Japan Press Weekly

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2011 June 8 - 14 [ENVIRONMENT]

Kyushu electric must not resume N-reactor operation: JCP

Representatives of the Japanese Communist Party’s seven prefectural committees on June 10 made representations to Fukuoka-based Kyushu Electric Power Co. demanding that the company continue suspending operations of three nuclear reactors.

The 24 representatives included former JCP House of Councilors member Nihi Sohei and JCP members of seven prefectural assemblies of Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima.

They submitted a 11-point-petition that includes drawing up a timetable for decommissioning of nuclear reactors in operations and shifting from nuclear power generation to the use of alternative energy sources.

Nihi said, “Kyushu Electric should recognize that a technology to prevent radioactive substances from leaking has not been fully established yet.”

Muto Akemi, assembly member of Saga Prefecture hosting Kyushu Electric’s Genkai nuclear power plant, cited the fact that the rate of deterioration of the plant’s 36-year-old No.1 nuclear reactor has reached the risk level and called on the company to stop operations permanently.

A utility official said, “We have no problem with the resumption of operations. We just follow the government’s energy policy.”