Japan leaders urge EU to pursue zero nuclear power

Former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Naoto Kan called for the European Union to pursue a path toward zero nuclear power, with the bloc planning to designate it as a form of green energy in order to achieve net-zero emissions by midcentury.

Both Kan and Koizumi were proponents of nuclear power generation while in office but they have become prominent anti-nuclear voices in Japan since the 2011 Fukushima disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Kan was prime minister when the disaster hit northeastern Japan.

As a result of the Fukushima No. Koizumi, a reformer who held office from 2001 to 2006, said at a press conference in the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan that 1 plant was not safe, cheap and clean energy was not safe.

There are enough renewables to provide the needed power even if we don't rely on nuclear power and not use fossil fuels. This is true in Japan as well as other countries in the world, said Kan, who held office between 2010 and 2011 in Japan.

In the EU classification to guide and mobilise private investment in activities necessary to achieve climate neutrality in the next 30 years, it is proposed that energy from nuclear fission and natural gas be labeled as green. The European Commission believes that there is a role for natural gas and nuclear power in transitioning towards a future based on renewable energy.

Some EU members, such as Austria, Germany and Spain, oppose or remain skeptical of the proposal, while France has led the drive for nuclear power to be included in the green category of the classification.

The regulation is expected to come into effect in 2023, allowing for nuclear power and natural gas to join renewable energy on a list of technologies approved for private investment and EU financial support.

The two former leaders of Japan warned of the risks associated with nuclear power.

Even Tokyo residents were close to having to evacuate at the time of the Fukushima accident. If such an accident happens in France, the residents of Paris would have to evacuate for as long as 50 or 100 years, Kan said.

Koizumi pointed out that Germany is phasing out and Japan is reducing its reliance on atomic energy, despite the fact that France relies heavily on nuclear power as a baseload source.

It will help change the minds of the leaders of France and other pro-nuclear power states, said Koizumi, who owns a hydrogen-powered car.

Koizumi said Japan needs to export renewable technologies to developing countries instead of nuclear power technologies because many of those countries are blessed with natural resources.