70,000 people participated in the June-11 actions for decommissioning of nuke plants all over Japan
Tokyo, June 12 (Kakehashi)—In response to the call for the nationwide no-nuke actions, there were rallies, indoor meetings and demonstrations at more than 140 places all over Japan on June 11, and 70,000 men and women, young and old, children and babies participated in the nationwide actions, demanding decommissioning of the nuclear power plants.
The following is the initial, inconclusive information on the number of participants:
Sapporo (Hokkaido) 500
Sendai (Miyagi Pref.) 400
Kouriyama (Fukushima Pref.) 200
Tsukuba (Ibaragi Pref.) 500
Tokyo—Shinjuku Central Park 20,000
Tokyo—Shiba Park 6,000
Tokyo—Yoyogi Park 1,500
Yokohama (Kanagawa Pref.) 3,000
Shizuoka (Shizuoka Pref.) 300
Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Pref.) 200
Nagoya (Aichi Pref.) 800
Gifu (Gifu Pref.) 500
Toyama (Toyama Pref.) 100
Fukui (Fukui Pref.) 150
Kyoto (Kyoto Pref.) 600
Osaka (Osaka Pref) 4,000
Kobe (Hyougo Pref.) 500
Hiroshima 300
Matsuyama (Ehime Pref.) 200
Fukuoka (Fukuoka Pref) 1,000
Three months marked since killer quake, tsunami
Anniversary of twin disasters observed with prayers, protests
Events to commemorate the three-month anniversary of the Great East
Japan Earthquake and the deadly tsunami it spawned were held Saturday
throughout the Tohoku region, where about 15,400 people have been
confirmed dead and more than 8,000 remain missing.
In Tokyo, the focus of the three-month anniversary was on whether the
country should continue to pursue nuclear energy, with protesters
organizing demonstrations.
On Saturday, crowds gathered in a muddy field at a park next to the
iconic Tokyo Tower, shouting antinuclear slogans and carrying colorful
banners with phrases such as "Immediately stop all use of nuclear power
and shut down the plants."
The demonstrators poured out onto the streets of the capital in orderly
rows, banging drums and shouting antinuclear slogans as they walked
toward the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry and the head offices
of Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima plant. Police
said about 2,000 people took part in the protest.
"Since the earthquake, I’ve realized that nuclear power is just too
dangerous to use," said Takeshi Terada, 32, a local shipping industry
worker who came with 10 friends to take part in the protest.
While many in the Tokyo protests were members of large organizations
that traditionally support such issues as antiwar legislation and
women’s rights, some arrived in small groups with their families.
Children and even dogs walked in clothing decorated with antinuclear
slogans.
"I’m worried about the children. It’s not just in Fukushima, there are
radiation problems even here in Tokyo," said Mika Obuchi, 45, who
marched with her husband and 9-year-old daughter.
Protests were held in other parts of the capital as well.
Kyodo, AP, June 12, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110612a1.html
Anti-nuke protests in Japan, 3 months after quake
TOKYO — Protesters held mass demonstrations against nuclear power across Japan on Saturday, the three-month anniversary of the powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed over 23,000 and triggered one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.
Streets in parts of Tokyo were completely jammed with thousands of chanting protesters, paralyzing sections of the city. Some marchers called for the country’s nuclear plants to be shut down immediately and for stricter radiation tests by the government.
In Tokyo, protesters carried colorful banners and banged drums as they walked in orderly rows past the Economy Ministry and the head offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima plant. Entire families marched, their toddlers and even dogs wearing clothing with anti-nuclear slogans.
“I’m worried about the children. It’s not just in Fukushima, there are radiation problems even here in Tokyo,” said Mika Obuchi, 45, who marched with her husband and 9-year-old daughter.
By JAY ALABASTER, Associated Press, Jun 11, 2011
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110611/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake_15
Novelist Murakami slams nuclear policy
BARCELONA, Spain – Novelist Haruki Murakami criticized his country’s
pursuit of nuclear energy Thursday during his acceptance speech at the
2011 International Catalunya Prize ceremony in Barcelona, describing the
ongoing crisis at the quake-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant as "a
mistake committed by our very own hands."
Murakami said Japan, as the only nation to have experienced the
devastation and suffering from radiation through World War II atomic
bombings, should have continued saying “no” to nuclear power.
