nuclear-news

Majority of Japanese oppose restart of 2 Oi nuclear reactors

Opinion polls consistently show more than half of Japanese are opposed to nuclear power,

In the communities surrounding Oi, only 38% of residents support the restart of the reactors, the NHK survey found…..

Nuclear-Restart Plans Divide Japan Tokyo Aims to Get Economy Back on Track, but Local Leaders, Some Residents Oppose Atomic Power, WSJ.  By MITSURU OBE And CHESTER DAWSON, June 17, 2012,  TOKYO—Japan ordered a pair of reactors back online for the first time since last year’s nuclear accident, but the chaos and confusion surrounding the decision highlight how unready the country may still be to restart its atomic-energy engine….

..  the restart decision comes a month ahead of deliberations over a new energy plan, which could call for scrapping nuclear power for good. And the restarts would come a few months before the setup of a new Japanese nuclear regulator, which will craft new safety guidelines and is expected to take a harder line on vetting reactors.

Opinion polls consistently show more than half of Japanese are opposed
to nuclear power, though they fret over energy shortages expected as
soon as this summer and higher electric bills if the reactors stay
off. Even some of those who favor atomic energy worry the government
hasn’t done enough to ensure nuclear plants will be safe from a
Fukushima-type accident…… The deep national ambivalence is playing
out in and around Oi, the western Japanese town that is home to the
two first reactors slated to come back online. The mayor of Oi says he
is satisfied with the safety precautions taken so far at the plant.
Many community leaders in the city of Nagahama, about 40 miles away,
have said they aren’t…..
A new agency, expected to launch in September, is set to draw up new
nuclear-safety guidelines and could take a stricter line on vetting
reactors, officials and politicians say. Until then, current
regulators oversee the industry with a mix of old rules and emergency
steps implemented after the Fukushima accident…..
critics say Oi and the surrounding communities don’t have proper evacuation procedures in place should an accident happen. They also say the government’s emergency-operations site is dangerously close to the ocean should a tsunami come, and doesn’t have the proper filters
that would protect it from radiation….
In the communities surrounding Oi, only 38% of residents support the restart of the reactors, the NHK survey found……
Farther from Oi, cities such as Nagahama, in neighboring Shiga
prefecture, are registering concern as well. The governor of Shiga, as
well as the governor of Kyoto and the mayor of Osaka city, have given
Tokyo a list of conditions they want met before more reactors are
brought back online, including a review of all the country’s nuclear
plants under the forthcoming new safety guidelines and a plan for
dealing with used fuel rods.

Those leaders have supported the restart of the Oi reactors on the
condition they are shut down again after the summer energy crunch
passes. But the leaders don’t have a formal voice in the decisions.
Prime Minister Noda has said he has no intention of turning the
reactors off again so soon……
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303444204577460272545747302.html

June 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, opposition to nuclear