January 10, 2013
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2013 January 9 - 15 [POLITICS]
Corporate nuclear-power promoters picked as Abe’s policy council members |
Headed by the prime minister himself, the Council was launched on January 9.
Toshiba President Sasaki Norio has been involved in nuclear energy during his entire career at the company, starting from pipe installment at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Thanks to his “accomplishment” of acquiring U.S. major NPP manufacturer Westinghouse in 2006, Sasaki became the Toshiba president in June 2009.
Toshiba has been awarded the contract for the construction of the Oma NPP in Aomori Prefecture.
Right before the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, Sasaki boasted that his company “sets the goal of winning contracts for the construction of 39 nuclear reactors and achieving one trillion yen in sales” (Toshiba Annual Report 2011).
Even after the accident, Sasaki said, “Basically it is difficult for renewable energy to swiftly become a substitute for nuclear power,” and, “We do not believe that the nuclear power business will end. 70% of our nuclear-related sales are made outside Japan” (Nikkei Business, August 29, 2011).
President of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Kobayashi Yoshimitsu was also chosen as a Council member. He also serves as the outside director of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi NPP.
Among bureaucrats, Prime Minister Abe chose as policy aide Imai Takaya (former deputy director-general of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy) and as administrative aide, Yanase Tadao (deputy director-general of the Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau).
Imai worked behind the scenes for the restart of the Oi NPP in Fukui Prefecture, secretly meeting with Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto Toru in February last year in Tokyo.
Yanase in 2006 was involved in compiling a national plan for the promotion of nuclear energy under the Koizumi Cabinet.
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