Chapter 18: The Discursive Construction of Pro-Nuclear Ideology Post-3/11: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Oi Reactors Restart Decision

Following the March 11th, 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in northeast Japan, what has come to be known as a “nuclear village” (Kingston, 2012) of academics, politicians, media figures, business interests, and energy industry officials mobilized to create a discourse legitimizing nuclear power and de-emphasizing the severity of events unfolding in and around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plants. Their aims were clear: to diffuse opposition to nuclear power as a result of the accident, legitimize their careers as agents and supporters of the industry, and stabilize their own positions within this maelstrom. Sensing a backlash against nuclear power, world leaders and major media outlets internationally repeated and broadened the legitimizing claims of the nuclear village to diffuse opposition and normalize the role of nuclear power and its political, economic, and media tributaries throughout the world.