The Prime minister of Japan – Shinzo Abe, on February 28, 2013, said that the government will soon give the nod for scientists to restart the country’s nuclear reactors, once their safety is assured. During a policy speech, Abe said that the government must learn certain lessons from the Fukushima disaster.
He also said that the government will never compromise on safety, but added that if the nuclear regulation authority vouches that the nuclear reactors are stable and meet safety standards, they could be restarted.
Earlier, the Democratic Party of Japan had taken the decision to begin the two reactors in the Fukui Prefecture. It had put some momentum into the country’s earlier dormant nuclear movement, which sparked the biggest anti-nuclear demonstrations in decades and also contributed to the governments downfall in the elections, in the month of December 2012.
According to media surveys, a majority of the Japanese people want to abandon the use of nuclear energy by the year 2030. If these reactors are started sooner rather than later, the decision could prove to be a risky proposition for the Liberal Democratic Party Government. Abe also said that the government would begin to work to maximize the new Liberal Democratic Party Government.
