Offer of Decommissioning Two Reactors

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced at the hearing of Niigata Prefectural Assembly on October 16 that it would consider to decommission the reactor 1 and 2 of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. Facing firm skepticisms from local community on safety of the power plant, TEPCO offered a bargain to achieve an approval from the local residents for the restart of reactor 6 which is a major hope to improve its financial balance. 

In the hearing, the president of TEPCO, Tomoaki Kobayakawa, explained that the company was considering decommissioning of reactor 1 and 2 within eighteen months from restart of reactor 6. Kobayakawa offered 100 billion yen of fund for revitalizing local economy and building facilities to prevent damage of possible accident in the plant. The subsidy will be paid for ten years, based on the income yielded from independence on thermal power generation by fossil fuels.

 

“We contribute to enhance local economy. We hope the fund will be used for industry of disaster prevention, local start-ups and job creation,” said Kobayakawa about the subsidy offered by TEPCO in the hearing. The Commissioner of Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, Yoshifumi Murase, insisted that he would promote constructing evacuation roads in case accident happens. “Nuclear power plant is important for stable power supply and lowering electricity fee. As thermal power plants are concentrated in the Pacific coast, it is indispensable to restart nuclear power plants in the coastal area of Japan Sea,” he said.

 

TEPCO has been making efforts to restart reactors 6 and 7 in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. Although those reactors passed the exam in 2017, Nuclear Regulation Committee prohibited operation of the reactors in 2021, when the committee found fault management of the nuclear facility. After the committee lifted the prohibition in 2023, the local communities have been protesting the restart, being afraid of TEPCO’s insufficient supervision.

 

The local communities around the plant are still skeptical about TEPCO’s offer. While they thought that the nuclear plant would not beneficial for them, because the power produced in the plant will be consumed in Tokyo. They are still considering whether 100 billion yen subsidy would pay for them, with a notion that the payment may be for buying approvals for nuclear power generation.

 

In a survey conducted by Niigata Prefectural Government released in October 1st, 69 percent of responders were worriedabout restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant. Although the Governor of Niigata, Hideyo Hanazumi, is expected to decide whether Niigata will accept restarting the plant as soon as November, it may face fundamental opposition against the governor from the voters.

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