Editing Osaka (section)

=== Energy policies ===
==== Nuclear power ====
On February 27, 2012, three Kansai cities, [[Kyoto]], Osaka, and [[Kobe]], jointly asked [[Kansai Electric Power Company]] to break its dependence on nuclear power. In a letter to KEPCO they also requested to disclose information on the demand and supply of electricity, and for lower and stable prices. The three cities were stockholders of the plant: Osaka owned 9% of the shares, while Kobe had 3% and Kyoto 0.45%. Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, announced a proposal to minimize the dependence on nuclear power for the shareholders meeting in June 2012.<ref>The Mainichi Shimbun (February 27, 2012)[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120227p2g00m0dm044000c.html 3 major Kansai cities aim to break dependence on nuclear power] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120710025044/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120227p2g00m0dm044000c.html |date=July 10, 2012 }}</ref>

On March 18, 2012, the city of Osaka decided as largest shareholder of Kansai Electric Power Co, that at the next shareholders-meeting in June 2012 it would demand a series of changes:
* that Kansai Electric would be split into two companies, separating power generation from power transmission.
* a reduction of the number of the utility's executives and employees.
* the implementation of absolutely secure measurements to ensuring the safety of the nuclear facilities.
* the disposing of spent fuel.
* the installation of new kind of thermal power generation to secure non-nuclear supply of energy.
* selling all unnecessary assets including the stock holdings of KEPCO.
In this action, Osaka had secured the support of two other cities and shareholders: [[Kyoto]] and [[Kobe]], but with their combined voting-rights of 12.5 percent they were not certain of the ultimate outcome, because for this two-thirds of the shareholders would be needed to agree to revise the corporate charter.<ref>The Mainichi Shimbun (March 19, 2012) [http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120319p2g00m0dm011000c.html Osaka aims to end Kansai Electric's nuclear power ops as shareholder] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319172039/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120319p2g00m0dm011000c.html|date=March 19, 2012}}</ref>

At a meeting held on April 10, 2012, by the "energy strategy council", formed by the city of Osaka and the governments of the prefectures, it became clear that at the end of the fiscal year 2011 some 69 employees of Kansai Electric Power Company were former public servants. "[[Amakudari]]" was the Japanese name for this practice of rewarding by hiring officials that formerly controlled and supervised the firm. Such people included the following:
* 13 ex-officials of the: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
* 3 ex-officials of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,
* 2 ex-officials of the Ministry of the Environment,
* 16 former policemen,
* 10 former fire-fighters,
* 13 former civil engineers.

Besides this, it became known that Kansai Electric had done about 600 external financial donations, to a total sum of about 1.695&nbsp;billion yen:
* 70 donations were paid to local governments: to a total of 699&nbsp;million yen
* 100 donations to public-service organizations: 443&nbsp;million yen,
* 430 donations to various organizations and foundations: a total of 553&nbsp;million yen
During this meeting some 8 conditions were compiled, that needed to be fulfilled before a restart of the No.3 and No.4 reactors Oi Nuclear Power Plant:
* the consent of the local people and government within 100 kilometer from the plant
* the installation of a new independent regulatory agency
* a nuclear safety agreement
* the establishment of new nuclear safety standards
* stress tests and evaluations based on these new safety rules<ref>The Mainichi Shimbun (April 10, 2012) [http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120410p2a00m0na014000c.html Kansai Electric, affiliates had 69 ex-bureaucrats employed as execs as of end of fiscal 2011] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414140532/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120410p2a00m0na014000c.html |date=April 14, 2012 }}</ref>