|
|
|
| October 4, 2011 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Goodbye Nuclear Power Plant rally |
|
|
|
|
Nine well-known people, including a Nobel Prize-winner writer Oe Kenzaburo,
called for a mass protest rally to stop nuclear power generation, hoping
50 thousand people to join. The event was held September 19 to be a great
success, attracting over 60 thousand at the Meiji Park, Tokyo. Enthusiasm
and energy of the participants will encourage mass movements to have the
government give up the nuclear agenda. The rally has made a significant
breakthrough, but it is a first step to reach the goal.
60 THOUSAND PEOPLE'S RALLY - A BIG SPRINGBOARD
At the moment the New Socialist Party of Japan commits in two major campaigns: one is a signature collection campaign to win 10 million people's consent and the other is to organize mass movements to stop the government's plans to resume operation at the nuclear plants which are temporarily being shut down for a regular check-up.
11 Reactors Operate Now, out of 54 Reactors
Nuclear reactors are put under a check-up at every 13 months. Since the March 11 accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi Plant fifty-four reactors installed across the country have downed one after another. At the moment eleven reactors are being operated.
A regular checking process will end on October 26 at the Takahama No.2 Plant of the Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), and by March 9 next year the regular examination will finish at 10 other plants. That means they will be ready for operation.
The Kan government took a clear stance to oppose a policy to depend on nuclear energy, but the succeeding Noda government, in contrast, has declared it will resume operation at the plants. The new leader reverses the predecessor's position and does not conceal an intention to 'rely on nuclear power'. However, 66% of governors of prefectures and municipal leaders do not agree to accept plans to build new facilities in their regions (=Kyodo/September 11, 2011).
Under the today's circumstances a construction plan of a new facility cannot go on, but a problem lies in the reactors which are put under a regular check-up at the moment; what will happen to them after the examinations finish?
Don't Resume Operation!
Firstly, operation at all the plants across the country should be suspended as of coming April in order to achieve the goal. The point is that operation should be halted at the ten plants after the scheduled examination completes.
Some municipalities, however, may permit electric power companies to resume operation, fearing that their revenue will decline and job opportunities will decrease, because they have been subsidized by the government in compliance with three laws on the industry and its development.
Meanwhile, the Noda government may decide to resume operation after the so-called stress test finishes. In fact in Hokkaido, the northern island, Governor Takahashi Harumi practically agreed August 17 to resume operation at the Tomari No.3 reactor of the Hokkaido Electric Power Co., though she insists on 'the driving does not mean resumption'.
The important point in the anti-nuclear struggle is that a municipality which invites a nuclear facility as well as its neighboring municipalities should explicitly demonstrate a stance, Resumption, NO! For this purpose residents must intensify campaigns against municipal governments and electric power companies.
Various campaigns expand now, but we must foresee that differences will emerge in the steps how to commit in the nuclear agenda: how to suspend and abandon the power plants.
Solidarity and Common Actions
Some demand an immediate suspension, and others, gradual suspension of operation at the power plants. Some demand a referendum on the issue. The first task, however, is to collect 10 million signatures successfully and then to begin discussions in the realistic context.
We collect signatures on the three points:
(1) to suspend construction of new plants and to scrap the existing reactors in the elaborated manner
(2) to abandon Reactor Monju in which dangerous plutonium is used and to close the reprocessing plants, and
(3) to change energy policy, including saving energy and converting to new energy sources, like natural energy, and to make an earliest implementation.
Let's organize citizens' symposiums and residents' meetings to learn more about the issue. Let's mobilize people to join actions to be shared by various strata of people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
