Jitters as Japan decides to restart nuclear reactors

"How are schoolchildren going to be evacuated? How will evacuees be looked after? Will they have the means to make a quick exit? The town authorities need to tell us exactly what would happen before they approve the restart."

In a nationwide poll by the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, 71 percent of respondents shared Inoue's misgivings, while just 25 percent sided with the prime minister. But in Oi, support for the restart stood at 64 percent at the end of last month, according to the public broadcaster NHK, although the same proportion said they were concerned about the risk of a major accident.

In communities outside the town that are less dependent on the plant for income but would be affected by a major disaster, support stood at only 38 percent.

An evacuation similar in scale to Fukushima's would cause chaos among tens of thousands of people who live in neighboring towns, says Masahito Kodama, an anti-nuclear power plant campaigner from Nantan in neighboring Kyoto prefecture. "But the Oi town office refuses to listen to our demands not to restart the reactors and to release data for simulations of the spread of radiation following a major accident."

Nuclear power 'money tree'

Few were surprised Oi’s Mayor Tokioka supported the government’s decision. Some campaigners have suggested that as the founder of a company, now run by his son, that supplies pipe and other materials to the plant, Tokioka's enthusiasm for an early restart is motivated by pure self-interest.

But his isn't the only family that benefits financially from Oi's role as nuclear host. An estimated 450 of the town's working population of 2,700 people are directly employed at the plant, and as many as 40 percent would have been affected by its prolonged closure.

Oi is part of a heavy concentration of nuclear reactors – 14 in all – stretching along 31 miles of coastline on the Japan Sea. In return for hosting the facilities, Japan's "nuclear alley" has so far received 346 billion yen ($4.4 billion) in government subsidies, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

Nuclear industry money has helped pay for the town's infrastructure, a hot spring facility, the "mushroom forest" theme park, and a large town hall that serves a population of just 8,800.

"Nuclear power is like a money tree around here," says Jiku Miyazaki, a local Buddhist priest and anti-nuclear campaigner. "If we don't let go of that mentality we're in trouble. After everything that happened at Fukushima, people are still saying the same could never happen here."

Hiromichi Muramatsu is typical of many local business owners who are torn between fears over safety and concern about the town's economy. "My sales have plunged since the reactors were switched off, so from a financial point of view I'd like things to go back to the way they were," says Mr. Muramatsu, who runs a liquor store.

"The government has to make sure it does this properly to ensure safety, but I'm not sure it has thought through every possible scenario. For me, the restart has come too early."

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