FUKUSHIMA -- Eight municipalities near the Fukushima No. 1 and Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plants were to ask the government Oct. 21 to create a grant system that pays subsidies for hosting nuclear plants even after they are decommissioned.
FUKUSHIMA -- Eight municipalities near the Fukushima No. 1 and Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plants were to ask the government Oct. 21 to create a grant system that pays subsidies for hosting nuclear plants even after they are decommissioned.
The move is intended to prevent a sharp decline in revenue at a time when the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant is certain to be decommissioned.
The consortium of mayors and assembly leaders of the eight municipalities, including Futaba, Tomioka and Kawauchi, planned to visit the prime minister's office and other government offices to submit a request for the "creation of a new grant system that would allow local communities to follow the path of self-reliant development even after decommissioning."
The current grant system allocates stimulus subsidies to local governments in areas where nuclear plants are located. The subsidies, however, end when the plants stop operations.
Since 1995, the All Japan Council of Local Governments with Atomic Power Stations (Zengenkyo) has consistently called for the creation of a grant system to cover the period after nuclear power plants are decommissioned.
"We would like to be taken care of until the moment the nuclear plants have been eliminated totally," said an official at the city government of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which serves as the secretariat for Zengenkyo.