EDITORIAL: Utilities, prefectures must respect public opinion on nuclear issue

An independent investigative committee recently highlighted a shady relationship between Kyushu Electric Power Co. and Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa, calling it a key factor in a scandal over the utility's attempt to manipulate public opinion about nuclear power with fake e-mails.

The panel looked into problems related to a local television program about the restart of two reactors at the utility's Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture. It called for greater transparency in the relationship between the power supplier and the local government chief.

In the TV program, aired at the end of June in the western prefecture, the central government explained to local residents that it planned to bring the No. 2 and 3 reactors at the Genkai plant back into operation.

A senior executive at Kyushu Electric urged employees of the company and its affiliates to send e-mails to the program supporting the restart of the reactors.

The inquiry panel acknowledged that Furukawa's remarks during his meeting with senior officials of the utility five days before the program was aired had a decisive effect on the company's action. Furukawa reportedly called on the utility to use the Internet to post opinions from the standpoint of accepting the resumption of the operations as well.

The meeting took place in the governor's official residence, a venue to which few people are invited.

Furukawa's treatment of the utility's executives stood in sharp contrast with his refusal to meet with citizens calling for a phase-out of nuclear power generation at the prefectural government office.

He said at the time, "I don't meet with either pro- or anti-nuke groups."

Following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the governors of prefectures where nuclear power plants are located were wary about allowing plant operators to put offline reactors back into service.

Furukawa was also suitably cautious about this issue when he addressed the prefectural assembly and said, "It is very difficult to say at this stage when I will make the decision (to allow the utility to restart the reactors)."

As for his remarks in the meeting with Kyushu Electric executives, Furukawa has claimed that he never asked for fake e-mails to be sent.

Even if he was speaking in generalities, however, he should have been more sensitive to the potential implications of his words and more imaginative about how the company could interpret what he said.

That's because the local utility and the local government chief in the prefecture, which has a nuclear power plant, have been working together to promote atomic energy for many years.

But the myth that nuclear power plants are safe, which had been espoused by the government and electric power companies, was shattered by the March 11 disaster.

In light of the disaster, the governor's attitude toward the utility should have undergone a fundamental change.

Even if his political inclination is to support nuclear power, he should equally explain his way of thinking to both local citizens and the power company.

The utility should also give due attention to the views and opinions of local residents, which would help its own efforts to secure a stable power supply.

A similar attempt to influence public opinion was also made at a 2005 discussion meeting organized by Saga Prefecture over a plan to use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide as fuel at the Genkai nuclear power plant. In response to the prefectural government's request, Kyushu Electric prepared a script for the meeting and arrange for seven individuals, including employees, to ask prepared questions.

Similar staged events also took place with regard to the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture, the Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture, the Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture and the Tomari plant in Hokkaido. The local power companies stage-managed these events at the behest of officials at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Listening to the opinions of local residents before a major project gets started in their communities is a time-honored way of ensuring that democratic principles are followed.

But this concept does not work if conclusions are drawn up in advance.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 2