- Domesticated animals abandoned inside the Fukushima exclusion zone are strong and thriving. Even though the majority of the animals have gone untended for two years, they have adapted very well. Naoto Matsumura, 53, has stayed in Tomioka Town in Fukushima Prefecture to care for animals whose owners and caretakers evacuated. He says, “Two years after the accident, what remain today are the strong. Though they were pets or livestock, they have adapted themselves to this environment.” (Kyodo News)
- Japan’s trade deficit since 3/11/11 continues to get worse. In February, the shortfall increased by more than $9 billion, driving the total for the last two years in excess of $120 billion. The earthquake itself disrupted supply chain infrastructure throughout northern Japan, some of which is still under repair. The tsunami destroyed even more infrastructure along the eastern Tohoku coastline. While these two problems have added to the deficit, the $25 billion per year increase in fossil fuel imports due to the nuclear moratorium is the biggest single reason because fossil fuels made up a third of all Japanese imports last year. The deficit has been worsened by PM Shinzo Abe’s devaluation of the Yen which raises the real cost of all imports. When the nuclear moratorium ends the country can begin its economic recovery. “It’s a problem for Abe because his economic policies depend partly on an export-led recovery to really deliver growth and he needs to get the trade balance back to positive,” said Tom O’Sullivan, a Tokyo-based energy consultant. Others see Abe using the deficit as a reason to speed up nuke restarts. Abe will surely use high import costs after the summer to argue that Japan needs to get restarts simply because the cost for doing business in Japan is prohibitive,” said Martin Schulz, a senior research fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute. Tokyo-based consultant Gerhard Fasol says, “Nothing has been decided yet about the restart of nuclear reactors, but my guess is that the current government is supportive of restarts, although in a low-key manner, since the resistance among the population is substantial.” Government sources say Abe wants at least 10 of Japan’s 50 shuttered nukes operating by next March. (Jiji Press; Japan Today)
- Hamaoka nuclear station, the first shuttered by former PM Naoto Kan, will increase the size of its anti-tsunami sea wall. Currently, the barrier stands 18 meters high. It will be extended to 22 meters. Although Chubu Electric Company says they feel the wall is already high enough, In August 2012, then-PM Noda’s Cabinet Office said the coastal area could suffer a 19 meter-high wave. The potential source of the tsunami would be the Nankai Trough, which runs for several hundred kilometers parallel to the coastline from Kyushu Island and southern-to-mid Honshu Island. A new government projection estimates that a worst-case quake and tsunami from the Trough would force the evacuation of more than 10 million people and as many as 323,000 casualties. Nearly 9 million people would be unable to return home a month after the wave receded. Power outages would hit more than 27 million households, so the Hamaoka station could recover much-needed electric generation after the catastrophe hit. (Jiji Press; Japan Today)
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Tokyo’s new energy policy panel has upset Japanese antinukes. The former regime’s panel of 25 persons has been reduced to 15 by new PM Shinzo Abe. 10 of the original members were kept, five new people were appointed and the rest dismissed. Six of those removed are staunchly antinuclear and voted for nuclear abolition. The banned antinukes are angry. Hideyuki Ban of the Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center was axed and said it “made me furious”. Professor Hiroshi Takahashi of Fujitsu Research Institute was also upset by being dismissed, “The LDP [Abe’s political party] wants to avoid the zero nuclear scenario at all costs and is looking for a point of compromise between 15 and 20 percent atomic energy.” Also dismissed was Tetsunari Iida of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policy said it is wrong to let those who formerly supported nuclear energy have control of Japan’s energy future. One reason for the outrage is the appointment of Akio Mimura of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. as panel chair. He is the former head of the government’s energy advisory board during Shinzo Abe’s prior stint as PM. This makes him unacceptable to the antinukes. Mr Iida said, “Mimura may have a wonderful personality and good policy ideas, but it’s wrong to let the same man who led discussions on pre-Fukushima energy policy be in charge.” Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi responded, “We took into account specialties in their fields, not whether they agree or disagree on individual issues. The basic energy plan must clearly show the way toward obtaining a stable supply and lower costs.” Also added to the panel are Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa, Kyoto University nuclear engineering professor Hajimu Yamana, and two avowed antinukes…Kazuhiro Ueta of Kyoto University and Nippon Association of Consumer Specialists adviser Kikuko Tatsami. Two antinuke holdovers are environmental counselor Yuko Sakita and Hitotsubashi University Professor Takeo Kikkawa. Kikkawa said, “Nuclear power generation should be decreased as much as possible.” (Japan Times; Japan Daily Press; Asahi Shimbun)
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