Japan government fears non-nuclear summer will hamper restarts

(Reuters) – Japan’s government is rushing

to try to restart two nuclear reactors, idled after the Fukushima crisis, by next month out of what experts say is a fear

that surviving a total shutdown would make it hard to convince the public that atomic energy is

vital.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three cabinet

ministers are to meet on Thursday to discuss the possible restarts of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power

Co’s Ohi plant in Fukui, western Japan – a

region dubbed the “nuclear arcade” for the string of atomic plants that dot its coast.

Trade minister Yukio Edano, who

holds the energy portfolio, could travel to Fukui as early as Sunday to seek local approval for the restarts, Japanese media

said.

If approved, the restarts would be the first since a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the radiation crisis

at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima plant a year ago, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.

Concern about

a power crunch when electricity demand peaks in the summer has been set against public fears about safety since Fukushima,

the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

Nuclear power, long advertised as safe and cheap, provided almost 30

percent of Japan’s electricity before the crisis but now all but one of Japan’s 54 reactors are off-line, mainly for

maintenance. The last reactor will shut down on May 5.

“They want to avoid setting a precedent of the country

operating without nuclear power because it will create a huge barrier in terms of restarts,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director

of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus.

“People will question why we need it,” he said.

The

government is crafting a new energy mix formula, with options for atomic power ranging from zero to 35 percent of electricity

by 2030 against an earlier target of more than half.

Whether the reactor restarts can go ahead before the last reactor

shuts down, however, remains in doubt.

Edano has said he wants to gain understanding from communities near the

reactors, including those such as Shiga and Kyoto prefectures which are not hosts to atomic plants but are close enough to be

at risk of radiation from a big accident.

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On Thursday, however, Chief

Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura underscored there was no legal requirement for local communities to sign off on the

restarts.

“However, we will go to the localities to explain new (safety) standards,” he told reporters.

SAFETY

STANDARDS, POWER WORRIES

On Tuesday, Noda ordered the compilation of provisional safety standards reflecting the

lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster, in addition to computer-simulated stress tests that the two Ohi reactors have

already passed.

The standards, including better steps against flooding and preparing emergency power sources, are

expected to be based on 30 steps drafted by Japan’s nuclear safety agency in February.

Local governments, including

Fukui Prefectural Governor Issei Nishikawa, have called for provisional safety guidelines as one of the requirements for

restarts.

Nishikawa, however, has also said he wants to see the results of a government-sponsored probe of the

Fukushima crisis. The report is not due out until summer.

Hasty moves to restart idle reactors could prompt a backlash

against an already unpopular government and ruling party ahead of an election that could come later this year.

Toru

Hashimoto, the popular mayor of the western city of Osaka and head of a new party keen to break into national politics, has

adopted an anti-nuclear stance.

“If they do this (rush the restarts), it just gives him a higher wave to ride into

what may be an election this summer,” said Andrew DeWit, a professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo who studies energy policy.

No vote for parliament’s lower house is mandated until 2013 but speculation is rife that Noda may call a snap election over

tax reform.

Last summer, the government imposed power restrictions on some large corporate users, ordering them to cut

usage by 15 percent. To deal with the shortage, manufacturers operated plants at night and on the weekends. Companies used

in-house generators and cut down on use of air conditioners and lights.

Japan’s biggest business lobby, Keidanren,

has complained about the cost of such measures, as well as expressed worries that higher future electricity costs could force

companies to move overseas, further “hollowing out” the economy.

(Editing by Paul Tait and Mark Bendeich)