Despite statements from the reinvigorated Liberal Democratic party
(LDP) and its leader Shinzo Abe that they will reconsider plans to move Japan away from nuclear energy, signs indicate that it is not business-as-usual for Japan's nuclear sector. Instead, the new and independent Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has combined with empowered anti-nuclear groups in civil society and politics to change the nuclear power sector significantly.

With state support beginning in the immediate post war period under then Diet member Nakasone Yasuhiro, nuclear power has been the backbone of Japan's energy policy and the perceived key to energy security for a country lacking domestic energy resources. The Japanese government envisioned nuclear energy providing a consistent electricity supply through a closed nuclear fuel cycle employing reprocessing and fast breeder reactors that would generate
"semi-national energy resources." Following the 1970s
oil shocks,
nuclear power became Japan's base load power source, and the Japanese government committed to develop a closed nuclear fuel cycle despite technical problems.
The 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant seemed to change this trajectory...

Full post at:
http://themonkeycage.org/2013/04/01/post-fukushima-nucl
ear-politics-in-japan-part-i/

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Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich, Associate Professor, Purdue University Fulbright research professor, Tokyo University
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