Voters get little to go on when it comes to nuclear issue
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20121201a5.html
Nuke power foe Kada open to reactor restarts
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20121202a2.html
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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/print/ed20121201a1.html
EDITORIAL
The elephant in the room
Despite the catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant, the issue of nuclear power has been given lower
priority in the runup to the Dec. 16 Lower House election. But the
launch of a new party, Nippon Mirai no To (Japan Future Party), by
Gov. Yukiko Kada of Shiga Prefecture, a veteran environmental studies
scholar, will not only help deepen discussions on the subject but
also offer a concrete option for voters who are concerned about the
problems posed by nuclear power. The new party's main theme is
"graduation from nuclear power generation," meaning the eventual
abolition of all of Japan's nuclear power reactors.
More than 20 months have passed since the Fukushima nuclear disaster
began. But some 160,000 local residents still cannot return to their
homes for the foreseeable future, and decontamination of areas
polluted by radioactive substances is making little progress. Fifty
nuclear power plants are scattered across this quake-prone country
and nuclear waste storages at individual plants do not have much room
to store additional waste.
In view of this situation, Ms. Kada has made a very significant
statement: "Pushing nuclear power generation only from the viewpoint
of economic efficiency while forgetting the heavy responsibility for
having polluted the earth with the accident at the Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant not only deprives Japan of dignity as a nation
but also is something that must not be condoned ethically." She
proposed phasing out Japan's nuclear power plants by 2022 and called
for the immediate shutdown of the Monju fast-breeder reactor, the
core component of Japan's nuclear fuel cycle to produce new nuclear
fuel from spent nuclear fuel.
The People's Life First, a party with 48 Lower House members headed
by former DPJ leader Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, and a small party led by
veteran lawmaker Mr. Shizuka Kamei and Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura
have decided to dissolve themselves to merge with Ms. Kada's new
party. Three Lower House members of Midori no Kaze (Green Wind) will
also join it.
It is imperative that Nippon Mirai no To work out a concrete scenario
and timeline for achieving its goals. It should include the
development of renewable energy sources, promotion of power saving
and ways to decrease import costs of natural gas for thermal power
stations brought online to compensate for shuttered nuclear power
plants. Additional goals should be to de-monopolize power
transmission lines so that they can be used by smaller
power-generation firms and to create new employment opportunities in
communities hosting nuclear power plants.
Other parties will likely bash the new party by accusing it of being
populist or a one-issue party. It must overcome such bashing by
developing convincing economic, social and diplomatic policies. It
should resist temptation to attract voters through money-splashing
measures.
It also should distinguish itself from other parties - most of which
are right-leaning - on the issue of the Constitution and oppose their
calls for the revision of the war-renouncing Article 9 and for the
exercise of the right to collective self-defense.
The Japan Times: Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012
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