nuclear-news

Japan’s leaders cave in to pressure: will keep nuclear power

Japan’s leaders give up on quitting nuclear power Although Japan’s 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster set much of the public against nuclear power, politicians are not convinced. Christian Science Momitor By Gavin Blair, Correspondent / November 5, 2012 TOKYO In mid-September, Japan said it would close all 50 of its nuclear reactors by “the end of the 2030s.”

Days later, the administration backtracked in the  face of opposition from the main business lobby and some senior lawmakers in Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s own Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Although the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has profoundly increased the public’s antipathy toward nuclear power, politicians have yet to be convinced.

“The majority of Japanese people are now against nuclear power, but none of the major political parties are listening to them,” says Hisayo
Takada, a Greenpeace Japan energy campaigner.

What happened? Mr. Noda’s approval ratings plummeted below 20 percent,
and he looks certain to lose the election his party must call by
September 2013, so he’s doing what he can to garner lobby support.
………
If Japan’s people truly want to see a change in nuclear policy,
electing politicians who share those views may be the only option.
Until now, the only antinuclear platforms have been those of the small
Socialist and Communist parties. With the formation this July of a
third party, the Green Party, voters do have another choice in the
upcoming election.

Ultimately, says Ms. Takada, echoing the concerns of many Japanese,
“There have been more than 1,000 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more in
Japan in the last year; nuclear power can’t be safe in that
situation.”  http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2012/1105/Japan-s-leaders-give-up-on-quitting-nuclear-power

November 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics