MP CRITICIZES JAPANESE NUCLEAR PLANS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 002993

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/J, ISN/CTR, ISN/MNSA, ISN/NESS
DOE FOR KBAKER, NA-20

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2018
TAGS: PARM, ENRG, TRGY, NRR, MNUC, PUNE, JA
SUBJECT: MP CRITICIZES JAPANESE NUCLEAR PLANS

REF: STATE 107836

Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1. (C) Summary: Lower House Diet Member Taro Kono voiced his
strong opposition to the nuclear industry in Japan,
especially nuclear reprocessing, based on issues of cost,
safety, and security during a dinner with a visiting
staffdel, Energy Attache and Economic Officer October 21.
Kono also criticized the Japanese bureaucracy and power
companies for continuing an outdated nuclear energy strategy,
suppressing development of alternative energy, and keeping
information from Diet members and the public. He also
expressed dissatisfaction with the current election campaign
law. End Summary.

2. (C) Member of the House of Representatives Taro Kono
spoke extensively on nuclear energy and nuclear fuel
reprocessing during a dinner with a visiting staffdel, Energy
Attache and Economic Officer October 21. Kono, a member of
the Liberal Democratic Party first elected in 1996, is the
son of Yohei Kono, a former President of the LDP who is
currently the longest serving speaker of the House in
post-war history. Taro Kono, who studied and worked in the
United States and speaks excellent English, is a frequent
embassy contact who has interests in agriculture, nuclear,
and foreign policy issues. He is relatively young, and very
outspoken, especially as a critic of the government's nuclear
policy. During this meeting, he voiced his strong opposition
to the nuclear industry in Japan, especially nuclear fuel
reprocessing, based on issues of cost, safety, and security.
Kono claimed Japanese electric companies are hiding the costs
and safety problems associated with nuclear energy, while
successfully selling the idea of reprocessing to the Japanese
public as "recycling uranium." He asserted that Japan's
reprocessing program had been conceived as part of a nuclear
cycle designed to use reprocessed fuel in fast breeder
reactors (FBR). However, these reactors have not been
successfully deployed, and Japan's prototype FBR at Monju is
still off-line after an accident in 1995.

3. (C) Kono said following the accident at the Monju FBR,
rather than cancel plans to conduct reprocessing, the
electric companies developed the Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel
program. However, Kono criticized the MOX program as too
expensive, noting it would be cheaper to just "buy a uranium
mountain in Australia," or to make a deal to import uranium
from other sources. Kono claimed the high costs of the
reprocessing program were being passed to Japanese consumers
in their power bills, and they were unaware of how much they
paid for electricity relative to people in other countries.
In describing the clout wielded by the electric companies,
Kono claimed that a Japanese television station had planned a
three part interview with him on nuclear issues, but had
canceled after the first interview, because the electric
companies threatened to withdraw their extensive sponsorship.

4. (C) In addition to the electric companies, Kono was also
very critical of the Japanese ministries, particularly the
Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). He claimed
the ministries were trapped in their policies, as officials
inherited policies from people more senior to them, which
they could then not challenge. As an example, Kono noted
that Japanese radiation standards for imported foods had been
set following the Chernobyl incident, and had not changed
since then, despite other nations having reduced their levels
of allowable radiation.

5. (C) In a similar way, he alleged, METI was committed to
advocating for nuclear energy development, despite the
problems he attributed to it. Kono noted that while METI
claimed to support alternative energy, it in actuality
provides little support. He claimed that METI in the past
had orchestrated the defeat of legislation that supported
alternatives energy development, and instead secured the
passage of the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) act. This
act simply requires power companies to purchase a very small
amount of their electricity from alternative sources. Kono
also criticized the government's handling of subsidies to
alternative energy projects, noting that the subsidies were
of such short duration that the projects have difficulty
finding investors because of the risk and uncertainty
involved. As a more specific example of Japan neglecting
alternative energy sources, Kono noted there was abundant
wind power available in Hokkaido that went undeveloped
because the electricity company claimed it did not have
sufficient grid capacity. Kono noted there was in fact an
unused connection between the Hokkaido grid and the Honshu
grid that the companies keep in reserve for unspecified
emergencies. He wanted to know why they could not just link
the grids and thus gain the ability to add in more wind
power.

6. (C) He also accused METI of covering up nuclear
accidents, and obscuring the true costs and problems
associated with the nuclear industry. He claimed MPs have a
difficult time hearing the whole of the U.S. message on
nuclear energy because METI picks and chooses those portions
of the message that it likes. Only information in agreement
with METI policies is passed through to the MPs. Elaborating
on his frustrations with the ministries, Kono noted that the
Diet committee staffs are made up of professional
bureaucrats, and are often headed by detailees from the
ministries. He said he had no authority to hire or fire
committee staff, and that any inquiries he made to them
quickly found their way back to the ministries.

7. (C) Kono also raised the issue of nuclear waste,
commenting that Japan had no permanent high-level waste
storage, and thus no solution to the problem of storage. He
cited Japan's extensive seismic activity, and abundant
groundwater, and questioned if there really was a safe place
to store nuclear waste in the "land of volcanoes." He noted
that Rokkasho was only intended as a temporary holding site
for high-level waste. The Rokkasho local government, he
said, had only agreed to store waste temporarily contingent
on its eventual reprocessing. Kono said that in this regard,
the US was better off that Japan because of the Yucca
mountain facility. He was somewhat surprised to hear about
opposition to that project, and the fact that Yucca had not
yet begun storing waste.

8. (C) In describing how he would deal with Japan's future
energy needs, Kono claimed Japan needed to devise a real
energy strategy. He said while he believed Japan eventually
would have to move to 100% renewable energy, in the meantime
he advocated replacing energy produced by nuclear plants
ready for decommissioning with an equal amount of energy from
plants using liquid natural gas. To this he would add new
renewable energy sources.

9. (C) Kono also made a few side remarks concerning the
Japanese election process. He expressed dissatisfaction with
the current election campaign law, which he called outdated.
He noted, for example, that during the official campaign
period he was not allowed to actively campaign on the
Internet. He said he could print flyers during this time,
but only a limited number, which had to be picked up by
constituents at his campaign office. So, to get around these
and other limitations, MPs had to campaign before the
official campaign period began. Given the current
uncertainty on a date for elections, he noted in a humorous
manner that if the government delayed elections long enough,
he and the other MPs would go broke.
SCHIEFFER