Hooked on Nuclear Power: Japanese State-Local Relations and the
Vicious Cycle of Nuclear Dependence By Hiroshi Onitsuka This
article examines the problems associated with the fact that
Japanese nuclear power plants have multiple reactors within one
plant and are concentrated in specific regions. It analyzes the
situation from international, domestic, and local perspectives,
revealing features of Japanese state-local relations. Signboard
of Futaba Town saying "Nuclear Power: Energy for Bright Future"
(genshiryoku akarui mirai no enerugi) on 29 March 2011. (Source)
The crisis of the crippled nuclear power plant Fukushima Daiichi
has continued for nine months and will continue for some time to
come. One of the reasons that this has been such a protracted
crisis is that four nuclear reactors within close proximity of
each other were damaged simultaneously, making efforts to repair
any one of them extremely difficult. Fukushima Daiichi was
equipped with six reactors (operation had been suspended at two
of its reac