The fact that there is still not a single reactor running in the country, in spite of the strong desire of the political and economic elites to bring back nuclear energy, attests to the continuous obs

Yeah, we see this all the time on issue after issue, both in Japan and around the world. These poor political and economic elites just can't get what they want and have bow down and surrender to the forces of public opinion. Besides nuclear power in Japan we see it happen on issues such as...uh...give me a few days and I might be able to think of one.

It's only been four years! Give 'em time. They're working on it.

TEPCO doesn't even need nukes, cleanup probably a lot more profitable than actual power generation, lot easier to shuffle the pea.

When he says "obstacle", isn't he implying that public opinion is the problem? Or public opinion is bad, not the elites?

Reactors which provided massive energy to grids & grids of metropolitan Japan has finally raised public awareness. Too bad it took an earthquake & tsunami 4 yrs ago to grip these terms on a serious national level. I hate to think that "anything" nuclear related will always be ill-fated in Japan. But, hey a 10-15% hike in your electric bill is the big/small price.

the percentage of electricity provided to the national grids by nuc power was something like 17%(?). Not that huge on a percentage basis, but significant if you look at the # of households covered. We all know Japan is sensitive to nuc issues (especially after the gumment lied to them after 3/11). With Japan's high population density per sq km and relatively low percent of arable land available, she cannot afford to have even one more nuc accident like Fukushima.

Takes time to make this type of decision in Japan.