Noda changing Kan’s N-plant stance

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is slowly changing the government’s stance on nuclear power generation, which his predecessor, Naoto Kan, wanted to replace with other energy sources.

In July, when he was prime minister, Kan revised the long-held Japanese policy of promoting nuclear power and exports of nuclear technology because of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Noda seems to be taking a more moderate approach by insisting that a stable electric power supply utilizing nuclear power plants is essential for economic growth.

In his opinion, both economic growth and fiscal health are inseparable for rebuilding the economy.

At a high-level U.N. meeting in New York on nuclear safety and security Thursday, Noda said: “For several years, emerging nations and many other countries around the world have earnestly explored ways of using nuclear energy amid the need for energy security and in response to global warming. Japan supported their efforts and remains steadfast in responding positively to their interest in our undertakings.”

This indicated that the prime minister was committed to continuing Japan’s policy of exporting nuclear power plant equipment and technology.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday ahead of his visit to the United States, Noda clearly mentioned the timing for reactivating nuclear reactors idled for regular checkups.

Though Noda said the “biggest precondition” was winning the understanding of prefectures where nuclear power plants are located and confirming the safety of the plants, he emphasized, “From spring through summer next year, we must bring them [the reactors] back online as best as we can.” He also indicated nuclear power plants now under construction would eventually go online.

Since becoming prime minister, Noda has announced one policy after another.

A government source said this was because Noda wanted “to clearly show other countries that his policies were different from those of the Kan administration.”

The prime minister believes that to revitalize the Japanese economy and achieve fiscal health, Japan must secure a stable electric power supply by utilizing nuclear power plants, the source said.

In his first policy speech to the Diet as the prime minister on Sept. 13, Noda said he would compile a new energy strategy, including the use of nuclear power, by summer.

However, political analysts said Noda so far had yet to draw up a long-term energy strategy.

The prime minister pledged in the Diet to “lower reliance on nuclear power plants as much as possible,” indicating he would reduce reliance on nuclear power.

Though he drew a clear line between his and Kan’s policy, Noda’s remarks about the construction of new nuclear power plants or reactors have been ambiguous.

At one point, Noda suggested the number of reactors in service would be zero within a few decades. But on another occasion, he hinted that the construction of new reactors would be possible depending on the situation.

Yomiuri Shimbun , September 25, 2011
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110924003182.htm

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 Mainichi Poll: Tax increase, Nuke Restart, and the Noda Cabinet

Fifty-eight percent of respondents to a Mainichi poll have voiced opposition to increasing income tax or corporate tax to provide funds for the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Overall, 39 percent of respondents in the nationwide poll conducted on Oct. 1 and 2 supported a tax increase... A total of 50 percent of respondents were opposed to raising the consumption tax to fund social security programs such as public pension programs, while 48 percent supported such a measure.

The survey also asked respondents whether they supported restarting nuclear reactors whose operations have been suspended — a move proposed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on condition that the safety of the reactors is confirmed and consent is obtained from local bodies. A total of 50 percent said they approved of the idea while 47 percent were against it.

The approval rating for the Noda Cabinet was 50 percent, down 6 points from the previous poll in September, while the disapproval rating was 22 percent.

Overall, public support for the DPJ stood at 16 percent, below the 18 percent support marked by the LDP. A total of 49 percent said they did not support any particular political party.

Mainichi Shimbun , October 3, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111003p2a00m0na015000c.html

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Tepco cost cut goal said well short of target: Screening panel also wants utility to stop inflating power rates

Tokyo Electric Power Co. should cut costs by around twice as much as it is aiming for over the next 10 years if it expects to compensate victims of the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a government panel said Monday.

In its report, the third-party panel also urged the utility to review its price-setting regime because its findings suggest that household power bills may be unnecessarily high due to cost overestimates on Tepco’s side.

One estimate in the report states that compensation payments could reach around \4.54 trillion by March 2013, including about \3.64 trillion for around a year starting from March 11, the day when the megaquake and tsunami crippled the plant.

The panel, tasked with scrutinizing Tepco’s financial standing, submitted the report to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. It is part of the process the utility must take to get state aid for the compensation payments.

