nuclear-news

Comprehensive agenda, anti-nuclear failures ensured Masuzoe victory, Japan Times 10 Feb 14 Yoichi Masuzoe’s ability to address a wide range of issues and the failure of his rivals to keep the public’s attention focused on nuclear energy were the keys to his victory in Sunday’s Tokyo gubernatorial election, experts say……

Meiji Gakuin University professor Tomoya Kaji said. “The camps that were calling for phasing out nuclear power were not able to make the matter an important issue.”

Aoyama, however, said the election didn’t see enough discussion of the matter. He said that if the candidates had taken nuclear energy more seriously, they would have discussed not only the makeup of Tokyo’s energy sources, but also how to deal with electricity prices, transmission and distribution after abolition.

“It was not good that the candidates didn’t provide a viable path to” zero-nuclear dependence, Aoyama said……

Moreover, it appears the anti-nuclear vote was split, despite recent requests by a group of anti-nuclear activists that either Hosokawa or Utsunomiya drop out. The two appeared to be running even.

According to a Tokyo Shimbun telephone survey conducted from Feb. 3 to 5 on 1,006 residents, the backing of the 53.3 percent of respondents who oppose reactor restarts was split among Masuzoe, Hosokawa and Utsunomiya, the former chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations…… http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/02/09/national/comprehensive-agenda-anti-nuclear-failures-ensured-masuzoe-victory/#.UvjWzW