Cable dated:2008-10-27T08:20:00

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 002993
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EAP/J, ISN/CTR, ISN/MNSA, ISN/NESS DOE FOR KBAKER, NA-20
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2018
TAGS: PARM, ENRG, TRGY, NRR, MNUC, PUNE, JA">JA">JA
SUBJECT: MP CRITICIZES JAPANESE NUCLEAR PLANS
REF: STATE 107836

Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer; reasons 1.4 (b) and

(d)

1. (C) Summary: Lower House Diet Member Taro Kono voiced his strong
opposition to the nuclear industry in Japan, especially nuclear
reprocessing, based on issues of cost, safety, and security during
a dinner with a visiting staffdel, Energy Attache and Economic
Officer October 21. Kono also criticized the Japanese bureaucracy
and power companies for continuing an outdated nuclear energy
strategy, suppressing development of alternative energy, and
keeping information from Diet members and the public. He also
expressed dissatisfaction with the current election campaign law.
End Summary.

2. (C) Member of the House of Representatives Taro Kono spoke

extensively on nuclear energy and nuclear fuel reprocessing during
a dinner with a visiting staffdel, Energy Attache and Economic
Officer October 21. Kono, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party
first elected in 1996, is the son of Yohei Kono, a former President
of the LDP who is currently the longest serving speaker of the
House in post-war history. Taro Kono, who studied and worked in the
United States and speaks excellent English, is a frequent embassy
contact who has interests in agriculture, nuclear, and foreign
policy issues. He is relatively young, and very outspoken,
especially as a critic of the government's nuclear policy. During
this meeting, he voiced his strong opposition to the nuclear
industry in Japan, especially nuclear fuel reprocessing, based on
issues of cost, safety, and security. Kono claimed Japanese
electric companies are hiding the costs and safety problems
associated with nuclear energy, while successfully selling the idea
of reprocessing to the Japanese public as "recycling uranium." He
asserted that Japan's reprocessing program had been conceived as
part of a nuclear cycle designed to use reprocessed fuel in fast
breeder reactors (FBR). However, these reactors have not been
successfully deployed, and Japan's prototype FBR at Monju is still
off-line after an accident in 1995.
3. (C) Kono said following the accident at the Monju FBR, rather
than cancel plans to conduct reprocessing, the electric companies
developed the Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel program. However, Kono
criticized the MOX program as too expensive, noting it would be
cheaper to just "buy a uranium mountain in Australia," or to make a
deal to import uranium from other sources. Kono claimed the high
costs of the reprocessing program were being passed to Japanese
consumers in their power bills, and they were unaware of how much
they paid for electricity relative to people in other countries. In
describing the clout wielded by the electric companies, Kono
claimed that a Japanese television station had planned a three part
interview with him on nuclear issues, but had canceled after the
first interview, because the electric companies threatened to
withdraw their extensive sponsorship.

4. (C) In addition to the electric companies, Kono was also very

critical of the Japanese ministries, particularly the Ministry of
Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). He claimed the ministries were
trapped in their policies, as officials inherited policies from
people more senior to them, which they could then not challenge. As
an example, Kono noted that Japanese radiation standards for
imported foods had been set following the Chernobyl incident, and
had not changed since then, despite other nations having reduced
their levels of allowable radiation.

5. (C) In a similar way, he alleged, METI was committed to

advocating for nuclear energy development, despite the problems he
attributed to it. Kono noted that while METI claimed to support
alternative energy, it in actuality provides little support. He
claimed that METI in the past had orchestrated the defeat of
legislation that supported alternatives energy development, and
instead secured the passage of the Renewables Portfolio Standard
(RPS) act. This act simply requires power companies to purchase a
very small amount of their electricity from alternative sources.
Kono also criticized the government's handling of subsidies to
alternative energy projects, noting that the subsidies were of such
short duration that the projects have difficulty finding investors
because of the risk and uncertainty involved. As a more specific
example of Japan neglecting alternative energy sources, Kono noted
there was abundant wind power available in Hokkaido that went
undeveloped because the electricity company claimed it did not have
sufficient grid capacity. Kono noted there was in fact an unused
connection between the Hokkaido grid and the Honshu grid that the
companies keep in reserve for unspecified emergencies. He wanted to
know why they could not just link the grids and thus gain the
ability to add in more wind power.

6. (C) He also accused METI of covering up nuclear accidents, and

obscuring the true costs and problems associated with the nuclear
industry. He claimed MPs have a difficult time hearing the whole of
the U.S. message on nuclear energy because METI picks and chooses
those portions of the message that it likes. Only information in
agreement with METI policies is passed through to the MPs.
Elaborating on his frustrations with the ministries, Kono noted
that the Diet committee staffs are made up of professional
bureaucrats, and are often headed by detailees from the ministries.
He said he had no authority to hire or fire committee staff, and
that any inquiries he made to them quickly found their way back to
the ministries.

7. (C) Kono also raised the issue of nuclear waste, commenting that
Japan had no permanent high-level waste storage, and thus no
solution to the problem of storage. He cited Japan's extensive
seismic activity, and abundant groundwater, and questioned if there
really was a safe place to store nuclear waste in the "land of
volcanoes." He noted that Rokkasho was only intended as a temporary
holding site for high-level waste. The Rokkasho local government,
he said, had only agreed to store waste temporarily contingent on
its eventual reprocessing. Kono said that in this regard, the US
was better off that Japan because of the Yucca mountain facility.
He was somewhat surprised to hear about opposition to that project,
and the fact that Yucca had not yet begun storing waste.

8. (C) In describing how he would deal with Japan's future energy

needs, Kono claimed Japan needed to devise a real energy strategy.
He said while he believed Japan eventually would have to move to
100% renewable energy, in the meantime he advocated replacing
energy produced by nuclear plants ready for decommissioning with an
equal amount of energy from plants using liquid natural gas. To
this he would add new renewable energy sources.

9. (C) Kono also made a few side remarks concerning the Japanese
election process. He expressed dissatisfaction with the current
election campaign law, which he called outdated. He noted, for
example, that during the official campaign period he was not
allowed to actively campaign on the Internet. He said he could
print flyers during this time, but only a limited number, which had
to be picked up by constituents at his campaign office. So, to get
around these and other limitations, MPs had to campaign before the
official campaign period began. Given the current uncertainty on a
date for elections, he noted in a humorous manner that if the
government delayed elections long enough, he and the other MPs
would go broke.

SCHIEFFER