December 19, 2024

Akahata has learned that companies in the nuclear power community of interests, which is promoting the prolongation of aging nuclear reactor operations and the construction of new nuclear power plants, donated over 600 million yen in the previous fiscal year to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Based on the 2023 political funds report, Akahata on December 19 reported that member companies of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc. (JAIF), which consists of power companies, nuclear energy-related companies, and municipalities where nuclear power plants are located, provided a total of 601,772,000 yen in political donations to the LDP’s fund management organization.

To cite a few examples, Hitachi, Ltd., which is developing a “next-generation light water reactor,” donated 35 million yen, and Nippon Steel Corporation and JFE Steel Corporation, both suppliers of steel used in the construction of nuclear power plants, donated 32 million yen and 13 million yen, respectively, to the LDP.

The government policy of promoting nuclear power generation led to an increase in nuclear power-related expenditures, and a portion of the profits the industry earned thanks to that policy was returned to the LDP in the form of political donations.

According to a JAIF survey in 2024, 83% of its member companies cited a “consistent government policy to promote nuclear energy” and 66% cited “early resumption of operations of nuclear power plants” as their higher-priority tasks to lobby for in order to maintain the nuclear power-related industry.

Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Yamazoe Taku at a meeting of the Upper House Budget Committee on December 6 raised the issue of the cozy ties between nuclear power-related companies and the LDP. JAIF member companies earned a total of more than 18 trillion yen in profits from nuclear power generation between 2012 and 2021, and they made donations amounting to over seven billion yen to the LDP between 2013 and 2022.