TOKYO: Japan's new leaders set to work on Thursday on dismantling plans to rid
the country of nuclear power by 2040, pledging to review a post-Fukushima
policy.
The pro-business Liberal
Democratic Party-led (LDP) government also said they would give the green light
to any reactors deemed safe by regulators, indicating shuttered power stations
could start coming back online.
"We need to reconsider the
previous administration's policy that aimed to make zero nuclear power
operation possible during the 2030s," Toshimitsu Motegi told a news conference.
Shinzo Abe, who was elected as
prime minister and unveiled his cabinet line-up on Wednesday, appointed Motegi
as his economy, trade and industry minister, also in charge of supervising the
nuclear industry.
Abe's LDP won a landslide victory
in the December 16 election, returning to power after a three-year break.
Despite anti-nuclear sentiment
running high in Japan following the Fukushima disaster, parties opposing atomic
energy made little impact at the ballot box.
Motegi said he was ready to give
the go-ahead to resuming generation at nuclear power plants "if they are
confirmed safe".
All but two of Japan's reactors
remain offline after being shuttered for regular safety checks following the
crisis at Fukushima when a tsunami knocked out cooling systems.
Hundreds of thousands of people
were made homeless by meltdowns, which spewed radiation over a wide area of
farmland.
Power plant operators must get
permission from the newly-formed Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) before
their reactors can be restarted.
In June then-prime minister
Yoshihiko Noda ordered the restarting of reactors at Oi amid fears of a summer
power shortage, but he vowed ahead of the election to phase out nuclear power
by 2040.
Motegi said abandoning Japan's
only reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel at Rokkasho in the far north
"is not an option".
Some experts have warned the
plant could sit on an active seismic fault and would be vulnerable to a massive
earthquake.
If regulators agree they will
have to order its closure and Japan would be without any recycling capacity of
its own.
Resource-poor Japan, which relied
on atomic power for around a third of its electricity, has poured billions of
dollars into its nuclear fuel recycling programme, in which uranium and plutonium
are extracted from spent fuel for re-use in nuclear power plants.
- AFP/xq
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Health care and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN 's area. We are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment