Japan Press Weekly

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2012 May 16 - 22 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Do not restart NPPs on the claim of saving money: JCP Ichida

“It is totally wrong to restart offline nuclear reactors only because of projected high fuel costs for conventional power plants,” said Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on May 21.

Ichida at a press conference criticized Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura Osamu for stating that if all NPPs are kept offline, fuel costs for thermal power generation will considerably increase.

The JCP representative pointed out that the stress test at the Oi Nuclear Power Plant (Fukui Prefecture) was held by Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, which built the reactors at the plant in the first place. He stated that the test should have been conducted by a third party and that the safety of the plant has not been proven.

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An opinion poll carried out by Jiji Press this month shows that more than 60 percent of respondents think that NPPs in Japan should be “kept offline permanently” or “decommissioned in the future”.

Asked if they trust the cabinet’s decision concerning the restart of nuclear reactors, 72 percent of respondents said, “No”. The survey revealed a deep distrust of the government.