Beyond fukushima: Japan's emerging energy and environmental challenges

Orbis

Volumn 57, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 438-452

  Calder, Kent ^a  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84880637395     PISSN: 00304387     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.orbis.2013.05.003     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. On the details, see Kent E. Calder, "Japan's Energy Angst: Asia's Changing Energy Prospects and the View from Tokyo," Strategic Analysis, Volume 32, Issue 1, pp. 123-129.
2. Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), pp. 305-327.
3. Japan Energy Economics Research Center, Quantitative Analysis Unit, Energy Economics Statistical Almanac (Tokyo: Sho Enerugii Center, 2012), p. 234. Figures are for 2009.
4. Japanese Middle East crude oil dependence had increased steadily, from 67.9 percent in 1987 to 86.6 percent in 2010. Virtually all of this dependence was on the Persian Gulf, see Ministry of Economics, Trade, and Industry. Energy White Paper (Tokyo: Shin Kosaku Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha, 2012), p. 94.
5. On the concept of "energy angst" in Japanese policymaking, see Kent E. Calder, Japan's Energy Angst and the Caspian Great Game (Seattle: National Bureau of Asian Research, Volume 12, No. 1, March, 2001), pp. 7-8; and Calder, "Japan's Energy Angst," Strategic Analysis, January, 2008.
6. Keizai Koho Center, Japan 2013: An International Comparison, p. 45. The United States has the largest nuclear operating capacity, followed by France, and then Japan. Until March 11, 2011, Japan had 54 operable reactors, but four were irreparably damaged at Fukushima Dai Ichi.
7. Keizai Koho Center, Japan 2012: An International Comparison, p. 44.
8. METI Energy and Natural Resources Agency, ed, Strategic Energy Plan of Japan (Tokyo: Keizai Sangyo Chosa Kai, 2010). Also, see http://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/data/20100618_08.html
9. On the Eisenhower Atoms for Peace program and the relationship to the emergence of nuclear power in Japan, see Peter Kuznick, "Japan's nuclear history in perspective: Eisenhower and atoms for war and peace," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, April 13, 2011, at: http://www.the.bulletin.org/print/web-edition/features/japans-nuclear-history-perspectiveeis.
10. The first reactor at the Fukushima Dai Ichi nuclear plant came on steam in March, 1971, and the last of six reactors there was commissioned in October 1979, see Japan Energy Data and Modeling Center, Energy Economics Statistical Almanac (2012 edition), p. 214.
11. On Tanaka's role in the establishment of the definitive framework for Japanese civilian nuclear policy, see Takeda Toru, "The Anti-Reactor and Pro-Reactor Factions: The Huge Risk that their Opposition Generated," Nikkei Business Online, March 30, 2011, at: http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/life/20110328/219175/?P=1&rt=nocnt.
12. See details of this law at: http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S49/S49H0079.html.
13. The original "Law on Special Accounts for Electric Power Development Acceleration Measures," which authorizes support payments to local communities accepting new electricpower plants, was incorporated into the "Act on Special Accounts" in 2007. The details of the various laws are available at: http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/H19/H19H0023.html.
14. The details can be seen at: http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S49/S49H008.html. Also see the Federation of Electric Power Companies (Denjiren) website, at: http://www.fepc.or.jp/nuclar/policy/houritsu/dengensanpou/index.html.
15. In 2010, Japanese utility fees averaged 15.4 cents/kilowatt hour for industry, compared to 6.8 cents in the United States and 12.1 cents in Britain. For consumer use, the respective charges were 23.2, 11.6, and 19.9. The only major industrial nation with higher utility fees than Japan was Italy. See EDMC, Energy Economics Statistical Almanac (2012 edition), pp. 286-287.
16. On the details, see http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11040302-e.html.
17. Across the 1980s and 1990s, the Federation of Electric Power Companies (Denjiren) was known as one of the "Gosanke" (honorable three pillars) of the conservative Japanese political world, see Gerald L. Curtis, The Japanese Way of Politics, p. 184.
18. DPJ Prime Minister Naoto Kan, for example, asked the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture to summarily stop operations due to proximity to an allegedly dangerous earthquake fault line, and subsequently asked for new stress tests on all nuclear plants, including those that had recently undergone inspection. Prime Minister Noda, his successor, by contrast restarted the Oi nuclear plant near Osaka, due to deepening fears of energy shortage as the summer of 2012 approached.
19. For an explanation of why the government decided to re-start Oi nuclear plant in June 2012, see http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/headline/genshiryoku.html.
20. Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry, Energy White Paper (2012 edition), p. 82.
21. In 2011, Japan's LNG imports constituted 32.3 percent of the total volume of LNG moving in international trade. See BP, Statistical Review of World Energy (2012 edition), p. 28.
22. On this issue, see Kent E. Calder (ed.), Toward a New Era of Trans-Pacific Energy Interdependence. (Washington, D.C.: Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, 2012).
23. BP, Statistical Review of World Energy (2012 edition), p. 27. U.S. prices are typically for Henry Hub (unliquefied), and Japanese prices are for LNG cif.
24. BP, Statistical Review of World Energy (2011 edition).
25. The Soya Strait itself is only 43 kilometers wide, see http://www.city.wakkanai.hokkaido.jp/sangyo/saharin/teikikouro/.
26. Russia's Gazprom acquired, through sale under duress by its foreign partners, 50 percent plus one share of Sakhalin II.
