どうなる、停止中の原発の再稼働

停止中の原発の再稼働をめぐり意見が180度別れる。
読売は経済優先で速やかな再稼働を求め、朝日は事の重要さに鑑み早急なる再稼働は控えるよう求める記事を掲載。以下に朝日、読売の順で掲載いたしますので読み比べてください。
毎日は終始一貫して原発廃止の論調です。

スラチャイ

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 5
EDITORIAL: Safety issues shouldn't be rushed to restart reactors
原発暫定基準―再稼働ありきはダメだ

In an April 3 meeting of ministers to discuss whether to restart idled nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda put off making a final decision on the issue.
　原発の再稼働をめぐる関係閣僚の初会合が３日に開かれ、野田首相は結論を持ち越した。

Noda told the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) to work out by the next meeting provisional standards for safety measures based on what has been learned from the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last year.
　首相は、次回までに福島第一原発事故を踏まえた安全対策の暫定基準を示すよう、原子力安全・保安院に求めた。

The first-stage assessment of stress tests for offline reactors, purported to be carried out to gain baseline information for decisions on whether to bring the reactors back online, came with a strong sense of being a stopgap measure.
　「再稼働の基準にする」として実施したストレステストの１次評価は、当座しのぎの色彩が強かった。それだけでは不十分との判断だ。

The government has apparently decided that stress tests for first-stage evaluations alone are not enough to greenlight resuming operations at suspended reactors. It seems that the Noda administration has been forced to change its original policy toward the issue in the face of strong public distrust of the safety of nuclear power plants.
　原発に対する国民の根強い不信を前に、当初の方針を転換せざるをえなかったということだろう。

We welcome a policy change to develop effective new safety standards that incorporate lessons gleaned from the nuclear disaster and to assess the safety of reactors more rigorously.
事故の反省を採り入れた基準に改め、基本に立ち返って安全性を吟味する。そのための軌道修正なら、評価する。

But the administration plans to hold the next meeting of related ministers shortly, possibly by the end of this week. The new safety standards will be cobbled together “in a day or two,” according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura.
　ところが、次回の会合は週内にも開き、基準づくりも「１、２日でハチマキを巻いてやる」（藤村官房長官）のだという。

The rushed timetable makes it look as if the government believes all that is needed is to change the cover of an old book.
　まるで「衣（ころも）を取りかえればいい」と言わんばかりのスケジュールだ。

The new safety standards will not be started from scratch, of course. The work involves making the 30-item list of safety measures, compiled by NISA through its own investigations into the accident, more concrete and understandable. The government appears to think this work can be done in a short time.
　もちろん、新たな基準といっても白地に絵を描くわけではない。保安院が独自の事故検証をもとにつくった３０項目の対策を「もっとわかりやすくする」作業だ。短時間で可能との見立てなのかもしれない。

With the No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear power plant, the nation’s last-running reactor, scheduled to go offline in early May for regular maintenance, Japan will soon enter an era of no nuclear power generation. The administration clearly wants to set the stage for restarting the No. 3 and the No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture before that happens.
　だが、このままだと北海道電力の泊原発３号機が５月初めに定期検査に入り、原発の稼働がゼロになる。その前に、関西電力・大飯原発（福井県）の再稼働に道筋をつけたい。そんな思惑が透けてみえる。

The 30-item list includes some measures that require large-scale, time-consuming work. The government would be putting the cart before the horse if it selects only measures that can be implemented in a short time as the components of the more concrete and understandable safety standards.
　３０項目の中には、大がかりな工事が必要で、時間を要するものも含まれている。「もっとわかりやすい」基準が、短期に実現できる対策だけになったら、本末転倒だ。

The standards should not be designed in a way to guarantee that idled reactors will be restarted quickly.
「再稼働ありき」の基準は許されない。

There are certainly concerns about possible electricity shortages in the summer, but there is still time for careful estimation and planning.
　確かに、夏場の電力不足は心配である。ただ、見極めるにはまだ時間がある。

The government should first act swiftly to make a detailed assessment of the outlook for the supply-demand situation. At the same time, it should buckle down to work out new nuclear safety measures.
まずは需給見通しの精査を急ぐ。あわせて、安全対策づくりに腰をすえてかかるべきだ。

While the task has to be assigned to NISA for the time being, it is a duty that was supposed to be carried out by the new nuclear regulatory agency the government had planned to launch in April. The ruling and opposition parties should start debating the bill to create the agency as soon as possible.
　作業は当面、保安院が担当するしかないが、本来は４月に新しくできるはずだった原子力規制庁の役割だ。与野党は一刻も早く関連法案の審議に入らなければならない。

The government is reportedly considering the establishment of a permanent “buffer zone” around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant where residents will no longer be allowed to live. This is a fresh reminder of the grim fact that a severe accident at a nuclear power plant is likely to cause irreparable loss.
　政府は、福島第一原発の周辺に、将来にわたって住民が帰宅できない区域の設定を検討しているという。原発で大きな事故が起きれば、取り返しがつかない事態になることを改めて感じさせる。

There can be no “absolute safety” when it comes to nuclear power generation in the first place. Restarting an idled reactor requires a very tough decision. The administration will lose the trust of the public forever if it tries to forge ahead with restarting reactors through procedures that are mere formalities.
　そもそも原発に「絶対安全」はない。その前提での再稼働はぎりぎりの選択である。形だけの手続きで強行しようとすれば、政権への信用は完全に失われるだろう。

