Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Gov’t hides names of firms surveying active faults in Turkey

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira at a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on November 12 took up the issue of the opaque process of selecting the firms which have already commenced an investigation into active faults beneath the planned construction site of a nuclear power station in Turkey.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) commissioned this preliminary survey before the construction begins to the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC). Then the JAPC outsourced the work to four corporations. The government contracted out this project for 1.12 billion yen in taxpayer money. Nevertheless, the METI has withheld the names of all four corporations as well as the names of “third-party” persons who actually chose these companies.

Kasai demanded that information regarding the METI’s appointment of the “independent” experts be disclosed.

Foreign Minister Kishida Fumio in response said, “It is important to improve the transparency of the selection process because the project has been undertaken using public funding.”

The JCP representative pointed a finger at the blacked-out part of the METI document which approves the extension of the research period in Turkey for another seven months.

He said he suspects the planned construction site was found to be unsuitable for nuclear facilities as a result of the survey, but a Resources and Energy Agency official gave no clear-cut answer to the JCP Dietman.

Past related article:
> People in Turkey also do not want nuclear power [April 16, 2014]