July 8, 2011
Genkai Town Mayor Kishimoto Hideo on July 7 retracted his approval of the resumption of two reactors at the Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture.
As the reason for the decision, the mayor referred to the national government’s announcement on July 6, two days after his approval, to conduct “stress tests” on all nuclear power plants throughout Japan.
Kishimoto also cited the revelation that the Kyusu Electric Power Co. (Kyuden), the Genkai plant’s operator, had instructed its affiliated firm employees to send to a local TV program e-mail messages supporting the restart of the controversial plant. “It is unforgivable. The incident has caused a huge wound to our relationship. I can no longer trust the state or Kyuden,” the mayor added.
At a Town Assembly meeting on July 7, Japanese Communist Party representative Fujiura Akira stated, “The mayor must take responsibility for giving his consent to the resumption of reactor operations in the first place without carefully looking into safety-related issues.”
Other town assembly members, who support local nuclear power generation, requested the mayor to instruct the utility to not repeat the same attempt to manipulate public opinion.
As the reason for the decision, the mayor referred to the national government’s announcement on July 6, two days after his approval, to conduct “stress tests” on all nuclear power plants throughout Japan.
Kishimoto also cited the revelation that the Kyusu Electric Power Co. (Kyuden), the Genkai plant’s operator, had instructed its affiliated firm employees to send to a local TV program e-mail messages supporting the restart of the controversial plant. “It is unforgivable. The incident has caused a huge wound to our relationship. I can no longer trust the state or Kyuden,” the mayor added.
At a Town Assembly meeting on July 7, Japanese Communist Party representative Fujiura Akira stated, “The mayor must take responsibility for giving his consent to the resumption of reactor operations in the first place without carefully looking into safety-related issues.”
Other town assembly members, who support local nuclear power generation, requested the mayor to instruct the utility to not repeat the same attempt to manipulate public opinion.
