PM Kishida cautious about Japan acquiring nuclear-powered submarine – The Mainichi

3 comments

1. His official stance is to be “cautious” about everything. Non-story.

   If anyone watched the recent debates on TV or NicoNico, he is not willing to commit to or give substance on any issue. [His responses all essentially boil down to](https://youtu.be/KmXtb3mSo7s?t=983) “X problem is a problem that we need to think about. I think it would be a good idea to tackle X problem by carefully considering X problem and then carefully taking appropriate action towards tackling X problem.”

2. Just do it. There’s nothing wrong with nuclear-powered ships; they save an enormous amount of oil from being burned, after all. And for submarines, they allow capabilities that diesel-electrics just can’t match.

   Japan already has nuclear power plants for civilian power generation, and has for decades. This really isn’t any different. It’s not a bomb. I can certainly understand Japan not wanting nuclear weapons, but this isn’t that, it’s a power plant for generating electricity on a ship.

   That said, they should make sure to acquire the tech from someone really competent (like the US–say what you want about some American products, but the nuclear power plants in American military ships have never had an incident). Not whoever designed the Fukushima power plant.

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