Genkai Mayor Hideo Kishimoto on Thursday officially retracted his controversial decision to approve the rebooting of two reactors at the Genkai nuclear plant and slammed the central government for ordering "stress tests" out of the blue following weeks of assurances about reactor safety.
The retraction, a political rather than legal necessity for doing the stress tests, creates an awkward situation for Kishimoto, who gave the go-ahead for restarting the reactors just Monday, leaving the final decision to Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa.
"Anger welled up in my heart after hearing Prime Minister Kan say that resumption will be based on the stress tests. It sounded like my decision was a waste," Kishimoto said Thursday morning. "I would like to declare the withdrawal at the (town) assembly."