Japan Press Weekly

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2012 October 3 - 9 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Resumption of Oma NPP construction work under fire

Citizens of Sapporo City in Hokkaido on October 2 took part in a protest action against the resumption of the suspended construction work of the Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power)’s nuclear power plant in Oma City in Aomori.

Around the same time, 5 anti-NPP organizations in Aomori prefecture petitioned Governor Mimura Shingo to stop the resumption of the construction work.

Kudo Toshiki, mayor of Hokkaido’s Hakodate City which is located across the channel from Oma City, expressed his intention to file a lawsuit seeking suspension of the Oma NPP’s construction. It will be the first lawsuit by a municipality over a halt to NPP construction, if the city goes to court.

As the Oma NPP site is just 23 kilometers from Hakodate, the city government has opposed the construction project based on concerns about safety measures.

On October 1, J-Power President Kitamura Masayoshi announced the restart of the construction work which was suspended after the 3.11 disaster. The resumption becomes the first case of resuming construction since the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Soon after the announcement, 240 citizens’ groups throughout Japan jointly issued an appeal calling for cancellation of the construction project. The appeal was sent to the Prime Minister, the Industry Minister, and J-Power.

JCP Aomori Prefectural Assembly members’ group chair Suwa Masuichi said, “The Oma plant will use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, so it is very dangerous. Operations of the plant will increase the creation of spent fuel with no measures in place to dispose them. Based on lessons from the Fukushima accident, we have little choice but to break away from nuclear power generation. The resumption of the construction work is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, members of the reshuffled Noda Cabinet began taking a contradictory attitude towards the government’s “zero” nuclear power generation policy.

Edano Yukio, who remains in his post as the industry minister after the cabinet reshuffle, on October 1 said, “The government hasn’t decided on ‘zero’ nuclear power generation within the 2030s.” This remark was made in reply to a reporters’ question about the government’s acceptance of the Oma NPP construction under the “zero” nuclear policy.

Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko, however, in a street speech on September 19 said, “The government decided to target the ‘zero’ nuclear aim within the 2030s.”