Japan Press Weekly

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2012 April 11 - 17 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Scientists’ association opposes restart of NPP

The Japan Scientists Association made representations on April 13 to the government that it abandon its plan to restart operations of idled reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant and go on to decommission all nuclear reactors in Japan.

Scientists criticized the government for aiming to resume operations at the two reactors at the Oi plant located in Oi Town in Fukui Prefecture under the pretext of power shortages anticipated in the coming summer.

Yoneda Mitsugu, secretary general of JSA, explained the aims of their petition at a press conference. “From the standpoint as scientists, we express our opposition to restarting operations of the off-line nuclear reactors,” he said.

Former Chuo University professor Tateno Jun pointed out that a list of 30 steps to prevent nuclear accidents that the government considers as a prerequisite for resumption of operations is designed by pro-nuclear scientists. He insisted that the government also needs to listen to the opinions of anti-nuclear scientists and build a national consensus on this issue in a transparent manner.

Yamamoto Fujio, professor emeritus of Fukui University, criticized the authorities of Fukui Prefecture for not taking into account the danger of radioactive contamination of Lake Biwa which is located within 50 km from the plant, the source of supply of safe drinking water for as many as 14 million people.