energy

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Halt pluthermal plan at Genkai N-power plant
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Governor Furukawa Yasushi of Saga Prefecture, in Kyushu, on February 7 said in March he would approve Kyushu Electric Power Co. (Kyuden)'s pluthermal power generation project at the 3rd reactor of the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Genkai Town.

Similar pluthermal plans projected by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) have been suspended after the majority of Kariwa Village residents in Niigata Prefecture rejected the pluthermal plan in the 2001 referendum and a series of nuclear-power plant-related accidents occurred at TEPCO in 2002. TEPCO tried to hush them up as well as troubles at KEPCO Mihama Power Plant in 2004.

These accidents threw into sharp relief how the electric power companies have given profits priority while neglecting safety measures and how insufficient the government's control has been over these companies.

Residents of Genkai and nearby towns are very concerned about the safety of the new power plant. A local newspaper survey showed that pros and cons were comparable and that many respondents answered they "do not understand the issue very well."

The assemblies of three former towns that merged into Karatsu City near Genkai Town have each adopted resolutions opposing the pluthermal plan.

The Saga governor had stated that the safety of the new facility was already endorsed by the government and Kyuden. He must retract such an irresponsible statement.

In October 2005, the government approved the Framework for Nuclear Energy Policy which refers to pushing ahead with the pluthermal plan.

Local municipalities that accepted nuclear power plants have been paid subsidies by the government, and additional subsidies in relation to the pluthermal plan started last year.

The government's pluthermal plan as part of its nuclear fuel recycle policy must be halted because it will increasingly put residents near nuclear power plants in danger. Japan must shift its energy policy toward giving safety priority.
-Akahata, February 14, 2006