Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 7638 |
| Work Detail | Stung by an earlier rejection, Kagoshima Governor Satoshi Mitazono on Sept. 7 again demanded that Kyushu Electric Power Co. immediately suspend operations of the Sendai nuclear power plant for safety inspections. Mitazono, who won the gubernatorial election in July on a campaign pledge to halt operations of the nuclear plant in his prefecture, handed a letter of his demands to Kyushu Electric Power President Michiaki Uriu at a building beside the company’s head office in Fukuoka. “As the governor, I have to protect the safety of residents,” Mitazono told Uriu. “There are also requests (from residents) concerning roads and vehicles for evacuations. In order to protect the safety of the people in my prefecture, please make a bold decision.” Uriu remained noncommittal to the governor’s request. “We will consider your demands in a sincere manner toward further reducing anxieties over the nuclear power plant among the people in Kagoshima Prefecture and from the viewpoint of further improving the safety and trustworthiness of the nuclear power plant,” Uriu said. On Aug. 26, at a Kagoshima prefectural government building, Mitazono conveyed to Uriu growing public concerns of a possible accident at the nuclear power plant in Satsuma-Sendai in light of the powerful earthquakes that hit neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture in April. The governor asked Uriu to suspend operations of the nuclear plant for safety inspections and strengthen support for the prefectural government’s evacuation plans in the event of a disaster. On Sept. 5, however, Uriu visited the Kagoshima prefectural government and told Mitazono that Kyushu Electric will continue operating its two reactors at the nuclear plant until regular inspections start later this year. But Uriu added that the company will take additional “special inspections,” apart from the regular inspections. He also said Kyushu Electric will additionally deploy more than 10 vehicles to support evacuations of elderly residents in the event of a disaster and that it will disclose seismometer data at the nuclear plant in real time. Those additional measures did not satisfy Mitazono. He criticized Uriu’s refusal to shut down the reactors as “extremely regrettable.” A governor does not have the legal authority to order a shutdown of a nuclear power plant. But under safety agreements, a prefectural government can call for measures deemed necessary to ensure the safety of the plant based on an inspection of the site. On Sept. 5, Kyushu Electric applied to the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the country’s nuclear safety watchdog, for regular inspections of the No. 1 reactor at the Sendai plant starting on Oct. 6. It also plans to implement regular inspections of the No. 2 reactor from Dec. 16. |
| Country | Japan , Eastern Asia |
| Industry | Energy & Power |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201609070038.html |
