Japan’s government, until now a staunch defender of nuclear power even after last year’s accident at Fukushima Daiichi, appears ready to throw in the towel. It’s not entirely surprising — but a few unintended consequences are worth thinking about.
“It’s important to aim for zero nuclear power over a 40-year period, gradually, in a realistic manner,” Seiji Maehara, policy director for Japan’s ruling party and a former foreign minister, said in Washington on Wednesday night.
Before the tsunami-induced disaster, Japan had been planning to increase its reliance on nuclear power from 30 percent to as much as 50 percent. With no oil or gas reserves, Japan has long viewed nuclear as a national-security imperative — the only way to reduce dependence on the Middle East, Russia and other unreliable providers.
But, Maehara said at a dinner sponsored by the Japan Congressional Study Group and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, “Although we were told these plants were absolutely safe, we did have an accident.” Some 343,000 people have had to abandon their homes because of radioactivity, he noted, and at one point during the crisis, the government was contemplating the possible evacuation of 30 million people.
No comments:
Post a Comment