Murakami, the first Japanese to receive the prize given annually by the
autonomous Catalan government, said the EUR80,000 (approximately \9.3
million) prize money would be donated to the victims of the March 11
earthquake and tsunami as well as those affected by the nuclear crisis.
"The accident at the Fukushima (No. 1) nuclear power plant is the second
major nuclear detriment that the Japanese people have experienced," he
said in Japanese. "However, this time it was not a bomb being dropped
upon us, but a mistake committed by our very own hands.“The Japanese people, having”learned through the sacrifice of the
hibakusha just how badly radiation leaves scars on the world and human
wellbeing," should have continued to stand firm in rejecting nuclear
power, the novelist, clad in a gray blazer, said.
"Yet those who questioned (the safety of) nuclear power were
marginalized as being ’unrealistic dreamers,’ " while the Japanese
government and utility companies put priority on “efficiency” and
“convenience” and turned the quake-prone nation into the world’s
third-largest nuclear-powered country, he added.
Japan should have pursued on a national level the development of
effective energy sources to replace nuclear power. Doing so could have
been a way of taking collective responsibility for the atomic bomb
victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he said.
On a more upbeat note, Murakami said he was confident Japan would rise
again to rebuild after realigning its mind and spirit, just as it has
survived on many occasions throughout its history.
Kyodo, June 11, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110611a2.html
More Tepco Shareholders Seeking Nuclear Phaseout
TOKYO (Nikkei)—A total of 402 shareholders at Tokyo Electric Power Co.
(9501) have jointly submitted a resolution urging a withdrawal from
nuclear power operations, the utility revealed in a notice for its
general shareholders.
The company, also known as Tepco, has received such shareholder
proposals in the past. But the number of those signing on to the latest
resolution is up from last year’s 273.
The board plans to oppose the proposal, and instead will weigh its
options based on discussions about energy policy and the findings from a
probe into the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. The
utility’s shareholders’ meeting is scheduled for June 28
Tepco incurred a 1.24 trillion yen group net loss in fiscal 2010 on the
enormous cleanup costs at the Fukushima Daiichi facility.
The utility also said it paid a total of 723 million yen in compensation
to 24 directors for the year ended March 31. In the previous year, it
disbursed 721 million yen to 21 directors.
Nikkei, June 11, 2011
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110610D10JFN01.htm
Reactor makers look to green energy amid nuclear allergy
In the three months since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged
the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant, the nation’s three reactor makers have
started to focus more on renewable energy sources, particularly solar,
wind and geothermal power.
Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. say
they now have higher sales goals in the alternative energy fields,
including pursuit of “energy-smart communities” that can save power
consumption as a whole city or village by using energy control systems.
Analysts said the three reactor makers have little choice but to expand
their natural energy-related pursuits because of the ever-strengthening
aversion both at home and abroad to nuclear power, even though whether
the government will act quickly to support such business remains a question.
Various figures point to strong demand for renewable energy in the
future, the analysts said.
"No one would be against the country introducing a vast amount of
renewable energy," said Hitoshi Ikuma, director of the center for
emergence strategy at Japan Research Institute Ltd. "The focus is when
it will be introduced."
Ikuma’s comments are based on forecasts that the country’s nuclear power
capacity will decline sharply over the next few decades. Overall
capacity in 2030 is expected to be half the roughly 46,000 kw of 2010
because a reactor has a life of about 40 years.
It will also be hard to construct new reactors for the next 20 to 30
years, during which time the crippled Fukushima plant is expected to
still be undergoing decommissioning, he said.
Currently, about 30 percent of the country’s overall electricity is
generated by reactors, compared with only about 3 percent from renewable
energy.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said last month the government will rethink its
long-term strategy, which had called for raising the level of nuclear
power to account for 50 percent of the nation’s overall electricity in
the future. He also pledged to boost Japan’s use of green energy to 20
percent of total power supply by 2020.
The demand surge has led companies to view renewable energy with optimism.
Hitachi released on Thursday a higher sales target for renewables Å\ \280
billion for fiscal 2015 from \170 billion for fiscal 2010 Å\ and a lower
target for nuclear power Å\ \170 billion, down from \180 billion.
Toshiba, Japan’s biggest reactor maker, is more bullish.
