nuclear-news

Nuclear phaseout a key election policy for Japan’s ruling party

62.6 percent opposed the use of nuclear energy, giving scores between zero and 4, with 17.8 percent saying they think Japan should idle all nuclear plants immediately.

DPJ vow for next poll: a nuclear phaseout, Japan Times 14 Aug 12, Role for Kan urged to draft pre-election energy goals Kyodo Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s party is arranging to make a nuclear phaseout a key policy pledge in the next general election, sources in the Democratic Party of Japan said.

The DPJ’s plan comes amid widespread opposition to the continued use of nuclear energy. Noda has drawn strong public protests over his
recent decision to approve the restart of two reactors at the Oi power
plant in Fukui Prefecture, the first reactivations since all of the
country’s reactors went offline amid the Fukushima nuclear disaster
that started last year.

Many DPJ lawmakers fear the ruling party, via the restarts, signalled
to the public that it is keen on using nuclear power when this is not
the case, a senior party member said Sunday.

DPJ members said earlier this month that the DPJ will set up a panel
to discuss the potential pledge for the House of Representatives
election, which Noda said last week will take place “soon.”…
0% against nuke power

Over 60 percent of the Japanese public thinks the country should give
up nuclear power, a recent Jiji Press survey said.

About half of the respondents opposed restarting the dozens of idled
nuclear reactors.

The survey covered 1,211 men and women 20 or older across the country
between July 6 and 16.

In face-to-face interviews, respondents rated their attitudes toward
various issues related to nuclear energy on a scale of zero to 10,
with 5 meaning “neither agree or disagree.”

Of the respondents, 62.6 percent opposed the use of nuclear energy,
giving scores between zero and 4, with 17.8 percent saying they think
Japan should idle all nuclear plants immediately.

By contrast, 9.7 percent assigned scores between 6 and 10 suggesting
that Japan should continue using nuclear.

The results of the survey, the ninth by the news agency on national
nuclear power use since May 2011, showed parallels with the previous
surveys…http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120814a1.html

August 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics