JOIN USProposed nuclear safety rules strict
Proposed new safety guidelines for Japan’s nuclear industry – strict enough that they could keep reactors shuttered for years for emergency upgrades – have set off intense political manoeuvering by those who say the regulations will cripple business just as hopes were rising for economic relief.
The relatively stiff requirements by a panel that included nuclear power supporters appeared to take Japan’s nuclear industry and its backers in government by surprise, and pose a challenge to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just weeks into his term. Abe has made it clear that he wanted to restart Japan’s scores of idled reactors – all but two of which remain offline in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima plant disaster – and has even said that he wanted to build new ones. But he and his Liberal Democratic Party, the architect of Japan’s nuclear industry, already faced significant opposition from a population that was traumatised by the nuclear crisis that spread radioactive materials over a wide swath of the country’s northeast.
The crisis at the Fukushima plant, which led to meltdowns in three reactors, started after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake caused a tsunami that swept through the plant, knocking out the electrical power needed to run crucial cooling systems.
Costly endeavour
The guidelines require a secondary command centre away from the reactor buildings so that workers can control emergency cooling systems and vents even if they are forced to pull back from the heart of the plant during an emergency. They also call for power companies to prepare for worse tsunamis than they had previously planned for, forcing at least some oceanside plants to raise sea walls, a costly endeavour.
The rules also ban power companies from building or operating reactors on top of active faults, but continuing contentious discussions over what an “active” fault consists of might allow the government to avoid closing such plants for good. Many of the proposed regulations bring Japan in line with standards in the United States.
The new guidelines are the latest step in Japan’s struggle to chart its energy future after the disaster. Previous governments led by the Democratic Party had given vague promises to phase out nuclear power as polls indicated that many people feared nuclear power and remained worried that the collusive ties between government and the industry that left the country vulnerable to disaster were ones that could not be broken.
But Abe has argued that keeping the reactors idle would hinder a recovery he is trying to jump-start with promises to tackle deflation that have already led to a weakening in the yen welcomed by struggling exporters. Nuclear energy had provided 30 per cent of the nation’s electricity needs before the disaster. With virtually all of its reactors offline, Japan has been forced to import more fossil fuels, driving resource-poor Japan to a record annual trade deficit last year. Before the accident, the country consistently posted large trade surpluses.
Still, Abe’s ability to sway the panel – or try to overrule it – might be limited. The regulatory body has been given significant autonomy and is able to take a wide range of actions without government approval, partly as a result of maneuvering by Abe’s own party when it was out of power. Fearing the anti-nuclear agenda of some in the then-ruling Democratic Party, the Liberal Democrats had demanded that the body be insulated from political pressure. But supporters of Japan’s powerful nuclear industry appeared to be starting a campaign Friday to ensure that the rules did not go into effect as they were.
“If we don’t have a stable energy supply, how are businesses supposed to invest and help Japan grow?” Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, told reporters Friday.
Japan’s ten nuclear operators, including Tokyo Electric Power, the operator of the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, could pay a total of 1 trillion yen, or about $11 billion, to make the required reinforcements, the Nikkei business daily reported Friday, quoting estimates from the power companies.
The panel is expected to finalise the rules in July after a public hearing process, and there are lingering suspicions among anti-nuclear activists that the new panel will ultimately go easy on the country’s nuclear operators. Though nuclear power plants must meet the new guidelines before reactor restarts are cleared, the panel has left open the possibility that some standards could be suspended to allow limited reactor restarts.
The five-member nuclear authority was put in place after complaints that previous regulators were too close to industry.