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Japan anti-nuclear
protesters hail PM¡¦s call
PUBLIC SAFETY: Naoto Kan called for the Hamaoka
nuclear facility to be closed as experts say the area has an 87 percent chance
of being struck by a quake of magnitude 8.0 or more
Reuters, TOKYO
Several thousand Japanese anti-nuclear protesters marched in the rain yesterday,
welcoming a call from the prime minister to shut down a nuclear power plant in
central Japan and urging him to close more to avoid a future nuclear crisis.
The surprise call from Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday to shut down
Chubu Electric Power Co¡¦s Hamaoka plant followed pressure on the government to
review nuclear energy policy -after a March 11 quake and tsunami damaged another
plant and triggered the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Tens of thousands of residents around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on the
northeast coast were ordered to evacuate after radiation leaked into the air,
soil and sea. Radiation checks have led to shipment bans on some vegetables and
fish.
Students, labor union members and parents with children hoisted on their
shoulders marched through Tokyo¡¦s bustling Shibuya District to music and chants,
carrying flags written with ¡§Close all nuke plants at once!¡¨ and ¡§No More
Fukushima.¡¨
¡§After Chernobyl, we collectively forgot the seriousness, the horror of nuclear
power,¡¨ said Takashi Enari, a businessman who said he also protested outside the
Fukushima plant after the 1986 disaster in Ukraine.
¡§I have always thought that they should close Hamaoka. There needs to be a
rethinking of energy policy in this country,¡¨ he said, as other protesters
marched wearing hazard masks and carrying colorful balloons.
Media said yesterday that Japan¡¦s anti-nuclear movement, small and ignored by
the general public until the Fukushima crisis, could become even more vocal
after Kan¡¦s call for a Hamaoka shutdown.
Kan said he made the decision ¡§out of concern for public safety,¡¨ citing a
forecast by government experts that put at 87 percent the chance of a magnitude
8.0 quake hitting the area served by Chubu Electric within the next 30 years.
Chubu Electric held a board meeting yesterday to discuss Kan¡¦s decision, but did
not reach a decision on whether to comply with his request, which is not legally
binding.
¡§The decision is still under discussion,¡¨ a spokesman said. ¡§We therefore cannot
say when exactly the decision will be made, but we would like to reach one
quickly.¡¨
Kan¡¦s Hamaoka decision signals a likely shift in Japan¡¦s energy policy, with the
government now rethinking its target of boosting the country¡¦s reliance on
nuclear energy to 50 percent of its power needs by 2030, up from the current 30
percent.
¡§I¡¦m happy that Hamaoka [may be] closing, but I don¡¦t think it¡¦s enough,¡¨ said
social worker Akemi Nomura from Hiroshima, western Japan, at the anti-nuclear
protest.
¡§I want the Yamaguchi plant to close too,¡¨ she said, referring to a plant under
construction near Hiroshima.
A Hamaoka shutdown could also make it difficult for other utilities to restart
reactors now shut for planned maintenance, with local residents growing more
worried about safety, the Nikkei Shimbun business daily said yesterday.
While that would be welcomed by anti-nuclear activists, it could upset companies
worried about energy supply, as well as local governments worried about the
impact on jobs. Media said 1,200 residents of Omaezaki, where the Hamaoka plant
is located, worked at the facility.
¡§We would have liked the government to listen a little more to the local
perspective and for that to have been reflected on the governance of national
nuclear power policy,¡¨ Omaezaki Mayor Shigeo Ishihara told reporters.
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