What a wonderful weekend surprise, I received. Just read for yourself.
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday ordered the restart of two nuclear reactors, a move that returns Japan to atomic power but also runs counter to public concern about its dangers.
The central government’s decision clears the way for western Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co. to refire a pair of units at the Ohi plant, whose four reactors — like others in the country — were idled after last year’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
Although engineers will need several weeks to power up Ohi reactors 3 and 4, Noda’s announcement formally breaks the stalemate in a months-long debate about Japan’s short-term energy plan. A majority here argued that the earthquake-prone country should back away from nuclear power because of safety concerns. But Noda and his powerful lieutenants argued that Japan’s economy would wither if the country remained nuclear-free and short on energy.
The restart at Ohi could open the door for reactors to come back online elsewhere in the country, and Noda has said that the government will make judgments “on individual cases,” based on safety.
“We are determined to make further efforts to restore people’s trust in nuclear policy and safety regulations,” he said Saturday, according to the Kyodo news agency.
It would seem the rumors of nuclear energy’s demise were greatly exaggerated. The Japanese, residents of ground zero to one of the worst nuclear disasters of all time, have counted the beans, weighed the risks, and still decided that a life without nuclear is not a life that can be lived.
Much of this is the short term push of the moment. If Japan had not begun to restart at least some of their reactors, their island nation would have been plunged into darkness. The fear stricken populace, the majority of which are against this restart, may say they don’t want nuclear energy. But believe me, they would have hated the rolling blackouts more.
It was a necessary step to ignore the will of the people and get those plants back up and running.
Now, perhaps nuclear energy will still be driven from Japan, in a slower, more manageable and adaptable process; but I doubt it.
Once these plants are up and running, given a few years of disaster free time to clear the air, the majority of Japan will sink back into a comfortable indifference to nuclear power – and by then, it goes without saying that the nuclear power industry will have fully recovered from the shock of the Fukushima disaster.
Unfortunately for those of you who are ardently anti-nuclear, and are pushing Japan to shut down, it isn’t much of an option. As an isolated country, the required logistics to keep other kinds of power plants up and running are inauspicious. Remember it’s not just a coal plant. It’s a coal plant, plus the shipping industry across ocean waters. It’s not just a gas plant. It’s a gas plant with no possibility of constructing pipelines to carry fuel. And if you’re worried about getting that delivery of gas on time, or at a reasonable price, the storage infrastructure required to carry excess reserves to weather price spikes or shortages would be immense – Japan isn’t exactly renowned for its wide open country and blessings of free space.
Nuclear just makes sense for Japan, provided they reassess the risks and take extra precautions. The effects of logistic errors on the delivery of power in a nuclear setting are negligible. None of the other power generation methods provide the kind of stable energy needed to sustain modern technology, without also opening the country up to undo influence from trade of fuel, or risk of supply disruption.
Expect Germany to cave next, probably in the next 3 years, as the debt crisis continues to force them to abandon expensive alternative energy methods, leaving them the false choice of continuing with nuclear, or switching fully over to oil, gas, or coal – which thanks to the euro’s troubles, are all about to get much more expensive in Europe.
My CCJ position is on the cusp of victory.
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I don’t know any ardent anti nuclear folks any more. The ones I knew around the TMI and then Chernobyl disaster, myself included, see nuclear replacement for coal as a much more environmentally friendly way to produce base load power.
You can’t have effective wind and solar power generation without solid base load generation. I’d love to see every coal fired plant put out of business even though I have a small position (it used to be larger) in a coal producer. (Hopefully a provocative post on the subject will be forthcoming.)
I’m pro-base load generation – for everything.
Why have alternative energy at all? It’s just wasteful.