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POST-FUKUSHIMA ENERGY POLICY: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR JAPAN Titli Basu33 The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in March 2011 marked a defining moment in the energy policy landscape of Japan. Following the nuclear accident, Japan is remodeling its energy policy architecture. Weighing the potential energy mix options unfolded a dynamic policy debate where stakeholders are fiercely competing for space. The role of nuclear and renewable energy in the future energy matrix constitutes the nucleus of this debate. In shaping the future energy strategy, the policymakers are battling gargantuan challenges including resource deficiency, offline nuclear reactors, electricity demand-supply gap, shooting energy import bills, augmenting emission from thermal power substitution, limited scope for energy efficiency, and stern anti-nuclear sentiments as opposed to the once invincible nuclear village. The nuclear accident has led to an energy deficit within the country, amidst escalating economic pressures arising from sharp appreciation of the yen, high corporate tax, labour cost, emission standards and delays in free trade agreements. At this critical juncture, Japan can hardly afford immediate elimination of nuclear energy from her electricity mix without mapping a realistic plan to bridge the shortfall. However, drawing from the Fukushima catastrophe, energy administration should not miss this opportunity to undo the regulatory capture by parting ways with the nuclear village and making tangible efforts to gradually reduce nuclear dependence and create space for safer and clean alternative sources. Introduction The nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in March 2011 marked a defining moment in the energy policy landscape of Japan. Following the nuclear accident, Japan is remodelling its energy policy architecture. On 14th September 2012, eighteen months after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, the Energy and Environment Council (EEC) presented the Innovative Strategy for Energy and Environment (ISEE). The ISEE redefined the contours of Japanese energy policy post-Fukushima accident. It aims at mobilising all policy resources to “realize a society not dependent on nuclear
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Titli Basu is a Ph.D candidate at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. She was a Visiting Researcher at The University of Tokyo funded by Japan Foundation Fellowship. She can be reached at jnu.basu@gmail.com.
ASIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS VOL. 5. NO. 2