Nearly 60 percent of citizens are opposed to the planned restart of reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, the first such restart under tougher standards introduced after the Fukushima crisis, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.
Nearly 60 percent of citizens are opposed to the planned restart of reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, the first such restart under tougher standards introduced after the Fukushima crisis, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority on July 16 concluded that reactors at the Kyushu Electric Power Co. plant meet the safety standards introduced after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
It is the first time since the Fukushima nuclear disaster began that a nuclear plant has passed the NRA’s stricter inspections.
The Sendai plant is expected to be allowed to resume operations as early as October, after Kyushu Electric obtains the consent of local residents and officials.
According to survey results, 59 percent of respondents said they are opposed to the restart of the nuclear facility, while 23 percent said they agree with the resumption of operations there.
The nationwide telephone survey, conducted between July 26 and 27, received 1,590 valid responses, or 45 percent of those contacted.
Asked whether the Japanese economy will be negatively affected by keeping the nation’s suspended reactors offline, 42 percent said they think so. Those who said reactor suspension will not have a negative impact on the economy accounted for 43 percent.
Twenty-five percent of respondents said they believe it is possible to ensure the safety of nuclear reactors if appropriate techniques and management mechanisms are introduced, while 63 percent said nuclear technology poses risks that are beyond the control of humans.
Although the Abe administration is currently moving toward restarts of suspended reactors across Japan, 61 percent said the government has not sufficiently applied lessons learned from the Fukushima crisis. Only 19 percent said the Abe administration’s nuclear policy has taken into account lessons from the disaster.
Meanwhile, the latest support rate for the Abe Cabinet was 42 percent, the lowest since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power in December 2012. The nonsupport rate, at 36 percent, marked a record high as well.
The Abe Cabinet has long enjoyed high public approval ratings. As recently as May, the support rate for the Cabinet was 49 percent.
But in June, when full-fledged discussions about lifting the long-standing self-imposed ban on the exercise of the right to collective self-defense started, the support rate hit a record low of 43 percent. In a special poll carried out July 4-5, the Cabinet approval rate was 44 percent.
The nonsupport rate reached a previous record high of 34 percent in December last year, immediately after the controversial state secrets protection law passed the Diet. In surveys conducted in June and early July, the rate was 33 percent.