nuclear-news

Japan risks public outcry as it brings back nuclear power – 48 NPP`s to restart!

Plant operators have already paid out hundreds of millions of pounds on replacement fossil fuels, with media reports estimating that more than £9 billion will need to be spent on facility upgrades to meet required safety standards.

“I think it is unavoidable that the Japanese utilities will write off most of their nuclear ‘assets’ and move on,” said Mycle Schneider, an independent energy consultant based in Paris.

By Danielle Demetriou, in Tokyo

12:15PM BST 11 Apr 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10759938/Japan-risks-public-outcry-as-it-brings-back-nuclear-power.html

The Japanese government approved a new energy policy backing nuclear power on Friday despite widespread public wariness in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.

The new policy highlighted nuclear energy as an “important baseload power source”, marking a clear U-turn from the previous government’s plans to phase out atomic energy.

The new plans are expected to pave the way for the government to restart the nation’s 48 viable nuclear reactors, all of which are currently off-line as a result of safety checks prompted by the 2011 disaster in Fukushima.

The new plan is also believed to include a strong focus on renewable energy generation, such as solar, wind and hydropower, with a ministerial level group established in order to boost such energy sources.

“We aim to opt for an energy supply system which is realistic, pragmatic and well balanced,” Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s trade and industry minister, told reporters.

The decision is likely to be unpopular among the Japanese public, which has been unusually vociferous in its widespread opposition to the use of nuclear energy as a result of the Fukushima incident.

The nuclear disaster, the world’s worst since the 1986 Chernobyl accident, triggered a widespread anti-nuclear backlash among the public and a surge in renewable energy projects.

The government’s new policy was approved just days after the first evacuees from Fukushima were permitted to return to their homes inside the exclusion zone more than three years after the disaster.

Shinzo Abe the prime minister, has long been known to be eager to resume the operation of the nation’s nuclear power plants, a stance no doubt enforced by the hefty costs of energy imports.

The soaring expenses of the nation’s post-Fukushima energy bills is believed to be a major factor in Japan’s trade deficit soaring to a record £67.9 billion (11.47 trillion yen) last year.

As the prime minister continues with his so-called “Abenomics” policies to revive the world’s third largest economy, there are growing concerns that the benefits of a significantly weakened yen for exports are being eclipsed by its energy bill.

Mr Abe is believed to have spent months convincing sceptical members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as well as his anti-nuclear New Komeito coalition partner to accept the final draft of the plan.

However, there is speculation that the government plans to revive Japan’s nuclear industry, which supplied 30 per cent of the nation’s electricity output pre-2011, may remain fraught with challenges.

Plant operators have already paid out hundreds of millions of pounds on replacement fossil fuels, with media reports estimating that more than £9 billion will need to be spent on facility upgrades to meet required safety standards.

“I think it is unavoidable that the Japanese utilities will write off most of their nuclear ‘assets’ and move on,” said Mycle Schneider, an independent energy consultant based in Paris.

April 13, 2014 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized