Nuclear Reactors 388 - Japan May Make Major Switch From Nuclear Power to Renewable Power
Five years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan when three nuclear power reactors melted down following a massive tsunami caused by an earthquake. All of the Japanese power reactors were shut down after the disaster. During the past five years, the Japanese have tried to clean up the contamination of the disaster and move on. Unfortunately, radioactive ground water is still leaking into the Pacific Ocean, there is still widespread radioactive fallout scattered around Japan, huge amounts of radioactive debris are still awaiting disposal, and the exact location of the melted reactor cores is unknown. It will take decades and many billions of dollars to finished cleaning up.
Studies of problems that contributed to the disaster were carried out and blame was assigned. Lawsuits were filed and are still going on. People were evacuated from their homes in the area near the reactors and now some have returned. There have been huge impacts on the economics, politics and society of Japan. The Japanese government has not been fully candid about the causes of and responsibilities for the disaster. Laws have been passed to censor independent reports trying to get to the truth of all that happened and is going on.
The current Prime Minister Abe and his administration remain committed to nuclear power as a critical part of Japanese energy sources as well as a major export market. They are beginning to turn some of the reactors back on but a recent reactor that is being reactivated is sitting close to an active volcano. About a third of the reactors will not be turned back on because they are too near active fault lines and at risk from earthquakes. So far only two reactors have actually been restarted and the governors of the provinces where they are located are saying that they will be shut down. There are many among the Japanese people who would rather that none of the reactors are ever restarted again.
The Japan Association of Corporate Executives (JACE) is a top business lobbying group in Japan. It has around fourteen hundred executives from nine hundred and fifty companies.
The JACE has come out against nuclear power as a major energy source which represents a major shift in corporate support for nuclear power in Japan. Prior to the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power generation accounted for about thirty percent of the electricity generated in Japan. The JACE is saying that P.M. Abe should give up his ambition of supply twenty percent of Japan's power by 2030 and concentrate on renewables instead. JACE is saying that given the current circumstances, they doubt that Japan will ever get more than ten percent of its power from nuclear energy in the future.
Renewable energy sources supplied about fourteen percent of Japan's electricity in 2016 and current plans call for raising that to as much as twenty four percent by 2030. However, recently, incentives for renewables were cut back.
Abe's administration has publicly reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear power recently. JACE is pushing for a strong move into renewables. There are reports that the Japanese government will cut back nuclear ambitions and move forward with more support for renewables in a new national energy roadmap to be published early next year.
Japan anti-nuclear protest rally in Tokyo in 2011:
