Japan’s Pro-Nuclear Faction Turns Up Wattage on Its PR

Japan’s nuclear lobby has launched an aggressive public relations campaign--financed in part by a $74-million grant from MITI--to “promote public understanding of nuclear power.”

As part of the program, on Oct. 26--Japan’s official Nuclear Power Day--power plants will take visitors, conferences will be held and special television programs will be aired.

In the past, the government has simply argued on such occasions that nuclear power is necessary if Japan is to be energy independent and still enjoy a rising standard of living.

But Japanese bureaucrats have recently become more sophisticated. They have taken to touting burning oil’s impact on global warming. To avoid the greenhouse effect, they say, Japan must move quickly to expand its use of nuclear power.

Even Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu was recently recruited on a pro-nuclear mission. He traveled this summer to a small town far from Tokyo to grant the town’s mayor the 1990 “distinguished award for nuclear power siting.” The award was in appreciation for the mayor’s success in persuading residents in the area to accept its first nuclear power plant.