The government has moved to include a plan to study nuclear-powered submarines with an eye to acquiring them in the three security-related documents it plans to revise by the end of the year, opening the nuclear propulsion question inside a defense review.
The proposal is expected to reach the ruling-party talks that began on November 10. Multiple government and ruling-party officials disclosed the plan.
Options under consideration include stating that Japan will begin "survey and research" toward acquiring nuclear submarines, or that it will "study the matter and reach a conclusion." The government will stop short of declaring a policy of acquisition.
Any decision on whether to acquire them would follow an internal sorting of the advantages, drawbacks and costs.
Why nuclear propulsion
Nuclear submarines can stay submerged longer and travel farther and faster than the existing diesel fleet, and are regarded as improving operational capability.
Within the government, China's naval advances into the Pacific have fed a view that nuclear submarines could take on patrol duties. They could also carry long-range missiles and shoulder the counterstrike capability, known in Japan as the ability to attack enemy bases.