TOKYO, June 23, 2021—One day after PM Suga’s government made a final decision to hold the Tokyo Olympic Games no matter how seriously the Covid-19 pandemic may become, Kansai Electric Power Co. restarted a nuclear power reactor, the oldest reactor that’s more than 40 years old and having been idled since May 2011, contravening an international understanding to decommission antiquated nuclear reactors in phases and positioning nuclear power as a core policy to achieve Japan’s greenhouse gas emission reducion – and with it, helping sustaining the Japanese trade ministry bureaucracy’s authority.
The common denominator of bulldozing the Olympic games and the restart of the nuclear reactor is poltical dynamics that Suga’s ruling LDP deploys with the backing of the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry. Directly and indirectly, METI is behind the games, and of course, it is in charge of nuclear power upfront. That’s why both are important for the ministry and for LDP politicians that rely on the ministry as power base not only for doling out government money to local economies as well as as their electoprate voter support.
The Osaka-based power company said in a news release that it has restarted the Mihama Power Station No. 3 reactor at 10:00 a.m. , June 23, 2021, the oressure water-type reactor that had been frequently developing accidents and killing at least five workers.
The restart was authorized by the Japanese nuclear safety comission earlier this year as an exception to law that prohibits operating nuclear reactors older than 40 years. It has brought to 10 reactors at 6 nuclear power stations the number of reactors that resumed operations. All Japanese nuclear power reactors, totaling 59, were suspented after the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster. Addionally, there are 3 realtors under construction.
At the time, dominant arguments were to shut down all nuclear power reactors in phases, yet as years elapsed and Suga’s Liberal Democratic Party recaptured a majority of the Diet (parliament) from opposition, Japan changed its energy policy to one that positions nuclear power at its core.
While promoting renewable energy, LDP lawmakers prioritize nuclear power by sustaining the Ministry of Economy Trade and Indusry’s long-term policy of nuclear power generation as a core energy source even though the overall cost, notably the cost of spent fuel and nuclear waste disposal, is much higher than renewable energy.The Japanese government was forced to abandon coal power in response to the UNFCCC decision and now is in the process of phasing out coal generators.
But for lawmakers, many of them former METI bureaucrats, and the ministry, nuclear power is almost their lifeline. To win resident consent for the restart, the Suga government gave 5 billion yen ($50 million) to Fukui Prefecture, which Mihama Nuclear Power Station is located. The money will be used for creating jobs relating to the power station as well as other local undertakings.
By 2030, Japan has additional 15 nuclear reactors that will become older than 40 years and most of them located in areas prone to earthquakes and tsunami.
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