In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, it seems that the Japanese government is seriously entertaining the idea of going nuclear-free. “In the future, we should aim to have a society that does not rely on nuclear power,” Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, according to a Nikkei business daily report.
“When we consider the risk of nuclear energy, I’ve come to strongly feel that this is a technology that cannot be controlled by our conventional thinking of securing safety,” Kan told reporters yesterday. “We should reduce nuclear dependency in a planned, step-by-step manner and eventually we can do without atomic energy.”
This reverses a policy statement at the beginning of May by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku (the second-in-command in Japan’s civil service) who said, “Our energy policy is to stick to nuclear power.” [See the blog post here of May 8.]
Japan has 54 nuclear reactors that normally generate about 30% of its electricity, but only 19 of them are on line right now. As a result, Japan is in a very tight position on power. “With the public’s cooperation and understanding of energy conservation, especially at peak hours, it will be possible to avoid power shortages this summer,” the PM said.
If getting by with just 19 reactors is hard, then getting by without any is going to be much harder. Germany has made a similar decision but it has only 8 reactors in total, and Germany can import power far more easily that an island nation like Japan.
Mr. Kan, however, may not be able to force this policy through. On June 2, he agreed to resign as PM once three bills pass the Diet. His successor won’t be able to dodge the decision, and the idea has already been floated to continue with nuclear power, but as a nationalized industry.
