Japan Press Weekly

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2014 July 16 - 22 [POLITICS]

NRA’s draft approval for restart of Sendai NPP is unacceptable: JCP Kasai

Japanese Communist Party parliamentarian Kasai Akira, who heads the JCP task force on nuclear energy generation issues, on July 16 issued a statement after Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) released a draft report claiming that the Nos 1 and 2 reactors of the Kyushu Electric Power Company’s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant meet new safety standards for reactors.

Followings are excerpts of the statement:

The NRA earlier today published its draft report of its examination on the application for the restart of the Sendai NPP (Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Pref.) based on the new safety standards. This means that the regulatory authority effectively gave a restart certificate to the plant operator, though it neglected to properly respond to many tasks, including an evacuation plan, preparation for volcano hazards, and handling of used nuclear fuel. It is totally unacceptable.

The Abe government repeatedly declares the current safety standards, which were set after the Fukushima nuclear accident, to be the world’s toughest. The standards, however, fail to reflect lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Furthermore, the NRA omitted to list vital items in the standards, such as equipment required in case of nuclear meltdown, an increase in strength of nuclear containment, and installation of an independent power supply system, which are normally incorporated in EU nations’ safety regulations. Even if the Sendai power plant’s restart application receives approval based on such inadequate standards, it is unforgivable to use the approval as a model for giving a green light to other plants’ applications.

People living near the Sendai power station are now expressing their concerns. Local assemblies of five nearby cities have adopted statements opposing the hasty decision to restart the plant. People, not only in Kagoshima Prefecture, but also in the rest of the nation are objecting to the restart. Public opinion must be seriously taken into account, the Abe administration and the plant operator should give up their move to reactivate the Sendai plant.

The JCP will work together with the public to prevent the plant from going back online and turn Japan into a nation without nuclear power generation.