Japan anti-nuclear movement takes a beating

no, the problem was no viable alternative was presented...everybody wants to keep their present comfort without sacrificing anything in return...nobody wants to pay for higher bill for cleaner electricity. And the private sector are not willing to fork money for the development of renewal energy (well most of them are in big red now OLYMPUS< SONY< SHARP< PANASONIC< to name few).

So want to have a nuclear free environment? Go to Africa.

Whoever is against generating power from nuclear fission is an idiot. The efficiency of the process is orders of magnitude larger than everything else that is currently feasible on the planet (as long as fusion is not commercially available).

"anti-nuclear movement takes a beating"

It is Christmas after all ! (finally some good news)

@jerobeam if it makes you feel even more festive -- nuclear lobby groups have prevented compensation for Fukushima evacuees, many families have taken a severe beating, and with the LDP back in power suffering and denial will increase.

I'm all for stopping the nuclear plants, but before that, come with a viable plan, that will not completely ruin the economy due to lack of electricity or absurdly high costs.

No solar and wind alone will absolutely not do it, so don't start proposing them again and again, the so called "megasolar" plants can barely cover the needs of small cities, and are no choice for the real consumers (steel smelters and car manufacturers).

Wind power is just not there yet, neither is solar. They may never be. So i don't know that you should just stop all nuclear plants. But then I guess there's earthquakes and tsunami's in Japan which are less of a big factor in places like France or the US

@SS Abe - I believe people from the evacuation zone are being compensated. Why should people that fled from other parts of the country where there was no danger be compensated? If people chose to flee, even if they were told to stay where they are and that there is no threat, that was their personal decision. The operator should not be liable for the hysteria and panic of some people. Instead, I think many media outlets should be sued for compensation because of all the nonsense and drivel that they have propagated about the supposed dangers of the accident (or "disaster" & "catastrophe" in media lingo) and the hysteria they have caused - damaging the psyche of ill-informed citizens and ultimately damaging the economy and the well-being of Japan and many other countries (e.g. Germany).

LDP being voted in is a disaster, they built the mess and SDP did their best to manage it, although clearly out of their depth due to a legacy of bad practices and incompetance, Basically they were thrown under the bus, and the perpetrators are now back in power - not good. Noda fighting to get c-tax through parliament seems to have been on a suicide mission. Interesting that most parties went into the polls saying "we are anti-x, or anti-y" as opposed to actually saying what they stand for. LDP to their credit (?) did come up with a core manifesto, and people bought it, thinknig it was the best option. I was really surprised that despite the constant fear mongering, the general public largely ignored the start/no start of nuclear as an issue.

Whoever is against generating power from nuclear fission is an idiot Right only for those who are mathematically challenged. Why don't you add in the cost for Tepco cleanup in your energy prices, not to mention actually including the costs to manage the spent fuel for thousands of years... Nuclear has never been viable when you look at actual total costs.

It all comes down to the old saying: "Every people has the government it deserves." In a country like Japan, where gas and oil have to be imported and paid for with real money, the reason for wanting nuclear energy is obvious. And if you have a cash cow like that, why would companies be interested in investing in the development if solar or wind power, unless the government forces them to? The risks are known, but the majority, as everywhere on the planet is ignorant. And the opposers are making fools of themselves by calling everything immediately the "worst possible accident". If Fuklushima was the worst possible accident, then there is no reason not to run uclear power. MOst of the damage there happened not because of the earthquake, but because of managerial incompetence. Flattening the hill where it was built, not guaranteeing an emergency power supply by not building one in a safe distance. The radioactive pollution is limited to a very small area and was directly depending on the wind direction. The nec essary evacuation it could have been managed in time by competent people. It was the incompetence of the crisis management, politicians and "experts" whih prevented this. And of course that typical japanese $tupidity of not asking the rest of the world for immediate help, because they might lose a face which no else but them thinks they actually still have. And finally, face it, no japanese government is in power to do what the people need and none probably ever will. The idea people can elect Abe and then expect him to anything different than what he does, is a real joke.

Jim Poushinsky Opposition to nuclear power in Japan makes good sense, as the country is located on the major earthquake fault line where the tectonic plates are colliding. However nobody is talking about the obvious alternative power source, which is the geothermal heat readily available because the hot inner mantle is so close to the surface at the edges of the plates. If you want to convince people to stop using nuclear power in Japan, you need to agree on such a realistic alternative as geothermal, not pretend conservation and wind and solar can replace nuclear. And in the stable continental interiors nuclear power using thorium instead of uranium is the sensible solution to getting the world off coal and oil. The rabid unthinking opposition to all nuclear energy by the likes of Greenpeace makes me think they are in bed with the fossil fuel overlords ruining Mother Earth. I cannot support such extremists.

Jim, you are a comedian?

"...a realistic alternative as geothermal..."