Procedures for restarting the No. 2 reactor at Chugoku Electric Power Co.’s Shimane nuclear power plant in the city of Matsue are now almost complete.

In the event of a major accident at the only nuclear plant located in a prefectural capital, it is assumed that local residents would have to flee to neighboring prefectures for safety. The central government, as well as the relevant local administrations, are obliged to ensure that people living around the plant can be safely evacuated in such an emergency.

Shimane Governor Tatsuya Maruyama agreed June 2 to a restart of the No. 2 reactor at the plant, which has been mothballed for a decade. In addition to the mayor of Matsue, the administrations of neighboring Tottori Prefecture and five cities in the two prefectures located within 30 kilometers of the plant have already consented to the step.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) endorsed the safety of the reactor, saying it “fulfills the standards” in its safety inspection. If the utility’s plan for necessary construction work to install safety measures wins final regulatory approval and the work is finished, the reactor will come on stream for the first time since January 2012.

Shimane prefectural authorities as well as those of the city of Matsue have “the right to consent in advance” to the plan to operate the plant under an old safety agreement with Chugoku Electric Power.

The utility also held talks with local governments in Tottori Prefecture on a revision to the agreement. This led to a decision to allow local administrations in Tottori Prefecture to demand an onsite investigation at the plant and the suspension of operations to assess safety measures.

It is important to make sure that the intentions of local governments in areas around a nuclear power plant are taken seriously.

However, a number of safety concerns remain in light of lessons from the devastating accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.

The Shimane prefectural government’s office, along with the prefectural police department headquarters and the plant’s “off-site center,” an emergency response facility, are responsible for spearheading efforts to deal with nuclear accidents at the plant. But it is not clear whether they could properly perform their roles as they are all located too near, within 10 kilometers of the facility.

Only an alternative facility to substitute for the off-site center during an emergency is located further from the plant.

An emergency response plan envisages that 460,000 or so local residents in Shimane and Tottori prefectures are expected to be evacuated. Among them, around 270,000 people in Shimane Prefecture will take refuge in 49 municipalities in Hiroshima and Okayama prefectures.

But would this plan still work in the event of a severe nuclear accident occurring simultaneously with a natural disaster such as an earthquake, torrential rain or heavy snowfall?

The municipal assembly of Shobara, a city in Hiroshima Prefecture which is expected to accept 7,000 or so Matsue residents in a nuclear emergency, blasted the evacuation plan as riddled with problems in March and passed a resolution calling for the reactor not to be restarted until the lives and safety of local residents are guaranteed.

Citizens in four cities within a 30-km radius--Matsue and Izumo in Shimane Prefecture and Yonago and Sakaiminato in Tottori Prefecture--petitioned their mayors for an ordinance to hold a local referendum on whether the reactor should be allowed to resume operations. While their petitions were all voted down by the municipal assemblies, these moves clearly reflect deep-rooted anxiety among citizens about the safety of the reactor.

The Shimane nuclear plant is not the only one facing problems over the lack of an effective evacuation plan.

Plans of this kind are developed by local administrations, with the central government’s role limited to “supporting” their efforts. Evacuation plans are not covered by safety inspections by experts at the NRA.

With regard to decisions to restart reactors, the central government has repeatedly said it respects the judgment of the NRA. It has also justified decisions to bring idled reactors back online by pointing out that they are supported by the local governments concerned.

The intentions of local communities should, of course, be respected. But the central government should not default on its own responsibility for ensuring that nuclear plants operate safely, given that it has been promoting nuclear power generation as a national policy.

A district court ordered the suspension of Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, citing a lack of reliable evacuation planning.

The central government should be directly involved in efforts to develop evacuation plans and create a system to check them from an independent viewpoint.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 3