27. Russia was Japan's seventh largest import source in 2009, seventh again in 2010, sixth in 2011, and fourth in 2012. See http://www.customs.go.jp/toukei/suii/html/data/y8_3pdf.
28. Fuel coal was priced in 2010 at Y1.59/kilo-calories, vs. Y.5.45 for oil. See EDMC, Energy Economics Statistical Almanac (2012 edition), pp. 54-55.
29. On Japan's clean-coal projects, which are highly advanced in comparative terms, see the New Energy Development Organization (NEDO) website, at: http://www.nedo.go.jp/activities/introduction8_05_04.html. Also see the 2009 report of METIs Clean Coal Sub-Committee, at http://www.meti.go.jp/report/data/g90630aj.html.
30. Ministry of Economics, Trade, and Industry Energy Agency data.
31. Kyocera and Softbank, for example, were quite active in developing such "mega-solar" facilities, while Kyocera also pioneered in ceramic fuel-cell development.
32. On the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, see http://www.nsr.go.jp/
33. On these developments, see METI's Energy and Natural Resource Agency website at: http://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/saiene/kaitori/dl/setsubi/201209setsubi.pdf.
34. On the DPJ "vision" of nuclear power, see the Cabinet decision of September 19, 2012, "Concerning Future Energy and Environmental Policies," available at: http://www.npu.go.jp/policy/policy09/pdf/20120919/20120919_1.pdf; and the September 14, 2012 decision of the Energy and Environmental Council, "A Progressive Energy and Environmental Strategy," available at http://www.npu.go.jp/policy/policy09/pdf/20120914/20120914_1.pdf
35. See Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administrative policy speech at the Diet on Feb. 28, 2013, on-line at: http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/96_abe/statement2/20130228siseuhousin.html.
36. See http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/world/asia/japans-new-prime-minister-backsmore- nuclear-plants.html.
37. 'The Prime Minister: Shale Gas Exports," Tokyo Shimbun evening edition, February 23, 2013, at: http://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/politics/news/CK2013022302000219.html.
38. Westinghouse, for example, has been acquired by Toshiba, and General Electric has a strong joint venture with Hitachi. See Hitachi press release of May 16, 2007, entitled "GE, HITACHI SIGN FORMATION AGREEMENT FOR GLOBAL NUCLEAR, entitled "ENERGY BUSINESS ALLIANCE" at http://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/070516a.html; as well as the Toshiba press release of October 17, 2006, entitled "TOSHIBA ACQUIRES WESTINGHOUSE FROM BNFL," at http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2006_02/pr0601.htm
39. See http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kaidan/s_noda/vietnam1110/pcvx/6.pdf.
40. "PM Abe said Japan will cooperate closely to build nuclear power plants in Vietnam." Daily Yomiuri, Jan. 18, 2013; "Japan, Vietnam to Move Forward on Nuclear Deal," Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2011, at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204528204577009401285976844.html, "Japan Courts the Money in Reactors," The New York Times, October 10, 2011, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/business/global/shunning-nuclear-plants-at-homejapan- pursues-building-them-overseas.html?pagewanted=all. On Saudi projects, see FNN News, "Saudi Arabia and Japan Agree to Discuss Nuclear Reactor Exports," at: http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00240332.html. On Turkish projects, see "French-Japanese consortium bids for Turkey nuclear plant," Japan Today, March 6, 2013, at: http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/french-japanese-consortium-bids-forturkey- nuclear-plant, "Japan counts the cost of nuclear withdrawal," Financial Times
41. September 16, 2012, at: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9e9466c6-ffee-11e1-a30e- 00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NGmlzxwG; and "Japan asks Turkey to proceed with talks on nuclear power plant deal," Japan Times, October 20, 2011, at: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/10/20/business/japan-asks-turkey-to-proceedwith- talks-on-nuclear-power-plant-deal/. On Jordan, see "Jordan close to commissioning two nuclear reactors, declines to sign accord with U.S.," Washington Post, March 6, 2013. On Lithuania, see "The Lithuanian Prime Minister's Faction which Opposes Hitachi's Reactor: Prospects from Now On for Construction," Asahi Shimbun, November 23, 2012.
42. See, for example, Melissa Eddy, "Merkel Defends Germany's Nuclear Power Deadline," New York Times, March 12, 2012.
43. See Daniel P. Aldrich, Site Fights: Divisive Facilities and Civil Society in Japan and the West (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2008).
44. See EDMC, Energy Economics Statistical Almanac (2012 edition), pp. 288-289.
45. Since 1973 Japan has cut its per capital energy consumption by over 30 percent, and today Japanese consumers use only one half the energy per unit of GDP that their counterparts in the US and the European Union do. See Martin Fackler, "Japan Sees a Chance to Promote its Energy-Frugal Ways," New York Times, July 4, 2008.
46. On those institutions, see Kent E. Calder, Strategic Capitalism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 158-173.
47. "Energy angst" is an aversion to low domestic energy self-sufficiency, in part environmentally and institutionally determined, without regard to short-term market fluctuations. For details on how it operates in the Japanese political economy, see Kent E. Calder, "Japan's Energy Angst: Asia's Changing Energy Prospects and the View from Tokyo," Strategic Analysis, January 2008, pp. 123-129
48. Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Touchstone, 1991), pp. 316-323.
49. Despite the territorial issues, Russia and Japan have accelerated military to military, as well as semi-governmental exchanges, and advanced plans for a Vladivostok LNG terminal and the ESPO pipeline extension to ports capable of servicing Japan.
50. These were the Obama-Noda summit of May 2012, and the Obama-Abe summit of February 2013, both held in Washington, D.C.