Japan Press Weekly

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2012 June 13 - 19 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Decommissioning will create local jobs: JCP Oi town assembly member

The town assembly of Oi, hosting the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, approved the restart of its idled reactors on May 14. The following is an Akahata interview with Saruhashi Takumi, a Japanese Communist Party representative who was the only assembly member to vote against their reactivation:

When we talk about the restart of offline nuclear reactors, safety must be the most important consideration. The town assembly’s discussion, however, has been shifted to employment, the economy, and local finance issues, disregarding safety issues.

At an information exchange meeting for residents regarding the reopening of the Oi nuclear reactors, most of the participants expressed safety concerns and demanded that the process for restarting the reactors be more carefully considered. While stressing the need to reflect the public will, the town assembly pays attention to only what the national and prefectural governments demand.

Many residents in Oi Town have jobs related to nuclear power generation. Even though some support the reactivation of local reactors, they all say that safety must be ensured first. The majority of local people are opposed to the reactivation of the nuclear power plant without securing safety.

Those who promote the resumption of the plant try to play on residents’ anxieties by arguing that the shutdown of the facility will lead to destroying the local economy. I have countered this specious argument by presenting information based on undisputed fact.

For instance, even though the operation of the nuclear plant is under suspension, the national government is required to provide 80% of the amount of subsidies to the municipality hosting the facility. If Oi Town’s annual budget of 14 billion yen is cut by 20%, it still has more than 11 billion yen. Closure of the plant does not immediately affect local finance.

Regarding local employment, we need to maintain the employment of those who manage and monitor the plant as long as spent fuel is stored at the site.

The process of decommissioning nuclear reactors can support the local economy since 80 billion to 100 billion yen is required to decommission one reactor. We can immediately start the business of decommissioning locally once the shutdown of the local reactors is decided. It has already created new jobs and financial increases in Hamaoka City in Shizuoka Prefecture, where two reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear plant are to be decommissioned.

Most Oi residents feel that nuclear reactors are unnecessary as long as local jobs are assured.

I have been town assembly member for 7 terms. I will continue to work to get the local reactors decommissioned by showing how to develop the local economy without depending on nuclear power generation.