nuclear-news

Success for nuclear lobby, as Japan backs down on phasing out nuclear power

Japan, Under Pressure, Backs Off Goal to Phase Out Nuclear Power by 2040  NYT, By HIROKO TABUCHI  19 Sept 12 TOKYO — In an abrupt turnabout, the Japanese government on Wednesday stopped short of formally adopting the momentous goal it announced just last week — to phase out nuclear power by 2040 — after the plan drew intense opposition from business groups and communities whose economies depend on local nuclear power plants
The cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda  said it would “take into consideration” the 2040 goal, but formally endorsed only a vague promise to “engage in debate with local governments and international society and to gain public understanding” in deciding Japan ’s economic future in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Energy policy will be developed “with flexibility, based on tireless verification and re-examination,” the cabinet’s resolution read.

A day earlier, the chairmen of Japan’s most prominent business associations, including the influential Keidanren group, called a rare joint news conference to demand that Mr. Noda abandon the 2040 goal. On Wednesday, they praised the cabinet’s decision.

The deadline “was not a viable option in the first place,” Tadashi Okamura, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said at a news conference.

Nuclear critics had been suspicious of the government’s promise last week, saying the announced plans were vague and drawn out, and included troubling loopholes. On Wednesday, after the cabinet’s rollback, they called the government indecisive and weak-kneed.

But business groups criticized any move away from nuclear power as impractical and a death knell for Japanese manufacturers, which have already lost much of their competitive edge to cheaper rivals elsewhere in Asia. And communities across Japan that host nuclear facilities feared losing government subsidies, tax revenues and jobs.They also worried that they would become the final dumping ground for spent nuclear fuel stored at their plants.

The government’s reversal came as it officially opened a new agency on Wednesday to oversee the nuclear industry, a bid to regain the public’s trust. Japan got rid of its previous nuclear regulator after criticism that it had been drawn into a cozy, collusive relationship with plant operators and had failed to take the necessary steps to prevent a disaster like Fukushima.

But the new body has already come under fire, with criticism focusing on Shunichi Tanaka, the head of a five-person committee that would set nuclear policy and retain oversight over the new agency.

Mr. Tanaka is considered suspect by those who favor tighter regulation because he helped lead a former government commission tasked with building a strong nuclear industry, raising fears that the new regulator will be as lax as the previous one……  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/world/asia/japan-backs-off-of-goal-to-phase-out-nuclear-power-by-2040.html

September 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics