Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s ambition to restart the country¡¯s fleet of nuclear reactors may face further challenges from regional elections.
The victory of an anti-nuclear gubernatorial candidate in Niigata on Sunday, following a similar win in Kagoshima earlier this year, is complicating the efforts of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to revive Japan¡¯s reactors. There will be at least three such elections next year in areas where utilities are vying to restart reactors.
¡°Even as the Abe administration remains committed to including nuclear power as part of Japan¡¯s energy mix, implementing this vision will require overcoming ever-more-dogged resistance from local communities and their representatives,¡± Tobias Harris, a vice president with Teneo Intelligence in the District of Columbia, said in a note Monday. ¡°The restart process will continue to proceed unevenly at best.¡±
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