The Greenpeace proposal may be difficult for Prime Minister Noda to swallow even though he has made clear that he would like to reduce Japan’s reliance on nuclear in the mid to long-term, although no dates have been specified.
The question is what would the Japanese public think about this proposal? If offered a referendum on the phase out of nuclear energy in 2012, what proportion of Japanese people would vote “Yes”? How many citizens and businesses would accept the need to make greater efforts to save energy (as they did this summer) in order to be free of the risk of another nuclear accident after 2012, and also to ensure that the amount of nuclear waste that needs to be treated will not grow beyond that already created?
Put that way, we could expect the greater majority would be supportive of this proposal. However, people would need to be convinced that a viable alternative scenario to “business as usual” exists that could ensure the Japanese economy has the electricity it needs to keep running smoothly and at the same time that overall quality of life would not be significantly affected.
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