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The Japanese Nuclear Establishment vs. the Two-Thirds ‘Minority’

By Jim Naureckas | FAIR | January 26, 2012

There’s a news article in the Washington Post today that really captures that paper’s view of the way the world works, and how it ought to work. Headlined “After Earthquake, Japan Can’t Agree on the Future of Nuclear Power,” Chico Harlan’s piece begins:

The hulking system that once guided Japan’s pro-nuclear-power stance worked just fine when everybody moved in lockstep. But in the wake of a nuclear accident that changed the way this country thinks about energy, the system has proved ill-suited for resolving conflict. Its very size and complexity have become a problem.

And what exactly is that problem?

Nearly a year after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi facility, Japanese decision-makers cannot agree on how to safeguard their reactors against future disasters, or even whether to operate them at all.

Some experts say this indecision reflects the Japanese tendency to search for, and sometimes depend on, consensus–even when none is likely to emerge. The nation’s system for nuclear decision-making requires the agreement of thousands of officials. Most bureaucrats and politicians in Tokyo want Japan to recommit to nuclear power, but they have been thwarted by a powerful minority–reformists and regional governors.

The obstruction by this “powerful minority,” the Post goes on to say, has “heavy consequences”: “record financial losses for major power companies and economy-stunting electricity shortages.” The story warns that “Japan, once the world’s third-largest nuclear consumer, could be nuclear-free, if it is unable to win approval from local communities to restart the idled units.”

Then, after musing about the “elaborate network of hand-holding” that used to govern Japan’s nuclear infrastructure, Harlan slips in a fact that changes everything:

Since the March 11 accident, just enough has changed to stall that cooperation. Two-thirds of Japanese oppose atomic power. Politicians in areas that host nuclear plants are rethinking the facilities; they hold veto power over any restart. A few vocal skeptics have emerged in the government, and in the aftermath of the accident, Japan has created at least a dozen commissions and task forces for energy-related issues.

So when the pro-nuclear goals of “most bureaucrats and politicians” are “thwarted by a powerful minority,” that’s a sign of the dysfunctional Japanese system, with its “tendency to search for, and sometimes depend on, consensus.” The fact that this “minority” actually represents the large majority of the Japanese public who oppose the technology that has rendered substantial parts of their country uninhabitable–well, that’s just another roadblock that the establishment is going to have to overcome.

January 26, 2012 - Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Nuclear Power | , , ,

1 Comment »

  1. I am elated that two-thirds of the people of Japan are opposed to restarting nuclear power plants, and therefore, any nuclear power plants. And further that the national government can not impose its will on the localities on this question is a superior form of democracy than we have in the US.

    On the downside is something that has infuriated me to the core! That is the incineration of thousands of tons of nuclear contaminated debris into the atmosphere’s jet-stream that has further contaminated the entire Northern Hemisphere, in perpetuity.

    Those fires must be stopped and never allowed to be restarted either!

    The Japanese people must stop the burning by any means necessary, immediately! If they fail, and the government persist in poison the planet, causing worldwide cancer, poison land, sea, and air, and consequently our DNA; all DNA of all plants and animal life. Then, we are confronted the ultimate Crime Against Humanity, that justifies military intervention to put of the fires and bury or encase it somehow on location; ASAP!

    ======
    Fukushima Update: Why We Should (Still) Be Worried
    By Karen Charman on Jan 20, 2012

    http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/01/20/fukushima-update-why-we-should-still-be-worried/

    ‘…….. under a new nuclear decontamination law passed on January 1. The law allows for much of the radioactively contaminated rubble to be incinerated, a practice that has been underway at least since the end of June.

    burning Fukushima’s radioactive rubble is the worst possible way to deal with the problem. That’s because incinerating it releases much more radioactivity into the air, not only magnifying the contamination all over Japan but also sending it up into the jet stream. Once in the jet stream, the radioactive particles travel across the Northern Hemisphere, coming back down to earth with rain, snow, or other precipitation.

    by burning the millions of tons of radioactive rubble, it’s going to provide a brand new humanitarian crisis.” She observes that this crisis—“transgenerational DNA damage that’s passed well into the future”—is additional and intentional, and that everything possible must be done to stop it.

    The truth is, a nuclear disaster offers no easy or good choices. But some, like vaporizing the radionuclides throughout the atmosphere, will unnecessarily prolong the danger to the people and environment of Japan and spread the pain far and wide.’

    Obama has $36,000,000,000.00 in the budget for more nuclear power plants in his budget request. He is very pro-nuclear power plants! He disguised that fact in the State of the Union address this week by referring to it as “clean energy” and said “everything is on the table” as his catch-phrase in his totalitarian mindset.

    We, the people of the United States should be making closing all nuclear power plants, mining, and ending all production of nuclear weapons.

    Plus, a recall of all positioning of nuclear weapon systems outside of the continental United States as our greatest counter measure to the mounting danger of nuclear war, which is being instigated by aggressive actions by the Obama regime, who commit Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes as their purpose for being!

    Like

    Bill Mitchell's avatar Comment by Bill Mitchell | January 27, 2012 | Reply


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