On May 24, Toshiba raised its sales goal for renewable energy, including
solar, wind, water and geothermal, to \350 billion by fiscal 2015,
reportedly six-fold the figure logged for fiscal 2010. The company said
it set a goal of \900 billion in sales for energy-smart community
projects by the same fiscal year, or three times greater than current sales.
A smart community would include such infrastructure as a smart-grid and
smart-meters that can help households save electricity by exchanging
data with power firms.
Toshiba has meanwhile agreed to buy Switzerland’s Landis+Gyr AG, the
world’s No. 1 smart-meter maker, which operates in more than 30
countries, for $2.3 billion. It will provide the crucial meter for the
smart communities that can effectively control generation and
consumption of electricity.
"Some countries and companies may want to shift to renewable energy
after the (Fukushima) accident. For these customers, we are saying we
can also provide renewable energy," Toshiba President Norio Sasaki told
reporters on May 24.
In the same news conference, the company said it is possible to delay
its plan to achieve \1 trillion in sales by building 39 new reactors by
the business year to March 2016.
"Hitachi and Toshiba are competitive because they can provide thorough
services for energy-smart communities," said Tomohisa Nonomura, an
anlyst at Toyo Securities Co.
Mitsubishi Heavy said earlier this month it hopes to reap \3 trillion in
sales in its green energy business by fiscal 2014, which is 1.7 times as
much as the average sales between 2007 and 2009. MHI, which is already
one of the world’s biggest wind power generator makers, will also focus
on water and geothermal generators.
Other electronics makers are also moving toward green energy.
Panasonic Corp., for example, promised in its three-year business plan
announced last year to shift its focus to renewable energy.
President Fumio Otsubo said the firm is targeting \100 billion in green
energy-related business for the next business year to March 2013 and
\300 billion or more in the business year to March 2016. This goal
includes solar panels, fuel cells as well as rechargeable lithium-ion
batteries that can store electricity.
Despite the urgent demand for alternative energy, there are hurdles for
the nation’s green power market to grow.
Analysts said what is important is a legal framework to help introduce a
large amount of renewable energy, deregulation to reduce costs to
install and operate generators and other equipment, and above all,
political initiative to back up the trend for green energy.
“What is most important is political power (to drive the trend),” said
Hisashi Matsumoto, an investment analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan
Stanley Securities Co.
To boost demand for such alternative energy, analysts said lawmakers
need to pass a bill on feed-in tariffs that require power firms to buy
all renewable power-generated electricity in Japan. The bill was
submitted to the Diet in March, but its chances of clearing the Diet
remain unclear amid the power struggle within the ruling Democratic
Party of Japan.
Japan Research’s Ikuma also noted that Japanese companies are currently
behind Chinese and other overseas firms in the wind and solar power markets.
"Japanese firms should not just sell equipment alone because that would
just involve them in price wars. What they will really have to do is
sell the system as a whole," he said, referring to projects like
energy-smart communities.
By HIROKO NAKATA, Japan Times Staff writer, June 11, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110611a2.html
Japan may have no nuclear reactors running by next April
(Reuters) - All 54 of Japan’s nuclear reactors may be shut by next April, adding more than $30 billion a year to the country’s energy costs, if communities object to plant operating plans due to safety concerns, trade ministry officials said on Wednesday.
Since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered a radiation crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo, concern among local authorities has kept nuclear generators from restarting at least four reactors that had been expected to come online after routine maintenance and inspection.
Several more reactors have since shut for regular maintenance, slashing Japan’s nuclear generating capacity to just 7,580 megawatts, or only 36 percent of its registered nuclear capacity.
In May, Japan’s average nuclear run rate fell to 40.9 percent, the lowest in at least a decade and well below 62.1 percent a year earlier.
Before the quake and tsunami, which forced the closure of three other power plants in addition to Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima Daiichi facility, nuclear power supplied about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity.
Although a reactor is legally cleared for restart once it receives approval from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), a trade ministry watchdog, nuclear operators always seek local government approvals as well, in recognition of the importance of support from the community around the plant.
If no reactors that shut for regular maintenance after the disaster are restarted, it would cost an extra 2.4 trillion yen ($30 billion) to make up lost power generation during the financial year to next March, a trade ministry estimate showed.
