Re-start of Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP in question...
Election of antinuclear governor threatens re-start of Kashiwazaki- Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant
On Sunday, October 16th, Ryuichi Yoneyama was elected governor of the Japanese prefecture of Niigata. Yoneyama ran on the issue of skepticism to nuclear power and preventing the reopening of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. He won about 60,000 more votes than challenger Tamio Mori, who was backed by Japans Prime Minister and would have been more likely to support restarting the plant. With seven reactors and a combined capacity of approximately 8,000 MWe, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, is the worlds largest nu-clear power plant. Yoneyamas election places the plants future restart in jeopardy. Let me make clear that I cannot approve the reactivation of the nuclear power plant in the current circumstances whereby it remains impossible to guarantee the protection of lives and livelihoods, said Yoneyama as quoted by The Yomiuri Shimbun. Japanese law does not require the consent of prefecture governors prior to restart reactors, but in practice, utilities have waited until they have received approval from local governments before restarting reactors. (Source: Ux Weekly)