nuclear-news

Japan’s nuclear hosting towns addicted to the drug of nuclear subsidies

Genkai’s dependence on nuclear subsidies to fund 34% of its budget is the highest among the municipalities hosting nuclear plants, only matched by the town of Futaba next to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, according to a survey by the Yomiuri newspaper released in May.

Radiation levels in Futaba are so high that the government doesn’t expect the town to be habitable for decades.

Nuclear-related money “is like a drug: you get addicted once you receive it,”

Fukushima Watch: Looking for New Nuclear Revenue — A Spent Fuel Tax?, WSJ, By Mari Iwata, 15 June 12,  The town of Genkai on Japan’s western island of Kyushu is one of many in this country whose livelihood depends on the nuclear reactors it hosts. Since those reactors have been shut down for nearly six months, with no restart in sight, the town is proposing another way of squeezing revenue from the power plant: tax it. That at least was the idea proposed by Hideo Kishimoto, Genkai’s mayor, in a municipal parliament session on Monday. One specific suggestion: a tax on the storage of the Genkai plant’s spent nuclear fuel rods.

“We can’t avoid a future drop in revenue, so we have to think of new taxes in order to maintain services for residents,” Mr. Kishimoto was quoted as saying in local media.  Genkai’s revenue problem is acute.
All of the four nuclear reactors in the Genkai power plant are now
offline …. The idling has pummeled finances at small, out-of-the-way
communities like Genkai, which received generous government subsidies
in exchange for their agreement to host nuclear plants. During its
40-year lifespan, a reactor typically brings in more than ¥10 billion
in fixed subsidies, as well as subsidies given out in proportion to
the amount of electricity it generates each year. Operators of nuclear
plants also pay property taxes, which sometimes amount to as much
money as the nuclear subsidies….
the town will face a drop in revenue from the fiscal year starting
April 2013. Of this year’s ¥6.3 billion budget, about 34% is from
nuclear subsidies and about 36% is from property tax on the nuclear
power plant.

Genkai’s dependence on nuclear subsidies to fund 34% of its budget is the highest among the municipalities hosting nuclear plants, only matched by the town of Futaba next to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, according to a survey by the Yomiuri newspaper released in May.
Radiation levels in Futaba are so high that the government doesn’t expect the town to be habitable for decades.

Nuclear-power critics say the Fukushima Daiichi accident has exposed
the weaknesses of the current subsidy system.

“It is wrong to get remote communities to accept danger in exchange
for money,” Shizuo Tsusumi, a member of the anti-nuclear group
Sayonara Nuke, told JRT. “But we understand the economic woes these
communities are facing now. We are thinking of things we can suggest
instead” of relying on nuclear power.

Nuclear-related money “is like a drug: you get addicted once you receive it,” said Hatsumi Ishimaru, the leader of the Society to Bring
a Lawsuit against the Genkai Nuclear Plant’s Use of MOX Fuel.
“Electricity users in big cities, like Fukuoka and Tokyo, should
support these communities by paying the subsidies (they’d normally get
from nuclear plants) for five to 10 years, so that they can find ways
to be self-supporting.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/06/15/fukushima-watch-looking-for-new-nuclear-revenue-a-spent-fuel-tax/

June 16, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2012, Japan, politics