August 17, 2024

An anti-nuclear power group in Kagoshima City on August 14 submitted to Kyushu Electric Power Company a written request demanding a halt to the operations of its Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Japanese Communist Party member of the Satsumasendai City Assembly Inoue Katsuhiro joined in this action which was organized in reaction to a major earthquake that occurred one week earlier in the Hyuga-nada Sea in Kagoshima’s neighboring prefecture of Miyazaki. Following this earthquake, the central government issued a one-week alert warning of a possible megaquake around the Nankai Trough which includes the Hyuga-nada Sea.

The anti-nuke group in its document expressed their concerns about a potential nuclear accident by citing some factors such as these: the NPP already turned 40 years old and active faults probably lie in close proximity to the NPP. The group urged the NPP operator to keep the No.1 reactor offline and stop the operations of the No.2 reactor.