Hokkaido Electric solicited staff for pro-pluthermal nuke project opinions

[kristopher]

Pluthermal is short for plutonium-thermal and refers to the use of mixed plutonium-uranium fuel. It was the fuel in Daiichi reactor #4 that was in the pool waiting to be loaded. There apparently was united public opposition to the use in this reactor in the northernmost island of Japan, so the utility called on employees to submit anonymous letters of support to make it look like many local residents were in favor of the initiative.

Hokkaido Electric solicited staff for pro-pluthermal nuke project opinions

SAPPORO -- A Hokkaido Electric Power Co. staffer issued an internal memo encouraging employees to voice support for the so-called pluthermal project at the Tomari Nuclear Power Plant's No. 3 reactor, according to sources close to the matter.

..."Hokkaido Electric employees are also local residents. We are also accepting opinions from those who request anonymity," the memo says. It also mentions asking members of a group of intellectuals set up at the time by the Hokkaido prefectural government to study the safety of the pluthermal program to speed up deliberations.

...A third-party investigative panel established by Hokkaido Electric found the memo among internal e-mails in September this year, but its content was not released at the time as the Hokkaido government believed it lacked credibility.

According to sources, Satoru Murai -- then chief of the nuclear power safety section and now director general of the prefectural government's Kushiro promotion bureau -- was quoted in the memo as saying, "Only opinions against" the pluthermal project have been heard, adding, "Hokkaido Electric employees are also local residents, aren't they?" and "We are also accepting opinions labeled, 'XX town, name withheld by request'."...

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111118p2a00m0na006000c.html

See also: How the nuclear industry uses its bloggers network to lie to the public
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