December 19, 2025

Akahata ‘current’ column (excerpts)

Hokkaido Governor Suzuki Naomichi last week gave the nod to the restart of the No.3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Company’s Tomari Nuclear Power Plant. Niigata Governor Hanazumi Hideyo last month announced his approval for the resumption of operations of the Nos. 6 and 7 reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. This appears to be aligning with the national government’s policy of “making maximum use” of nuclear power as if the Fukushima nuclear disaster had never happened.

In the Tsushima district in Fukushima’s Namie Town, after the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns 14 years ago, a large amount of radioactive materials fell all over the area and residents were forced to evacuate their homes. Even now, the Tsushima district remains designated as a “difficult-to-return zone” where the entry is restricted even for residents. Unmaintained vacant houses are being covered by vegetation and taken over by wild animals like foxes. Agricultural fields are being reverted to forests.

The national government at its Cabinet meeting in June decided on a new “basic policy regarding the 2011 disaster reconstruction” which calls for lifting the entry restrictions based on individual responsibility for radiation exposure dose control. Evacuees from the Tsushima district demanded that the basic policy be revised as it will impose all inconveniences and unreasonableness on them in the name of “self-responsibility”.

The national government promotes nuclear power generation. Is this why it intends to blur the issue of responsibility for dealing with the Fukushima nuclear accident?

Past related articles:
> Hokkaido governor approves restart of Tomari nuclear reactor [December 12, 2025]
> Restart of TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP is utterly unacceptable [November 22, 2025]