Junji Kurokawa/Associated Press
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers his policy speech at the lower house of parliament in Tokyo.
TOKYO -- Japan will begin restarting its idled nuclear plants once new safety guidelines are in place later this year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday, moving to ensure a stable energy supply despite public safety concerns after the Fukushima disaster.
In a speech to Parliament, Mr. Abe pledged to restart nuclear plants that pass the new guidelines, which are expected to be adopted by a newly created independent watchdog agency, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, as early as July.
All but two of Japan’s 50 operable nuclear reactors were shut down following the March 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which spewed radiation across northern Japan after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out vital cooling systems. Responding to public safety concerns, leaders from the previous Democratic Party government had vowed to slowly phase out nuclear power by the 2030s in favor of cleaner alternatives like solar and wind.
However, Mr. Abe, who took power after his Liberal Democratic Party won national elections in December, has vowed to scrap that planned phase out, saying that Japan needs stable and cheap electricity from nuclear power to compete economically.
On Thursday, Mr. Abe said that Japan had learned the need for tougher safety standards from the Fukushima accident, which forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate. He said the new safety standards will be enforced "without compromise."
However, he did not specify when plants that meet those new standards will be allowed to resume operations. Mr. Abe also said Japan will continue seeking energy alternatives in order to reduce its dependence on nuclear power, even without going so far as to eliminate it.
In the case of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, recently admitted that it had failed to take stronger measures to prevent disasters for fear of inviting lawsuits or protests against its nuclear plants.
In the October 2012 report, Tepco said that before the accident it had been afraid to consider the risk of such a large tsunami, fearing admissions of risk could result in public pressure to shut plants down. The report was intended to showcase internal changes as the government considers when to allow other reactors to resume operation.
Japan to Begin Restarting Idled Nuclear Plants
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Japan to Begin Restarting Idled Nuclear Plants
