{"id":5887,"date":"2013-10-05T09:16:40","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T13:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5887"},"modified":"2013-10-05T14:00:32","modified_gmt":"2013-10-05T18:00:32","slug":"former-japanese-pm-koizumi-calls-for-zero-nukes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/former-japanese-pm-koizumi-calls-for-zero-nukes.html","title":{"rendered":"Former Japanese PM Koizumi calls for zero nukes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nCurrent PM Shinzo Abe was his chosen successor, and now\r\nJunichiro Koizumi (prime minister 2001-2006) calls on Abe\r\nto end nukes in Japan. Why?\r\n“A large majority of the population now\r\nunderstands that nuclear energy is the most expensive form of power\r\ngeneration.”\r\nFor sure here in Georgia,\r\n\r\nwith Georgia Power charging through the nose for power customers aren’t\r\neven receiving<\/a>\r\nwhile\r\n\r\ntrying to hike the price of solar power, too<\/a>.\r\nLet’s end Plant Vogtle and get on with renewable solar inland and wind off the coast.\r\n

\r\nWolf Richter wrote for Zerohedge 4 October 2013,\r\n\r\nThe End Of Nuclear Energy In Japan?<\/a>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAnd on August 26, his words made it into the Mainichi Shimbun. If he\r\nwere an active politician, he’d want “to convince lawmakers to\r\nmove in the direction of zero nuclear plants,” he said. Now\r\nwould be the ideal time to move that direction. All 50 nuclear\r\nreactors were off line. All opposition parties favored zero nuclear\r\npower. It could be done “as long as the prime minister made\r\nthe decision” — putting the onus squarely on his former\r\nprot\u00e9g\u00e9. And nuclear politics in Japan haven’t been the same\r\nsince.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe next blast came on September 24 at a forum in Tokyo. He talked\r\nabout his trip to Finland in August. The purpose was to inspect the\r\nOnkalo spent-fuel repository. He was accompanied by engineers from\r\nthe Japanese nuclear industry. They all went to look at this marvel,\r\n400 meters underground. It was designed to hold and seal highly\r\nradioactive waste long enough for it to become harmless, namely\r\n100,000 years.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“One cannot fathom a time of 100,000 years in the\r\nfuture,” he said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nIt’s unknown if the facility can survive this long. How do you\r\ninform people this far in the future of the dangers that lurk\r\nbeneath? And he wondered if such a facility, imperfect as it was,\r\ncould ever be built in Japan, given the shifting ground and constant\r\nearthquakes. That lack of final repository was “the first\r\nreason,” he said, why Japan should have zero nuclear plants.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Some people may say it is irresponsible to call for zero\r\nnuclear plants,” he said, “but I think it is even more\r\nirresponsible not to have a disposal site for the waste or even any\r\nprospect of constructing such a facility.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThis applies as much to the U.S. and every other country as to Japan:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“The Japanese have never knuckled under to natural disasters\r\nbut have always overcome them to further develop the nation,”\r\nhe said. “We are now at a major turning point for creating a\r\nrecyclable society through energy sources based on natural\r\nresources. Opportunity lies in a pinch. That is how we should be\r\nlooking at the situation.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAbe is listening:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nAnd now the Abe administration, according to the source, is trying\r\nto figure out if Koizumi’s zero-nuclear position is becoming a\r\nbroader movement within the LDP.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“The message Koizumi is sending is that moving too strongly in\r\nthat direction could hurt the administration, even though it may\r\nhave high support ratings now,” a source in the LDP told the\r\npaper. “The comments by Koizumi can also serve as a coastal\r\nlevee of sorts for Abe who faces pressure from lawmakers with close\r\nties to the electric power industry. I believe Abe understands what\r\nis happening.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nKoizumi has an accomplice: Abe’s wife. She has been whispering into\r\nher husband’s ear at night — and making anti-nuclear speeches\r\nduring the day.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSo Abe responded. In September, he stunned reporters when he said\r\nthat the country would “lower the ratio of nuclear\r\nenergy” over the next three years and “make every effort\r\nto accelerate the spread of renewable energy sources and promote\r\nenergy conservation.” For some, it was a sea change.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nA few ripples, maybe.\r\nHere’s the real sea change,\r\nreported by Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Asahi Shimbun, 2 October 2013,\r\n\r\nKoizumi’s call for nuclear-free Japan raises speculation about his intent<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“If the government and LDP now came out with a policy of zero\r\nnuclear plants, the nation could come together in the creation of a\r\nrecyclable society unseen in the world,” he said in a speech\r\nin Nagoya on Oct. 1. “A large majority of the population now\r\nunderstands that nuclear energy is the most expensive form of power\r\ngeneration.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nGo Koizumi!\r\nGo Japan!\r\n

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