1 out of 5 Top Japanese Firms Want Exit from Atomic Power by 2030
A recent Reuters poll showed that many of Japan’s big firms want to see the share of nuclear power in electricity reduced by 2030.
One in five big Japanese firms, following the Fukushima nuclear disaster (and amidst it, since it is ongoing), reportedly want exit from atomic power by that time.
Tetsushi Kajimoto and Izumi Nakagawa from TOKYO shared more on the poll results: “underlining concerns about a rise in energy costs without atomic power, the rest of the respondents supported a continued role for nuclear energy, with the biggest group opting for a share of 15 percent.”
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“The government is considering three options for its energy portfolio: reduce nuclear power’s role to zero as soon as possible, aim at 15 percent by 2030, or seek a 20-25 percent share by the same date.”
Clearly, nuclear energy has become a very big political issue. “Energy policy has become a major headache for Noda and his Democratic Party of Japan, its ratings battered ahead of a general election likely to take place in November and give the ruling party a drubbing.”
Lobbyists, one wonders, do they help to confuse the matter? “It’s unrealistic for Japan to ditch nuclear power in 15 years or so,” one rubber company said in the survey. “It should inevitably become around 15 percent while we seek alternative energy sources for overage reactors.”
In the Reuters poll, 19 percent of big firms sought to cut nuclear power’s role to zero, but 39 percent called for 15 percent by 2030, as a majority of companies brace for slower economic growth as reliance on nuclear energy declines.
The poll contrasted a government survey of nearly 300 people which showed almost half — by far the largest group — favored the zero option.
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