‘No positives' to nuclearĪileen Mioko-Smith, a campaigner with Kyoto-based Green Action Japan, said there are "no positives" to be drawn from the government's return to nuclear energy. In Japan, the government is considering deploying numerous SMRs to meet the energy needs of individual cities. The benefits of smaller units are that they are cheaper to construct and less likely to cause a major crisis in the event of an accident. ![]() This 2011 TV image shows the aftermath of an explosion at the plant Image: NTV/NNN/AP/dapd/picture alliance Japan announced on August 26 that it has reached an outline agreement with the US and nine other countries to cooperate on the development of SMRs, which have a capacity of around 300,000 kilowatts instead of the 1 million kw capacity of a conventional reactor. One new technology that has particular promise as a solution, the government believes, is small module reactor units (SMRs). ![]() ![]() The government's hand has been further forced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy prices, to which Japan is extremely susceptible, as it has no domestic energy resources and relies almost entirely on imports, he added. "So the timing is not a surprise, as industry has been lobbying hard for this to happen and the ministries have also been releasing policy papers hinting that this was coming." Are smaller reactor units the answer? "Before the election in July, the government did not want to announce this plan because they were concerned about a backlash, but Kishida won that vote and now he has three years until he has to have another election," Nei told DW. Hisanori Nei, a professor of energy policy at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said the government's change of direction on nuclear power "comes as no surprise." Perhaps controversially, experts are also examining the extension of reactors' operational lifetimes from the present limit of 40 years – which is rapidly approaching for some of the older units - to 60 years. The Japanese government is hoping to have another seven units up and running by next summer and for nuclear power plants to be meeting as much as 20% of the nation's energy needs by 2030. White flags in a Tokyo park mark the events that set off a nuclear crisis and killed thousands 11 years ago Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon/REUTERS To date, 10 of the 54 reactors that were operational before the Fukushima crisis are again operational after undergoing extensive seismic remodeling and exhaustive security tests. ![]() Yet there are still some staunch opponents of nuclear, which they describe as a misguided approach to the nation's energy needs when other - far safer - options are available. Polls show the opinion shift is already happening, with 74% of people responding to a Yahoo Japan poll in July saying they supported the resumption of more reactors - a sharp reversal from well over 80% who were firmly against nuclear power in the immediate aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima plant. Kishida has told officials to draw up firm plans for the return to nuclear energy before the end of the year, including more measures to convince skeptics of its value. The changes are a crucial policy reversal, demonstrating both the negative impact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is having on energy prices in Japan and the slow-but-steadz reversal in anti-nuclear attitudes among the Japanese public. Eleven years after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant and successive Japanese governments adopting a cautious line on atomic energy, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has signaled a change of heart.Ĭhairing a recent meeting of the Green Transformation Implementation Council, Kishida instructed government officials and energy experts to step up the resumption of operations at more nuclear plants, to look into significantly extending the operational lifetimes of reactors, and to explore development and deployment of next-generation nuclear power facilities.
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