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On the 11th, the three chiefs of Miyagi Prefecture, Megawa City and Ishimaki City, where the nuclear power plants are located, announced their consent to restart the Megawa Nuclear Power Plant of the Electric Power Company of Tohoku, which was damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. It took 9 months from the end of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission exam to make a quick decision without taking the time to get the opinions of local governments. The effectiveness of the evacuation plan in the event of an accident remains intact, and the nuclear power plant comes into operation in areas where the scars of the earthquake remain. (Kenta Onozawa, Shinichi Ogawa)
◆ Local consent that progressed strongly
“Some construction cannot be started without prior consent. It is a fact that there was a problem at this time.” Just before the 45-minute press conference ended, Governor Yoshihiro Murai denied the schedule, but virtually admitted that it was at the convenience of Tohoku Den.
The local consent procedure continued steadily. The place to hear the opinions of the mayors of the prefecture was just two days before the meeting. Seiichi Aizawa, the mayor of the city of Misato, which is 30 kilometers from the nuclear power plant, which requires an evacuation plan in the event of an accident, voiced his opposition, saying it would “raise new concerns for the citizens of the prefecture. , but it was not accepted as a minority opinion.
The request from the local trade and industry association and the fishing cooperative also influenced the background for early consent. In Megawa-cho, where the tsunami has killed more than 800 people and the population continues to decline, expectations are high for nuclear power plants as an economic boost. Two years ago, a fisherman in his 60s who said, “I don’t want to be like Fukushima,” said he had given up: “I can’t help if I lose money.”
◆ Citizen group “Careful attitude”
There was a huge movement in Ibaraki prefecture after the Fukushima nuclear accident about the procedure for obtaining local consent. In the past, the scope of “local” to obtain consent was limited to the local government where the nuclear power plant was located, but has changed to require the consent of 6 municipalities within a 30 km radius for the power plant Nuclear Tokai No. 2 from Japan Nuclear Power (Genden). ..
If a nuclear accident occurs, the impact will be widespread. In Ibaraki, they negotiated with the power plant for five and a half years after the earthquake and reached a new agreement in March 2018.
In Miyagi, there was a debate calling for the expansion of the local area. Five cities and towns in the 30 km area, excluding Megawa-cho and Ishimaki-shi, sought to obtain prior consent authority under the new Tohokuden agreement, but were unaware. In the spring of 2015, immediately after the agreement was signed, Governor Murai emphasized that “I think the judgment of the local government is sufficient.” Mr. Satoshi Tatara (62) = Sendai City =, a civil society official who called for the implementation of a referendum, lamented: “Although the nuclear power plant was damaged, I do not intend to make a careful judgment.” .
◆ The effectiveness of the evacuation plan is left behind
The Megawa nuclear power plant near the base of the Oshika Peninsula. Approximately 199,000 people live in 7 cities and towns within a 30 km radius. If an accident occurs, the inhabitants of the peninsula will be forced to evacuate by the road near the nuclear power plant.
However, isolation during disasters occurs frequently. At the time of the earthquake, the tsunami flooded the main road. Typhoon No. October 19 last year led to a series of floods and landslides, and part of Megawa Town was isolated for about 17 hours.
In the city of Ishimaki, which has a large population, even if you evacuate west by car, the prefecture estimates that it will take up to 5 days or more for 90% to reach the evacuation site. A total of 570 remote island residents plan to evacuate Ishimaki Port and Megawa Port by boat, but Ishimaki City has not been trained and the person in charge is not confident “I don’t know how long it will take to evacuate.” Both the city and Megawa-cho are demanding the development of evacuation roads, but there is no budget support and it has not even been decided when construction will begin.
