Japan Press Weekly

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2013 December 11 - 17 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

1,800 citizens rally to oppose restart of Sendai NPP

Calling for Kyushu Electric Power Company’s idled Sendai nuclear power plant to be decommissioned without restart, 1,800 people on December 15 rallied at the plant-hosting Satsumasendai City in Kagoshima Prefecture, the largest turnout of participants for this type of rally in the city.

The Sendai nuclear power station has reportedly taken the lead among all nuclear power plants in Japan currently offline to complete the ongoing safety examinations for reactivation conducted by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Higuchi Takahisa, a farmer who represents a local group working to help stop the resumption of nuclear power plant operations said in his opening speech, “Once a nuclear accident occurs, local farmers will be unable to grow farm products. Let’s work together to block the move to reactivate offline nuclear reactors.”

A 31-year-old participant from Kagoshima City said, “After my volunteer experience in the Tohoku region following the 3.11 disaster, I realized that we can’t coexist with nuclear power plants. Idled nuclear plants should remain inactivated. ”

After the rally, participants marched in demonstration through the city’s downtown area.