On a snowy afternoon just a few days before the general election, local politicians and many residents of Fukui Prefecture were in a state of shock and wondering what the future holds, after a team of nuclear experts declared it is highly likely that a fault under the Tsuruga nuclear plant's reactor 2 is active.
"We're heavily reliant on the atomic energy industry for jobs and for the subsidies it brings. What are we going to do if the power stations aren't reactivated?" asked Ayako Kawamura, 32, a local resident.
She is not alone in posing that question. The prefecture hosts 13 commercial atomic energy reactors, as well as the Monju prototype fast-breeder unit. All are located in the middle and southern parts of the prefecture — the largest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world.