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Nuclear backer wins Japan poll
Source: Agencies |
September 26, 2011, Monday
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A MAYOR who backs a plan to build a new nuclear reactor in his western Japanese town was re-elected yesterday, according to Kyodo news, a sign that atomic power still has pockets of support in the country despite the Fukushima crisis.
Shigemi Kashiwabara, 62, won a third term as mayor of Kaminoseki in the western prefecture of Yamaguchi, where Chugoku Electric Power wants to build a new plant that would begin commercial operation in 2018, Kyodo said.
The challenger in the election had called for the plan to be scrapped in the wake of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which is still leaking radiation after being crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan.
Public support for nuclear power, which supplied about 30 percent of -Japan's electricity needs before the March disasters, has dwindled since the crisis, the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Surveys show most voters favour a gradual phase-out of nuclear power, and last Monday tens of thousands rallied in Tokyo to demand an end to the country's reliance on the energy source.
But many in the largely rural, ageing communities still back the nuclear plants, which provide jobs and bring subsidies that account for a large part of local finances.
"What is wrong with hoping for a decent living?" Kyodo quoted Mayor Kashiwa-bara as saying earlier this month.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who took over as Japan's sixth premier in five years, has made it clear he sees nuclear power as playing a part in Japan's energy supply for decades.
Shigemi Kashiwabara, 62, won a third term as mayor of Kaminoseki in the western prefecture of Yamaguchi, where Chugoku Electric Power wants to build a new plant that would begin commercial operation in 2018, Kyodo said.
The challenger in the election had called for the plan to be scrapped in the wake of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant, which is still leaking radiation after being crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan.
Public support for nuclear power, which supplied about 30 percent of -Japan's electricity needs before the March disasters, has dwindled since the crisis, the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Surveys show most voters favour a gradual phase-out of nuclear power, and last Monday tens of thousands rallied in Tokyo to demand an end to the country's reliance on the energy source.
But many in the largely rural, ageing communities still back the nuclear plants, which provide jobs and bring subsidies that account for a large part of local finances.
"What is wrong with hoping for a decent living?" Kyodo quoted Mayor Kashiwa-bara as saying earlier this month.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who took over as Japan's sixth premier in five years, has made it clear he sees nuclear power as playing a part in Japan's energy supply for decades.
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