"Niigata governor scolds TEPCO president, rejects reactor restarts"
January 7, 2015 As reported by the Asahi Shimbun, Niigata Prefecture Governor Hirohiko Izumida remains "adamantly opposed" to Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) request to him for permission to restart two of seven reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the single biggest nuclear power plant in the world. It is so big, it sprawls across two host towns, as captured in its name. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, also owned, operated, and melted down by TEPCO, also sprawls across two towns -- Okuma and Futaba, now radioactive ghost towns.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant has been largely to entirely shut down ever since July 2007, when an earthquake caused extensive damage to plant facilities and radioactive waste storage, including a serious transformer fire, as well as radioactivity releases to the ocean.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe has kept Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant shut down since. TEPCO needs Gov. Izumida's permission to restart any reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, but is not getting it.
The article quotes the Governor's strong words:
“There has not been a sufficient investigation into the causes of the (Fukushima) accident nor in-house disciplinary actions, so we cannot stand at the starting line of discussions on safety,” the governor said.