Japan restarts N-reactor after 2-year break
Print Edition
JAPAN yesterday restarted its nuclear power program after a shutdown triggered by the 2011 Fukushima crisis, as the government pushes to return to a cheaper energy source despite widespread public opposition.
Utility Kyushu Electric Power turned on a reactor at Sendai, about 1,000 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, at 10:30am.
The 31-year-old reactor — operating under tougher post-Fukushima safety rules — would start generating power by Friday. Commercial operations would begin early next month, a company spokesman said.
The restart comes more than four years after an earthquake-sparked tsunami swamped cooling systems and triggered reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima plant, prompting the shutdown of Japan’s stable of 50 reactors and setting off a pitched battle over the future use of atomic power.
The accident sent radiation over a wide area and forced tens of thousands from their homes in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
Decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima reactors is likely to take decades and compensation expenses — excluding the cost of the site’s cleanup — now top US$57 billion.
Anti-nuclear sentiment still runs high in Japan and television showed protesters scuffling with police in front of the plant, which is on the southernmost main island of Kyushu.
Among the 200 protesters was Naoto Kan, prime minister at the time of Fukushima and now an anti-nuclear activist. He said the failure of pro-atomic premier Shinzo Abe to cancel the restart “cannot be forgiven”.
The resource-poor nation, which once relied on nuclear power for a quarter of its electricity, restarted two reactors temporarily to feed its needs after Fukushima. But they both went offline by September 2013, making Japan completely nuclear-free for about two years.
The country adopted stricter safety regulations to avoid a repeat of the accident, including more backup prevention measures and higher tsunami-blocking walls in some areas.
“It is important to restart reactors one by one from the perspective of energy security, the economy and measures against global warming, but safety always comes first,” Industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa told reporters.
Strengthened safety measures are key to Abe’s bid to get some of about four dozen reactors back up and running. The government wants nuclear power to generate up to 22 percent of Japan’s electricity needs by 2030, a lower percentage than before Fukushima.
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