A revival of nuclear power

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Sendai nuclear plant in southwestern Japan on Tuesday, August 11, to protest against the government's decision to resume its atomic energy program. But their calls went unheeded, and the reactor was brought online. The plant's operator, Kyushu Electric Power Co, said it would start generating and delivering electricity by Friday. It is expected to restart another unit in October.

The government's nuclear energy program, however, remains controversial in Japan. In a recent poll conducted by the Japanese newspaper Mainichi, 57 percent of respondents said they opposed the restart of idled nuclear reactors, while only 30 percent were in favor. Those opposing the government's push had until recently tried in vain to alter Tokyo's plans. But a court recently ruled that the new safety standards put in place by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration were adequate.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also brushed aside the opposition's arguments, saying that "local authorities have given their approval." This is hardly surprising, however, as the nuclear power plant is the life blood of the local economy, filling the city's coffers.

PM Abe's decision to ignore the prevailing public opinion can be explained by the huge amount of influence exercised by regional electricity lobbies on politicians, said Franz Waldenberger, Japan expert at the Tokyo-based German Institute for Japan Studies (DIJ).

"Major media outlets in the country have also been unable to escape this influence, making it extremely difficult for opponents to make themselves heard," he told DW. Added to this is the lack of any real opposition for Abe either within or outside his Liberal Democratic Party, Waldenberger noted.

Clever tactics

Abe has also maneuvered skillfully in terms of his energy policy. At first, he promised to reduce Japan's high-reliance on nuclear power as much as possible. This was followed by the PM's announcement of making nuclear power part of the "main sources of electricity," and ultimately by raising the intended share of nuclear power in the country's energy mix from 20 to 22 percent.

On this basis, Abe pledged at this year's G-7 Summit in Germany to reduce Japan's green house gas emissions by 26 percent. The PM's main objective is to reduce his country's dependence on fossil fuel imports, and thus help Japan's utilities make a profit.

Sendai nuclear plant operator Kyushu Electric, which got into financial difficulties last year, received a cash injection of 100 billion yen ($810 million) from the Japanese state. By restarting the reactor, the company can now reduce nuclear fuel-related costs by $721 million per year.

According to UBS Japan, energy prices in Asia's second-largest economy would drop by nine percent should all 25 nuclear reactors awaiting approval be allowed back into the grid. The Abe-led government has left all decisions on nuclear reactors to the country's nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), arguing that safety goes first.

Safety concerns

But this is exactly what makes the opponents of nuclear energy so skeptical.

According to an investigation conducted by the Asahi newspaper, only two of 85 medical facilities and less than 10 percent of the 159 foster homes within a 30-kilometer radius of the nuclear plant are prepared for an evacuation in case of an accident.

"They (the government and nuclear industry) are disregarding fundamental principles of nuclear safety and public health protection," said Greenpeace's Shaun Burnie.

On top of that, Sakurajima, one of Japan's active volcanoes, is only 50 kilometers away. Several volcanologists have contradicted the inspectors who argue that the mountain poses no threat. The Asahi newspaper criticized the ongoing "systemic vulnerability" of the nuclear reactors given that nothing had changed in terms of their classification into groups.

Other experts even think that restarting the reactors after such a long period of time is dangerous. According to the World Nuclear Association, the restart of 14 nuclear reactors around the world after four years of idleness led to emergency shutdowns and technical failures.

An unrealistic goal?

There are also big doubts about a renaissance of nuclear energy in the East Asian country. "There is just too much happening in terms of renewable energy sources which are becoming increasingly competitive in Japan," said Waldenberger, adding that this is already being reflected in the country's energy mix.

Some 35 reactors would be needed in order to generate the intended amount of nuclear power. Even the chief economist of the Institute of Energy Economics, Ken Koyama, referred to this goal as "desirable." Of the 56 reactors before the Fukushima disaster only 43 are operational.

Moreover, an operating license has only been requested for 25 of them. And while five of these requests have been approved, two of them were blocked in court. Opponents of nuclear energy want to delay any restart of the nuclear reactors with a flood of lawsuits.

Furthermore, operators will also have to deal with the consequences of the deregulation of the Japanese energy market, which will allow consumers to switch to "green energy" from 2016. And they will also have to face the fact that they are running out of storage space for used nuclear fuel elements. Japan doesn't even have temporary storage facilities for this purpose.