Japan Press Weekly

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2015 October 21 - 27 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Ehime governor OKs restart of Ikata nuclear power plant in spite of public opposition

Ehime Governor Nakamura Tokihiro on October 26 gave Shikoku Electric Power Company his approval to its plan to restart the No.3 reactor at the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant in Ehime’s Ikata Town, with citizens waging a protest in front of the prefectural office building.

Prior to the governor’s decision, the mayor and the town assembly of Ikata Town as well as the prefectural assembly endorsed the utility’s plan to reactivate the Ikata NPP. This is the second reactivation plan that obtained consent from both the hosting municipality and the hosting prefecture under the current nuclear safety standards, following the one regarding the Sendai NPP in Kagoshima Prefecture.

At a press conference held in the prefectural government office building, mentioning the recent opinion poll results that indicated many of Ehime residents are against the restart, Governor Nakamura said that he will continue providing information to the residents in order to gain more public support and reduce citizes’ anxieties.

In response to the governor’s announcement, Japanese Communist Party member of the prefectural assembly Tanaka Katsuhiko and members of the local committee of the JCP took to the shopping streets in the prefectural capitol of Matsuyama City. Tanaka pointed out that although around 120,000 people live within a 30km-radius of the Ikata power station, the evacuation plan in the case of a serious accident occurring at the facility is totally insufficient. He stressed, “Once a nuclear accident occurs, no one will take responsibility for it.” He added that the JCP will keep working at the grass-roots level to raise public awareness about the risk of nuclear power generation and do its utmost to block the restart.

A citizens’ group against the reactivation of the Ikata plant held a protest action outside the prefectural office building from the morning hours. The protesters held banners reading, “Don’t approve restart!”, and “We refuse reactivation”. In addition, the group submitted to the governor a statement demanding the withdrawal of his approval.

In the adjoining prefecture of Kochi, the Kochi liaison council of residents calling for abolition of nuclear power plants and promotion of renewable energy sources held a press conference at the Kochi prefectural government office building. Yamazaki Shuichi, co-head of the group, underscored the fact that electricity supply remained stable for years even though no nuclear power reactor was in operation, adding that there is no need to bring the Ikata plant back online.


Past related articles:
> No.2 reactor at Sendai NPP put back online over public opposition [October 16, 2015]
> Commercial operations start at Sendai NPP amid protests [September 11, 2015]
> [Akahata editorial] Restarting of Ikata Nuclear Power Plant unjustifiable [July 20, 2015]