The outcome of the study, which started in June, showed that Tepco could cut \2.55 trillion in costs by fiscal 2020 by reducing personnel and other expenses. But Tepco’s plan shows costs would only be cut by \1.19 trillion.

The panel, meanwhile, urged Tepco’s managers to take responsibility by jettisoning executives and other means if it intends to win financial aid from the state-backed Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corp.

This entity is to collect funds by issuing special government bonds and collecting contributions from other utilities that run nuclear power plants in Japan.

The report also points out that restarting the reactors at the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in Niigata Prefecture, the world’s largest nuclear power plant, will be crucial to Tepco’s medium term plan. Simulations in the report link the timing of the restarts and rate hike to Tepco’s cash flow.

Kyodo Press, Japan Times, October 4, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20111004a1.html

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Eight prefectures eyed for radioactive dumps: Tokyo included in temporary soil storage sites

The Environment Ministry has revealed a controversial plan to build temporary storage facilities for soil contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in eight prefectures in the Tohoku and Kanto regions.

The eight are Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Gunma, Vice Environment Minister Hideki Minamikawa told reporters Wednesday after visiting Fukushima Prefecture for talks with local leaders.

The volume of contaminated soil and waste, estimated at 28.79 million cu. meters, is enough to fill the Tokyo Dome 23 times over, according to a recent ministry survey.

No details were released on when, or specifically where, the facilities will be built, or how much contaminated soil they will store.

“In order to proceed with the decontamination promptly, we want to decide locations to set up temporary storage facilities immediately,” Minamikawa told reporters in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. “We need to discuss things with not only the Fukushima government but also other local governments.”

The ministry will hold talks with the eight prefectural governments to explain the plan.

In late August, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced plans to build a facility in Fukushima, which was strongly opposed by local politicians. On Sept. 8, his successor, Yoshihiko Noda, said in Fukushima that the government will continue talks with the local government on the issue.

Anticipating opposition in the prefectures named by the ministry, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura emphasized Thursday that nothing concrete has been decided.

“The Environment Ministry will continue discussing this issue,” Fujimura said at a news conference Thursday morning.

The contaminated soil is currently stored in makeshift yards at several locations. It will have to be shipped to the temporary facilities once the central government decides on their locations.

A permanent disposal site will be built outside Fukushima, according to the government.

By NATSUKO FUKUE, Japan Times Staff writer, September 30, 2011
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110930a1.html

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 Pronuclear plant incumbent re-elected mayor of Yamaguchi town

YAMAGUCHI — The incumbent mayor of Kaminoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture,where a regional utility’s plan to build a nuclear power plant is at issue, was re-elected Sept. 25 as an advocate of the plan, defeating an antinuclear challenger.

Shigemi Kashiwabara, 62, the two-term mayor of the town who supports the construction project, defeated Sadao Yamato, 61, who heads a civic group opposed to Chugoku Electric Power Co.’s plan to build the Kaminoseki nuclear power station.

The election was the first to be held to select the head of a municipality where a new nuclear power plant is being planned in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

During the election campaign period, Kashiwabara called on townspeople to support the nuclear project, saying their town on the Seto Inland Sea coast will have no source of revenue other than by playing host to a nuclear power plant.

Yamato, in contrast, went against ’’sacrificing’’ the lives of townspeople in exchange for the money to be provided by the government and the regional utility for hosting the plant.

The election was held in a radically different climate from the previous one four years ago as the Fukushima nuclear crisis has heightened public awareness of risks posed by nuclear power plants and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has signaled that no new nuclear power plant could be built in the country.

Proponents of the planned power plant have long run the town, prevailing in all nine mayoral elections since the project surfaced in 1982, when the town’s then mayor declared it would host the plant if townspeople approved of the move.

A total of about 4.5 billion yen had been given to the town in nuclear-related subsidies by the end of the fiscal year through last March. Of the town’s roughly 4.4 billion yen budget for the current fiscal year, about 1.1 billion yen came from such subsidies.

