How to manage without

April 25, 2012

Editorial: Preparing for summer without nuclear power

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20120425p2a00m0na013000c.html

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui have submitted an eight-point proposal to Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura regarding the reactivation of the No. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.

(KEPCO)'s Oi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. The proposal offers valid suggestions, including a review of the standards by which the reactors have been deemed safe; the establishment of a risk-management scheme and an anti-disaster plan to cope with major accidents; and the assessment of power supply and demand.

Fujimura simply responded that the points "should be considered in the future" -- a comment underscoring the government's drive to restart the Oi reactors. However, the government must take the proposal seriously. Without doing so, the prospects of gaining the public's understanding and approval will only grow dimmer.

Prior to the Osaka politicians' move, Yukiko Kada and Keiji Yamada, the governors of Shiga and Kyoto prefectures, which lie adjacent to Fukui Prefecture, had presented the government with seven conditions for the reactivation of the Oi nuclear reactors. Some items, such as the assessment of power supply and demand, overlap with the Osaka politicians' proposal.

Seishu Makino, senior vice minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, visited both Shiga and Kyoto prefectures to explain the developments that led the government to judge that restarting the Oi reactors was a sound move. He also explained the prospect of the Kansai region suffering a power shortage this summer. However, Makino offered no specific responses to the seven criteria that had been submitted, and not surprisingly, was unable to attain the go-ahead from the two prefectural governments.

A project team within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) that is dedicated to ending the nuclear crisis is critical of the government's reactivation standards, labeling them "a revival of the nuclear power safety myth." It cites as reasons the fact that a conclusive investigation into the ongoing Fukushima disaster has yet to take place, and that the first-stage results of the so-called stress tests used to assess the safety of halted nuclear reactors cannot guarantee residents' safety.

Amid such developments, nine of the nation's utilities submitted their predictions for power supply and demand this summer to a government panel. According to the utilities' predictions, if temperatures reach levels experienced during the sweltering summer of 2010 and the stalled reactors are not restarted, there will be a 0.4 percent power shortage across the nation in August, and a 16.3 percent shortage in areas under KEPCO. The government panel will release its final conclusion on expected energy supply and demand in mid-May. Based on the information, additional measures such as inter-utility power interchanges and pumped-storage hydroelectricity generation need to be considered.

Also of importance is curbing energy consumption during peak times. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the stricken Fukushima power plant, has implemented a system in which it remotely controls air conditioners and lighting at companies with which it has made prior arrangements. As a result, TEPCO predicts that demand for power within its jurisdiction can be reduced by some 400,000 kilowatts of energy in fiscal 2012. In fiscal 2014, that figure is expected to be around 1.4 million kilowatts, or the equivalent of at least one nuclear reactor. KEPCO, too, should take aggressive steps in containing power demand.

In the meantime, we call for the national and local governments to set up anti-risk measures in preparation for a summer without nuclear power. In Tokyo, for example, backup batteries have been distributed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government free of charge to those who use artificial ventilators at home since July 2011. This move came after medical facilities scrambled to secure batteries to use during the rolling blackouts that took place last year. In March this year, the metropolitan government established guidelines in assisting artificial ventilator users in the event of a disaster. We would also like to see a system by which information is disseminated to residents during power outages. Taking such steps is far more likely to win the understanding and approval of the public than reactivating nuclear reactors.

Of course, the economic effects of any move must be assessed carefully. But if we are able to get through the coming summer through various energy-saving strategies, it will give us the confidence to take a big step toward a society without nuclear power.