MMore than a decade after the triple collapse at Fukushima Dychi Energy Station, Japan turns back to nuclear energy because it is fighting to reach its goals in its emissions and enhance energy security.
In a draft of a strategic energy plan to be approved by the Council of Ministers this month, the Ministry of Trade and Industry indicated that it was previously behaving.
The document dropped a reference to “reducing dependence” on the nuclear energy that appeared in the previous three plans, and instead called for “maximizing” nuclear energy, which will be about 20 % of the total energy production in 2040, based on the assumption that 30 reactions will be in Full work by that time.
The plan envisages a share ranging between 40 % and 50 % for renewable energy-compared to a third in 2023-decreased energy that operates with the current 70 % to 30-40 %.
The batch has been condemned to restart the reactors that followed the summary since the climate activists that resulted in an earthquake in size 9.0 were convicted.
“The nuclear factories are not the place where the Japanese government should invest its money,” says Eline Smith, CEO of the Kyoto Green Corchen Group. “Many nuclear plants are old, and the technology they use older. The costs of update modification are high, so even operating current plants are no longer commercially viable.”
Aging reactions – at least 40 years – are 40 % of workers all over the world, but only 20 % in Japan, according to A recent study By yomiuri shimbun. In the United States, in contrast, 64 of the country’s reactors 94 – 68 % of the total – will work for at least 40 years by the end of the year.
But unlike many other countries that use nuclear energy, Japan is vulnerable to strong earthquakes and the type that destroyed Fukushima Dychi.
“Seismology is the greatest danger, and it can strike old or new reactors,” Smith says. “The more reactors you have, the higher the risks. It is simple like that. The update may mean updating huge sums of money on all of these old reactors when the government can instead put its money in renewable energy sources.”
Officials say the reactors will need to restart if Japan wants to increase the expected demand for power, partially driven by prosecution data processing centers and semiconductor factories, in addition to achieving them Zero By the middle of the century.
But activists say that the government’s plans to continue with aging reactions will leave Japan vulnerable to another major accident. “Age in nuclear power plants is a very complicated theme with the ability to maintain the integrity and integrity of a nuclear reactor mainly,” says Hessayo Takada at Greenpeace Japan.
“During the reactors, they are undergoing huge pressure and temperatures, all of which contribute to the main pressure. The possibility of operating Japan is more than 60 years and beyond is evidence of a major experience in the country. It has the ability to be disastrous.”
Instead, Takada adds, the government must do more to enhance renewable energy sources.
“The climate crisis requires a rapid carbon removal process for society, with energy and priority electricity production,” she says. “The only technologies today that can be offered on the short time that we face with the climate crisis are to improve energy efficiency and expand renewable energy.”
Japan’s triple collapse in Fukushima Dichy shook the confidence of Japan in nuclear energy. Before the disaster, there were 54 reactors under operation, providing about 30 % of the country’s electrical energy. Only 14 reactors have been restarted, while others are turned off or Waiting for permission To return to service.
The accident caused radiation leakage, forcing more than 160,000 people living nearby to flee their homes and convert entire societies into ghost cities. The stopping of the factory is expected to cost trillion yen and takes four decades.
The closure of the reactors after the Fuokoshima has forced Japan to rely heavily on imported fossil fuels; It is now the second largest importer in the world for LNG after China and the third largest coal importer.
Within 14 years, the facilities have restarted 14 reactions, including a reactor in the 2011 Tsunami, despite the opposition of the local population. From June of this year, nuclear factories can remain in operation after the previous 60 -year -old, provided that they are subject to safety promotions.
Last year, the number 1 reactor at the Takahama nuclear factory in central Japan became the first to obtain approval to work after 50 years. Four reactors already work for more than 40 years, with three other reactors to reach the teacher this year.
Parts of the media interacted with a horror of the possibility of a much larger role for the nuclear, and accused the politicians of hypocrisy.
Noting that Prime Minister Shigro Ishiba promised to try to bring in the generation of nuclear energy “closer to zero” during his campaign to lead the ruling party in the past fall, Ashai Shimbon said: “If the government is surprising and is not responsible for the face in the plan project, it is not a betrayal. Against the audience, what is it?