No Slowing Seen in Japan Nuclear Expansion

[closeupready]

Source: Wall Street Journal

TOKYO—A top official at Japan's nuclear-safety regulatory agency sees no slowing in the country's campaign to expand atomic power, despite the battle to contain the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, saying in an interview that the alternative is "blackouts."

"There aren't that many easy alternatives available for us," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a former trade negotiator tapped to help deal with the Fukushima nuclear crisis, on Wednesday. "Japan couldn't go forward without nuclear power in order to meet its demand for energy today," he said. About 30% of Japan's electricity output comes from nuclear, and the government has set the goal of increasing that to 40% by 2020.

The 54-year-old career bureaucrat—who has emerged over the past two weeks as the public face of the government's efforts to calm a jittery global public—said industry is likely to face severe opposition to expanding reliance on nuclear power, especially as reports of the fallout intensify, with news Wednesday that Tokyo tap water had been contaminated.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050204576218470429152728.html

[hedgehog]

1. Well, it's going to take even more electricity to desalinate enough

water for the people of Tokyo to drink.

[closeupready]

2. They survived Godzilla; radiation is invisible.

Shee-it. :sarcasm:

[daleo]

3. It's his job, so he would say that

Time will tell.

[JJW]

4. No kidding

It sounds like their nuclear waste is expanding all over the world.