A Japanese town that was hoping to be the site of a new nuclear power plant has agreed to a geological study to determine its suitability as an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel.

Chugoku Electric Power Company announced plans in the late 1990s to build new nuclear at Kaminoseki, a small town in the southwestern prefecture of Yamaguchi.

The company applied to the prefectural government and the town for the construction of the plant in 1996 and began preparation work in 2009, but work was suspended following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

According to the Japan Times, the timing for the start of construction and operation of the Kaminoseki is uncertain, largely because the previous government did not include the construction of new nuclear power plants in its revised 2021 energy policy.