P 291026Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL SAPPORO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0487
INFO DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL FUKUOKA PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL NAGOYA PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL NAHA PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE PRIORITY 
AMCONSUL SAPPORO

UNCLAS SAPPORO 000030 
 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/J, EEB/ESC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: JA ENRG ECON PGOV TRGY
SUBJECT: TOMARI: JAPAN'S NORTHERNMOST NUCLEAR COMMUNITY 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY. Sapporo Conoffs recently visited the town of 
Tomari, home to Hokkaido's only nuclear power facility. As a new 
nuclear reactor there that will be capable of burning mixed 
plutonium-uranium oxide (MOX) fuel prepares to come online, the 
community continues to benefit from subsidies and special 
attention from the Government of Japan and the Hokkaido Electric 
Power Company. With aversion to nuclear power facilities at new 
sites a concern, Japanese planners instead look towards 
communities like Tomari with existing nuclear facilities for 
opportunities to build advanced reactors. Such communities tend 
to be more willing to accept financial incentives for new 
reactors, especially as subsidy levels on existing reactors 
decline. END SUMMARY. 
 
NUCLEAR POLITICS IN ACTION IN HOKKAIDO 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Nuclear power is a central part of the Government of 
Japan (GOJ)'s strategy for meeting Japan's growing energy needs 
while simultaneously reducing carbon dioxide emissions. A 
network of 53 conventional nuclear reactors currently supplies 
30 percent of Japan's energy needs. Over the next few years, the 
GOJ plans to introduce plutonium-thermal power generation at new 
and existing reactors whereby mixed plutonium-uranium oxide fuel 
(MOX) will be burned for power generation.  The use of MOX, 
which is made from reprocessed spent fuel, is a step towards a 
closed nuclear energy cycle since Japan will be able to recycle 
some nuclear waste material when producing MOX. 
 
¶3. (U) In June 2009, Conoffs traveled two hours west of Sapporo 
to visit Hokkaido Electric Power Company's (HEPCO) Tomari 
nuclear power plant, one of up to 18 facilities nationwide 
designated by the GOJ for the future use of MOX fuel  to 
generate electric power. Located in the coastal town of Tomari, 
the facility is the only nuclear power plant on Japan's northern 
island of Hokkaido. Reactors No.1 and 2 there have been 
operational for two decades. HEPCO's Reactor No. 3, expected to 
come online in December 2009, is scheduled to begin burning MOX 
fuel in 2012. When the third reactor becomes fully operational, 
the three reactors combined will be able to supply about 
one-third of Hokkaido's total energy needs.  (Note: By 
comparison, 11 coal/ oil burning plants and 53 hydroelectric 
plants respectively produce 67 percent and 12 percent of 
Hokkaido's current energy. End note.) 
 
¶4. (U) While in Tomari, Conoffs met separately with Mayor 
Hiroomi Makino as well as HEPCO officials based at the Tomari 
nuclear plant. Plant officials also provided Conoffs with a tour 
of the plant's public relations center as well as a visit to all 
three reactors that featured explanations of the control rooms, 
the No. 3 Reactor's spent fuel pool, and the No. 2 and No. 3 
turbine casings.  The visit provided a useful snapshot of life 
in a Japanese community willing to accept the existence of a 
nuclear power plant in its midst. 
 
HOSTING A NUCLEAR PLANT PAYS OFF FOR LOCALS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) HEPCO's decision to construct a nuclear facility (and its 
actual 1989 completion) presented Tomari with an opportunity for 
economic revival. The town had been devastated after the 1964 
closing of the local Kayanuma coal mine, which caused its 
population to drop from 10,000 to just 2,000 today. Fishing, 
Tomari's other major industry, was unable to sustain the town as 
overfishing and gradually warmer ocean waters led to smaller 
catches of salmon and mackerel.  Without other economic options, 
Tomari agreed in 1968 to accept HEPCO's offer to construct a 
nuclear power plant. 
 
¶6. (U) This decision led to a windfall in nuclear power 
plant-related subsidies for Tomari. According to Mayor Makino, 
Tomari has no need for the standard GOJ subsidies that other 
towns in Hokkaido receive thanks to special subsidies gained by 
hosting three nuclear reactors as well as additional property 
taxes paid by HEPCO. The town boasts an annual budget of at 
least three billion yen ($42 million USD), an amount unheard of 
in other similar-sized Hokkaido towns. This large inflow of 
funds has spurred the development of numerous amenities and 
benefits for Tomari's residents.  These include free high speed 
internet access, free local cable television information access, 
a city-run digital television broadcasting antenna, and minimal 
rental fees at newly renovated community facilities, as well as 
cash payouts for significant personal life events such as 
marriage, births, home construction, and advanced age markers 
(turning 75, 90, 95, and 100). 
 
