We Shall Overcome? Prime Minister Abe Returns to Nuclear

Remember the days as a child when you would receive a shiny new bicycle and in all the excitement you would hop on and start pedaling as fast as you could? Forgetting the concept of danger, you would ride it all around the neighborhood hoping to make the other kids jealous, popping wheelies and taking it down the biggest hills. Yet we all know how this jubilant moment ends. You lose control of the handle bars or the extension of the wheelie was miscalculated and you end up on the ground bloodied and battered. You vow never to get on the bike again. You leave it outside hoping that it will simply rust and disintegrate, but it is more durable than you ever imagined. Your parents try to cheer you up and explain a little more caution is all that is needed. They also mention how much the bicycle cost and that the helmet and accessories should not go to waste. Eventually, the scars heal and although you have been using your skateboard and rollerblades a lot more, you finally feel comfortable with the idea of riding your bike once again.

Last month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet got back on the bike. On April 11 they approved a new energy plan, the first since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, that reverses the “no nuclear” pledge made by previous governments. According to the new plan, nuclear power plants that meet new safety regulations will restart within a few years and some may even be up and running by summer.[1] However, nuclear energy is only one part of the policy. The plan designates an increasingly important role for fossil fuels, specifically coal and liquefied natural gas, but fails to give such prominence to renewable forms of energy.[2] This new policy suggests the reality that governments (and we, the consumers) across the globe have little desire to see energy costs rise and are willing to face potential environmental risks to keep those costs low.

Lacking many of the natural resources necessary for energy consumption, Japan has sought to decrease its dependency on foreign imports throughout much of its modern history. A primary reason for Japanese colonialism and expansion in the 1930s and 40s was to secure natural resources and many historians argue that it was American economic decisions, specifically the embargo of U.S. oil imports to Japan, that became a chokehold on the Japanese economy and led to the decision to attack Pearl Harbor. After their defeat in World War II and the end of American occupation, nuclear power presented itself as the way to achieve energy independence. However, nuclear power has never been the easiest sell to a population of the first and only victim of a nuclear weapon. For this reason, Japanese governments, past and present, have had to stress to the public, and more recently its neighbors, that nuclear research and resources are only for peaceful purposes.[3]

This is not to say an anti-nuclear movement does not exist in Japan. Yet, the movement has had varying degrees of success in swaying public opinion over the past seventy years. More often than not it takes a crisis like Chernobyl or Fukushima to arouse negative sentiment toward Japan’s nuclear policies.  However, the movement’s power often dies down when the economic reality hits the country. All 48 nuclear power plants have been shut down resulting in increased electricity costs, loss of tax revenues, and billions spent to burn replacement fuels.[4] As a result, some communities, mayors, and companies are hoping to be among the first to restart by August. Yet, the Japanese public has yet to come to a consensus on nuclear issue and many still harbor worries about the potential danger.

It is important not to focus solely on the Cabinet’s decision to get back on the nuclear “bicycle.” Although important, the energy policy reveals that the Japanese government, similar to many other countries, is not yet committed to investing in efficient, renewable, and environmentally friendly resources. Reverting to fossil fuels like coal, even backed by the promise of increased integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) generators, and nuclear power will (and in the case of the latter, may) be detrimental to the environment and continue to hasten climate change.[5]

Sean Mulvihill

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