Japan is expected to go head-to-head with France in the contest to host the prestigious International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, with a decision to be made in Washington on Saturday.

The two sites being considered are the Japanese site of Rokkasho-mura, in the northern Japanese prefecture of Aomori and Cadarache, in the south-east of France.

While nuclear energy accounts for nearly a third of Japan's electricity, a slew of accidents and cover-ups have shaken the public's faith in nuclear power.

Two plant workers were killed in Tokaimura in September 1999, some 120 kilometers to the north-east of Tokyo, and more than 600 people exposed to radiation after the workers set off a critical reaction by using steel buckets to pour uranium solution into a precipitation tank.

About 320,000 people were evacuated in the incident, regarded as the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Public mistrust deepened further during the summer 2002 with a scandal surrounding Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the world's largest private electricity company and provider of a third of Japan's electricity.

TEPCO falsified safety reports since the late 1980s that would have shown cracks in its reactors.

A survey carried out in October 2002, soon after the scandal broke out, showed that 87 percent of the Japanese feared a possible nuclear accident.

Some 86 percent of those questioned said they were not convinced by the government's assertion that the cracks "did not have major safety implications".

Between September and April this year, TEPCO was forced to close all its power stations for inspection and since then, only five have been reopened.

Japan, which is the third largest nuclear power producer in the world after the United States and France, is home to 52 nuclear reactors run by 10 private companies. Four more are being built and another seven on the drawing board.

Despite the ITER project's high profile in Europe, many residents of Aomori know nothing about it, said Hiroshi Shikanai, a member of parliament from the prefecture who is openly opposed to the project.

"If a survey were carried out, I am sure that it would show that people had heard its name but do not know much about it, particularly about its negative aspects," Shikanai told AFP in a telephone interview.

"After the end of ITER, where will the waste go? It will remain here," he said.

Aomori prefectural authorities, who back the project, estimate 1.2 billion yen (9.11 billion euros) in economic activity would be generated by ITER over the three next decades for the prefecture's 1.5 million inhabitants.

"The world's top scientists would live in our village," said Kiyohiro Nozaka, spokesman for Rokkasho-mura, a village with 12,000 inhabitants. "The cultural benefit of having newcomers to our village will also be great."

Nozaka said he had not heard of any opposition from locals but environmentalist group Greenpeace has come out against the project.

"The ITER is sure to spread radioactive materials to the surrounding area," Kazue Suzuki of Greenpeace. "The risk of radiation exposure is very high."

WAR.WIRE