Mayor Yuko Endo of Kawauchi, Fukushima Prefecture, explains to residents in Koriyama about plans to store radiation-contaminated soil. (Hiroki Koizumi)
中部電力は２８日、定期検査中の浜岡原子力発電所（静岡県御前崎市）３号機について、７月にも運転を再開する前提で２０１２年３月期の業績見通しを作成したと発表した。
While the governors of Miyagi and Iwate prefectures presented varied and detailed proposals April 23 for rebuilding in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato had none because he said he has been dealing with the crises at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The April 23 meeting in Tokyo was the second for the advisory panel tasked with compiling a rebuilding plan for Prime Minister Naoto Kan. It is seeking to compile a first set of proposals by late June.
At the meeting Sato said, "The nuclear accident is ongoing so I did not have time to put together a specific proposal."
Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai presented the most detailed proposal for rebuilding infrastructure and the local economy.
He proposed that transportation infrastructure also function as a levee to reduce damage from tsunami. He said when railways and roads are reconstructed along the coastline the foundations should have mound structures so it could also serve as a levee.
Murai got the idea from a road in Sendai built on a mound structure that reduced flood damage on the land side of the road after the March 11 quake and tsunami struck.
Pointing to a report that had estimated damages within Miyagi Prefecture by April 23 to about 2.2654 trillion yen ($27.7 billion), Murai said, "It is absolutely impossible for a prefecture to use only its capabilities to rebuild."
He presented other proposals that called for support from the central government, including nationalization of the local fishing industry so that facilities and boats could be rebuilt with central government funds.
Another proposal Murai made was also similar to an idea being considered by Kan.
Under the plan for the mountainous coast in northern Miyagi, homes, hospitals and government offices would be moved to higher ground while fishing facilities would be reconstructed along the coastline.
Murai also made proposals for ways to pay for the rebuilding process.
He suggested the establishment of a tax to deal with natural disasters and said "it should be a permanent, indirect tax covering the entire public and the entire nation to deal with disasters" wherever they may strike.
He also asked for the issuance of central government bonds for reconstruction as well as to allow each prefecture to establish a fund for rebuilding after natural disasters.
Iwate Governor Takuya Tasso had a much smaller list of proposals. Among the more immediate ones were to register Hiraizumi on UNESCO's World Heritage List to promote tourism as well as to construct a linear accelerator underground for physics experiments.
Tasso pointed to the differences between his more rural prefecture and such urban centers as Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture.
"(The stricken areas) already were at a disadvantage with a lower economic standard in terms of income, available jobs and the ratio of senior citizens," Tasso said.
Among many of the municipalities along the Iwate coast that were devastated, simply restoring various functions is about the most that can be done.
Tasso opposed the creation of a new tax to pay for rebuilding on the grounds it would further weaken the Japanese economy.
Others at the meeting said the issue of revenues should be dealt with after the rebuilding plan became more specific, but no government official made any specific mention of funding. For his part, Sato spent his time at the meeting explaining the situation among evacuees in Fukushima because of the nuclear accident as well as the negative publicity that has hurt local products and tourism.
After the meeting, Sato said, "We want to begin the rebuilding process as quickly as possible after (the nuclear accident) is settled as soon as possible."
According to Fukushima prefectural government officials, at least 84,000 residents have evacuated, well over half of all evacuees from the March 11 disasters.
With municipal governments near the Fukushima nuclear plant also forced to move elsewhere, some have faced difficulties determining the extent of damages as well as informing residents of what was happening.
Sato also told reporters after the April 23 meeting that many Fukushima residents would be inconvenienced with the designation last week by the central government of areas where evacuations would be carried out over the course of a month or so.
While central government officials stopped short of discussing revenues to pay for the rebuilding process, it was also unclear what government body would be in charge of actually implementing the rebuilding measures.
The Kan administration had put together a draft of a basic law for rebuilding that would have established a headquarters to be in charge of the process, which would be led by Kan and include all Cabinet ministers.
