April 9 & 12, 2022

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on April 11 at a press conference in the Diet building criticized Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s remark hinting at taking advantage of an import ban on Russian coal to maintain the use of nuclear power generation.

PM Kishida’s remark in question was made at a press conference in the PM’s Office three days earlier. At the press conference, Kishida announced Japan’s additional economic sanctions against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine including phasing out and banning coal imports from Russia. In this regard, he expressed his intent to optimize the use of nuclear power generation and other energy resources in order to prevent a tightening in the supply-demand balance for electricity in Japan which is likely to result from an embargo of Russian coal.

Criticizing PM Kishida’s remark, Koike said, “As evidenced by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown, there is no nuclear power plant whose safety has been confirmed. PM Kishida’s intent to continuously depend on nuclear energy ignores the ongoing situation in Ukraine where nuclear power plants are located and is improper as a way to minimize the impact that may be caused from the coal import ban.”

Koike expressed his opposition to the Kishida government’s attempt to reactivate offline nuclear power plants under the pretext of ensuring a stable supply of energy. He added, “The JCP has long called for ending Japan’s reliance on energy imports from other countries. Now is the time for Japan to adopt an energy policy of securing sufficient energy with the use of energy conservation measures and renewables.”

Koike also said that the government should fully consider taking steps toward establishing a system to provide a stable power source based on local production for local consumption of renewable energy.