¶7. (U) Tomari also has a state-of-the-art health clinic for its 
2,000 residents that utilizes advanced medical equipment 
including CT scanning, X-rays, MRIs, and long-distance imaging 
consultation with medical experts in Sapporo. Mayor Makino 
proudly explained that his town's clinic is able to offer free 
health care to seniors at the age of 65, 10 years earlier than 
other Japanese communities. Residents needing more advanced 
care, however, are bused from Tomari to the nearest hospital 20 
kilometers away in the town of Iwanai. 
 
KEEPING THE PLANT SECURE -- 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Despite the wealth that it brings to the community, the 
Tomari nuclear facility itself is hidden on the outskirts of 
town behind the base of a steep cliff on the Sea of Japan coast. 
To enter the nuclear plant's actual facility, visitors must 
travel downhill and progress through a number of gates and 
checkpoints. The newly-built third reactor has additional 
checkpoints. HEPCO plant officials explained that security has 
increased following the September 11th terrorist attacks and a 
series of small arson fires that occurred during construction of 
Reactor No. 3. 
 
¶9. (U) The buildings housing the reactors themselves appeared to 
be modern and clean. Plant officials stated they were originally 
built to withstand seismic activity but have also been upgraded 
to apply building code changes introduced at nuclear plants 
across Japan after the 2007 Niigata earthquake. Reactors No. 1 
and No.2 share a combined control room with equipment 
approximately twenty years old while Reactor No. 3's control 
room houses the latest digital monitoring equipment available. 
Approximately 400 total employees work at the Tomari nuclear 
plant. 
 
-- WHILE ALLEVIATING LOCAL SAFETY CONCERNS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) HEPCO has invested heavily in efforts to convince Tomari 
residents as well as the rest of Hokkaido's population that 
their nuclear facility is safe. A multi-million dollar public 
relations center built outside of the nuclear facility complex 
greets visitors passing through town on a stretch of highway 
built in part with HEPCO funds. The center offers 
family-oriented, interactive multimedia displays designed to 
teach visitors about both the safety of nuclear power in general 
and the Tomari nuclear plant specifically.   The center's indoor 
swimming pool as well as its archeological exhibits of Jomon-era 
pottery excavated at the plant construction sites and 
climate-controlled, living ecosystem displays also attempt to 
offer recreational and expanded educational opportunities to 
local residents. 
 
¶11. (U) Furthermore, HEPCO invites two separate committees to 
conduct regular safety inspections of the HEPCO Tomari facility. 
One committee, comprised of residents with no nuclear expertise 
from Tomari and other nearby towns, conducts general visits to 
the plant to provide local residents with visual confirmation 
that there are no problems at the nuclear facility. A second 
committee comprised of nuclear energy specialists travels from 
Sapporo to Tomari regularly to conduct scientifically-based 
safety inspections. The results of both committee inspections 
are made available to the Tomari Town Hall. HEPCO also conducts 
its own periodic inspections and shares the results with Tomari, 
the Hokkaido Prefectural Government and the Government of Japan. 
 
¶12. (U) HEPCO employees hold regular emergency response drills 
at the Tomari nuclear facility. HEPCO also monitors readings 
from radiation detectors installed throughout the area. The 
Hokkaido prefectural government maintains a separate monitoring 
and response station across the street from the HEPCO public 
relations' center. In the event of a nuclear incident, an area 
encompassing a ten kilometer radius around the Tomari nuclear 
plant would be the focal point for disaster response teams. 
Tomari's mayor and HEPCO officials both told Conoffs that 
neither Tomari's health clinic nor the nearby Iwanai hospital 
are equipped to handle radiation poisoning or other 
radiation-related afflictions. In an emergency, victims would be 
airlifted by helicopter or driven two hours to hospitals in 
Sapporo. 
 
COMMENT 
-------- 
¶13. (U) The financial benefits and special attention garnished 
on the town of Tomari stand as testament to the lengths that the 
GOJ and Japanese energy companies will go to convince rural 
communities to accept the construction of nuclear power plants. 
The acceptance of a third reactor by Tomari citizens may also 
reflect the future of nuclear power plant construction in Japan. 
As not-in-my-backyard sentiments continue to discourage nuclear 
power plant construction at new sites, Japanese planners look 
towards existing nuclear facilities for opportunities to build 
new reactors. Communities like Tomari addicted to nuclear 
subsidies are more eager to accept new reactors for financial 
gain, especially as subsidy levels on existing reactors decline. 
This cable was cleared by Embassy Tokyo. 
 
 
WELTON