Japan’s Former Leader Condemns Nuclear Power
Source: New York Times
TOKYO — In an unusually stark warning, Japan’s prime minister during last year’s nuclear crisis told a parliamentary inquiry on Monday that the country should discard nuclear power as too dangerous, saying the Fukushima accident had pushed Japan to the brink of “national collapse.”
In testimony to a panel investigating the government’s handling of the nuclear disaster, the former prime minister, Naoto Kan, also warned that the politically powerful nuclear industry was trying to push Japan back toward nuclear power despite “showing no remorse” for the accident.
Mr. Kan’s was the most closely watched testimony in the six-month inquiry, which was started by lawmakers who felt an earlier internal investigation by the government had papered over problems. Mr. Kan used the appearance to criticize the relatively pronuclear stance of the current prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, who replaced him in August.
Mr. Noda has called for restarting Japan’s undamaged nuclear plants, which have all been idled since the accident because of public safety concerns. He says the plants are needed to avoid economically crippling power shortages. Mr. Noda has met stiff resistance from many Japanese voters, who say the government is rushing to restart the plants without proving that they are safe, or allowing time for a proper public dialogue over whether Japan actually needs nuclear power.
In his testimony,
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/asia/japans-naoto-kan-condemns-nuclear-power.html
In testimony to a panel investigating the government’s handling of the nuclear disaster, the former prime minister, Naoto Kan, also warned that the politically powerful nuclear industry was trying to push Japan back toward nuclear power despite “showing no remorse” for the accident.