However, at an April 22 news conference, Kan indicated he wanted to table the proposal for a rebuilding headquarters and proposed establishing another body that would include representatives of the opposition parties.
Initial plans called for obtaining Cabinet approval of the basic law proposal on April 26, but that will be delayed, and the legislation will not likely be submitted to the Diet until after the series of national holidays in May.
While Kan hopes a rebuilding body that includes the opposition would help stabilize his government, the opposition parties have not warmed to the idea.
A staff member at the Prime Minister's Official Residence said the public would be critical of any delays in the rebuilding process due to an inability of the ruling and opposition parties to agree on what form the rebuilding body should take.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said on April 23 during a visit to Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, "What will be important is to do things quickly from the standpoint of disaster victims and evacuees. There should be no political confrontation at the national level and the nature of the (rebuilding) organization should not be used as a tool for political struggle."
東京電力の清水正孝社長が２２日、福島第一原発事故の発生以来初めて、福島県の佐藤雄平知事と面会し、「大変なご迷惑をかけ、責任を感じている。住民が一日も早く安心して暮らせるよう事故収束に向けて確実に取り組む」と謝罪した。
清水社長は午前１０時に県庁を訪れた。知事室で迎えた佐藤知事に深く頭を下げ、消え入りそうな声で「心からおわび申し上げます」と繰り返した。
佐藤知事はまず「東電が収束への道筋を示し、必ず実行すると約束したことで、謝罪を受けることにした」と述べた。事故以来、県外へ約６千人の子どもが避難したことを挙げ、「これまで県民の流出を抑えようとがんばってきたが、一瞬のうちに消え去ってしまった」と時折声を詰まらせた。一日も早い収束に加え、県民への損害賠償と雇用の確保、現場作業員の待遇向上などを求め、「今のような状況では（福島原発の）再稼働はありえない」と釘を刺した。
清水社長は１１日にも県庁を訪れたが、佐藤知事との調整がつかなかった。佐藤知事は２２日の面会で「当日にいきなり電話をよこし、名刺を置いていったのは失礼だ」と抗議した。（山吉健太郎）
The latest crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant was caused not by a natural disaster, but by the national government's nuclear energy program, former Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato said in an interview with the Mainichi.
In 2002, following revelations of a company cover-up of problems with its nuclear reactors, then Fukushima Gov. Sato, now 71, retracted permission that had been previously given to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to use plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in its reactors. As the incident suggests, Sato was vocal about his doubts toward the national government's nuclear energy program during his gubernatorial tenure from 1988 to 2006, but even he believed that the now-stricken nuclear power plant -- currently at the center of what TEPCO has repeatedly called an "unprecedented" state of affairs -- was safe.
"The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) claimed that they were 'double- and triple-checking' for safety, and maintained that there was 'no risk' of a nuclear accident caused by a natural disaster. Considering how far the ministry went in its claims concerning safety, it's only natural that local communities believed them," Sato said.
When accidents and scandals at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants came to light years earlier, however, Sato had questioned the state of safety control at the plants.
"Legislators and prefectural governments hosting power plants have no say in national nuclear energy policy. The majority of those comprising the subcommittee for long-term planning at the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan have cozy relationships with those in the electric power industry.
"Bureaucrats at METI are the ones who actually devise policy. Whether the policy is good or bad is irrelevant to them. All they care about is carrying out a plan and never backtracking once a decision has been made."
Asked about recent debates over the possibility of breaking off the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) from METI, Sato argued that it was imperative.
"Between 2002 and 2006, there were 21 cases of nuclear power plant-related problems reported to the Fukushima Prefectural Government by TEPCO insiders. These whistle blowers feared that the information they supplied to NISA would go unaddressed and leak straight to TEPCO," Sato said. "It's been pointed out that the safety of nuclear power plants has only been checked and confirmed on the premise that they will go into operation, and that's because NISA is a part of METI."
