Protesters voice strong concerns as Japan restarts nuclear reactor

People across Japan held anti-nuclear power protest rallies on Aug. 11 after a reactor at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima Prefecture was reactivated on the morning of the same day, while the government emphasizes that the reactor has passed what it calls "the world's strictest safety regulations."

About 160 people gathered at the front gate of the nuclear plant in the Kagoshima Prefecture city of Satsumasendai before 7 a.m. to stage a protest rally. Right before the clock struck 10:30 a.m., the time the No. 1 reactor at the plant was reactivated, people held a silent protest while staring in the direction where the reactor was located. They then shouted, "Don't turn it on!"

Keisuke Hamanoue, 34, who traveled from the city of Akune, a northern neighbor of Satsumasendai, to participate in the rally with his wife, claimed that no nuclear plant should be reactivated until soil in Fukushima Prefecture contaminated in the 2011 nuclear meltdowns is restored to its pre-disaster condition. "It's not right to prioritize the economy," he added.

Another protester, Kaho Kumakawa, a 21-year-old university student from the Kagoshima Prefecture city of Aira, said, "We must not allow the activation of a nuclear plant as long as there is even 1 percent chance of an accident." Part of her hometown is located within the 30-kilometer evacuation zone from the Sendai nuclear plant.

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150811p2a00m0na015000c.html