The Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling pro-nuclear coalition has won a solid majority in the country’s upper house (Diet) elections. The victory gives the coalition control of both the upper and lower houses of parliament — the first time this has happened in six years.
The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner New Komeito secured 135 of the 242 seats in the Diet, following elections on 21 July.
Abe’s coalition government has previously expressed support for the restart of nuclear power generation, given public understanding and independent oversight by the new Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA).
Earlier this month new nuclear safety regulations entered into force in Japan, and reactor operators filed requests to restart 10 of the country’s 50 reactors with the regulator NRA.
Still, Ohi 3&4 remain the only reactors in opeartion in the country. The MHI-designed pressurized water reactors, which restarted last July, are set to continue operation until the next statutory outage in September 2013.
