information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
23 Décembre 2013
December 22, 2013
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201312220026
ROKKASHO, Aomori Prefecture--With the public alarm over the safety of nuclear facilities following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, municipal assembly members would be expected to monitor closely any local nuclear-related project and avoid any appearance of impropriety.
However, The Asahi Shimbun has learned that did not occur in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, which is home to a number of facilities connected to the nation's nuclear fuel recycling program.
Five construction companies in the village won construction orders totaling at least 520 million yen ($5 million) in fiscal 2011 and 2012 after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. All five companies were headed by individuals related to incumbent Rokkasho municipal assembly members.
The nuclear fuel recycling facilities are operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., which handed out the construction contracts.
The five companies in question are now headed by either the wife, son or younger brother of a Rokkasho municipal assembly member. However, all five assembly members once served as president of the companies and three were the founders.
The assembly members connected to the construction companies in question denied that any conflict existed.
"Even if orders were won, that does not mean I have no say with Japan Nuclear Fuel," one assembly member said.
Another was resigned to criticism that might arise because of the contracts from Japan Nuclear Fuel.
An official with Japan Nuclear Fuel declined to provide specific information about the contracts, and only said the agreements were commissioned based on the quality, price and construction volume that the companies could provide.
According to construction work records submitted to the Aomori prefectural government by the five companies, in fiscal 2011 and 2012, the firms won between two to nine contracts from Japan Nuclear Fuel. The amounts of the contracts totaled between 30 million yen and 220 million yen.
According to sources at the five companies as well as other construction companies in Rokkasho, whenever Japan Nuclear Fuel gives out orders to local companies rather than major construction firms, it is always limited to two joint ventures undertaken by the five companies.
The five companies also receive other contracts serving as subcontractors for nuclear fuel recycling facility construction work commissioned by Japan Nuclear Fuel.
According to the assembly members as well as a private-sector economic research company, between 30 to 50 percent of the total sales of the five companies come from projects related to the nuclear fuel recycling facilities.
The five companies had been winning construction orders from Japan Nuclear Fuel from before the Fukushima nuclear accident.
The facilities at Rokkasho form a core part of a planned program to process spent nuclear fuel from Japanese reactors in order to reuse it as nuclear fuel.
After the Fukushima nuclear accident, the central government then under the control of the Democratic Party of Japan reviewed the nation's nuclear energy policy. In September 2012, the 18 members of the Rokkasho municipal assembly approved a document calling for the continuation of the nuclear fuel recycling program.
It had been learned that Japan Nuclear Fuel officials lobbied the municipal assembly members to pass such a document.
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