Call to Round Up Nuclear Supporters in Japan Starts a Scandal
BY Nick Judd | Monday, August 1 2011
While tens of thousands of people in Japan are unable to return to their homes after earthquake and tsunami damage caused a still-ongoing nuclear disaster in March, at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant about 136 miles from Tokyo, the island nation's industrial economy is powered in no small part by the splitting of atoms.
A government official there may have crossed a line by urging power company executives to solicit support online for nuclear power, according to reports.
The governor of Saga prefecture in southwestern Japan suggested that a power plant operator solicit emails in support of restoring operations for two reactors at a power plant there, according to reports. Saga is a producer of cars and microchips, among others, but as a result of halted operation of two nuclear reactors at an area power plant, the prefecture was facing power shortages this summer. The plant operator, Kyushu Electric Power Co., is seeking public support for turning those reactors back on.
Gov. Yasushi Furukawa admitted Monday that he suggested to executives at Kyushu Electric that they call for supporters to flood a state-sponsored TV program with messages in support of restarting the plant, according to reports.
From the Mainichi Daily News:
Furukawa said he told them it would be necessary to solicit opinions in favor of resumption of the halted reactors via e-mail and the Internet during his meeting with the utility's senior officials on June 21 prior to the local TV program aired live June 26.
He denied any intention of instructing them to fake public opinion, but it is likely that he will come under pressure to resign over the matter.
Kyushu Electric recently admitted it attempted to make local people seem supportive of restarting two reactors at the Genkai power plant by urging employees of the utility and its affiliates to send comments in favor of the resumption to the television program via e-mail and fax amid concerns over nuclear safety in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Reuters reports reactors at the Genkai plant were shuttered while Kyushu Electric made changes to meet new safety requirements that were set in the wake of the March earthquake and nuclear disaster. As recently as late last month, inspectors were uncovering new potential problems with the plant.