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Another hurdle will be gaining local support for the plants to restart. While local consent is not legally required for that to happen, authorities generally want to win local backing and make efforts to do so. Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa, however, says he will not allow a startup of any of the prefecture's commercial reactors. And the city assembly in Obama -- a town that briefly enjoyed international fame when it endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 U.S. presidential race- has submitted an appeal to the central Tokyo government to make Japan nuclear-free. But officials in Mihama, another town that hosts a nuclear plant, have expressed support for the town's three reactors also operated by Kansai Electric, also called Kepco. Fukui is a largely rural area, traditionally focused on fishing and farming, but it has a significant textile and machinery industry, and boasts of being a major producer of eye-glasses. Its nuclear power plants supply approximately half of all the electricity used in the greater Kansai region, which includes Osaka and Kyoto. Several towns' fortunes are tied closely to the nuclear industry. Community centers and roads are paid by the government subsidies for hosting the plants. Closing the plants not only means losing jobs for thousands of workers, but hardship for stores, restaurants and other service industries. Many of those interviewed had family members, relatives or friends with jobs at the plants, and some refused to give their names due to fear of repercussions. Noda has said the final decision on restarting nuclear plants would be political, suggesting that the government would override any local opposition if Japan's energy needs become dire. Naozane Sakashita, a taxi and bus driver, said his salary had decreased "substantially" after the Ohi and other plants went offline. "I think these idle plants should resume as soon as their safety is confirmed," he said. "Our jobs and daily life are more important than a disaster that occurs only once in a million years." Still, he said he is concerned about the safety of the plants because his son works as a control room operator at the Takahama plant. "If our economy prospers without compromising our safety, of course it would be best to live without nuclear energy," he said.
[Associated
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