Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
an already dire iscal predicament. Cleanup costs are conservatively esti-
mated to be in the neighborhood of US$257 billion,
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and this estimate was
made prior to the July 2013 revelation that radioactive water leaks were
far more serious than initially thought.
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Moreover, the crippling blow to
TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear complex along with the government man-
dated shutdown of Japan's nuclear reactors pushed TEPCO into insolvency.
In 2012, the government was forced to inject US$12.4 billion into TEPCO
and assume voting control over its board.
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In 2012 alone, the government
issued a record US$693 billion in government bonds, equating to 12% of
nominal GDP.
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he Fukushima disaster has placed inancial demands on
the government at the worst possible time.
In order to stave of the economic losses to utilities stemming from gener-
ating power with more costly natural gas-ired power plants, the government
has permitted the added cost to be passed through to the end-consumers,
and this has further exacerbated the government's iscal dilemma. Many
industrial power consumers were forced to endure electricity price increases
of 15% or more in 2012.
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For energy-intensive industries, this has under-
mined industrial proitability and might over the short term strangle cor-
porate tax revenues during a period when the government actually needs
more, not less, tax revenue.
9.6.4 Policy Regime
A prominent characteristic of LDP policy through the years has been con-
sistency. he Japanese consensus building practice of “nemawashi” (binding
the root) has permitted the LDP to carry out a number of cabinet reshules,
replacing prime ministers on a regular basis without administrative chaos.
In terms of energy policy, the pro-nuclear actors that were inluencing poli-
cymaking ive ago are virtually the same actors that inluence policymak-
ing today, suggesting that emergent government policy can be essentially
extrapolated from government policy established ive years ago. here is
considerable political will to restart the nuclear power program; in doing so
this provides a foundation for relatively inexpensive electricity, while con-
currently reducing GHG emissions.
he only thing that has changed is that the government is now aware that
the general public would currently not be keen to see the nation return to its
pre-Fukushima plan of expanding nuclear power capacity to satisfy 40% of
the nation's electricity needs. Consequently, the government has been forced
to revisit its lackluster support for renewable energy. One of the key hurdles
to supporting renewable energy in the past has been political, industrial,
