nuclear-news

Osaka’s mayor wants electricity utility to go nuclear free

Utility Faces Call to Halt Nuclear Power Use In Japan, WSJ, By TOKO SEKIGUCHI, 20 March 12, “…….Now, the brazen mayor of Japan’s western metropolis of Osaka is trying to get the country’s second largest utility to go nuclear-free—a challenge to the national government’s attempts to restart reactors that make up a third of Japan’s electricity-generation capacity amid public concerns over the safety of nuclear energy.

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is considering a proposal to use the city’s standing as Kansai Electric Co.’s largest customer and stockholder to call on the regional power provider to abandon its use of nuclear power at a shareholders’ meeting in June…..
An energy panel made up of officials from Osaka city and the larger
prefecture is studying the proposal, based on what they say is the
threat posed by the company’s operation of nuclear plants to share
value.

“We hope to come to a conclusion by mid-April, which is when we have
to submit proposals to the shareholders meeting,” said Osaka city
environment official Masahiro Mitsui following the panel’s meeting on
Sunday.

“We cannot wait until the central government announces its energy
policy,” he added, referring to a plan set to be decided by the
summer.

Although it is the largest stockholder in Kansai Electric, Osaka city
only owns about 9% of shares issued by the company as of September
2011. To win the two-third of votes needed to force the utility to
abandon nuclear power, Mayor Hashimoto would have to get the support
of a large swath of the company’s 400,000 shareholders.

Surveys in local media earlier this month showed that nearly 60% of
voters are against restarting nuclear reactors, with about 30%
supporting it.

All of Kansai Electric’s 11 nuclear reactors are now offline, as
Japan’s reactors have been shut one by one for regular maintenance
over the past year.

Today, only two of the country’s 54 reactors remain active, and both
will be shut by May. Prime Minister Noda has yet to give approval for
a restart…….
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303812904577291003617288794.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

March 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics