Activists, residents in Japan protest against restart of two Sendai nuclear reactors located less than 150km from recent quakes’ epicentre

Citizens’ groups, local residents and prominent anti-nuclear activists are calling on the operator of the Sendai nuclear power plant, which is less than 150km from the epicentre of Saturday’s massive earthquake, to suspend operations at the facility.

In a letter sent to the headquarters of Kyushu Electric Power Co on Sunday, the protestors said events at the Fukushima nuclear plant after the March 2011 earthquake show the danger that faces the Sendai facility.

The two reactors at Sendai, in Kagoshima Prefecture, are the only two that have been granted permission by the Nuclear Regulation Authority to restart operations. The first reactor was restarted on August 11, with Naoto Kan, the former prime minister, among he protestors demonstrating outside the main gates of the plant.

“Based on the experience at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, it is clear to everyone that it would be too late if you waited for some abnormality to occur,” the message sent to Kyushu Electric read.

Among those who have signed the letter are writers Keiko Ochiai, Takashi Hirose and Hisae Sawachi, as well as Nodoka Yamada, a university student who is a member of the Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy.

The Japanese Communist Party has also called on the government to shut the Sendai plant as the aftershocks appeared to be spreading across the island of Kyushu.

“We are very worried, for a number of reasons,” said Aileen Mioko-Smith, an activist with Kyoto-based Green Action Japan.