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Japan restarts first nuclear reactor since Fukushima disaster Japan restarts first nuclear reactor since Fukushima disaster
(about 7 hours later)
Japan has begun a controversial return to nuclear power generation with the restart of a reactor in the country’s south-west, four and a half years after its faith in atomic energy was shattered by the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi.
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A power plant operator in southern Japan has restarted a reactor, the first to begin operating under new safety requirements following the Fukushima disaster. Kyushu Electric Power, the operator of the Sendai plant, said it had restarted one of the facility’s two reactors on Tuesday morning, in defiance of strong local opposition.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. said on Tuesday it had restarted the No. 1 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant as planned. The move marks the first time Japan has generated nuclear power since a post-Fukushima shutdown of all its 44 operable reactors two years ago.
The restart marks Japan’s return to nuclear energy four-and-half-years after the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan following an earthquake and tsunami. While police scuffled with demonstrators outside the plant, public broadcaster NHK showed workers in the control room as the reactor whirred into action for the first time since it was mothballed in May 2011.
The national broadcaster NHK showed plant workers in the control room as they turned the reactor back on. Tomomitsu Sakata, a spokesman for Kyushu Electric Power, said the reactor was put back online as planned without any problems. Kyushu Electric said the restart had gone without a hitch. The 30-year old Sendai No 1 reactor is expected to reach full capacity next month. The second Sendai reactor is due to restart in October.
The disaster displaced more than 100,000 people due to radioactive contamination in the area and spurred a national debate over this resource-scarce country’s reliance on nuclear power. In an attempt to keep Japan’s fledgling economic recovery on track, the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has pushed for a return to nuclear power generation in spite of opinion polls showing that most voters oppose restarts.
A majority of Japanese people oppose the return to nuclear energy. Dozens of protesters, including ex-prime minister Naoto Kan, who was in office at the time of the disaster and has become an outspoken critic of nuclear power, were gathered outside the plant as police stood guard. Backed by business and industry lobby groups, Abe has warned that Japan cannot afford to continue importing huge quantities of oil and natural gas, while the growing reliance on thermal power generation has stalled Japan’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority affirmed the safety of the Sendai reactor and another one at the plant last September under stricter safety rules imposed after the 2011 accident. “There are very strong vested interests to reopen nuclear reactors. Accepting them as permanently closed would have financial implications that would be hard to manage,” Tomas Kaberger, chairman of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation, told Associated Press.
The Sendai No. 1 reactor is scheduled to start generating power on Friday and to reach full capacity next month. The second Sendai reactor is due to restart in October. Japan’s powerful pro-nuclear lobby is hoping a safe restart at Sendai, about 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo, will help the public overcome the trauma caused by the Fukushima meltdown.
Koichi Miyazawa, Japan’s industry minister, said on Tuesday that the government would “put safety first” in resuming use of nuclear power. The March 2011 disaster, triggered by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, forced the evacuation of 160,000 people, many of whom may never return home.
All of Japan’s 43 workable reactors have been shut for the last two years pending safety checks. To offset the shortfall in power output, the country ramped up imports of oil and gas and fired up more thermal power plants, slowing progress toward reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases. “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,” the industry minister, Yoichi Miyazawa, told reporters, adding that the government would “deal responsibility” should another accident occur.
Prime minister Shinzo Abe has sought to have the reactors restarted as soon as possible to help reduce costly reliance on imported oil and gas and alleviate the financial burden on utilities of maintaining the idled plants. Just ahead of the restart, Abe said Sendai’s reactors had passed “the world’s toughest safety screening”. He added: “I would like Kyushu Electric to put safety first and take utmost precautions for the restart.”
The Sendai plant, where more than £64m has been spent on new safety systems, was the first to meet strict new standards introduced after the Fukushima disaster.
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“There are very strong vested interests to reopen nuclear reactors. Accepting them as permanently closed would have financial implications that would be hard to manage,” said Tomas Kaberger, chairman of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation. Japan’s revamped Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said the new safety checks meant there would be no repeat of the Fukushima catastrophe. “A disaster like that at … Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will not occur,” NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka said in a recent interview with the Nikkei business paper. He conceded, though, that there was “no such thing as absolute safety”.
Utilities are seeking approvals to restart 23 reactors, including the other Sendai reactor. The government wants nuclear power to account for as much as 22% of Japan’s energy needs by 2030, despite continuing troubles at Fukushima Daiichi, where the removal of melted fuel from damaged reactors is not due to begin until 2022. Decommissioning the wrecked plant is expected to take 40 years.
The government has set a goal to have nuclear power meet more than 20% of Japan’s energy needs by 2030, despite the lingering troubles at the Fukushima plant, which is plagued by massive flows of contaminated water leaking from its reactors. Greenpeace said the restart “will not reverse the terminal decline” of Japan’s nuclear industry. “Even though one nuclear reactor has restarted, the nuclear industry is still fighting for its very survival in Japan,” said Mamoru Sekiguchi, energy campaigner at Greenpeace Japan.
Removal of the melted fuel at the plant – the most challenging part of the 30-to-40-year process of shutting it down permanently – will begin only in 2022. Sekiguchi echoed local concerns that authorities in Sendai had not devised a comprehensive evacuation plan for more than 200,000 people living within a 30km radius.
Aside from the risk from earthquakes and tsunami, the Sendai plant is located in a volcanically vulnerable region, with Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, just 50km away.
“The lengths to which safety issues have been ignored in the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s review process for the Sendai plant restart shows just how desperate the nuclear industry and their government allies are,” Sekiguchi said. “Rather than a nuclear renaissance, much of Japan’s ageing nuclear reactor fleet will never restart. Prime minister Abe and the nuclear regulator are risking Japan’s safety for an energy source that will likely fail to provide the electricity the nation will need in the years ahead.”
Greenpeace predicts nuclear will provide 2%-8% of Japan’s electricity generation by 2013, far lower than the government’s target.
Tobias Harris, a Japan analyst at Teneo Intelligence in Washington, said it was unlikely that Tuesday’s restart would herald a quick return to nuclear as a major source of energy.
“The Sendai restart is unlikely to trigger a cascade of restarts that significantly reduces Japan’s post-2011 dependence on imported fossil fuels,” he said. “Each nuclear power plant faces a unique set of technical, operational, legal, and political challenges, suggesting that the delays that have dogged the first restart will be seen at other locations.”
Japan’s nuclear operators have applied for approval to restart 25 reactors: so far regulators have cleared only five to go back online.