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DESCRIPTION:12/11 SF Japan Consulate Speak-out-Evacuate The Families and Children Of 
 Fukushima And Stop The Cover-up\nSunday December 11, 2016 3:00 PM\n275 
 Battery St./California St.\nSan Francisco\n\nOn Sunday December 11, 2016 at 
 3:00 PM there will be a speak out rally to defend the families and children 
 of Fukushima and against the restart of Japan's nuclear plants.\nThe 
 Japanese Abe government continues to tell the people of Fukushima and Japan 
 that they have "decontaminated" Fukushima and families and workers should 
 move back. The reality is that people continue to be contaminated and even 
 the government admits that the financial costs are out of control.\nAt the 
 same time the government is seeking to sell more nuclear power plants to 
 countries throughout the world including Turkey.\nThe majority of Japanese 
 people are against the restarting of nuclear power plants but the Abe 
 government is moving ahead to restart more plants. The government which has 
 nationalized TEPCO because of the massive financial costs is using contract 
 labor with tens of thousands of workers becoming contaminated in this work. 
 They have brought in immigrant workers and day laborers in some cases under 
 the control of Yakuza contractors and most of these workers doing work at 
 the plant do not receive proper health and safety training putting them in 
 serious health dangers.\nThe government has also raised the level of 
 acceptable radioactive contamination.\nThe government is also pushing 
 militarization and supporting more US bases in Okinawa that will contain 
 nuclear weapons despite the opposition of the people of Okinawa.\nJoin the 
 speak out in support of the Fukushima families and in opposition to the 
 restarting of the Japan's remaining 40 nuclear plants.\n\nSpeak Out and 
 Rally initiated by\nNo Nukes Action 
 Committee\nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/\n\n\nJapan Kagoshima 
 Governor under fire as Sendai nuclear reactor likely to restart "“What he 
 had done over the past months now appears to be a mere publicity stunt,” 
 said Yukio Taira, chief of a confederation of labor unions in Kagoshima 
 Prefecture. Taira withdrew his candidacy in the governor’s race in July 
 after he and Mitazono agreed on many policy measures toward a temporary 
 halt of operations at the nuclear plant in 
 Satsuma-Sendai."\nhttp://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201611290066.html\nTHE 
 ASAHI SHIMBUN\nNovember 29, 2016 at 18:15 JST\n\n\nKagoshima Governor 
 Satoshi Mitazono on Nov. 28 explains to the prefectural assembly why he has 
 requested a budget to form a committee of experts on nuclear power 
 generation. (Akemi Saito)\nKAGOSHIMA—Anti-nuclear activists are 
 castigating Governor Satoshi Mitazono, saying the politician has retreated 
 from his campaign promises regarding the planned restart of a nuclear 
 reactor in the prefecture.\n\nDespite stressing that he would take a hard 
 look at safety issues, Mitazono’s actions on Nov. 28 indicate that Kyushu 
 Electric Power Co. will be allowed to restart the No. 1 reactor at its 
 Sendai plant on Dec. 8 as was expected.\n\n“What he had done over the 
 past months now appears to be a mere publicity stunt,” said Yukio Taira, 
 chief of a confederation of labor unions in Kagoshima Prefecture.\n\nTaira 
 withdrew his candidacy in the governor’s race in July after he and 
 Mitazono agreed on many policy measures toward a temporary halt of 
 operations at the nuclear plant in Satsuma-Sendai.\n\nMitazono on Nov. 28 
 submitted to the prefectural assembly a budget proposal for establishing an 
 expert panel on nuclear power generation--a centerpiece of his campaign 
 pledges.\n\n“I will make a comprehensive judgment on how to respond when 
 the panel releases its findings of the utility’s reports on ‘special 
 checks,’” Mitazono told the assembly session, referring to the reactor 
 restart plan.\n\nHowever, given that a governor does not have the legal 
 authority to order a halt, the No. 1 reactor will probably already be 
 running by the time those findings are released.\n\nThe assembly is 
 expected to vote on the budget request for the panel on Dec. 16. Kyushu 
 Electric is scheduled to release the outcome of its special checks in early 
 January.\n\nThe utility agreed to carry out the additional checks in 
 response to the new governor's concerns. These inspections, including 
 checking bolts fastened on barrels containing nuclear waste, are nothing 
 new and have been done in the past, according to Kyushu Electric.\n\nTwo 
 reactors at the Sendai plant were the first in the nation to go online 
 under new nuclear safety regulations set up after the 2011 nuclear disaster 
 in Fukushima Prefecture.\n\nThe No. 1 reactor has been shut down for 
 maintenance since October. The No. 2 reactor is scheduled to be taken 
 offline in December for a routine inspection.\n\nMitazono, a former TV 
 journalist, was elected on campaign promises to take a “strong response 
 regarding a reactor restart if the envisaged committee deems the plant 
 unsafe.”\n\nConcerns over the safety of the nuclear complex arose when 
 roads and other infrastructure were damaged in a series of powerful quakes 
 that began rattling neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture in April.\n\nAfter 
 gaining support from anti-nuclear groups, Mitazono won the race against the 
 incumbent, who was seen as friendlier toward nuclear power 
 generation.\n\nBut after he took office, Mitazono appeared to back off from 
 his campaign promises.\n\nHe did request an “immediate halt” of plant 
 operations to Michiaki Uriu, president of Kyushu Electric, in late August 
 and early September.\n\nAfter the company refused the governor’s 
 requests, Mitazono decided not to pursue the issue, saying a governor does 
 not have the legal authority to demand a halt to operations.\n\nHe tried to 
 assuage public concerns about the safety of the plant, citing the extra 
 special checks the utility promised to conduct.\n\nTaira said Mitazono has 
 rejected repeated requests for a meeting with him and other anti-nuclear 
 activists. They have asked Mitazono to quickly establish the expert panel 
 for possible action to counter Kyushu Electric’s reactor restart plans. 
