Antinuclear

IN TOKYO,  J APANESEPrime Minister Shinzo Abe has entered a high-stakes gamble with the decision announced last Friday to restore nuclear power to the nation’s menu of electricity generation sources in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown three years ago.

The controversial decision goes against the non-nuclear policy adopted by the Democratic Party of Japan government before Mr Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party returned to power at the end of 2012 and could backfire in a number of ways, analysts say.

With polls showing a significant proportion of Japanese remaining opposed to the restart of the nation’s 50 or so nuclear reactors that have been idled since the Fukushima disaster, the political price of restoring nuclear power could be high for Mr Abe, some claim.

At the same time, there could be economic consequences such as setting back the policy being pursued by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) under pressure from Mr Abe to replace deflation with annual inflation of 2 per cent. So far much of the progress towards this target has been driven by “imported inflation” in fuel costs…..(subscribers only)  http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/world/tokyos-decision-nuclear-power-plants-may-backfire-20140414