The government has sought Niigata Prefecture's consent for the restart of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.

However, there remains deep-seated distrust toward the electric utility and operator of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, known as TEPCO, among the locals and heightened concerns about major nuclear accidents following the Jan. 1 Noto Peninsula earthquake.

Therefore, it is difficult to claim that the situation is clear enough for the prefecture to decide on granting its consent.

The government and TEPCO should first sincerely address the local residents' concerns.

On March 18, Ken Saito, the minister of economy, trade and industry, called Niigata Governor Hideyo Hanazumi, seeking his support for the plan to restart two idled reactors at the plant in the northern prefecture.

The government sees the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant as "extremely important" for the stable supply of electricity in eastern Japan and is pushing for the restart of the No. 6 and 7 reactors, for which the Nuclear Regulation Authority lifted the operation prohibition order at the end of last year.

TEPCO applied to the nuclear safety watchdog for approval to load nuclear fuel into the No. 7 reactor on March 28.

However, the move came less than a week after the Niigata prefectural assembly unanimously adopted a statement demanding a review of the country's basic disaster management plan and nuclear disaster response guideline. 

This assembly action came in response to the massive New Year's Day earthquake that devastated wide areas in the central Japanese peninsula jutting out into the Sea of Japan.

Members of the largest faction in the local assembly, the Liberal Democratic Party, have voiced skepticism about the move to reactivate the reactors.

The policy chief of the ruling party’s prefectural chapter said, “We cannot agree (to the plan) unless the government resolves the remaining issues.”

“The trust of the residents (in TEPCO) has not been restored,” asserted another senior member of the chapter.

Specific concerns have been raised particularly about emergency evacuations during a serious nuclear accident, such as whether evacuation routes would be usable in heavy snow or how snow removal would be managed if residents are forced to shelter indoors.

The NRA has also begun reviewing the nuclear disaster response guidelines. The first step should be to consider whether an effective and viable evacuation plan can be devised, taking into account the NRA’s conclusions from the review.

On the other hand, the assemblies of the two municipalities along the Sea of Japan coast that are home to the plant, the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa, adopted petitions by a majority vote in favor of an early restart of the reactors.

To be sure, there are expectations in these communities, where many local jobs are related to the nuclear plant, that restarting the off-line reactors will be a boon to the local economies.

However, at a meeting of the mayors of the 30 municipalities in the prefecture and other local leaders in February, many attendees called for reassessments of faults in the prefecture in light of the Noto Peninsula quake, in addition to the efforts to resolve evacuation-related issues.

There were also voices casting doubt on TEPCO's credibility as the company continues to grapple with problems apparently related to its flawed corporate culture, including a contaminated water leak at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in February. 

Hanazumi has indicated his intention to seek a fresh public mandate in deciding on the reactor restart, hinting that he may resign and run for governor again to seek voters’ judgment on the issue.

Before taking this step, he should listen to the wide range of concerns among residents and promote an in-depth debate on the issue.

TEPCO is the embattled company responsible for the Fukushima nuclear disaster and is burdened with the colossal task of decommissioning the destroyed reactors. Its move to restart a reactor has more serious implications than similar actions by other nuclear plant operators.

It's unacceptable for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration, which has shifted to pursuing "maximum utilization" of nuclear power generation, to apply political pressure on Niigata Prefecture for consent to the restart plan in a rush to bring the reactors back on stream.

The electricity produced at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has been used in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The plan to restart the offline reactors is not solely a matter for Niigata Prefecture. The entire nation has a duty to ponder and judge whether a reactor restart by TEPCO is acceptable.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 31