海角大神

Two and a half years after a tsunami devastated Tokyo Electric Power Company鈥檚 six reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan鈥檚 political establishment is divided over the country鈥檚 nuclear future. Prior to the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe Japan was the world鈥檚 third largest producer of nuclear power after the U.S. and France. Japan is now the world's largest importer of LNG, second largest importer of coal and the third largest net importer of oil.

conducted by NHK earlier this month found that nearly half of those responding were against the Nuclear Regulation Authority鈥檚 plan to allow the restart of closed NPPs after safety checks.聽 Only 19 percent of those polls approved of the plan, 32 percent were undecided, and 45 percent were against it. When a second question asked if those polled approved or disapproved of TEPCO鈥檚 handling of Fukushima Daiichi of leaks of radioactive wastewater from the crippled nuclear complex, 68 percent of responders said they disapproved, only 27 percent approved.

If there is good news for TEPCO, the figures are better than those from a September 2011 poll by the Japanese newspaper聽, which found that as many as 70 percent of respondents to an opinion poll called for a quick or gradual decrease in the number of NPPs. (Related article:聽)听

The debate is ongoing, as on 24 October Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe disagreed with his earlier mentor, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who supports the closure of Japan鈥檚 nuclear power industry, labeling the suggestion as 鈥渋rresponsible.鈥�

Abe鈥檚 reason?

贵颈苍补苍肠颈补濒.听聽that Japan is still not ready to totally rely on thermal power generation as it is still too 鈥渆xpensive.鈥�

Abe added that Japan is losing roughly $41 billion in national wealth annually because all 48 of 50 of Japan鈥檚 NPPs nuclear reactors are currently offline, noting, 鈥淲e will be in big trouble if this continues.鈥� The same day, during an Upper House budget committee meeting, Social Democratic Party leader Tadatomo Yoshida again urged Abe to reject the current administration鈥檚 promotion of nuclear power generation and even showed photos of Koizumi and Abe鈥檚 wife Akie Abe, who is vocal about her opposition to nuclear power. Other Japanese politicians supporting Koizumi鈥檚 call include Your Party chief Yoshimi Watanabe, Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the People鈥檚 Life First Party, and former Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the Democratic Party of Japan.聽(Related article:聽)

In the meantime, the Japanese economy is scrambling to replace the electricity lost from the shutdown of the nation鈥檚 NPPs. The U.S. government鈥檚 Energy Information Agency聽, 鈥淭he Japanese government and electric utilities have taken several steps to ensure power supply meets demand following the Fukushima crisis. Some of these measures for thermal power stations include restoring some of the disaster-affected plants, relaxed regulations on inspections of the stations, and restarting mothballed oil-fueled stations. Also, the government promoted power restraints for consumers in the disaster-affected areas throughout 2011, invoking a 15- percent power reduction on all consumer groups.鈥�

And the future?

Richard J. Samuels, Ford International Professor of Political Science, director of the Center for International Studies at MIT and Japan expert at the National Bureau of Asian Research in a 22 October 22 report said that聽聽nukes using North Korea and China as a pretext, writing, 鈥淢ost of the Japanese people are still against having nuclear weapons. However, due to recent developments in the domestic and international arena, they might rethink the issue. Japan鈥檚 biggest concern is North Korea. If the North Korean regime collapses or is attacked by outside forces, it is possible that Pyongyang will launch a nuclear attack on Tokyo with the nothing-to-lose mentality. On top of that, it鈥檚 doubtful whether the North can control its own nuclear arsenal.鈥�

It will be interesting to see what a poll of the Japanese people makes of Professor Samuels鈥� observations.

Original article:聽