IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Nissan Motor Co. and other companies are ramping up their efforts to restore operations in this key industrial city, but the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could stymie those endeavors.
IWAKI, Fukushima Prefecture--Nissan Motor Co. and other companies are ramping up their efforts to restore operations in this key industrial city, but the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could stymie those endeavors.
On Tuesday, Nissan President Carlos Ghosn inspected the automaker's engine plant here. Operations at the plant have been suspended since the colossal earthquake on March 11.
Ghosn called on about 300 employees to demonstrate their fighting spirit, stressing that Nissan's revival hinges on the resurrection of the cutting-edge facility.
Ghosn said he hoped to partially reopen the plant in mid-April and resume full operations by early June.
The company is considering importing engines from the United States until the Iwaki plant is fully restored.
Ghosn, acknowledging concerns about the fate of the plant, said importing engines would be a transitional step and underlined that the Iwaki plant is a pillar of the automaker's production in Japan.
Iwaki, the second-largest city in the Tohoku region, is a regional hub of the manufacturing sector. Its shipments of manufactured goods were worth 1.1 trillion yen ($13.46 billion) in 2008, the largest in the Tohoku region.
With easy access to Onahama port and other distribution networks, the city of 340,000 people is home to 15 industrial complexes that house automakers, electronics companies and chemical companies.
Restoring the Iwaki plant, which manufactures engines for Nissan's high-end Fuga and other models, is critical to the automaker.
If the plant cannot be reopened, it would be impossible for Nissan to build luxury models at its assembly plant in Tochigi Prefecture. That would cause exports of the lucrative upscale models to the U.S. market to grind to a halt.
The plant sustained extensive damage in the magnitude-9.0 earthquake.
Ductwork as wide as a utility pole fell off the ceiling. The floor, despite being made of concrete, undulated unevenly with a difference of up to 5 centimeters in places.
Even if Nissan and other carmakers manage to reopen their plants in the stricken area, the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will remain a potential risk to them.
The northern part of Iwaki is within a 30-kilometer radius of the nuclear power plant.
Auto industry executives noted that a new problem could arise from growing alarm in overseas markets about possible radioactivity of auto parts and components manufactured in Iwaki and nearby areas.
The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association issued a statement to allay such concerns on March 18, which said:
"Health-threatening levels of radioactivity have not been detected in areas where member companies' offices and facilities are situated."
But a senior official at a carmaker said he is concerned that importing countries may impose radioactivity tests for vehicles and parts.
The crisis at the nuclear power plant also hampered restoration efforts at Nissan's engine plant in Iwaki.
Nissan dispatched its employees from Yokohama to help in the immediate aftermath of the temblor, but the nuclear crisis forced the company to suspend repair work.
Iwaki's industrial complexes are located beyond the 30-kilometer radius zone from the nuclear power plant, from which the central government asked residents to evacuate or stay indoors to protect themselves from potential radiation exposure.
The municipal government, however, urged residents to refrain from going out, suspending Nissan's repair work.
The work resumed after the local government withdrew the instruction, but some parts of the Nissan plant still do not have running water. Boats and vehicles still litter the coastline after the quake and tsunami left the city in ruins.
Only two of eight piers at Onahama port were partially restored, leaving many manufacturers in the city without a supply of raw materials.
Kureha Corp., a leading producer of food packaging materials, has left its factory in Iwaki idle.
"It's not clear when we can resume shipments of our products, given the difficulty of procuring raw materials and the developments at the nuclear power plant," said a Kureha official.
While some companies complained that builders have declined to accept their requests for repair work because of radiation exposure fears, others are scrambling to resume operations.
Daio Paper Corp., a leading paper mill, reopened the plant of its subsidiary on March 24 after it decided that radioactivity levels, independently measured by the corporation, were within safe limits.
(This article was written by Koji Nishimura, Shu Nomura and Atsushi Komori.)