Miyama townspeople in referendum say 'No' to nuclear plant plan

In a referendum held on November 18 over a plan to construct a nuclear
power plant in Miyama Town in Mie Prefecture, 67% of voters voted against.
In the small town with about 8,700 eligible voters, voter turnout was 88%.

The vote forced Chubu Electric Power Co., which has been planning the
plant construction, into a retreat. The power company attempt to buy votes
as well as the prefectural government pressure did not succeed in persuading
townspeople. Seven organizations opposing the nuclear power plant
construction plan were firmly united.

The Miyama vote represents the third consecutive victory of anti-nuclear
power plant forces in the referendum following Maki Town (August 1996) and
Kashiwa Village (May 2001), both in Niigata Prefecture. Miyama Town Mayor
Shioya Tatsuo on the same day announced that the town will give up the idea
of accepting such a plant, ending a 40-year long controversy in the town.

Commenting on the referendum result, Fudesaka Hideyo, Japanese Communist
Party Policy Commission chair, on the same day emphasized that a clear-cut
opposition expressed in Miyama's referendum on the nuclear power plant has
national significance.

The residents showed their concern about nuclear power plants, especially
in the light of recent accidents at Chubu Electric's Hamaoka No. 1 power
plant in Shizuoka Prefecture which took place as a pipe rupture directly
linked with an emergency core cooling system and the leakage of cooling
water partly contaminated with radioactivity from the running gear of the
control rod, both in the very core of the plant, Fudesaka said.

The JCP urges the government and electric companies to end their massive
nuclear power plant construction plans and make every effort to establish a
new energy policy giving priority to safety and environmentally sustainable
energy, he added.

Yamashita Ayuko, Miyama Town Assembly member (JCP), said in great joy,
"It represents the good sense of the townspeople. We're convinced to proceed
with a campaign to establish a new town in Miyama." (end)