Nuclear Power Plant in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa	No.627 March 24, 2009
		Reportedly, one of the seven reactors in the nuclear power plant heavily hit by the earthquakes will restart operation in April: the tremor occurred in 2007 in Niigata Prefecture, called Chuetsu offshore earthquake, which shook the station run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) located in Kashiwazaki City and Kariwa Village. The service will start in Unit No.7 despite the residents’ opposition. It is absurd. Who will take responsibility for accidents after the service? The power plant must not operate again but be shut down for ever. POWER PLANT MUST BE SHUT DOWN, MUST NOT GO TO SERVICE On July 16, 2007, strong earthquakes shook the seven reactors built in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station, the largest in the world, situated in the mid-western region of the Honshu Island. According to the TEPCO’s announcement, over 3600 damages were identified in the reactors, some of which investigation cannot be conducted on. Reactor Unit No.7 is the first to be in service: TEPCO explains that the damage is limited and less than expected. But it has failed: its control rod could not be taken out, turbines were broken down and the reactor and turbine buildings leant. These are major flaws. The reactor leaked for three days radioactive material, including iodine, chromium-51 and cobalt-60, into the atmosphere. Local people insist that they would never accept restarting of operation unless safety is sufficiently proven. The request is right. No Certified Conditions to Build Nuclear Power Plant Association of Scientists and Engineers Who Appeal Shutdown of Nuclear Power Plant in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, led by a seismologist at Kobe University, Ishibashi Katsuhiko, lists up the following four points to declare that the location totally lacks conditions for safety to build a nuclear power plant. (1) A possibility of big quakes cannot be denied near the site. (2) The ground in the site is not solid enough, which clearly violates the new earthquake-resistance standards. (3) Plastic deformation (facilities and equipment cannot be recovered to the original forms) occurred. It is highly probable that serious failures were made, but there is no way to verify them. (4) Active faults lie below the poor ground. Local residents have pointed out the danger. The power authorities must seriously accept the fact in which the worst consequences were nearly escaped. In other words, the power plant was shaken by the earthquakes far greater than the level assumed in the design stage and it automatically halted to shut down, emitting radioactive material. Equipment failed at many points and safety was totally lost. Authorities Prefer Restarting Operation to Shutdown Under the circumstances the government must order suspension of operation at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa station because safety was not assured. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, however, allowed on February 13 to conduct a start-up operation at the Unit 7, explaining that there was no problem for safety. A start-up operation is practically a commercial operation and a reactor keeps a critical state to generate electricity, releasing steam. TEPCO has a plan, reportedly, to shift subsequently to commercial operation after 40-50 days of test operation. And after operating Unit No.7, the power company will start the rest of six reactors. Local people, objecting the plan, staged signature collection campaigns and submitted on February 27 to TEPCO and the ministry two lists of signers. A list presented to TEPCO counts 586,684 signatures, in which signers request to abandon restarting service, and the other to the ministry counts 608106, in which they demand to cancel permission to build reactors at the station. The total number reaches approximately 1.2 million. The government and TEPCO must take acute voices of inhabitants into serious account.