If all of Japan’s reactors end up offline without any restarts, the extra cost would escalate to 3 trillion yen a year, reflecting the need to buy more fossil fuels from abroad while the use of renewable energy remains limited.
Among the 19 Japanese reactors that remain online, the last due to be shut for inspections — on April 9, 2012 — is the 1,356 megawatt No.6 reactor at Tokyo Electric’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in northwestern Japan, a NISA official said. The reactor came out of its last maintenance period just two days before the March 11 disaster.
In Japan, nuclear generators currently must shut for inspection at least once every 13 months.
The maintenance period can vary widely, from a few months to more than a year, and the restart typically begins with a one- to two-month test run before advancing to commercial operation, which will require regulatory approval. ($1 = 80.075 Japanese Yen)
By Risa Maeda
(Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
TOKYO | Wed Jun 8, 2011 8:58am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-japan-nuclear-reactors-idUSTRE7572P920110608
TEPCO to seek 15% electricity cut / Prospects dim of restarting some reactors
Kansai Electric Power Co. announced Friday that it will ask all its
users to cut their electricity consumption by 15 percent between 9 a.m.
and 8 p.m. on weekdays from July 1 through Sept. 22, as it is unlikely
that it will be able to resume operations at nuclear power reactors that
are currently shut down for regular inspections, or are scheduled to be.
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, many companies have been moving
their production sites to western Japan from the service area of Tokyo
Electric Power Co., where an electricity shortage is expected this summer.
However, Kansai Electric’s announcement will likely force them to revise
their plans, observers said.
Regular inspections have already finished at three of Kansai Electric’s
11 nuclear reactors. These three reactors can resume operations if the
company can obtain the understanding of local residents.
However, the government of Fukui Prefecture, where the reactors are
located, has expressed reservations because it believes the plants’
countermeasures against earthquakes and tsunami are not sufficient.
This means the utility might not be able to operate a total of six
nuclear power reactors by August.
Kansai Electric’s power supply will drop to 29.38 million kilowatts if
operations at those nuclear reactors are not resumed. This means a
potential shortfall of 2 million kilowatts if the weather becomes as hot
as last summer and many people turn on their air conditioners.
Meanwhile, the government is to order large-lot users in the service
areas of TEPCO and Tohoku Electric Power Co. to limit their electricity
consumption between July and September to 15 percent below last summer’s
peak. This plan has prompted many companies to move their data centers
and production sites, which consume a great deal of power, to the Kansai
region.
Toshiba Corp. is planning to move part of its semiconductor production
from a factory in Iwate Prefecture, which was damaged by the March 11
disaster, to a semiconductor plant in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture. Fujitsu
Ltd. is planning to move its large computers in Kawasaki and other
places to locations including Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture.
"We’ve just implemented measures [to move corporate facilities to the
Kansai region], in response to the electricity shortfall expected in
TEPCO’s service area," an official at a major electric-appliance
manufacturer said. "This is so sudden, we don’t know what to do yet.
We’ll study the situation."
An official of Resona Bank said the company expected such a request in
Osaka Prefecture and has already looked into power-saving measures.
"If Kansai Electric makes the request, we’ll save power by implementing
the same restrictions on the use of air-conditioning and lighting at our
offices in the Tokyo metropolitan area and in the Kansai region," he said.
===
Kan may need to woo locals
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda said at a press
conference after the Cabinet meeting Friday that Prime Minister Naoto
Kan himself may have to persuade local governments to agree to the
resumption of operations at nuclear reactors currently suspended for
regular inspections or set to be suspended.
Kaieda expressed concern over Kansai Electric’s request for all its
users to cut electricity use by 15 percent this summer, as supply is
likely to be insufficient due to delays in the resumption of operations
at its nuclear power reactors.
"A business downturn in western Japan as the result of an electricity
shortfall would seriously harm disaster reconstruction and the nation’s
whole economy," Kaieda said.
He was cautious about ordering restrictions on power consumption for
large-lot users based on the Electricity Business Law.
Kaieda revealed that TEPCO was scheduled to start making provisional
compensation payments Friday to small and midsize companies within the
planned evacuation area that have been affected by the crisis at the
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
TEPCO has already made provisional compensation payments to evacuated
households, farmers and fishermen.
The Yomiuri Shimbun , June 11, 2011
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110610005996.htm