house-firebombed-protest-nuclear-power"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Nuclear Fusion"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "energy"
  - "Fukushima"
  - "Japan"
  - "Nuclear Energy"
  - "the digest"
---

# Japanese Mayor’s House Firebombed to Protest Nuclear Power

![Citizens were outraged after the mayor of the Japanese town Suttsu volunteered to be considered as a nucelar waste storage site.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/japan-atomic.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Futurism\</em\>*

## Public Feedback

In October of last year, a resident of the Japanese town of Suttsu threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of mayor Haruo Kataoka's house.

The mayor's crime? Tentatively volunteering to participate in a government initiative exploring possible areas to safely store nuclear waste, *[The New York Times ](<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/business/japan-fukushima-nuclear-waste.html>)*[reports](<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/business/japan-fukushima-nuclear-waste.html>). The firebomb didn't do much damage (and the perp apologized) but the incident illustrates how the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster and [its ongoing cleanup effort](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/japan-dump-fukushimas-radioactive-water-into-sea>) still dominates Japan's public opinions — and aversion — to nuclear power.

## NIMBY

Kataoka agreed to participate in the first round of the project — a literature review aiming to find locations [seismically stable](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/another-earthquake-fukushima-power-plant>) enough to store radioactive waste — because the roughly $18 million payout would have gone a long way to help Suttsu, which has a struggling economy and [an aging population](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/elderly-japan-exoskeletons>).

But many residents balked at the idea of the waste finding its permanent resting place near their homes, the *NYT* reports, especially since Kataoka seems to have made the decision unilaterally.

## National Priorities

Nuclear power, previously a major source of energy in Japan, screeched to a halt after the Fukushima disaster. Because it was replaced primarily by fossil fuels, the Japanese government is looking for ways to get the nuclear energy industry [back on track](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/japan-bringing-tsunami-damaged-nuclear-reactors-online>) so it can meet its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, according to the *NYT*.

Finding a way to store spent nuclear fuel is a major part of that project, though it may be decades before a final location — in Suttsu or elsewhere — is chosen.

**READ MORE:** [Furor in Japanese Town Casts Light on Fukushima’s Legacy](<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/business/japan-fukushima-nuclear-waste.html>) \[*The New York Times*\]

**More on the Fukushima Daiichi disaster:** *[Another Earthquake Nails the Crumbling Fukushima Power Plant](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/another-earthquake-fukushima-power-plant>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)