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On August 11, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano spoke to reporters following the restart of Kyushu Electric Power’s Sendai nuclear power station.
Edano said, “Circumstances surrounding the restart make it is difficult to state categorically that the concerns of local residents have been assuaged. In particular, the lesson learned from the accident at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was of the need to ‘prepare a system under which local residents can evacuate safely and reliably,’ but it has been left up to local authorities to draw up evacuation plans that meet this requirement, and so it is hard for us to say that central government is fulfilling its responsibility to protect the lives and assets of citizens.”
On July 31, the DPJ submitted a bill proposing revisions to the Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness to the House of Representatives. The legislation included proposals for creating a structure to clarify the responsibility of the state in the event of a significant nuclear accident occurring, including ensuring that the central government would need to check and agree to evacuation plans. Edano stressed, “We believe that establishing a system where the state takes responsibility will assuage the concerns of local residents regarding evacuation plans. Going ahead with restarts without putting in place these kind of measures totally dismisses the numerous sacrifices made by the people of Fukushima, and the government should not have restarted the plant under the current circumstances.”
Edano went on to criticize the government’s response, saying: “With regard to this restart in particular, the fact that the Prime Minister is absent from his Office on his summer holiday symbolizes the fact that the government’s resolve and responsibility is nowhere to be seen. I ask whether leaving the restart in the hands of the operator, and of local government is an attitude which demonstrates that the lessons of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accident at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have truly been learned. I am not at all convinced by a restart that takes place with central government showing no signs of the resolve to take proper responsibility in the event of an incident occurring.”
In contrast, Edano set forth the DPJ’s position, stating, “Even if Sendai nuclear power plant is restarted, there is no change in the DPJ’s stance of aiming to bring the number of nuclear power plants to zero by the 2030s. In order to make our target of zero nuclear power plants possible by the 2030s we intend to work to implement a whole variety of policy instruments, including thorough energy conservation measures, and the enhancement of policies to popularize and expand renewable energies.”
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