Pushing nuclear exports after Fukushima

[xchrom]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/2012120104952186833.html

Tokyo, Japan - Japan plans to boost civilian nuclear exports, even as it tries to appease its population angered at radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, crippled by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

"The reason why Japan is taking these dangerous steps [exports] is to gain business opportunities and diplomatic clout with developing countries," explained Yuki Tanabe, an expert at the Japan Centre for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES).

In December 2011, bills to allow export of nuclear plants to Vietnam and Jordan, as part of bilateral co-operation, were approved by the foreign affairs committee of Japan's House of Representatives.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has justified the deals saying these countries "badly want Japan's high-level technology". But Noda also said that Japan must help "enhance the safety of nuclear power plants in those countries".

[diane in sf]

1. It's much cheaper for developing countries to do small scale solar. The only reason to buy nukes is

to make nuclear weapons.