A day after trade minister Yukio Edano said the nation would experience a "momentary" suspension of nuclear power, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura on Monday sought to allay concern the government was rushing to reactivate reactors at the Oi power plant in Fukui Prefecture.
In a speech Sunday, Edano said Japan would "momentarily" be without nuclear power from its 54 commercial reactors on May 5 when the Tomari plant in Hokkaido goes offline for a regular inspection. Some interpreted his statement to mean that other idled reactors would start up immediately after the Tomari plant's No. 3 unit is suspended.
" 'Momentarily' was not necessarily an appropriate expression," Fujimura said Monday morning. "We share the common understanding that there needs to be a certain amount of time (to persuade the public). . . . I think he mentioned the likely possibility that there will be no activated nuclear power plants."