- Shinzo Abe, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, is the new Prime Minister. The lower house of the Diet elected him by a bigger landslide than the LDP had in the recent national election. Abe swamped DPJ candidate and former Naoto Kan side-kick, Banri Kaieda, by a plurality of 328 to 57. This is the second time Abe has been elected Prime Minister and Japan’s seventh PM in the last six years. “I want to learn from the experience of my previous administration, including the setbacks, and aim for a stable government. The LDP is still under the critical eyes of the public. We need to earn their trust by get things done one by one,” he told reporters. Abe’s first statement as Prime Minister included a promise to stimulate national economic recovery by weakening the Yen and stimulating the export of Japanese goods. He emphasized economic revitalization as his primary concern, “First on the agenda is economic recovery, beating deflation and correcting a firm yen and getting the economy back on the growth path.” Abe made no comment on nuclear energy upon his election. (Japan Today)
- Reports of a swift resumption of reactor restarts in Japan appear premature. While the LDP’s recent landslide victory engenders hope for rapid resumptions, it will probably be a long, slow process. Andrew DeWit, Tokyo professor and energy policy researcher, says optimism among the nuclear utilities should be restrained, “Their hopes might be a little premature, to the extent that they assume their travails are over and income streams ready to go right back into the black.” He feels consumers will continue having high electricity costs due to the heavy imports of more-expensive fossil fuels to compensate for the nukes forced to remain inactive by the government. It seems everything hinges on the new safety rules created by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority which will be subject to stringent scientific and public scrutiny. It was the LDP that pushed for a strong, independent nuclear watchdog group while the NRA was being formed, and it is doubtful they will pressure the NRA to speed up the rule-making process. Tokyo energy consultant Tom O’Sullivan says, “It is unlikely the LDP-led government will want to interfere at an early stage with the operation of the recently established independent NRA, the creation of which they supported.” Thus, the LDP says they will gradually restart only those nukes that meet the new rules over a period of the next three years and devise the nation’s best energy mix over the next decade. However, O’ Sullivan points out that pressure from the Keidanren, Japan’s major business lobby, could alter the LDP’s current vision, “They [Keidanren] have opposed the policy of phasing out nuclear power which they claim is significantly increasing electricity charges for industrial and domestic customers, jeopardizing the international competitiveness of Japanese industry” largely due to massive increases in Liquid Natural Gas imports over the past 10 months. Japan now imports one third of the entire global trade in LNG, driving the nation’s trade deficit down to its worst level in a half-century. Politics further dims the restart potential because of the Diet’s upper house election this coming summer. The LDP will surely do nothing to harm their current position with respect to voter popularity before then. Further impacting the situation is the public perception that Japan doesn’t need their nukes restarted because the nation did not experience electrical blackouts this past summer. Whether or not the same thing will happen this winter remains to be seen. One thing is for sure – electricity will continue to grow more costly as long as the nukes remain shuttered. (Japan Today)
- The LDP’s recent election landslide seems to have added new incentive to the weekly antinuclear protests in Tokyo. On the December 21st winter solstice, about 1,000 people took part in the demonstration, the largest attendance in months. Organizers with the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes were encouraged by the mild up-swell in numbers. They were hoping for a much larger turn-out and feel their efforts to-date may have been poorly focused. One central organizer said, “We should have presented the implications of nuclear power from a logical point of view, rather than merely appeal to people’s emotions.” They are asking themselves if the emotional focus might not have helped the LDP win the election because such approaches can offend the historically-reserved population-at-large. But, the Coalition Against Nukes will continue the crusade undeterred by the crushing antinuclear defeat at the polls. An Osaka protest organizer said, “Casting a ballot is not the only right we have. Coming here and having our voices heard is meaningful, too.” Antinuclear protestors feel they remain a voice that needs to be heard. An elderly woman who fled from Futaba and now lives near Tokyo said, “The LDP promoted nuclear power generation,” while holding a placard that read: “Return Futaba to us.” She pleaded with a reporter, “Who can we turn to? We need to carry on our protest rallies to prevent the LDP from becoming big-headed.” The winter solstice rally was the 36th consecutive weekly demonstration in Tokyo. (Asahi Shimbun)
- At least one Japanese-American news source has extended the spent fuel pool issue from Fukushima Daiichi to the nukes under attack for possible earthquake faults. The SFP at Tsuruga station if Fukui Prefecture has nearly 600 tons of fuel bundles in storage, with at least two “crush zones” beneath the facility located 250 meters from an apparently active fault. The pool at Higashidori station in Aomori Prefecture holds 131 tons in a building 200 meters from one crush zone and 400 meters from another. The currently operating Oi station has 1,329 tons of fuel stored, near a geologic anomaly that most NRA specialists feel might not be seismic, but the issue associated with Oi cannot be fully dismissed because one of the NRA’s experts disagrees. New studies underneath the Oi facility begin Friday. Fears of SFP-caused disasters are emerging because some politically-respected voices say earthquakes could cause the pool’s cooling systems to fail and spawn another Fukushima catastrophe. (Japan Times)
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Fear of radiation continues to plague the schools in Fukushima Prefecture. By June of 2011, 449 out of the prefecture’s 802 schools had restricted outside activities due to radiation concerns spawned by the F. Daiichi accident. These restrictions are still the case for 71 of Fukushima’s elementary and junior high schools due to parental fears of the potential for their children’s exposure to radiation and a distrust of government safety standards. The Ministry of Education says the continuing constraints are causing an increased percentage of students weighing at least 20% more than they should. “The amount of exercise has declined in Fukushima, mainly among elementary school pupils, as outdoor activities in some locations have been restricted after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident,” a ministry official told a news conference. The Ministry notes that the trend toward overweight schoolchildren is nation-wide, with Fukushima Prefecture registering the worst increases with seven of the 13 age groups surveyed. (Kyodo News Service; Japan Times; Japan Today)
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