Fraser, Timothy, and Daniel P. Aldrich

Preview: Despite short-term perturbations, however, nuclear power’s massive sunk-cost structure and embeddedness in national energy plans have made massive changes in the field unlikely in East Asian nations. Since the Fukushima disaster, civil society held large-scale protests, referenda, and petitions against nuclear power, but their results have been mixed. Contentious politics have successfully put new nuclear safety laws on the books in Japan, South Korea, and China, but have failed to overpower the nuclear lobby and shift the trajectory of nuclear power in their countries. Only Taiwan has managed to secure an exit from nuclear power. Civil society has helped push governments to change regulatory institutions, but civil society organizations have had limited impact on nuclear restart decisions. Below, we outline why we should not expect major change in East Asian nuclear policy to come from civil society, and we discuss alternative avenues for civil society to achieve lasting change in energy policy in East Asia.