Citizens movements on nuclear power plants call for change in government nuclear energy policy

Citizens organizations dealing with problems of nuclear power plants held a national meeting on September 8 in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.

About 200 participants from throughout Japan issued a joint criticism of the government and the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) for their negligence in ensuring safety in nuclear power plants.

A Japanese Communist Party Prefectural Assembly member of Fukushima Prefecture, in which TEPCO's Fukushima No.1 and No.2 nuclear power plants are located, reported that prefectural people's strenuous movement pushed the governor into deciding to call for a freeze on TEPCO's plutonium-thermal use project and that just after TEPCO's coverups of troubles were made public, the vice governor issued a protest against the government.

A JCP Village Assembly member of Kariwa Village, Niigata Prefecture, where TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is under operation, said that the village people were informed of the coverups during the course of a meeting where the village mayor was trying to persuade them to accept the pluthermal project.

Even those who have supported the pluthermal project are now saying that they can't trust TEPCO anymore, and the village assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling for cancellation of the agreement between the village and TEPCO on the pluthermal project and a halt to the project, he said.

The meeting participants adopted an appeal protesting against TEPCO's coverups and calling for a change of the government energy policy highly dependent on nuclear energy.

Warning that another coverup may take place, the appeal demanded that thorough inspections into TEPCO and other electric companies be carried out by a third-party organization.

It criticized the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency for allowing operation of the troubled nuclear power plants to continue, and stated that an independent control organization is necessary. (end)