On the 31st, Kansai Electric Power Company President Nozomu Mori visited Osaka City Hall and held his first opinion exchange meeting with Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama. Osaka City is the largest shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Company.

The two men discussed for around 50 minutes the progress of improvements to internal governance, which KEPCO has identified as an issue, and its approach to nuclear power generation, and each answered questions from the press.

Mayor Yokoyama Hideyuki, who responded to an interview earlier, said about the nature of nuclear power generation operations, “I believe that one of our social responsibilities is to establish methods for final disposal and recycling before we increase the number of nuclear power plants any further.I have been saying this for a long time, and it is an issue that has not been easily resolved, so I will continue to insist on it,” making it clear that there are points on which he and KEPCO cannot agree.

Three minutes after the mayor left, KEPCO President Mori was interviewed at the same venue. When asked by a reporter about the compromise, he said, “Which should come first (establishment of processing and reuse, or the expansion of nuclear power plants)? If you get too deep into this, there’s no answer.”
“I explained that this is not just an issue for KEPCO, but an important theme in the country’s nuclear policy, and that it is important that the whole of Japan work together to realize this,” he said, indicating his intention to move forward with both projects in parallel.

Mayor Yokoyama reflected, “We were able to have a very practical and in-depth discussion, so it was a very positive experience for me,” and expressed his intention to hold more meetings in the future.