nuclear-news

Nuclear power is the hot issue in Japan’s Feb 9 gubernatorial election

Election spotlight on nuclear power Japan Times, 16 Jan 14, Whether Japan should rely on nuclear power generation will be a main theme in the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election as a result of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa’s announcement Tuesday that he will run in the election on a “zero nuclear” platform.

His entry will have a great impact on the gubernatorial race as he has secured the wholehearted support of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has renounced his earlier stance favoring nuclear power and now is a strong anti-nuclear advocate, causing embarrassment to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party. Making a zero-nuclear goal the focus of policy debate in the gubernatorial election is both timely and welcome in view of the devastation that the meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have caused and of the fact that Japan is a quake-prone country.

Moreover, there is no established technology that will ensure safe storage of high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants for tens of thousands years.Kenji Utsunomiya, a former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, had already announced his candidacy focusing on abandoning nuclear power…..Whether Japan should abandon nuclear power or not will be a major election issue. Given the scope of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, the vulernability of nuclear power plants in this quake-prone country and the absence of technology to safely store high-level radioactive waste, clearly much is at stake regarding Japan’s future………http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/01/16/editorials/election-spotlight-on-nuclear-power/#.UtmkJNJdV9U

January 18, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized