Niigata Governor Tolerates Restart of TEPCO N-Power Plant

Niigata, Nov. 21 (Jiji Press)–Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi on Friday showed his tolerance of the restart of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in the central Japan prefecture. Announcing the plan at an extraordinary press conference, Hanazumi called on the central government to make sure that seven steps, including further improving the safety at the plant, will be taken. With the Niigata prefectural assembly, which is scheduled to convene Dec. 2, also expected to greenlight the move, all local procedures needed for the restart will be completed by year-end. It would be the first time for a TEPCO reactor to be restarted since the March 2011 accident at the company’s tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan. Operations would be restarted within the current fiscal year, which ends next March, if pre-service checks and other procedures go smoothly, according to informed sources. All seven reactors at the plant, which straddles the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa, have been offline since March 2012. Of them, the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors have passed the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s screenings necessary for their restart. Technical preparations for the No. 6 reactor were completed last month, leaving its possible restart up to a decision by the prefectural governor. The prefectural government will submit a draft budget related to the reactor restart to the prefectural assembly’s regular session next month. The central government said in August that it will make municipalities within 30 kilometers of nuclear power plants eligible for related financial assistance, widening the area from 10 km in a bid to gain understanding for a possible reactor restart. It said last month that the state will fully cover costs to set up evacuation routes. Reflecting the wishes of local residents, TEPCO has said that it will consider decommissioning the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant’s aging No. 1 and No. 2 reactors. The company also announced a plan to contribute about 100 billion yen to support the creation of new businesses and jobs in Niigata Prefecture. Public opinion over the plant’s restart remains divided in the prefecture, however. According to a recent survey conducted by the prefectural government, 50 pct of residents were positive on the restart, against 47 pct who were negative. In four of the nine municipalities within a 30 km radius of the plant, over half of residents showed a negative stance about the restart. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]