Taro Kono, Japan's digital transformation minister, has said he now believes that the country should facilitate the restart of idled nuclear power plants and promote research into nuclear fusion, in the face of a predicted rise in electricity demand.
His remarks, made Wednesday, mark a further shift from Kono's initial position of seeking no nuclear plants in the country. He apparently hopes to gain broad support within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ahead of its upcoming leadership election, expected in September.
Kono has already told LDP Vice President Taro Aso, head of an intraparty faction Kono belongs to, of his eagerness to run in the party's leadership race. However, his anti-nuclear stance has been criticized by veteran members of the Aso faction.
When Kono ran in the previous LDP leadership election, in 2021, he indicated that he would accept the restart of nuclear plants for the time being. More recently, he has refrained from making strong-worded comments on energy policy.
"The outlook for electricity demand is changing significantly," Kono told reporters in the city of Naka, in Ibaraki Prefecture, on Wednesday, citing the rapid spread of generative artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
"Given our target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, we can't do so with renewable energy alone," Kono noted, pointing to the need to consider "what is possible in the range from reactivating nuclear power plants to using renewable energy and nuclear fusion."
Earlier in the day, the minister inspected Japan Atomic Power's Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in the Ibaraki village of Tokai as well as a nuclear fusion research facility in Naka.
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