May 10, 2024

The Japanese Communist Party Shimane Prefectural Assemblymembers’ group on May 9 made representations to the prefectural government, demanding that the prefecture push Chugoku Electric Power Company to investigate a fire which occurred at the end of April at the No.2 reactor of the Shimane nuclear power plant and draw up measures to prevent a recurrence of a similar incident.

The JCP Prefectural Assemblymembers’ group also demanded that the prefectural government withdraw its consent to the reactivation of the No.2 reactor.

In the representations, the JCP group pointed out that the Shimane NPP has repeatedly experienced troubles, and that a major cause of this is that the NPP operator is steeped in the flawed “safety myths” associated with nuclear power plants. The JCP said that each time the NPP has a problem, the prefectural government should urge the operator to conduct a thorough investigation and make public the investigation results.

A prefectural government official said that the prefectural government will call on the power company to analyze the cause of each event that brings about anxiety and concern among residents.

Chugoku Electric Power Company on April 30 announced that a burn mark was found on the makeshift distribution board in the No.2 unit’s turbine building. The distribution board is used for safety improvement work conducted in preparation for the restart of the offline No.2 unit.