 But the governor did not reply.\n\nMitazono also did not submit a budget 
 request for the expert panel in the September session.\n\nWhen asked by 
 reporters, Mitazono merely kept saying he would establish the panel “as 
 soon as possible.”\n\n“He is breaking the campaign promise if he allows 
 the resumption of the plant without obtaining the conclusion of the 
 panel,” Taira said.\n\nAccording to one source, the governor told an 
 informal gathering of members of the Liberal Democratic Party, the largest 
 group in the assembly, that he shares the LDP’s direction in nuclear 
 power policy.\n\n(This article was written by Takeshi Nakashima and Sei 
 Iwanami.)\n\nTokyo says Tepco may stay nationalized to deal with massive 
 cost of nuclear 
 disaster\nhttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/12/05/national/tokyo-says-tepco-may-stay-nationalized-deal-massive-cost-nuclear-disaster/#.WEZJ8hS_K-Q\nKYODO\n	• 
 DEC 5, 2016\nFaced with massive ongoing costs stemming from the 2011 
 nuclear crisis in Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. may 
 remain under state control longer than initially planned, the government 
 said Monday.\n\nUnder the current plan, the utility would gradually reduce 
 government involvement in its management from April.\n\nHowever, at a key 
 panel meeting the government proposed a revised option in light of the huge 
 compensation and decommissioning expenses that are involved.\n\nThe 
 government leads the business operations of the utility, known as Tepco, 
 acquiring 50.1 percent of its voting rights through the state-backed 
 Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp.\n\nSome 
 ministry bureaucrats have also been dispatched to the utility.\n\nIt is 
 understood the state-backed body will assess efforts to reform the company 
 in late March and make a decision on whether to reduce state 
 involvement.\n\n“The direction of Tepco reform is coming into sight,” 
 said Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko at the panel 
 meeting. “We have to come up with a more detailed picture of the 
 reform.”\n\nThe government is seeking to split the activities of the 
 utility into “business operations,” including retail sales and power 
 generation, and “Fukushima operations” related to decommissioning 
 reactors at the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and paying 
 compensation, which would remain under public control.\n\nAs for Tepco’s 
 business operations, the government plans to free them of state control at 
 an early date, hoping to promote industry reorganization involving nuclear 
 and energy distribution businesses.\n\nThe plan was revealed at the panel 
 meeting at the trade ministry to study compensation and decommissioning 
 issues facing the utility. The panel will compile proposals by the end of 
 this year.\n\nThe government also seeks cooperation from other power 
 companies in reactivating Tepco’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant 
 in Niigata Prefecture, which would be the main source of its 
 revenue.\n\nWith the involvement of other utilities, the government hopes 
 to ease local distrust of Tepco’s nuclear plant operations. Two reactors 
 at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant are under prolonged safety examinations by 
 nuclear regulators.\n\nFukushima Nuclear Decommission, Compensation Costs 
 to Almost Double To $177.51 billion US: 
 Media\nhttp://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/11/27/world/asia/27reuters-tepco-outlook.html?ref=world&_r=0\nBy 
 REUTERS\nNOV. 27, 2016, 8:33 P.M. E.S.T.\n\nTOKYO — Japan's trade 
 ministry has almost doubled the estimated cost of compensation for the 2011 
 Fukushima nuclear disaster and decommissioning of the damaged 
 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant to more than 20 trillion yen ($177.51 
 billion), the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.\n\nThe trade 
 ministry at the end of 2013 calculated the cost at 11 trillion yen, which 
 was comprised of 5.4 trillion yen for compensation, 2.5 trillion yen for 
 decontamination, 1.1 trillion yen for an interim storage facility for 
 contaminated soil, and 2 trillion yen for decommissioning, the report 
 said.\n\nThe new estimate raised the cost of compensation to 8 trillion yen 
 and decontamination to 4-5 trillion yen, the cost for an interim storage 
 facility remained steady, and decommissioning will rise by several trillion 
 yen, it added.\n\nThe part of the cost increase will be passed on in 
 electricity fees, it added, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with 
 the matter.\n\nThe ministry could not provide immediate comment.\n\nOn 
 March 11, 2011, a massive 9 magnitude earthquake, the strongest quake ever 
 recorded in Japan, created three tsunamis that knocked out the 
 Fukushima-Daiichi plant, causing the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a 
 quarter of a century earlier.\n\nThe Ministry of Economy, Trade and 
 Industry will discuss with the Ministry of Finance a possible expansion of 
 the interest-free loan program from 9 trillion yen, to help support the 
 finances of the Fukushima plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co's, the 
 report said.\n\nThe cost of cleaning up Tokyo Electric Power's wrecked 
 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant may rise to several billion dollars a year, 
 from less than $800 million per year now, the Japanese government said last 
 month.\n\nThe Mainichi newspaper reported in October that Japan's utilities 
 lobby expects clean-up and compensation costs from the Fukushima disaster 
 to overshoot previous estimates by 8.1 trillion yen.\n\n(Reporting by Osamu 
 Tsukimori; Editing by Michael Perry)\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/12/10/18794565.php
SUMMARY:SF Japan Consulate Speak-out-Evacuate The Families and Children Of Fukushima And Stop The
LOCATION:San Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St./California\nSan Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/12/10/18794565.php
DTSTART:20161211T230000Z
DTEND:20161212T000000Z
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