Nearly half of all heads of prefectures and municipalities near nuclear power plants say plant operators should be required to obtain their consent before restarting reactors, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.
Nearly half of all heads of prefectures and municipalities near nuclear power plants say plant operators should be required to obtain their consent before restarting reactors, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.
The figure reflects growing calls by local governments located within 30 kilometers of nuclear plants to have a greater say in whether such facilities are reactivated.
Among governors and mayors of the 155 prefectures and municipalities surveyed, 69, or 45 percent, said they believe plant operators must obtain consent not only from local governments hosting nuclear plants, but also prefectures and municipalities within a 30-km radius.
Among the 123 prefectures and municipalities that do not host nuclear power plants but are located within the radius, 66 governors and mayors, or 54 percent, said utilities should obtain such consent.
In contrast, among 32 leaders of prefectures and municipalities that host nuclear plants, only three, or 9 percent, said the operators should obtain consent from all municipalities within a 30-km radius. Twelve, or 38 percent, said utilities have to gain consent only from local governments hosting plants.
"Only local governments hosting nuclear power plants have effective rights to give consent to the restart of reactors, which is why they have been given generous financial incentives," said Atsushi Miyawaki, a professor of public administration at Hokkaido University.
"This has created a rift between these municipalities and their neighbors. However, the Fukushima nuclear crisis demonstrated that damage from a nuclear disaster may not be confined to municipalities hosting the plants," he said.
The survey covered governors of 21 prefectures and mayors of 134 municipalities located within the so-called Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone, a 30-km radius around 16 commercial nuclear plants across Japan, with the exception of the crippled Fukushima plant.
The respondents include leaders of 13 prefectures and 19 cities, towns and villages that host nuclear power plants. Leaders of all 155 local governments had answered the survey by the end of October.
On Oct. 28, authorities in Satsuma-Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, gave the green light to restarting the Sendai nuclear power plant, making it the first local government to approve the restart of a nuclear power station under new safety standards put in place following the 2011 nuclear disaster.
Kagoshima Governor Yuichiro Ito will now decide whether or not to allow the restart, based on the prefecture's view that the plant's operator, Kyushu Electric Power Co., only needs consent from the host prefecture and city.
Among the leaders of prefectures and municipalities that host nuclear plants, the Shizuoka governor, as well as mayors of Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, and Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, said utilities should obtain consent from all prefectures and municipalities within a 30-km radius.
In contrast, the governor of Fukui Prefecture, which hosts four nuclear plants, emphasized that “concerned local governments are prefectures, cities and towns that host nuclear plants.”
Meanwhile, the mayor of Niseko, Hokkaido, which is located within 30 km of the Tomari nuclear power plant in Tomari, said utilities should obtain consent from all municipalities that could be affected by a nuclear disaster.
The mayor of Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, agreed, saying the nearby Shimane nuclear plant poses the same risk to the city as it does to Matsue, which hosts the plant.
Among the leaders of all 155 surveyed prefectures and municipalities, 60, or 39 percent, called for the government to create a legally binding procedure that makes it mandatory for nuclear plant operators to gain consent from local governments to restart reactors.
Among the 12 prefectural and municipal leaders who said such a legal procedure is unnecessary, nine were from prefectures and municipalities that host nuclear plants.
The mayor of Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, which hosts the Takahama nuclear plant, said such legislation would add an “excessive political factor” to the country’s energy policy.