nuclear-news

Japanese government ‘in the pocket of the nuclear industry’ will restart reactors

“By ignoring them and continuing his reckless push to restart Ohi, prime minister Noda is compromising the health and safety of millions, and showing just how deep his government is in the pocket of the nuclear industry,”

U-turn on nuclear as Japan PM decides: ‘We can’t do without it’ Scotsman.com 9 June 2012  Japan’s prime minister has ruled that two mothballed nuclear reactors in the west of the country must be restarted to protect jobs and ensure the “survival of society”, risking a backlash amid safety fears more than a year after the Fukushima disaster.

Premier Yoshihiko Noda sought to soothe those worries at a news
conference yesterday, just hours after the former president of Tokyo
Electric Power, which operated Fukushima – hit by an earthquake and
tsunami in March 2011 – testified in front of a parliamentary panel
probing the calamity….. a first step to bringing more reactors on
line even before a new nuclear regulator is in place, could undermine
Mr Noda’s already sagging support among voters still worried about
safety.

He said his government had confirmed that even if Kansai Electric’s
two reactors at its Ohi plant in Fukui prefecture lost power, as
happened after Fukushima, there would be no damage to the reactors’
core…..
Fukui, where 13 reactors are clustered in four complexes along the
coast, is often called Japan’s “Nuclear Alley,” making it the island
nation’s most nuclear-dependent region.

Japanese voters, however, have grown wary of nuclear power since
meltdown at Fukushima, a north-eastern facility housing six nuclear
reactor, with surveys showing that about 70 per cent want to abandon
reliance on atomic energy even if not immediately.

Around 1,000 people protested outside the prime minister’s office in
central Tokyo after his news conference, chanting “We oppose restarts”
and “Protect our children”.

“The overwhelming majority of the public do not want nuclear reactor
restarts, and they are more than ready to work together and conserve
power over the summer to remain nuclear free,” environmental group
Greenpeace said later in a statement.

“By ignoring them and continuing his reckless push to restart Ohi, prime minister Noda is compromising the health and safety of millions, and showing just how deep his government is in the pocket of the nuclear industry,” it claimed.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/u-turn-on-nuclear-as-japan-pm-decides-we-can-t-do-without-it-1-2346112

June 9, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics