Former Japan Premier Koizumi Criticizes Nuclear Push

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1. Koizumi issues strong call for abandonment of nuclear power

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/38dd2194-4b86-11e3-8203-00144feabdc0.html

Koizumi issues strong call for abandonment of nuclear power
By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo
November 12, 2013 11:48 am

From a jittery public to the problem-plagued clean-up effort at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, Shinzo Abe’s attempt to revive Japan’s atomic-power industry faced formidable obstacles from the start.

Now, the Japanese prime minister is being forced to contend with an unexpected new roadblock: his own political mentor, the still-popular former premier Junichiro Koizumi.

On Tuesday, in a speech at Japan’s national press club, Mr Koizumi made his most forceful and direct public appeal yet for his country to abandon atomic energy.

And, clarifying a point on which he had previously been vague, he said such a policy should be implemented “immediately” – meaning that plants that have been shut for safety evaluations should not be restarted, even as a stopgap measure while alternative energy sources are developed.

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