First meeting between TEPCO and Niigata Governor

November 24, 2016

Niigata Governor, Tepco execs to meet Tuesday

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/11/24/business/niigata-governor-tepco-execs-meet-tuesday/#.WDgC032Dmos

JIJI

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday that its first meeting with new Niigata Gov. Ryuichi Yoneyama will be held at the Niigata Prefectural Government’s offices in Niigata next Tuesday.

The meeting, initially scheduled for last Tuesday, was canceled by the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that coincidentally struck off Fukushima Prefecture the very same day.

At the meeting with Tepco Chairman Fumio Sudo and President Naomi Hirose, Yoneyama plans to convey his cautious attitude toward restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, informed sources said.

Yoneyama was elected governor last month. At a news conference Thursday, he said he will clarify his stance that “unless a thorough review of the (March 2011) accident at Tepco’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is conducted, the talks on a restart (of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa) can’t get started.”

As for the review of the crisis by the prefectural government’s technical panel, Yoneyama said: “We can’t proceed with the review if Tepco doesn’t give us information. We’d appreciate its cooperation.”

The Tepco officials, for their part, want the governor’s support to restart the giant plant, which straddles Kashiwazaki and the town of Kariwa, because it is critical to the utility’s survival.

“We’ll sincerely deal with the issue without shutting down discussion,” Yoneyama told the prefectural assembly.