Prefectural governors who hold the keys to restarting Japan's idle nuclear reactors did not appear to be convinced by the government's June 18 statement declaring nuclear power plants safe enough to resume operations.
Prefectural governors who hold the keys to restarting Japan's idle nuclear reactors did not appear to be convinced by the government's June 18 statement declaring nuclear power plants safe enough to resume operations.
A statement was issued under the name of Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda that said additional safety measures had been appropriately implemented and nuclear plants that had stopped operations for periodic inspections could resume generating power.
One reason for the skepticism among prefectural governors is the announcement came only 11 days after the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) instructed electric power companies to implement additional safety measures in order to be able to respond to a serious accident at nuclear power plants.
Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida said, "(Kaieda's) statement contains nothing that merits a comment."
Niigata is home to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., which has the largest power generation capacity of any plant in the world.
Four years ago when the Niigata Chuetsu-oki Earthquake struck with a strength greater than expected all seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant stopped operations.
While four of those reactors have resumed operations after completing reinforcement measures against quakes, two of those are scheduled for periodic inspections in August and will have to stop operations again.
TEPCO officials wanted to resume operations of the No. 3 reactor this summer after completing reinforcement work, but that work came to a stop with the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Izumida was critical of Kaieda's statement.
" 'Safety' was confirmed without conducting an assessment of the causes of the accident," Izumida said. "The central government has also not responded to the questions raised by our prefectural technical committee."
A similar reaction came from prefectural government officials in Fukui, which hosts 13 nuclear reactors, the most of any prefecture.
Governor Issei Nishikawa has made clear operations could not be resumed under the current safety standards.
When NISA announced the additional emergency safety measures on June 7, a high-ranking prefectural government official said, "They could only come up with five additional measures."
One official said, "This will be a serious battle. We will absolutely not allow a resumption of operations unless we receive a convincing response."
One factor that many governors point to is the failure of the central government to clearly explain why it is asking for resumption of operations after it asked Chubu Electric Power Co. to shut down all the reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear plant.
Saga Governor Yasushi Furukawa has made clear that one condition for allowing resumption of the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors at the Genkai nuclear plant operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co. will be an explanation of the differences between that plant and Hamaoka.
Furukawa showed some understanding for the central government's position and said, "I believe the fact a statement with such strong wording was issued on a Saturday is an expression of the sense of crisis held by government officials."
However, he added, "The prefectural assembly is also conducting discussions so I want to make a decision after those discussions are concluded."
Aomori Governor Shingo Mimura is the chairman of an organization of prefectural governments that currently host or plan to host nuclear plants.
A statement was issued in his name that said, "We will deal cautiously and strictly with any resumption of operations at nuclear plants."
Kaieda made the announcement when he did because of growing concerns that the entire nation could face a major electricity shortage this summer when demand peaks unless nuclear reactors are allowed to resume operations. Currently, operations at 35 of the nation's 54 reactors have been suspended for regular inspections or from the effects of the March 11 quake.
The instructions issued by NISA for additional measures did not include the medium- to long-term measures that prefectural governments wanted to gain assurances about improved safety.
Those measures could not be included because by their very nature it would have taken time to implement.
However, with electricity demand expected to rise sharply from late July, government officials also needed time to allow for lobbying of local governments to convince them to allow the resumption of operations.
Kaieda also made the announcement because he wanted to be able to attend the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting and ensure the world that Japan's nuclear plants were safe.
After releasing the statement June 18, Kaieda departed for Vienna, where the IAEA ministerial-level meeting will commence on June 20.