Japan's bilateral nuclear pacts

April 4, 2014

Japan lower house OKs nuclear pacts with Turkey, UAE

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140404p2g00m0dm061000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's House of Representatives on Friday passed two nuclear pacts with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that would pave the way for Japan to export nuclear power infrastructure to the two countries.

The agreements, both concluded last year, would come into force by early May under the Constitution, which stipulates that lower house decisions on state budgets and bilateral treaties prevail in the Diet.

Members of the governing Liberal Democratic party, its junior coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed New Komeito party, and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan voted for the pacts.

The approval came at a time when anti-nuclear power sentiment still persists among the public as the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has yet to be resolved.

Those nuclear pacts set a legal framework for the peaceful use and transfer of atomic-power technologies and equipment.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed the pacts when he visited the two countries in May 2013.

The Japanese government sought parliamentary approval of the pact during the extraordinary Diet session last fall. But the Diet failed to come to a decision at that time and carried the deliberations to the current 150-day regular session which started Jan. 24.

The opposition DPJ has decided to vote for the treaties as it promoted the export of nuclear power infrastructure when it was in power between August 2009 and December 2012.

As for Turkey, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is a member of a consortium of business corporations which has won an order to build an atomic power plant in the country.

The United Arab Emirates started to construct a nuclear power plant in 2012 and is currently planning to build more reactors, government officials said.

Japan concluded bilateral nuclear accords with 11 countries, including Australia, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and the European Atomic Energy Community, and is currently promoting talks with India and Brazil to conclude similar treaties.

April 04, 2014(Mainichi Japan)