By Mure Dickie and Tom O?Sullivan in Tokyo
A leading contender to replace Naoto Kan as Japan?s prime minister has called for the country to phase out nuclear power over the next two decades.
Seiji Maehara, one of the most popular figures in the ruling Democratic party, told the Financial Times that construction of new nuclear reactors should ?basically be stopped? following the crisis at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant.
Mr Maehara?s comments will fuel expectations that the nuclear crisis will prompt sweeping changes in Japan?s energy policy.
The Mainichi newspaper reported that Yoshito Sengoku, chief cabinet secretary, was backing a confidential plan to separate the electricity generation and distribution arms of Tokyo Electric Power, Fukushima?s operator, and nationalise its nuclear assets.
The nuclear crisis that erupted after Japan was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami in March has fuelled anti-nuclear sentiment around the world. The German parliament on Thursday voted to close all of the country?s nuclear power plants by 2022.
A Japanese retreat from atomic power would have far-reaching implications for domestic utilities and companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which are seeking to sell nuclear techno-logy overseas.
?There is a need for a revolutionary shift in how electricity is generated and used,? said Mr Maehara, who served as transport minister and as foreign minister before stepping down from the cabinet in March over a minor funding scandal.
While Mr Kan has pledged to make renewable energy and conservation pillars of national energy policy alongside fossil fuels and nuclear power, he has been vague about the prospects for new reactors planned or under construction.
Mr Maehara said Japan should aim to phase out nuclear power completely. ?That is what is going to happen and … what should happen, but given that we depend on nuclear power for 30 per cent of electricity generation, we can?t get rid of it right away,? he said. ?While increasing the safety of nuclear power, we need to use preferential policies to reduce our dependence on it over 10 or 20 years.?
? The Financial Times Limited 2011