Photo/Illutration Residents who live near a nuclear power plant are checked for radioactive contamination during a drill in Ishikawa Prefecture in 2023. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The government and ruling parties plan to increase access to financial assistance for local governments hosting nuclear power plants by broadening the geographical scope of eligibility. 

Secretaries-general and other officials of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito agreed on June 17 to provide aid to local governments within 30 kilometers of a nuclear plant, instead of the current 10 km or less. 

Cabinet Office officials also said they are considering revising the special measures law for development of areas around nuclear power generation facilities and other regulations.

The change is designed to ensure that local governments can receive increased assistance if they are required to develop evacuation plans for nuclear accidents. 

“We need to eliminate the discrepancy and provide support measures for completing evacuation plans,” Makoto Nishida, secretary-general of Komeito, told a news conference after meeting with his LDP counterpart and others on June 17.

A case in point may involve Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, where around 920,000 individuals reside within 30 km from the premises, the highest concentration in the nation.

While the central government has required 14 municipalities within the zone to draw up evacuation plans, six are still wrestling with how to safely move so many people.

Under the special measures law, which was established in 2000, the central government offers financial assistance that is more generous than standard provisions when local governments hosting nuclear plants build roads and ports or reduce taxes to attract businesses.

Local governments within 10 km of a nuclear plant are eligible in accordance with priority zones where it is required to establish countermeasures for potential nuclear accidents.

However, following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011, these priority zones were expanded from a range of 10 km or less from a nuclear plant to within 30 km.

As a result, some host governments have called for expanding the areas where greater assistance is provided, saying that the burden of taking countermeasures for nuclear accidents has only grown.

The government has shifted its policy to making maximum use of nuclear power. Officials apparently hope that the change will make it easier to win local consent on restarting nuclear plants and other nuclear-related policies.

(This article was written by Satoshi Shinden and Anri Takahashi.)

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