Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 2

Kakuei Tanaka and Money for Nuclear Power Plant Localities


In the Fall of 1972, then Fukushima Governor Kimura Morie approached Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei with a request. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor No 1 had been operating for two years, but the only income to its host locality was property taxes, a source of funds that would decline as the plant depreciated. To Governor Kimura, this was unfair. Prefectures and localities in which the plant's electricity was consumed reaped taxes on this consumption. 



Governor Kimura found an eagerly receptive audience in Prime Minister Tanaka. A nuclear power plant was under construction in Mr. Tanaka's home electoral district in Niigata. He had been hearing similar pleas.


Then chairman of the Prefectural Government Association on Nuclear Power, Mr. Kimura's subsequent  lobbying was aided by the 1973 oil shock. The Three Power Source Development Laws became law in June 1974. Through 2009, 269.4 billion yen flowed to Fukushima Prefecture as a result.  


Previous post in series: Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 1
Next post in series: Nuclear Power and Fukushima Finances 3


Note about series:


Fukushima Minpo is the oldest and most established newspaper in Fukushima Prefecture. The series of articles on which this post is based explores the financial side of being host to electric power plants. I am excerpting it for this blog because it is written by and for the people most affected by the Fukushima Daiichi accident. This perspective is rare, if not nonexistent, in English reporting about the accident.


Comments are welcome if they constructively add insight to the perspective of this series. Unless submitted by residents of Fukushima or people otherwise directly affected by the accident, advocacy comments will be deleted without acknowledgement.


Source:
Fukushima Minpo, 「【攻防　電力マネー2】首相に交付金 熱望　立地当時、恩恵求め」, "[Offense & Defense: Electric Power Money 2] Eager Request to Prime Minister for Funds," 2011-12-21, http://www.minpo.jp/pub/topics/jishin2011/2011/12/post_2804.html, Accessed 2011-12-31