抄録
In Japan, safety of nuclear facilities is regulated by the central government and local governments are responsible for protecting the local public. To operate nuclear facilities in local communities, local governments would conclude safety agreements with power companies. In recent years, local governments have used the safety agreements as excuse for delaying the operations of nuclear facilities. The legal basis of the safety agreements was questioned by some who considered that this was the cause of the stranded relationship between local governments and power companies, and in some cases, the interrupted nature of electricity supply. To understand the sources of this difficult relationship, safety agreements must be analyzed, although these documents may have undergone revisions, and various regulations may have changed. By analyzing the safety agreements and revisions, we found that the relationship between local governments and power companies gradually changed over time, which can be divided into the following 3 stages: (1) in the early 70s, the dawn stage when local governments groped with the situation of nuclear facilities built in their communities; (2) from late 70s to 90s, the stage when local governments demanded information, and (3) from late 90s to present, the stage when local governments demand information and trustworthiness. This paper shows the results of analyzing the relationship changes between local governments and power companies. We conclude that viewpoints of local governments on nuclear power evolve, as social responsibilities of power companies stipulated in safety agreements also evolve over time.
