In this book talk, Florentine Koppenborg (Technical University of Munich) argues that the regulatory reforms after the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, directly and indirectly raised the costs of nuclear power in Japan. The new Nuclear Regulation Authority resisted capture by the nuclear industry and fundamentally altered the environment for nuclear policy implementation. Independent safety regulation changed state-business relations in the nuclear power domain from regulatory capture to top-down safety regulation, which raised technical safety costs for electric utilities. Antinuclear protests, – mainly lawsuits challenging restarts – incurred additional social acceptance costs. Increasing costs undermined pro-nuclear actors’ ability to implement nuclear power policy and caused a rift inside Japan’s “nuclear village.” Small nuclear safety administration reforms were, in fact, game changers for nuclear power politics in Japan. The book talk takes place on May 30, 6.30 pm at Temple University’s Japan Campus and online. Details and registration here