Japan returns to nuclear power and abolishes coal and energy AI

Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but with the dirtiest energy mix in the G7 it is trying to cut emissions, and nuclear power is making a steady comeback, thanks in part to AI.

“We believe that (an accident similar to Fukushima) could be largely avoided,” KK Deputy Chief Inspector Masaki Daito told AFP. Japan now has “the strictest (regulatory) standards in the world”.

The facility in central Japan – like the nation as a whole – is no stranger to earthquakes, having been closed for two years for ‘upgrades’ after a major shock in 2007.

In Fukushima, a 50-foot tsunami severed power lines and flooded backup generators, knocking out the water pumps needed to keep nuclear fuel cool.

The worst nuclear accident of this century caused three reactors to collapse, blasting hydrogen from roofs and releasing radioactivity into the air.

To keep the electricity going in the event of an earthquake, KK has new vehicles for backup power on higher ground, plus ‘blow-out’ panels and a new vent intended to suck out 99.9 percent of all radioactive particles filter.

In addition to the recently built sea wall, a dike has been enlarged and strengthened. In corridors deep in the reactor building, luminous stickers mark pipes and taps.

“The lights in Fukushima all went out and no one could see it,” Daito said.

Climate goals

Before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which killed about 18,000 people, nuclear power generated about a third of Japan’s electricity, while fossil fuels accounted for most of the rest.

All of Japan’s 54 reactors were subsequently shut down, including KK’s. To keep the lights on, resource-poor Japan has increased imports of natural gas, coal and oil while increasing solar energy.

But fossil fuels are expensive; imports cost Japan about $510 million a day last year.

It also does not help Japan achieve its climate promises.

The E3G think tank ranks Japan last – by some distance – among the G7 countries when it comes to decarbonizing their energy systems.

Britain recently closed its last coal-fired power station. Italy, France and Germany plan to follow suit. Japan and the United States, however, have no such goal.

The government is aiming for ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2050 and wants to reduce emissions by 46 percent by 2030 compared to 2013 levels.

It wants to increase the share of renewable energy sources from about 20 percent to 36-38 percent and reduce fossil fuels from about two-thirds to 41 percent.

Hanna Hakko, a Japan-based energy expert at E3G, thinks Japan can aim higher and get 70 to 80 percent of its energy from renewables by 2035.

“This would allow Japan to phase out coal, as it has pledged to do together with its G7 counterparts,” Hakko told AFP.

Nuclear revival

But even under this scenario, the rest would have to be covered by gas and nuclear energy.

Under the current plan, Japan aims for nuclear power to account for 20 to 22 percent of its electricity production by 2030, up from more than 10 percent now.

At the end of 2022, Japan decided to accelerate the restart of the reactors and extend the operating time of nuclear reactors from 40 to 60 years.

Nine of Japan’s 33 operating reactors are currently online. At KK, unit seven is ready to join them as soon as the local governor agrees, and others will follow.

Due to stricter safety regulations since Fukushima, obtaining approval is a slow process. One restart was recently blocked due to earthquake risk.

Business groups continue to worry about power shortages, especially as Japan wants to go big in power-hungry artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.

“Japan has great untapped potential for renewable energy development,” new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told local media last week ahead of the October 27 elections.

But he added: “It is clear that nuclear energy must be used.”

Megaquake

The Fukushima meltdown still looms large for people in Japan and elsewhere.

Japan is hit by hundreds of earthquakes a year – mostly small ones – and in August it issued its first ‘megaquake advisory’ off the Pacific coast.

The alarm was withdrawn after a week, but the government still sees a roughly 70 percent chance of a monster earthquake within thirty years.

Making Fukushima completely safe has barely begun.

Japan last year began releasing some of the 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of treated cooling water collected from the Pacific Ocean since 2011. In response, China has banned the import of Japanese seafood.

Engineers still haven’t figured out what to do with 800 tons of highly radioactive fuel and debris. People are still unable to enter the destroyed facility.

Mototsugu Oki, who was picnicking with his family on the beach near KK, said he, like many Japanese, had been turned away from nuclear power for good by the Fukushima accident.

“It is run by people, and people naturally make mistakes,” he told AFP.

© 2024 AFP