Gyoson Hassle
Chapter 1
Gyoson – February 2011Part 1The Government of Honto has pushed for negotiations with the local government of Government of Ryoshi Island in their capital Gyoson, together with the main Energy Consortium of the Airanzu region, the Denryoku Energy Company, owner of the last Nuclear Facility in whole New Delfos. The Denryoku committee for the negotiations has arrived earlier and is waiting in the meeting room: Nagatomo is one of the Public Relations negotiators of the company; Horisaki is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Facility of Geioshu, near the capital Gyoson; and Roberto Sousa is the Chief Engineer of the facility that is part of the team responsible to design a plan to close down the Nuclear Facility.
Nagatomo reaches for the window to see the crowd gathered outside the building. He spreads the shades apart and looks at the protesters, all shouting anti-nuclear slogans, people with megaphones inciting them, banners with smiling suns saying “Nuclear Power? No thanks”. He feels sympathetic to the anti-nuclear people but representing Denryoku has nothing to do with being in favor or against Nuclear Power. The messages he gets from the company’s bosses is that it’s unfortunate but necessary because of political pressure to close down the facility, but they can’t give in any pressure to close early, they need to guarantee their dominance in the Airanzu region, Honto (Main island of Airanzu) cannot concede to the outside pressure.
The door opens and turns Nagatomo away from his thoughts, a beautiful seijin woman enters followed by a well-dressed man, nodding with her head at the Denryoky committee and introducing herself, I’m Akie Atami, the president of the elected government of Ryoshi Island, welcome all to Gyoson Government Hall. The Honto government officials will be arriving shortly, if you wish to print some documents you can leave them with my secretary.
Ah, so this is the President of Ryoshi, I thought she’d be older, Nagatomo thought. Horisaki cordially introduces himself and the team, and states, We’ve already given the documents to your staff Mrs Atami, we’ve been told it’d be taken care of. Yes we’ll be giving out the documents as soon as the Honto Government arrives, can we get you anything to drink or eat meanwhile? Asks the well-dressed secretary, everybody just asks for water. Nagatomo walks to the table and picks a seat next to the Denryoku co-workers.
Not long after, the Honto president arrives with the Minister of Environment, Territory and Energy, accompanied with a small staff. They all introduce themselves, like if we didn’t know who they were, Ryo Kurokawa and Minister Kawasaki. Mrs Atami’s secretary walks in the room and distributes the documents, Nagatomo looks surprised on the amount of papers being distributed, but in all fairness, Sousa’s Engineer team reports and plans make up most of the content. Nagatomo asks for a quick note before the session, I just want to say that, in the interest of environment, we suggest next time there’s this much work-load of documents we can just project them on the wall or show on a screen, we’ve brought everything digitalized and there’s no need to print this much paper. Mrs Atami smiles at him and says, We welcome this suggestion, it’s just customary that everybody has their documents available in front of them, but we will make sure this suggestion is considered next time.
The tedious meeting starts, most of the first part is for bureaucracy sake. Then Roberto Sousa is given word to talk about the reports of the Engineer team of the Geioshu Nuclear Power Complex, stating everything is ok with the factory, all maintenance has been successful, the shipments of nuclear waste are all going to plan, the anti-nuclear activists that tried to assault the Ship that supposedly contained the nuclear waste was unsuccessful because the shipment was done in a different ship as suggested by the Police Commander of Ryoshi. Then he starts talking about the plans the Denryoku team came up projecting the information on the wall. Nagatomo takes the time to look at the other faces to see if everybody is following, the Honto Government staff are all taking notes but the President and the Minister are super bored, the Minister is even looking at his cellphone. Mrs Atami on the other hand looks amazingly interested, I don’t know if she’s trying to show professionalism, unfortunately it’s important being a woman in a man’s world.
(update)
After briefing about the plans, Ryo Kurokawa prepares a long explanation. We're not trying to make any obligation to follow the short-term plan, but the pressure we're getting from the other regions in the New Delfos Council and our regional politics are forcing for a shorter solution than the most long-term plans your team have came up with. We understand the need of transition but frankly you have a fearsome competition trying to set foot in Airanzu. You all know that the Sbbasburg consortium has won the exploration of the westernmost islands and, I am concerned as well as you are for the prosperity of one of our strongest companies.
Everything you request will be guaranteed, we guarantee also that the research funds will be gradually transferred to Denryoku's Geioshu branch while you convert your workforce for this research program. We need you to give us a better plan for the clean energy research and development, faster and larger than you are presenting here, otherwise the funds will be harder to be transfered at higher rate than they are now. About the Phase-out plans we're also concerned but I prefer my colleague to formulate our concerns.
Minister Kawasaki asks his staff for the bullet points, quickly reviews them and starts talking.
We are pleased that Denryoku is willing to decommission the nuclear power plant in it's short-term plans, but we can assure an investment in certain processes to accelerate the decommissioning.
The entombment can be faster if we push it for the developing funds of New Delfos, they'll guarantee 70% head-start up to 85% investment in that area, I think your budget projections fit on their parameters.
You are also projecting the clean-up converting your workforce and budget, we prefer that the workforce, like President Kurokawa said, be converted to the clean-energy R&D. Use the decommissioning fund to hire companies, there are a few in New Delfos and I wouldn't be surprised if you could get companies from other places like any of those Cefnor countries that are also decommissioning nuclear power plants. Again, anything you need that the Airanzu Government can facilitate we're here to serve.
Minister Kawasaki went on and on, Nagatomo was losing grip of his attention span when the Minister concluded and Mrs Atami was going to talk.
Mr Kurokawa and Kawasaki, we're glad we could make this meeting happen and we thank you for flying all the way from Nishi to be here, but part of what I'm glad is that I hear too many sweet words about how this phase-out program can be quick and painless. We have enough data from decommissioning facilities in Kusjk and Budyenpol that even after 20 years they are spending large amounts of budget annually in clean-up, prevention and fixing flaws in the entombment. I'd rather trust in the Denryoku decommissioning team, their reports say we cannot do this any faster. There's also a risk when you bring up investment programs that it will generate precarious employment just for closing down the plant. With your current approval of the New Delfos treaties limiting our fishing quotas we'll have hard time preparing to a new reality without a plant that was even generating exportation. We're concerned with any direct and indirect problems the closing of the Geishu plant will bring to Ryoshi island.
Mrs Atami, President Kurokawa interrupted, we're not here for a political debate. We understand the concerns of the local government and we want to minimize any hardship there may be, we've all signed a pledge, including other regions, that we will always be in the same boat concerning closing down the Gyoson - Geioshu Nuclear Power Plant. We will consider pushing for the longer version of the plan so the transition is safer and more accepted.
After a few exchanges of words, Nagatomo said, We've reached the limit of this meeting, we compromise that we'll try to reformulate some of the plans before the meeting in Delfingrado, we can say that we share the concerns of the local government and most of this was already negotiated with them. Nagatomo folded his notes and everybody got ready to end that meeting.
