Japan Press Weekly

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2017 April 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Saga citizens protest against assembly’s consent to Genkai NPP restart

A rally took place on April 13 outside the Saga Prefectural Assembly building in protest against the consent given by the prefectural assembly to the resumption of operations at the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant (Genkai Town, Saga Pref.).

Earlier on the same day, the assembly held an extraordinary session and adopted a resolution agreeing to the reactivation of Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Kyushu Electric Power’s Genkai NPP.

The Japanese Communist Party voted against the Liberal Democratic Party-proposed resolution, but the LDP, Komei and other pro-nuclear assemblypersons used their majority power to ram the resolution through the assembly with more than 100 citizens observing in the gallery seats.

Following the assembly’s approval, Governor Yamaguchi Yoshinori will make a final judgment regarding the NPP restart by the end of April. He will almost certainly give the go-ahead to put the two reactors back online again.

Before the vote, JCP assemblyperson Muto Akemi criticized the governor’s stance for currying favor with the state government and paying no heed at all to prefectural people’s demand. She said to Governor Yamaguchi, “During this assembly session as well, you imply that you give support to the early restart of the reactors.” She then asked him, “What was learned from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns? Wasn’t it that humans cannot coexist with NPPs?”

After the session, JCP assemblyperson Inoue Yusuke participated in the citizens’ protest rally and called on them to work together to keep the reactors offline by saying, “The resolution was forced through today by the force of numbers in the assembly seats, but the overwhelming majority of prefectural residents oppose the NPP restart.”

Hashimoto Kanako, 35, who sat in the public gallery with her child to watch the day’s discussion, said at the rally, “It seemed as if the LDP and Komei never thought of us or the future of this prefecture. I want them to take the side of the people.”

Past related article:
> Genkai NPP meets safety standards according to regulation authority [November 10, 2016]