2024 POLLS: Parties Divided over Nuclear Energy amid Rising Power Demand

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)--Japan set out to phase out the use of nuclear power plants after the country's worst nuclear accident at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant in March 2011, when the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan was in power.

After the Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in late 2012, however, the country shifted back to using nuclear plants as electricity consumption is expected to grow rapidly with the rise of artificial intelligence.

For Sunday's general election, political parties have made various pledges on nuclear power, ranging from abolishing all nuclear plants to maximizing their use, a situation that highlights the difficulty of reaching consensus on the issue.

Until the last House of Representatives election in 2021, the LDP had clearly stated in its campaign platform that it would "reduce the country's dependence on nuclear power as much as possible."

The phrase was replaced with "maximum use" of nuclear plants in the party's platform for the 2022 House of Councillors election. And in February 2023, the LDP-led government adopted a policy of extending the operating lives of nuclear plants and lifted a moratorium on replacing old nuclear plants with new ones.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]