Japan Still Divided Over
Nuclear Power After Fukushima
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
By Carol J. Williams
April 17, 2012
The prospect of power shortages in Japan this summer, of
stifling city apartments and manufacturing slowdowns, has
divided a country still reeling from the worst nuclear
catastrophe since Chernobyl over whether to restart some of
its idled reactors.
The government contends that the country can't afford not to
resume nuclear energy production.
The last operating nuclear reactor in Japan, on the
northernmost main island of Hokkaido, will be taken off line
May 5 for stress tests and safety improvements. Japan's 53
other reactors were shut down after the March 11, 2011,
earthquake and tsunami, which killed thousands of people.
The inundation damaged cooling systems at the
Fukushima Daiichi power complex, causing three reactor
meltdowns, mass evacuations, food and farmland
contamination, and profound distrust of the nuclear power
industry.
Japan generated 30% of its electricity from nuclear plants
before the disaster 13 months ago, and energy companies are
now warning consumers and industries that they could face a
doubling of their power bills if the country continues to
import fossil fuels to replace the lost nuclear output.
Pocketbook concerns may do little to boost public confidence
in resuming nuclear generation, though, if sentiments
expressed in a recent poll published by the Tokyo Shimbun
newspaper persist through the summer, when urban Japanese
are accustomed to turning on the air conditioning.
Nearly 80% of 3,000 Japanese surveyed by the Japan Assn. for
Public Opinion Research said they wanted to get rid of
nuclear plants for good, although most said a gradual
phasing out would be acceptable to avoid power shortages.
Those supportive of restarting some reactors in the short
term outnumbered those opposed by more than 2 to 1.
Sensing an opportunity to rid the island nation of nuclear
power, Greenpeace Japan has stepped up its lobbying against
government plans to restart two reactors at Ohi in Fukui
prefecture. The environmental watchdog group has reminded
wary Japanese of the price they paid in lives, health and
security in the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdowns, the
worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in
the former Soviet Union.
"Japan is practically nuclear free, and the impact on daily
life is invisible," Junichi Sato, Greenpeace Japan's
executive director said recently, disputing assertions that
there is a need to restart reactors.
Economy and Industry Minister Yukio Edano signaled the start
of a hearts-and-minds campaign this week when he said the
two Ohi reactors have "more or less" met the demanding
safety standards recommended by Japanese and international
nuclear experts after Fukushima.
An inspection team of the International Atomic Energy Agency
visited the Ohi power complex in January and concluded last
month that the upgrades made at the reactors were "generally
consistent with IAEA safety standards," said team leader
James Lyons, director of the Vienna-based agency's facility
safety division.
Edano has called on the governor of Fukui, Issei Nishikawa,
to endorse the restart. Fukui is relatively small but
strategic in the power network as it is home to 13 reactors,
and Ohi's output is vital to providing reliable electricity
supplies to Osaka and Kyoto.
Nishikawa has yet to take a side on the restart issue, but
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto lashed out at the government for
declaring the Ohi plant safe without first getting a
go-ahead from its own nuclear regulators, who have
purportedly been given more responsibility for reactor
safety by legislation spurred by last year's disaster.
Hashimoto told Japan's NHK network Monday that Prime
Minister Yoshihiko Noda would provoke a government crisis if
he forged ahead with the Ohi restart in spite of the strong
fear still driving popular resistance to returning to
nuclear power reliance.
The government doesn't technically need local officials'
support to restart the reactors, which would take about 10
days to resume supplying power, according to the Kansai
Electric utility, which operates the Ohi complex. But public
skepticism about nuclear safety remains high, as does
mistrust of a government and nuclear regulatory industry
that downplayed the severity of the Fukushima catastrophe in
its early days.
"People are dissatisfied with the nuclear industry. They've
lost trust in it," said Najmedin Meshkati, a systems
engineering professor at USC who has closely followed
Japan's legislative and technical responses to the Fukushima
crisis.
But the nuclear industry is deeply integrated in the local
economies where it operates, providing employment and energy
as well as funding for schools, medical facilities and
recreation, Meshkati said.
"At the end of the day Japan doesn't have any choice but to
resume production," he said.
Those arguments about need may do little to quell fear among
Japanese that the industry poses too many risks for such a
densely populated country.
The daily Mainichi Shimbun in a weekend editorial urged more
thorough safety checks.
"It is hard to understand," the editorial said, "why the
government is in such haste to restart the reactors."
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