Post-Fukushima Japan: The continuing nuclear controversy

Fam, Shun Deng; Xiong, Jieru; Xiong, Gordon; Yong, Ding; Ng, Daniel J. J.

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2014.01.014

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Encountering "low levels of civic activism" (Valentine and Sovacool 2010, 7975), interaction patterns between regulatory agencies, utilities, and Diet members in particular from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were for decades characterized by close cooperative ties. These properties facilitated the fact that the "nuclear regulators have long regulated in favor of the regulated"; a phenomenon that is known as regulatory capture (Fam et al 2014;Kingston 2013).…”

Section: Case Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, the Fukushima accident triggered "continuing nuclear controversy" between the proponents and opponents of nuclear energy and an enduring polarization of the subsystem (Fam et al 2014). While nuclear power had not been an issue of partisan cleavage prior to 3/11, the election campaign in autumn 2012 saw the rise of several newly founded parties, most of which conveyed claims for a full nuclear phase-out.…”

Section: December 26 2012mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to regain economic strength, new Prime Minister S. Abe endorsed the construction of new NPPs and urged the restart of reactors currently off the grid, praising nuclear power as "the best and most cost-effective option" with regard to energy supply (Kingston 2013, 519). However, as increasingly nuclear-skeptical media coverage and drastically reduced public support for nuclear power (The Asahi Shimbun 2014) demonstrate, the Fukushima accident has created the first "anchors" for a radical policy shift by eroding the policy monopoly of the nuclear village and making alternative ideas and proposals available (Fam et al 2014). It remains to be seen whether, when, and how these policy alternatives will materialize.…”

Section: December 26 2012mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, both the differences in energy supply systems and in partisan competition, as well as explanations based on Germany's history of bold nuclear resistance (Wittneben 2012, 2) or Japan's history of institutionalized regulatory capture (Fam et al 2014;Kingston 2012), are-to some extent-incorporated into historically shaped subsystem structures and are thus reflected in the discourse networks: Germany's pre-Fukushima anti-nuclear minority coalition represented, among others, the interests of the renewable energy industry, and the subsystem polarization was the result of long-standing opposition to nuclear power and the sharp partisan divide that emerged in the 1980s. The unitary subsystem setup of pre-Fukushima Japan, on the other hand, can be traced back to the policy monopoly of the nuclear village, the negligible role played by renewable energies in Japan's pre-crisis energy portfolio (see Hünteler, Schmidt, and Kanie 2012) and the absence of a partisan cleavage over the nuclear issue.…”

Section: Limitations and Avenues For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Crisis, Policy Discourse, and Major Policy Change: Exploring the Role of Subsystem Polarization in Nuclear Energy Policymaking

Rinscheid

2015

European Policy Analysis

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Why do policy responses to one and the same event often vary so markedly between different jurisdictions? This contribution sheds light on conditions and processes that link crises to policy change or policy stability. Drawing on public policy theories and accounts from crisis management, the type of policy subsystem that is hit by a crisis is theorized to be a decisive factor when it comes to explaining variation in crisis‐induced policy reactions. The theoretical arguments are explored based on a comparative case study of Fukushima's differential impact on nuclear power policymaking in Japan and Germany. In order to systematically analyze interaction patterns of policy elites, the study capitalizes on recent methodological advances and applies a method called discourse network analysis. The analysis yields topographies of policy discourses around the Fukushima crisis in both countries and shows that crises can trigger major policy shifts when “anchors” for policy change—i.e., alternative policy ideas and proposals put forward by a minority coalition—are readily available. If a pre‐crisis subsystem is unitary, on the other hand, the pressure on incumbents is rather low and policy shifts are prevented from going beyond mere incremental adjustments..

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Section: Case Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: December 26 2012mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: December 26 2012mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations and Avenues For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Crisis, Policy Discourse, and Major Policy Change: Exploring the Role of Subsystem Polarization in Nuclear Energy Policymaking

Rinscheid

2015

European Policy Analysis

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“…More specifically, this trend is guided by the powerful international [1] and domestic [2] political/societal push to pursue renewable or non-carbon-fueled power generation. Nuclear power has been a viable centralized alternative to the traditional carbon-based power generation but, due to the Japanese Fukushima Daiichi disaster, countries worldwide are abandoning its expansion [52]. Governments are therefore resorting to smaller, decentralized renewable power facilities or DG power generation as their non-carbon-fueled options [50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Voltage Volatility with Step Voltage Regulators: A Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Korean Solar Photovoltaic Distributed Generation

Jeong

Alleman

2019

Energies

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To meet the United Nation’s sustainable development energy goal, the Korean Ministry of Commerce announced they would increase renewable energy generation to 5.3% by 2029. These energy sources are often produced in small-scale power plants located close to the end users, known as distributed generation (DG). The use of DG is an excellent way to reduce greenhouse gases but has also been found to reduce power quality and safety reliability through an increase in voltage volatility. This paper performs a life-cycle cost analysis on the use of step voltage regulators (SVR) to reduce said volatility, simulating the impact they have on existing Korean solar photovoltaic (PV) DG. From the data collected on a Korean Electrical Power Corporation 30 km/8.2 megawatts (MW) feeder system, SVRs were found to increase earnings by one million USD. SVR volatile voltage mitigation increased expected earnings by increasing the estimated allowable PV power generation by 2.7 MW. While this study is based on Korean PV power generation, its findings are applicable to any DG sources worldwide.

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Evaluating deliberative participation from a social learning perspective: A case study of the 2012 National Energy Deliberative Polling in post‐Fukushima Japan

Mah

Siu

et al. 2021

Env Pol Gov

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Nuclear power has remained a hugely controversial energy technology since the 1970s and became particularly so after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. Engaging citizens in making energy decisions have thus become an increasingly important governing approach to post‐Fukushima energy transitions in many countries. Deliberative participatory processes and learning through social interactions have been increasingly regarded as critical elements of effective public engagement. Yet, little is known about who learns what, how they learn, and what impacts learning has on nuclear governance. Even less is known about the contextual factors influencing social learning. Advancing the literature on nuclear governance, deliberative participation, and social learning, this paper proposes a learning‐oriented framework to evaluate the outcomes of deliberative participation in the context of nuclear governance. We apply this framework in a case study of a national deliberative poll (DP) on energy conducted in Japan in 2012. We critically examine the extent to which and how social learning occurs under the influence of pre‐existing government‐industry‐society relations as a key contextual factor. Mainly based on a qualitative analysis of transcribed materials from a two‐day deliberation over the DP involving 285 citizens, this study has three main findings. First, participating citizens of the DP were able to acquire all of the three orders of social learning through deliberative processes in the DP process. Second, the provision of multiple sources of information, access to diverse perspectives, and the availability of plenty of dialogic processes are identified as factors that were found to facilitate advancement toward higher orders of learning. Third, the “nuclear iron triangle”—a pro‐nuclear coalition—appeared to constrain social learning impacts in the wider socio‐political systems of nuclear governance in Japan.

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Post-Fukushima Japan: The continuing nuclear controversy

Cited by 12 publications

References 19 publications

Crisis, Policy Discourse, and Major Policy Change: Exploring the Role of Subsystem Polarization in Nuclear Energy Policymaking

Crisis, Policy Discourse, and Major Policy Change: Exploring the Role of Subsystem Polarization in Nuclear Energy Policymaking

Reducing Voltage Volatility with Step Voltage Regulators: A Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Korean Solar Photovoltaic Distributed Generation

Evaluating deliberative participation from a social learning perspective: A case study of the 2012 National Energy Deliberative Polling in post‐Fukushima Japan

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