WASHINGTON – American and Japanese officials have agreed to let the U.S. Navy station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan for the first time, U.S. government officials said Thursday.
Although American troops have been based in Japan since the end of World War II, the Japanese public has long been wary of a U.S. nuclear presence because of concerns about possible radiation leaks. The decision comes 60 years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war.
It is the second deal to come to light this week between the two governments, in advance of high-level meetings today and Saturday at the Pentagon between U.S. Defense Department and State Department officials, and Japanese military and foreign ministers. On Wednesday, U.S. officials struck a deal with Japan to build a heliport at an American base in Okinawa.
The nuclear-powered carrier would replace the USS Kitty Hawk, a diesel-powered carrier based in Yokosuka, Japan. The officials provided no other details about the agreement.
The Kitty Hawk, commissioned in 1961, is the oldest active-duty ship in the Navy and the only American aircraft carrier permanently deployed abroad. It is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2008.
It was not clear which nuclear-powered carrier would replace the Kitty Hawk. The Navy has nine active nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Another, named after former President George H.W. Bush, is being built.
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