information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
22 Juillet 2013
July 22, 2013
The ruling coalition’s overwhelming election victory will likely further accelerate moves toward restarting Japan’s idle nuclear reactors while dashing hopes for the movement to make the country nuclear-free.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has been pushing for reactor restarts, and junior coalition partner New Komeito were widely expected to win the Upper House election. Still, those opposed to nuclear energy felt the sting when results were announced on July 21, two years and four months after the start of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
“The central government’s policy on nuclear power generation will return to the pre-disaster one,” said Tatsuya Murakami, mayor of Tokai village in Ibaraki Prefecture, on July 21. “By postponing a solution to the problems resulting from the nuclear accident, the government will do what it wants to do.
“It is disappointing that Japan will not be able to change itself despite the serious accident it caused,” he said.
Before the election, Murakami watched moves being made over his objections to restart the only reactor at the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in the village. That reactor started operations in 1978, but it was shut down after being flooded by the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
The quake and tsunami also led to the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, a disaster that prompted the Tokai government to demand the decommissioning of the reactor in the village.
However, the Tokai No. 2 plant’s operator, Japan Atomic Power Co., has ignored that demand and started work to bring the reactor online without notifying the village government.
Last month, Japan Atomic Power began installing filter-attached vent equipment and erecting sea walls to meet the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s new safety rules on nuclear power generation that took effect on July 8.
On July 11, the company announced its plan to apply to the NRA to restart the reactor.
Four other electric power companies-- Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.--have applied to the NRA to restart 12 reactors at six nuclear power plants.
If approved, the first restart will be the No. 3 reactor at Shikoku Electric’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s LDP pledged during the election campaign to restart reactors that are confirmed safe by the NRA. It said it will make the utmost efforts to obtain the understanding of local governments that host nuclear power plants.
If all 12 reactors are restarted, about 10 percent of Japan’s electricity supply will be generated by nuclear power.
“The victory by the LDP will have a positive effect (on the restarts),” said an executive of Kansai Electric Power, which applied to the NRA to restart four reactors at its Takahama and Oi nuclear power plants in Fukui Prefecture. Two reactors at the Oi plant are currently the only ones in the nation that are operating.
After the Fukushima nuclear accident, the Democratic Party of Japan-led government vowed to phase out nuclear energy in Japan by the end of the 2030s.
However, the DPJ was dumped from power in December, replaced by an LDP-led administration that scrapped the nuclear phaseout policy and incorporated “utilization of nuclear power generation” in its economic growth strategy.
The “nuclear power village” of close relations and vested interests among industries, bureaucrats and academics was partly blamed for the measures that failed to prevent the Fukushima disaster. The “village” will regain momentum after reactors are restarted.
Even Tokyo Electric Power Co., the harshly criticized utility that continues to have problems dealing with its crippled Fukushima plant, is trying to join the move toward restarts.
This month, TEPCO announced plans to hasten the restarts of reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. The company did not offer any advance explanation to the local governments hosting the plant.
The LDP’s pro-nuclear stance could also start the ball rolling on construction of new nuclear power plants, such as Chugoku Electric Power Co.’s planned Kaminoseki plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
The Abe administration plans to compile its basic energy plan by the end of this year. However, the plan will not include the expected ratio of nuclear power generation to the entire electricity needs.
The government, in fact, said it will spend about 10 years to decide how much of Japan’s electricity needs should be supplied by nuclear energy. During that period, operations of nuclear reactors will be restarted throughout the country.
The administration also has yet to examine whether reactors should be decommissioned or whether the costs of nuclear power generation are really lower than those of other methods.
About 150,000 people in Fukushima Prefecture are still living as evacuees from the nuclear disaster.
/https%3A%2F%2Fassets.over-blog.com%2Ft%2Fcedistic%2Fcamera.png)