The findings of a Kyodo survey conducted in February this year reveal a stunning level of reluctance to restart Japan's nuclear reactors in the host cities, towns and prefectures that stand to gain from revving them back up.
The nation's 48 viable reactors are generating no electricity at present — and no local subsidies as long as they are idled. However, the spigot of financial inducements would open up again if the local governments in question were to green-light reactor restarts.
Despite this lure, though, only 13 out of the 135 villages, towns, cities and 21 prefectures situated within 30 km of a nuclear power plant responded to the survey saying they would unconditionally approve bringing local reactors back online if the Nuclear Regulation Authority vouched for their safety; another 24 would do so only if certain other conditions were met. It is a stunning rebuke that less than 10 percent of those authorities are keen to sign up for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's nuclear renaissance despite all the foregone benefits. It's not what one would expect given the high subsidy-addiction that afflicts these hosting communities.