Will the Great (Economic) Awakening lead to a Great Re-Acceleration?

Fifty years ago, inflation, energy shocks, and overregulation helped end America’s postwar Golden Age. Now our response to those factors may help start a new one.

Back in 2012, a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a poll found that 80 percent of Japanese favored phasing out the country’s reliance on nuclear power and eventually eliminating it. And over the years, energy policy followed overwhelming public opinion with the country taking most of its reactors offline.

During that period, however, there was also a slowly growing awareness that generating reliable (Tokyo almost suffered a blackout earlier this summer) zero-carbon energy was probably going to require nuclear being a key part of the nation’s power portfolio. Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a resulting global energy shock. And now we see an important consequence of that shock, via the Financial Times:

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has moved to restore Japan’s status as a nuclear-powered nation for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima crisis, accelerating the restart of reactors and signalling the construction of new plants. Kishida’s decision to throw his political weight behind the nuclear power sector is intended to rein in soaring energy costs for households and companies and to support Japan’s nuclear technology manufacturers. “As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the global energy situation has drastically changed,” Kishida said on Wednesday. “Whatever happens globally, we need to prepare every possible measure in advance to minimise the impact on people’s lives,” he said, adding that the government would aim to come up with concrete plans for the nuclear sector by the end of the year.

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Πηγή: fasterplease.substack.com