The most powerful earthquake in Japan’s history led to a tsunami that washed over the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The plant could withstand a tsunami of 10 metres, but the wave that hit was 13–15 metres. HUGE FORCES: The earthquake off Japan sent a tsunami into the country. Photo: Tomohiko Kano / Ap Although no one died as a direct result of the reactor accident, the incident caused great fear in the population. It’s still there. But like Europe, Japan is affected by an energy crisis. That is why the country is among those who are now turning around, and investing heavily in nuclear power again. Japan: All of the country’s reactors were shut down for safety checks after the meltdown in Fukushima. Now new ones will be built and the life of the existing ones will be extended. Before the Fukushima disaster, almost a third of Japan’s power generation came from nuclear power. The latest official figures show that this is now 7 per cent. Now the government wants nuclear power to be rebuilt, so that it will account for 20-22 percent of electricity production by 2030. Facts about the Fukushima disaster On March 11, 2011, the coast in northeastern Japan was hit by a violent tsunami after a powerful earthquake that triggered at 2:46 p.m. Over 18,000 people lost their lives. The giant wave knocked out the cooling systems of three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 240 kilometers north of Tokyo. All three reactor cores melted down, which resulted in the release of radioactive substances. Several hundred thousand people were evacuated from the area of the power plant due to the radiation hazard. At least 1,600 people, many of them elderly, have died from physical and psychological stress as a result of the evacuation. The clean-up on and around the destroyed power plant is expected to take up to 40 years. Three former managers at the Fukushima plant were indicted in 2017 for not having strengthened the nuclear power plant despite being aware of the danger that a tsunami could trigger a nuclear accident. On 19 September 2019, they were acquitted by a court in Tokyo. This is part of the plan for the country to become carbon neutral by 2050. But a major investment in nuclear power in Japan is controversial, just over ten years after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. TSUNAMI: It was the earthquake and tsunami that took many lives in Japan , not the accident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Photo: TORU YAMANAKA / AFP China: It is in China that the greatest growth in nuclear power is taking place. The country has ambitions to build 6–8 nuclear power plants a year and could then become the largest operator of nuclear power by 2030, ahead of the USA and France. China’s first self-developed reactor was started up in 2020. Nuclear power’s share of the electricity market is still below 5 percent. Russia: Has 37 operational reactors, three under construction and 25 planned. Russia is also behind development in Turkey, Iran and Bangladesh. Here, Russia guarantees that they will take care of the fuel. India: India has close cooperation with Russia on the development of nuclear power. India has 22 operational reactors. – There are three countries that dominate when it comes to the development of nuclear power: China, India and Russia. That is the big picture, says Ole Christen Reistad, head of department at the Department of Environmental Safety and Radiation Protection at the Department of Energy Engineering (IFE). USA: Has 92 operational reactors. States with Democratic majorities are most skeptical, while Republicans are most positive. For several decades, nuclear power has remained stable at around 20 percent of total electricity production. The need for emission cuts could lead to the first escalation of nuclear power in the US in a long time, according to NTB. – The risk of not reaching the climate goals is greater than the risk of using nuclear power, says Jason Bordoff, one of the founders of a center for climate research at Columbia University. Sweden: Sweden’s new government has promised to make available 400 billion Swedish kroner in state guarantees for a large-scale development of nuclear power. They aim to reach the climate targets without affecting Swedish workplaces. This must be done, among other things, with a greater investment in nuclear power. Almost six out of ten Swedes say today that they would like to “continue to use nuclear power and build new reactors if there is a need for it”. Nuclear power accounts for approximately 30 percent of electricity production in Sweden. The Forsmark 1 and 2 reactors in Sweden. Photo: Lars Pehrson / NTB France: Plans to build 14 new reactors. Construction will start in 2028 and the first new reactor could be operational by 2035. This is a shift from President Emmanuel Macron who previously promised to move away from nuclear power. 70 percent of France’s electricity comes from the country’s 56 operational reactors. The Netherlands: The Netherlands currently has one operational, and has now planned to build two more near the town of Borssele in the south of the country. They will be completed in 2035. Then they will account for up to 13 percent of the Netherlands’ electricity consumption, according to Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Great Britain: Today has nine operational reactors. At its peak (the 1990s), 26 percent of the country’s electricity came from nuclear power. This proportion is now around 13 per cent, according to Store norske lexikon. 36 reactors have been decommissioned, and it is expected that several of the remaining reactors will have to be replaced in the near future. The first of a new generation of nuclear reactors is now under construction. In 2022, the government announced an ambition for nuclear power. It means that nuclear power can account for around 25 percent of the country’s need for electrical energy in 2050. In addition to these countries, the development of nuclear power is also planned in countries such as Canada, Poland, South Korea, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Argentina, Brazil and Finland. – Safe Photo: Private – It is simply difficult to expand renewables quickly enough for the targets in the Paris Agreement to be reached. Nuclear power makes the job easier, and also supplies electricity regardless of the weather. At the same time, there have been new and solid research reports from, among others, the EU and the UN, which show that modern nuclear power is safe and that the waste can be safely stored in the ground, as will now be done in Finland, says Jonny Hesthammer in Norsk Kjernekraft AS. It’s no secret that Hesthammer is a strong advocate of nuclear power. He believes the fear of nuclear power has been exaggerated. – What we see is that no one died from radiation in connection with the Fukushima accident. It was the tsunami that killed many people, he says. – Doesn’t the threat at Zaporizhzhya show that the nuclear power plant can be a terrorist target? – If you want to carry out terror, then you create a lot of fear in the population by threatening a nuclear power plant. But it is more efficient to blow up hydroelectric plants. You cannot get a new Chernobyl in Zaporizhzhya because it was built in a different and safer way, assures Hesthammer. A big problem Ole Christen Reistad is head of department at the Department of Environmental Safety and Radiation Protection at the Department of Energy Engineering (IFE). He is also a former reactor manager at Norway’s last nuclear reactor, the Jeep II reactor at Kjeller, which was shut down in 2019. FORMER REACTOR MANAGER: Ole Christen Reistad was manager at Norway’s last reactor. He believes the world needs nuclear power, but doubts that it is wise in Norway. Photo: Odin Omland / news Reistad says there was an important change in Japan after the Fukushima accident. Now there is a real independent nuclear inspectorate that has to say yes. Reistad therefore believes that this is safe, but he points to something that Japan is still struggling with. – They have nowhere to store the fuel. Fuel accumulates at the facilities. That was part of the problem in 2011, and it is a fundamental problem that has not been solved, says Reistad. He adds that this is a problem Japan shares with many other countries, and that no one has been successful in recovering the fuel. DESTROYED: Reactor number 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Photo: HO / Reuters Climate solution? Reistad will neither call itself a champion nor an opponent of nuclear power. He points out that nuclear power is a necessary part of the energy mix to achieve the climate goals in all scenarios. But we also depend on the development of many other renewable energy sources, he adds. – Nuclear power in the world? Yes, undoubtedly. Nuclear power in Norway? Not necessarily, he sums up. Hesthammer does not agree. He believes Norway is becoming too dependent on unstable wind power and the exchange of electricity with Europe. – It is important to be aware that opting out of nuclear power also has consequences, both for nature and security of supply, he warns.
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These countries are betting on nuclear power again – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
