The Diet on Dec. 9 approved bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreements signed with Jordan, Vietnam, Russia and South Korea before the Fukushima nuclear crisis. They will go into effect in January at the earliest, paving the way for exports of nuclear technology, including reactors, by Japanese makers. But the Noda administration's policy is full of contradictions.
The severe accidents at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are still going on. Thorough studies of the accidents have not yet been carried out. The government panel to examine the accidents is still doing its work. The Diet has just started examining the accidents. There are no prospects that new nuclear power reactors will be constructed in Japan because of the Fukushima fiasco. The government, finding it difficult to ignore a call for reducing the nation's reliance on nuclear power as much as possible, is expected to reduce the weight of nuclear power in a basic energy policy to be revised next year.
But despite this situation, the Noda administration is eager to export nuclear technology. The policy is unprincipled. Testament to the concern about its problematic nature is the fact that two lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan cast "no" votes and about 15 other DPJ members abstained in voting Dec. 6 in a Lower House plenary session and that 12 DPJ lawmakers abstained in voting Dec. 9 in an Upper House plenary session.