Kyodo Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011
FUKUSHIMA — The Fukushima Prefectural Assembly has adopted a petition calling for all 10 reactors at the prefecture’s two nuclear plants to be decommissioned.
The petition to shut down the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant, where four of the six reactor units were wrecked in the March 11 disasters, as well as the four reactors at the Fukushima No. 2 plant, was passed Thursday.
Among the 13 assemblies whose prefectures host nuclear power stations, Fukushima’s is the first to approve a request to decommission nuclear plants.
The central government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the two power plants, have yet to disclose their plans for the six operational reactors.
The assembly passed the petition, filed by a pro-Japanese Communist Party citizens’ group, at a plenary session ahead of the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly election Nov. 20. All parties and groups in the assembly have called for alternative energy sources to be developed.
Of the 53 assembly members who attended Thursday’s meeting, 48 voted in favor of the petition, while the other five members left just before the vote.
According to the petition, “Citizens in Fukushima Prefecture have been fighting an invisible and terrible enemy,” and almost all local residents are in favor of decommissioning.
Parents are especially concerned about the future effects of radiation on their children, the petition said.
Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato said the assembly’s move “really has weight,” and reiterated his view that it is not possible for the No. 1 and No. 2 plants to resume operations.
The citizens’ group filed the petition with the prefectural assembly during its regular session in June, but the assembly had postponed a vote on adopting it.
The central government and Tepco have already said the four wrecked reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant will be decommissioned, but have yet to make an announcement about the fate of the complex’s remaining two reactors and the four reactors at the Fukushima No. 2 plant.
