Neighbouring municipalities

Aomori Prefecture

• Misawa
• Shimokita District
  • Higashidōri
• Kamikita District
  • Yokohama
  • Noheji
  • Tōhoku

Climate

The village has a cold maritime climate characterized by cool short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The average annual temperature in Rokkasho is 9.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1213 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around -2.0 °C.^[2]

Nuclear industry & Research

Nuclear fuel cycle related facilities:

• Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited headquarters
• The Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (currently under test operation)
• A uranium enrichment plant and plutonium reprocessing plant.
• A MOX fuel 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 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. 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.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]}

In May, 2006, an international awareness campaign about the dangers of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Stop Rokkasho,^[16] was launched by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Greenpeace has opposed operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant under a campaign called "Wings of Peace: No more Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Stop Rokkasho",^[17] since 2002 and has launched a cyberaction^[18] to stop the project.

Rokkasho was a candidate to host the plasma fusion reactor ITER, but lost out to Cadarache, France. Rokkasho has been hosting the Helios high-performance supercomputer^[19] centre capable of performing complex plasma physics calculations for fusion research, since January 2012.^[20]

Gas and wind power

• Mutsu-Ogawara Oil Storage Facility ^[21]
  • 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^[22]
  • Established: January 2003
  • Power: 31,500 kW (1,500 kW × 21 units)
  • Managing company: Eco power
• Rokkashomura Futamata Wind Power Plant ^[23]
  • 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^[23]
  • 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 facility using sodium–sulfur batteries, manufactured by NGK, installed since 2008^[24]

Agriculture

Stock raising is prevalent.

Fishing

Three small fishing ports.

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
• National Route 338
• National Route 394