As for the trace amounts of plutonium that have recently been detected on the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, Sato said that they may have come from MOX fuel being used in the plant's No. 3 reactor.
"Some experts had raised safety concerns over pluthermal power generation, but the government just pushed through with its plans," he said.
While the latest crisis has rocked the public's confidence in the nation's nuclear energy program, there is no doubt that the program has brought jobs to many local residents. Sato said he recognized that eliminating nuclear power plants would strip communities of employment, but also suggested that we take a close look at the town of Futaba, where the No. 1 power station is located.
"It was believed that with the establishment of a nuclear power plant within its borders, Futaba would flourish to the end of time. But immediately after the plant was built, the national government began taking steps to build two more reactors there. The town received preferential financial treatment in return, but by 2009, it was deemed in need of swift financial revitalization, and restrictions were placed on how it could handle its funds," Sato said. "We need to take a coolheaded approach when weighing the pros and cons of hosting nuclear power plants."
With TEPCO's announcement that the No. 1 through 4 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant will be decommissioned, the question that has emerged is whether the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors at the plant and the reactors at the nearby No. 2 plant should resume operations. Sato isn't sure what the right answer is.
"I still haven't made up my mind about whether the No. 2 plant should be running again. A nuclear power plant requires an investment of 1 trillion yen per site, and what we decide to do with the No. 2 plant cuts to the very heart of our energy policy."
(Mainichi Japan) April 5, 2011
NIHONMATSU, Fukushima -- The cost of living near a nuclear power plant has proven to be much steeper than expected, the mayor of a town close to the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant said in an interview with the Mainichi.
Tamotsu Baba, the 62-year-old mayor of the Fukushima Prefecture town of Namie, who was elected to his post in December 2007 after serving on the town and prefectural assemblies, said he was in a meeting at the town hall when the quake hit on March 11.
"I immediately went on the town radio system and called for residents to take refuge," he said.
In Namie's Ukedo district, located by the coast not far from the town office and home to around 630 households, 90 percent of houses and buildings were flattened, and approximately 200 people went missing. No progress has been made in the search for those people, however.
"The number of deaths in our town is still unknown because the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, which was found to be leaking radioactive materials, is less than 10 kilometers south of Ukedo," Baba said. This puts the town within an evacuation zone established by the central government.
According to Baba, after a hydrogen explosion occurred at the No. 1 reactor at the power plant on March 12, Namie residents who had evacuated to the town hall building and its environs tried to flee to a town hall branch office in the western part of Namie, more than 20 kilometers away from the power station. But heavy traffic on Route 114 turned what normally would be a 30-minute drive into a 3 1/2 hour ordeal.
"We tried to evacuate further west to Nihonmatsu on March 15, but some of the bus companies with which we'd made arrangements backed out from fear of radiation exposure, so we had to find other bus companies willing to drive our residents.
"Now, all Namie town hall functions are set up in Nihonmatsu, and we're working to provide assistance to Namie residents," Baba said.
At the time of the quake, Namie had a population of approximately 20,000, with some 17,500 living within a 10-kilometer radius of the nuclear power plant. Baba is worried about what awaits the town and its residents -- who are eager to go back to their homes and resume their lives.
"Even if the accident at the nuclear power plant is brought under control, how much of the town will be livable, and when? Many people farm, albeit as a side job, so we're concerned about soil contamination, too. Because fishing facilities and equipment were destroyed by the tsunami, there's the problem of securing employment for men in their 40s and 50s, the prime of their lives," Baba said.
According to Baba, Namie was one of several municipalities that received a government subsidy of 400 million to 500 million yen per year due to its proximity to the nuclear power plant.
"The trade-off," he said as he reflected on the quake and the ensuing nuclear crisis, "turned out to be overwhelmingly costly."
(Mainichi Japan) April 4, 2011
