November 25, 2017

Representatives of 53 civic groups in Ibaraki Prefecture on November 24 visited the Japan Atomic Power Co. (Genden) Ibaraki Office and handed to the office manager a letter addressed to the Genden president, opposing extended operations of aging reactors at Genden's Tokai Daini nuclear power plant.

Genden earlier on the same day applied to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for an extension of operations of some reactors for up to another 20 years. These reactors at the Tokai Daini NPP (Tokai Village, Ibaraki Pref.) will reach the 40-year time limit on their use in November next year.

The Japanese Communist Party Ibaraki Prefectural Committee also made representations, demanding that Genden give up seeking resumption of the reactors' operations by extending their operational life span beyond the 40-year limit. In Tokyo as well, concerned citizens gathered outside the Prime Minister's Office and criticized Genden and the Abe government for aiming to implement a 20-year extension of the overaged reactors and demanded their decommissioning.

A population of about 960,000, including about 270,000 in the prefectural capital of Mito City, live within a 30-kilometer radius from the Tokai Daini NPP. None of the 14 municipalities within this zone has yet to have a viable evacuation plan in the event of emergency.

In an opinion poll conducted on October 20 by the local paper Ibaraki Shimbun, 63% of respondents expressed "opposition" to the resumption of the offline reactors, exceeding the percentage of those who answered "support" (21%). In addition, 60% of municipal assemblies in Ibaraki Prefecture have so far adopted written statements opposing the extension of aging reactors' operations or calling for the cancellation of the reactivation of the reactors.

Past related article:
> Extension of ‘40-year’ limit to operation of nuclear reactors deepens public concern over nuclear power generation [November 21, 2016]