---------------------------------

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Apr. 6, 2012)
Edano must carefully explain need to restart Oi reactors
原発新安全基準　丁寧な説明で早期に再稼働を（4月5日付・読売社説）

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda instructed a meeting of ministers related to nuclear power safety to draw up a new set of safety criteria for the restart of the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, which is operated by Kansai Electric Power Co.
　福井県にある関西電力大飯原子力発電所３、４号機の再稼働に向けた関係閣僚会合で、野田首相は原発の新たな安全基準の策定を指示した。

Noda gave the instruction because Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa and others demanded the central government create new guidelines on nuclear plant safety based on lessons learned from the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. as a condition for agreeing to the restart of the idle reactors.
　福井県知事らが、東京電力福島第一原発の事故を踏まえた安全基準なしでは再稼働に同意できない、としているためだ。

To reactivate suspended reactors, it is essential that the prefecture and municipalities hosting them understand their safety. The central government should compile the new safety guidelines as soon as possible and quickly start to convince them to agree with the restart.
　再稼働には、安全性に対する地元の理解が欠かせない。政府は安全基準の策定を急ぎ、速やかに地元の説得を開始すべきである。

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government has been postponing the restart of suspended reactors by implementing additional procedures not called for by law, such as the introduction of stress tests and examinations by the Nuclear Safety Commission.
　民主党政権は、ストレステスト（耐性検査）の導入や原子力安全委員会の審査など、法律に基づかない手続きを次々に追加し、再稼働の実現を先延ばししてきた。

As a result of its makeshift measures, only one reactor now remains operating among the 54 around the country. But its operations will be also stopped in early May.
　場当たり的な対応の結果、全原発５４基で運転中は１基に減り、これも５月初旬に停止する。

If nothing is done, Japan will experience a serious electricity shortage this summer, inflicting heavy damage on its already sagging economy.
　このまま夏を迎えれば、深刻な電力不足に陥り、足踏みが続く日本経済に大打撃を与えよう。

===

New safety guidelines

The prime minister and related ministers should decide on resumption of reactor operations at the Oi plant quickly, without any further waste of time.
　首相や関係閣僚は時間を空費せず、大飯原発の再稼働を、早期に決断する必要がある。

The new guidelines are said to give structure and substance to the contents of a 30-item list of safety measures already drawn up by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
　新たな基準は、経済産業省の原子力安全・保安院がすでに策定した３０項目の安全対策を整理し、肉付けした内容になるという。

We expect the new guidelines to illustrate in an easy-to-understand manner measures to avoid a serious crisis like the one that developed at the Fukushima nuclear plant by preventing a complete loss of the plant's operating power even if the plant is hit by a massive earthquake and colossal tsunami.
　巨大な地震や津波が起きた場合でも、全電源喪失などを回避し、福島原発のような過酷事故を防ぐための対策を、わかりやすく示すことが求められる。

To obtain the approval of local governments for restarting the reactors, the government must take responsibility for confirming the safety of nuclear power plants. Toward that goal, it is also essential to foster a trusting relationship between ministers related to nuclear safety and concerned local governments.
　地元の了承を得るには、政府が原発の安全確認に責任を持たなければならない。関係閣僚と地元自治体の間で、信頼関係を構築することも不可欠だ。

===

Edano's remarks indiscreet

In that light, it is a problem that an indiscreet remark by Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano has increased a sense of distrust among concerned local governments.
　その点で、枝野経産相の不用意な発言が、関係自治体の不信感を増幅させたのは問題だ。

"At present, I'm also against the restart [of the idle reactors at the Oi plant]," Edano said at the House of Councillors Budget Committee on Monday.
　枝野氏は２日の参院予算委員会で、大飯原発に関し「現時点で私も再稼働反対だ」と答弁した。

Also, when asked to define which local authorities are concerned with the Oi plant, he told the committee that it would be local authorities "all over Japan."
　原発の「地元」の範囲について「あえて聞かれれば日本全国」と語り、

The resumed operation of the Oi plant's reactors also requires consent from the governors of Shiga and Kyoto prefectures, which neighbor Fukui Prefecture, he added.
福井県に隣接する京都府と滋賀県の知事の理解も得る必要があるとの考えも示した。

It was very careless of Edano to make a thoughtless series of gaffes that might toughen requirements for the restart of the idle reactors by himself. We suspect he may not be truly aware of his responsibility as a minister in charge of securing a stable power supply.
　自ら安易に再稼働へのハードルを上げるような発言を連発したのは軽率すぎる。電力安定供給に責任を負う閣僚として自覚を欠いているのではないか。

He has caused misunderstanding and confusion among the local governments hosting the Oi nuclear plant and others nearby. We fully understand why his remarks were severely criticized.
　大飯原発の地元や周辺自治体の誤解や混乱を招いた。厳しく批判されたのもうなずける。

Edano corrected part of his remarks, but his true intentions have not necessarily been clarified. If the situation remains unresolved, it might make the leaders of the prefecture and municipalities hosting the plant hesitate to agree to the resumption of reactor operations.
　枝野氏は発言内容を一部修正したが、真意は必ずしも明確でない。このままでは、原発の立地する県や市町村の首長が、再稼働の受け入れをためらいかねない。

Edano must retract his remarks and carefully explain his intentions in detail.
　前言を撤回し、丁寧に説明することが必要である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, April 5, 2012)
（2012年4月5日01時52分 読売新聞）