Four power companies on Monday asked the Nuclear Regulation Authority to assess the safety of 10 reactors at five nuclear power plants under the NRA's new safety regulations, which went into force the same day.
The Abe administration and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have presented no clear long-term policy related to nuclear power. They should be criticized for trying to bring nuclear power plants back online by fait accomplis even before the causes of the Fukushima nuclear disaster are established. In addition, the regulations include a five-year grace period for an important safety measure, so once again the nuclear industry would be gambling that a disaster won't strike in the interim.
While the Democratic Party of Japan was in power, it carried out deliberative polls across the country to find out people's views on nuclear power. In that process, a majority of people called for eventually ending Japan's reliance on nuclear power.