The election result was not a sign of full public support for nuclear power; voters rather sided with a candidate who had a history of developing the town without a nuclear power plant. In a town assembly meeting in June, Kashiwabara referred to development of the town without reliance on nuclear-related funding. It is believed that his stance managed to earn the support of voters who felt uneasy about nuclear power as well as those who had doubts about the viability of construction in the town.

The town’s population stands at about 3,500 — roughly half of what it was 30 years ago, and half of the residents are aged 65 or older. Kashiwabara stated that the town’s finances were on a path of decline. If nuclear-related funding is cut, then he is likely to face an increased sense of crisis.

The town has been tossed about by government nuclear policy in the past and Kashiwabara hopes that if the nuclear power plant project is suspended, then the government will step in and provide support. However, simply relying on the government will not pave a path to development of the town. The mayor must quickly present ways to run local politics while envisaging a situation without nuclear power.

Now that the election is over, a “regional vision” panel is due to be established to discuss a future for the town in which both proponents and opponents of nuclear power can live securely even without a nuclear power plant. The future that officials paint is likely to provide food for thought for other municipalities hosting nuclear power plants.

(Compiled from Kyodo and Mainichi reports)

Mainichi Shimbun , September 26, 2011
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/09/26/20110926p2a00m0na003000c.html

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 Nuclear exports, Lithuania, Vietnam

Japan’s Noda Denies Continued Nuclear Exports

Tokyo, Sept. 30 (Jiji Press)—Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Friday denied that he has supported the country’s continued exports of nuclear plants and technologies.

Speaking at a news conference, Noda said his government will thoroughly look into the cause of the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station before considering its policy about nuclear exports.

Noda said he has never said Japan would continue nuclear exports.

Noda made the comments after opposition lawmakers criticized him in parliamentary meetings for showing his support for continued nuclear exports despite the Fukushima disaster.

In a speech he made at a U.N. meeting in New York earlier this month, Noda indicated his country intends to continue to provide emerging economies with nuclear plants and technologies, saying Japan will meet the needs of countries considering using nuclear power.

Jiji Press, September 30, 2011
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2011093001012

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Japan to Cooperate with Lithuania Nuclear Project

Tokyo, Sept. 28 (Jiji Press)—Japan will cooperate with Lithuania’s plan to build a nuclear power plant, industry minister Yukio Edano said Wednesday.

Japan will help the European country introduce a nuclear plant with the world’s highest-level safety, Edano said in a meeting here with Lithuanian Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas.

Edano made the comments after Sekmokas sought cooperation from the Japanese government over the nuclear project.

In July, the Lithuanian government gave Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. preferential negotiation rights over a project to build a nuclear power plant set to start operations in 2020.

Jiji Press, September 28, 2011
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2011092801082

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Japanese team lays groundwork for Vietnamese nuclear plant

Japan Atomic Power Co. signed an agreement on Sept. 28 that is expected pave the way for the construction of two nuclear reactors in Vietnam.

According to the deal signed with Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), Japan Atomic Power will conduct a feasibility study, looking at the economic potential of the nuclear reactors and at their designs in the light of the weather, topography, geology and seismology of the site in Vinh Hai, Ninh Thuan province.

The study’s findings will be reported to the Vietnamese side in March 2013, and the Japanese consortium hopes to have one reactor operational at the plant by 2021.

Vietnam plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030. It has approved bids for four of those reactors, selecting Russian and Japanese bids to build two reactors each. Last October, Japan signed a deal with the government of Vietnam to export its nuclear technology.

Although the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has provoked calls in Japan for a rethink on exporting nuclear technology, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is backing the policy and Vietnam has said the disaster will not change its decision to import from Japan.

The contracts for the remaining 10 planned nuclear reactors in Vietnam are the focus of fierce competition among foreign bidders, with one source at a Japanese government agency in charge of economic affairs admitting that South Korea might be leading the race.

A source close to Japan-South Korea relations said that South Korea proposed a potential nuclear power agreement to Vietnam in May.

A number of countries, including emerging nations, are considering introducing nuclear power, with Japanese bidding teams known to be negotiating in Turkey and Jordan.

BY TETSUO KOGURE, Asahi Shimbun Staff Writer, September 30, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201109290266.html

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