Japan’s former PM and current LDP leader Shinzo Abe has stunned many Japanese with talk of building even more nuclear power plants, even as parts of the nation remain radioactive wastelands – though he very reassuringly talks of building them using the “latest technology” in “extremely safe” locations.
Ex-PM Abe, now the leader of the LDP in opposition and set to become PM should the LDP manage to win the upcoming general election, amazed even some of his staunch supporters in a recent interview with his continued insistence on promoting nuclear power in quake and lately radiation ravaged Japan.
After affirming that he would do his best to introduce more renewables, he also affirmed his continued support for more nuclear reactors:
“Incorporating the latest technology, we should be considering how we can build new reactors in extremely safe locations”
He did however still dodge the question of whether existing reactors should be restarted:
“This should be determined by a government comprised of representatives the people have chosen.”
The current government’s policy is to abolish nuclear power from Japan’s energy mix over some decades, although despite this work on some new reactors is apparently still going ahead.
Most of Japan’s political parties have either vowed to abandon nuclear power or given vague assurances that they will at least not let any more be built and allow the attrition of elderly plants to take its course.
Public opinion appears to be overwhelmingly in favour of abandoning nuclear power completely, with those brazen enough to still promote it being limited to crazed online right-wingers and stooges of the nuclear power industry (apparently including much of the LDP, which oversaw their construction in the first place).
Abe’s other vote-grubbing antics include various displays of rabid patriotism – including a recent press conference in which he tactfully dismissed the comfort women issue as “made up in a fraudster’s book and circulated by the Japanese media” and repeated his view that “there was no element of compulsion involved.”
Whilst his nationalist grandstanding has proven popular amongst creepy online extremists, even many of them baulk at more fault-straddling reactors huddled along Japan’s coastlines in the path of regular tsunami:
“First make an extremely safe location!”
“What is wrong with this guy! Does he intend to completely ruin Japan!?”
“The LDP has gone right back to its old ways of serving vested interests.”
“At least this is better than continuing to use the old ones…”
“They haven’t even done anything about Fukushima’s yet.”
“He’s just going to keep all the old dangerously situated ones running.”
“The problems happened with maintaining the plants. No matter what technology you employ, you still have to maintain proper inspections!”
“It has more to do with people than technology. You cannot expect their management to take real responsibility for the plants unless they are at least threatened with jail when they screw up.”
“Use all the technology you want, the problem is when you have an outfit like TEPCO managing it all.”
“Just build them on Okinawa where there are no quakes…”
“Try the Senkaku isles.”
“Why do they have to keep building the damn things right by the coast?”
“They need lots of water for cooling and apparently they cannot find any suitably large rivers to use in Japan, as they do in most other countries.”
“There is no extremely safe location in all Japan. The entire landmass is a severe earthquake risk compared to the US or EU.”
“I don’t oppose nuclear power, but the policy of building them in a place like Japan is utter insanity.”
“This guy is a total moron. At this time, he proposes making more of the things!?”
“It doesn’t matter though – there is no way such projects will ever overcome local opposition now.”
“The LDP is totally in thrall to the nuclear power lobby so it should not surprise anyone who votes for them that they fully intend to build more of them.”
“Abe is a joke – live in the most seismically active nation on the planet and build more of them and another defect will just cause one to explode down the line. He’s finished.”
“Abe is done with. Being a patriot doesn’t somehow mean you have to support nuclear power.”
“Why do the LDP love nuclear reactors so hard?”
“They still take so much in donations from the nuclear power companies there is really no hope for them now.”
If they’d but sacrifice a few onsen we could all have geothermal power now…”
“Use the latest technology – to make better fossil fuel plants. Invest in reducing the pollution and fuel requirements, not in nuclear plants.”
“They ignored the risk until now and now they expect anyone to believe them when it comes to safety?”
“There is no safe place for these things. See if Abe lets them build one in his back garden.”
“Just make them build it in Tokyo Bay and see how they like it then.”
“Safe nuclear power is a delusion. The risk may be small, but that is not the same thing as it being safe. They haven’t properly engineered any of the existing plants for high earthquake resistance and if they did the cost would be astronomical.”
Anyone else read that head line in the SC Terran Command Center module as “Nuclear Launch Detected”?
Lol who has a feeling Japan is just going to turn into a radioactive melt-down island in the future!
Abe: “We Need More Nuclear Reactors!” –they never learn….or he really wants a better fallout
Japan has no choice, maybe if they had upgraded the reactors and shut down old ones they would have not had the problem they did. Either way been oil and coal dependent is going to lead to a Japan weak and unable to defend it self if the time comes. So unless Japan is full of coal and Oil that is easy to get to they guy has more brains than most.
I agree with him, Nuclear energy is one of the worlds most efficient forms of energy out there.
It has a bad rap due to lack of understanding, accidents, etc.
but take it this way, Nuclear energy – not to be confused with Nuclear weapons – has killed less people than coal energy.