Japan Press Weekly

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2012 May 30 - June 5 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

JCP Yoshii calls for independent body to decommission all nuclear plants

Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Yoshii Hidekatsu on May 29 called for the establishment of an independent administrative body to monitor the process of decommissioning all nuclear power plants under a clear determination for government to end nuclear power generation in Japan.

He made the remark at a House plenary session discussing a bill to set up a nuclear power regulatory body.

Yoshii pointed out that the former Liberal Democratic and Komei government had made a fatal mistake of installing the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) in the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, the recognized promoter of nuclear power generation.

He criticized the government’s proposal to establish a new regulatory body in the Environment Ministry, which is another government agency promoting nuclear power generation.

Yoshii cited a bill to revise the Atomic Energy Basic Law, proposed by the LDP and Komei, which states that the use of nuclear power “contributes to the nation’s security.” Behind this statement lies the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, he stressed.

The JCP representative pointed out that the Japan-U.S. community of interests benefitting from atomic energy, including Toshiba, Westinghouse, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, promotes a strategy to control and expand the global nuclear power market, and that this is in line with the Noda Cabinet’s policy to export nuclear power generation technology.

Yoshii concluded his remarks by stressing the need for the government to take steps to develop renewable energy and promote sustainable energy generation without depending on nuclear energy.