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2013 July 3 - 9 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Block restart of nuclear power reactors in Upper House election

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

As soon as the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s new “safety standards” for nuclear power generation came into effect, electric companies applied for government approval to restart their idled nuclear power plants.

The applications were submitted by Hokkaido Electric Power Co. for three reactors at the Tomari plant (Hokkaido Pref.), by Kansai Electric Power Co. for two reactors at the Oi plant and two reactors at the Takahama plant (Fukui Pref.), by Shikoku Electric Power Co. for one reactor at the Ikata plant (Ehime Pref.), and by Kyushu Electric Power Co. for two reactors at the Sendai plant (Kagoshima Pref.). Kyushu Electric Power Co. also plans to seek permission to reactivate two reactors at the Genkai plant (Saga Pref.).

The new standards require nuclear plants to be equipped with a filtered ventilation system to release radioactive materials. This requirement, however, applies only to boiling water reactors, the type of reactor that caused the Fukushima meltdown in 2011. The NRA calls for pressurized water reactors to be equipped with such a system within five years. The above-mentioned reactors are all the latter type and have not yet installed the ventilation function.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has postponed its application for restarting two boiling water reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant because of its failure to obtain initial consent from Niigata Prefecture, the host of the plant.

It is absolutely outrageous for TEPCO, the utility responsible for the Fukushima accident, to seek approval for reactivation of the same type of reactors as its crippled reactors in Fukushima.

Among 50 nuclear reactors throughout Japan, only the two at the Oi plant are now operating.

Electric utility companies argue that the suspension of nuclear plants negatively affects their business performance since they have to spend more for fuel to operate thermal plants. However, Japan has already witnessed in Fukushima that once a nuclear reactor causes a major accident, its damage will be a catastrophe and the costs astronomical. To prioritize their business profits over citizens’ lives should never be tolerated.

The Abe Cabinet has abandoned the policy set by the former DPJ government to gradually decrease the country’s dependence on nuclear power generation. It now aggressively promotes reactivation as well as the export of nuclear power plants. In order to change electric companies’ stance regarding power sources, it is essential for the government to decide to end its support for the nuclear energy.

In order to block the reactivation of nuclear power plants, voters’ verdict of opposition must be given on the Abe Cabinet and the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties in the upcoming House of Councilors election.