Five former Japanese Prime Ministers, including 2011 PM Kan Naoto, call for the EU to exclude nuclear power from its Green Taxonomy

39 comments

  2. Meanwhile Japanese PM is re-activating nuclear reactors in Japan that went offline in 2011. Also from the list only Junichiro Koizumi is from LDP which de facto rules Japan as single-party state since 1955. Rest are PMs of parties that were only briefly in power, before LDP restored its majority in Diet.

    So. Who cares?

  8. Oh what a bunch of pansies. Nuclear power plants are, when taken as a whole, far safer than any other energy source. And it’s not like new powerplants will be prototypes (3mile island), example of soviet attitude taken up to 11 (chernobyl) and powerplant with known possible safety problems in case of huge tsunami hit by largest tsunami in decades (fukushima).

  10. Ah yes, Europe shouldnt have nuclear power because of 80s Soviet incompetence and a 2011 tsunami on the other side of the planet

  11. If we can safely operate a nuclear reactor in the dry desert of Arizona, then I don’t see why we need to build reactors in the path of tsunamis and hurricanes.

  12. Building new power plants takes loads of time we shouldn’t build new one or incentivize them.

    When we arrive at a point in which we don’t need any anymore and we are fully green we will slowly shut them down.

  13. People ignorant of the reality of politics might accuse them of hypocrisy since Japan hasn’t given up on nuclear energy; however, once a country is in the clutches of the nuclear lobby it becomes harder to switch to renewable energy than it is for a junky to face cold turkey. Instead of feeding the drug habit with ever bigger doses, we need to wean the nuclear junkies of their fatal addiction in small steps.

    The former leaders of Japan fully understand from experience just how difficult it is for a country to move to renewable energy once it has committed to nuclear energy.

  14. It is right to ask for such decision. Arguing that nuclear power is “green” is the epitome of “greenwashing”. It is the opposite of what green should be and it is the opposite of what safety means. Even the commission’s consultants disagree – and these consultants are of knowledge and experience. Do not feed the nuclear industry with even more pleasure, while it is absolutely an obsolete energy standard.

  15. Do we really need to post gibberish from old and mentally unstable people ?

    You know what is actually ruining half of Europe right now? the reliance of gas from Russia.

  16. Add more plants to the world, it stands to reason more accidents will happen. A small percent is still too high when it comes to nuclear fallout. Nuclear reliance imo is nothing more than cutting corners on one problem to delay solving the next

  19. It’s an important stop gap until renewables become more accessible while we phase out fossil fuels. It’s almost 0 carbon emitting, safe and produces a lot of energy. It does create hazardous residues of course, but it’s not as many as people believe, and they can be safely stored, usually underground.

  20. I essentially agree

    While nuclear energy doesn’t generate as many deaths daily or whatever than other sources of power, the potential consequences of a single fuck up could be a civilization killer

  23. Yeah, and burn coal instead. Nuclear would buy the planet a few, precious decades, and instead we have to let russia hold europe by the balls with their gas. Fuck people and their fear

  25. The problem is not nuclear energy itself, but the companies building and operating the reactors. The earthquake/tsunami were unprecedented in recorded Japanese history, so it’s a bit hard to fault them for that, but TEPCO made an absolute shambles of it. They rejected outside assistance in getting the cooling under control, refused to use sea water because they didn’t want to lose the reactor, etc. Before that, Monju had a fire and massive sodium coolant leak which the operator attempted to cover up. It was shut down once the extent of the cover up and the spill became clear.

    In places like the UK, old reactors that were already supposed to be shut down were brought back online, but required emergency changes to the regulations to allow the reactors to operate with a higher number of cracks in the concrete than what was previously deemed safe, etc.

    It’s this kind of flagrant corner cutting or choosing to press on while all of the available data is telling you this is a bad idea that has resulted in the majority of these accidents. To that extent, I’ve not seen any evidence that it’s possible for any private company (or semi-governmental organization) to operate a nuclear power station responsibly.

  27. “Let us stress once again that a nuclear-free and decarbonized world is possible”

    You are planning on building 22 new coal plants after shutting down nuclear, fucking clowns.

    Even the small consequenses of Fukushima could’ve been prevented if y’all didn’t ignored a bunch of safety protocols.

  28. Everyone, especially Japan, should know that getting rid of nuclear weapons is far more important than getting rid of nuclear energy.

    Therefore, I’d suggest them to send a letter considering aforementioned subject to the US.

    I’m sure they have more common history to talk about it than worrying about nuclear power in Europe.

  30. Man id love to go all renewables but right now it’s just not feasible. People are bitching about the danger but let’s be honest, how many accidents have there been with nuclear power plants in the west (counting Japan)? Fukushima was absolutely not up to safety standards which was why it blew up. I get it might be scary but we’re losing more people to emission related lung disease than we are to nuclear accidents and the waste, while dangerous, is also very small in quantity. We shouldn’t go all renewables just yet.

  31. FYI: Statistically, coal power plants killed thousands of times as many people as nuclear energy did, even when taking the highest estimates of Chernobyl and Fukushima aftermaths. Watching the video from Kurzgesagt gives a pretty good overview of this ridiculousness.

    Is nuclear energy a good final solution? Absolutely not.

    Was Germany dumb AF for shutting down all nuclear power plants and turning on coal power plants to compensate? Yes. It’s just plain stupid.

  34. Why should Europe abandon Nuclear just because Japan was super negligent on their reactor that caused the 2011 disaster? Nuclear power is probably the best source of clean energy until solar catches up.

  35. I disagree, Nuclear is green and even the waste creates the most secure nature reserves we have.

  36. I live in France…look, I just don’t see us getting to that carbon emission target without our nuclear plants.

    I would love to have only wind, solar farms and geothermal power…but we need to land back on earth, step back into reality here: Our electricity consumption is high and will only be higher in the future.

  37. I hope it isn’t. We’re out of time to build a steady green energy infrastructure. If we wanted to avoid this, we should have started earlier.

  38. Looks like the total number of kids in Japan with thyroid cancer [is about 200](https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/503323)? I’m not sure what the background rate is, but I guess some of those cases might be due to Fukushima.

    Now, I’m not saying this is okay or that 200 kids is a small number. However in a population of millions, I think it’s perhaps hyperbole to say “many children” have thyroid cancer as a result of the accident.

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