On Tensions Surrounding Nuclear Energy in Japan

Nov 7

Nov 7 On Tensions Surrounding Nuclear Energy in Japan

Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has secured a majority in Japan’s lower house. Parliamentary seats were secured by its junior coalition partner: Kōmeito – in aggregate the two parties won 293 seats, giving them command of parliamentary committees. This large majority allows the government to maintain its updated energy policy, in which it had laid out plans to restart safe nuclear reactors in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in accordance with the latest climate crisis discourse. In addition, after these election results, Kishida, talking to reporters before leaving for Glasgow, had commented to reporters on “Japan’s strong determination to achieve carbon neutrality (at home) by 2050 and realise zero emissions across Asia”. In addition, the newly appointed Economy, Trade, and Industry Minister, Koichi Haguida, has expressed his support for the “maximum adoption of renewable energy” alongside the “restart of nuclear power plants with the highest priority on safety” at a news conference. These developments are situated in a background of then-Prime-Minister Yoshihide Suga’s announcement, made in April 2021, that Japan would cut greenhouse gas emissions with a target of 46% reduction by 2030 from 2013 levels.

However, there are several pressures both pushing and pulling Japan to and away from nuclear energy and overcoming its status-quo reliance on non-renewables. These tensions in movements toward a greater reliance on nuclear power are highlighted by the document leak prior to COP26, revealing Japan as one of major powers asking the UN to play down the need to move rapidly away from fossil fuels. Leaked attempts at lobbying have also revealed the tensions between developed and developing member states. Yet while other developed nations are resisting demands to give more funding to poorer states to move to greener technologies, Kishida has promised up to $10bn in new climate funds for developing countries. Still, the aforementioned campaign for the realisation of ‘zero emissions across Asia’ echoes a similar strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ in order to ‘broaden the horizon of Japanese foreign policy’, indicating geopolitical motives at work. A speech of Kishida’s earned Japan the Fossil of the Day Award, which is awarded by the Climate Action Network (CAN) to states slow to combat climate change. Specifically, CAN’s granted the ‘award’ to Japan because Kishida’s speech promoted thermal power generation, which emits a high volume of greenhouse gases, and did not mention coal-fired power generation’s end.

The LDP has also been under domestic pressure over the nuclear issue. The decision to reboot an ageing Mihama nuclear reactor has been met with concern by former Cabinet advisers. This occurred in the shadow cast by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and the distrust of management, transparency, and construction by the public as showcased in Ghosts of the Tsunami. Furthermore, Kansai Electric Power had reported of 4 employee deaths due to a steam burst in the Mihama Nuclear Power Plant due to a neglect of mandated safety checks. Interestingly, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), a right-wing party in Japan, had had the biggest gains in recent elections in Ōsaka—where Kansai Electric Power is headquartered. Notably, Ishin is in favour of ‘phasing out nuclear energy’ by 2030 as one of its election pledges. Although Ishin is by no means a clear threat to LDP leadership, it is a marked change in votership toward more conservative and right-wing parties, hinting at a possible trend for the future and doubt in the current leadership. The contradiction between generally Japanese domestic fears of nuclear pushes and international climate activism as a larger perceived ‘trend’ may push those fearful of the potential safety hazards of nuclear energy toward more conservative wings.

This trend involving climate discourse may couple with the LDP’s approach to foreign policy in terms of its ties with American foreign goals. Kishida’s announcement of preparations for ‘various scenarios’ regarding China’s posture toward Taiwan as well as ever-increasing Japanese defence budgets despite buckling national debt, can link the US-Japan strategic alliances into a perception by the domestic public of an overwhelming and continuous concession to Western discourses from the LDP, adding fuel to the nationalist fire. The Fukushima disaster and the national shock from the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 turn the question of renewables into a national dichotomy between experiences of fear of nuclear energy, and the question of Japanese identity within an international society already suffering the consequences of climate change

Therefore, the LDP has a difficult choice—either balancing between the domestic and international spheres of pressure, or deciding between the two. However, on a pessimistic note for those desiring a nuclear-free Japan, the voter apathy as showcased by recent elections, as well as the lack of domestic resistance to international climate and pro-nuclear pushes, can be perceived as a green-light for the LDP to concede to international pressures.