The Liberal Democratic Party needs more open debate about nuclear power in its leadership race if it wants to ensure long-term economic prosperity and national security, a former International Energy Agency chief has said.
There’s a lack of debate within the LDP ahead of a Sept. 27 vote to choose who will become Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s successor, according to Nobuo Tanaka, former IEA executive director. That’s because politicians fear stirring up public fears about nuclear catastrophes and hurting their chance of election, he said.
"We have three traumas: Fukushima, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so to overcome this, we have to have some kind of very different narrative about nuclear,” he said Wednesday in Seoul. "If politicians do not talk about nuclear risks and benefits, the public do not understand.”
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