nuclear-news

‘Atomic Abe’ taking Japan into a dangerous nuclear situation

Nuclear energy costs still rising, three years on from Fukushima, SMH,  11 Mar 14 #……Atomic Abe The arrival of Abe as prime minister in December 2012, gave a boost to the pro-nuclear camp. Cutting energy costs is part of his plan to revitalize the economy.

Abe’s push on nuclear shows how polarizing the issue is in Japan.

At least three former prime ministers have publicly opposed the current premier on reactor restarts, including Junichiro Koizumi, Abe’s mentor and one of Japan’s most-popular postwar leaders. Naoto Kan, prime minister at the time of the 2011 quake, is another.

“The reason I’m against nuclear is that people cannot fully control it,” Kan told reporters in a briefing in December.

Industrial accidents can happen, but nothing on the scale of nuclear, he said. A worst-case scenario for Fukushima would have made a third of Japan’s land uninhabitable, Kan said. Opponents also point to the cost of nuclear accidents. The government has estimated it’ll take 11 trillion yen and 40 years to clean up the Fukushima site.

Japan Inc

The former prime ministers find themselves in an unusual place on the opposite side of the argument from Japan Inc.,……..http://www.smh.com.au/environment/nuclear-energy-costs-still-rising-three-years-on-from-fukushima-20140311-34ii6.html

March 11, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics