Our friend SHOWA CAT is very, very unhappy with the headlines in today's news - very unhappy"! The headlines in Japan read: "Reactor restarts to be pushed in reversal of past government's pledge."
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday officially abandoned the zero-nuclear goal of the previous administration by adopting a new basic energy policy that pledges to push for restarting the reactors idled in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns.
The new Basic Energy Plan, revised about every three years, is a clear departure from the zero-nuclear policy set by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government, which pledged to abolish all nuclear power plants by the 2030s.
The new plan, which sets policies for the next 20 years, described nuclear power as one of the key “base-load electricity sources,” a term the government uses to describe types that can stably generate power at a low cost 24 hours a day.
The government will “promote reactivation of nuclear reactors” if they clear the new safety tests laid out by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the 78-page policy paper states. Those tests are based on standards established by the NRA after the Fukushima meltdowns.
One might think, in view of Fukushima, that such matters of this gravity should be left to a public referendum - at least Showa Cat thinks so - I tend to agree.
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