The former mayor of a village that had a pioneering role in the nation's nuclear development expressed his opposition Sunday to the country continuing to look to nuclear power as an energy source.
"It has been said that a local community can enjoy benefits by hosting a nuclear power plant, but it is just an illusion," Tatsuya Murakami, who served as mayor of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, for 16 years until his retirement last September, told a public gathering in Tokyo.
Around one-third of the village's general account budget was from nuclear facilities located there while he was mayor, "but the 'nuclear money' has made our industrial structure disproportionately depend on nuclear-related businesses," he said. "As a result, we have failed to cultivate other businesses."