Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture restarted its No. 1 reactor Tuesday.
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Japan has restarted one its nuclear reactors, ending a two-year shutdown that came in the wake of safety concerns and new regulations following the 2011 Fukushima power plant disaster.
But Japan’s people are sceptical and the country remains deeply scarred by Fukushima, which forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.
The head of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority, Sunichi Tanaka, said a disaster like Fukushima will not happen again, according to Al Jazeera America.
Polls show that most Japanese don’t want nuclear power, but public opinion has been trumped by leaders who say keeping the country’s 43 workable reactors offline forever would be too damaging economically.
The return to nuclear energy comes a week after Japan commemorated the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, killing 140,000 and leaving a legacy of severe health problems and damage from intense radiation. The government intends to approve reactivation of nuclear reactors as long as the reactors meet the regulatory standards, while the NRA is of the view that meeting the standards does not necessarily mean the plants are absolutely safe. “We don’t need nuclear plants”, he said.
The Kyushu Electric Power Company has now restarted the first reactor in Japan.
With its nuclear gasoline recycling program nonetheless stalled and plutonium stockpiles triggering worldwide considerations, Japan is beneath strain to make use of as a lot of the stockpiles as potential in its reactors.
Similar to the answer to the Chernobyl calamity in 1986, realms around the globe replied with the use of heightened fear regarding nuclear electric power.
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.
“It’s worrying that the first Japanese reactor was restarted amid such strong protest against it”, said Nils Bøhmer, Bellona’s executive director and nuclear physicist.
What are some of the challenges of restarting a nuclear reactor after a prolonged shutdown?
The country, which once relied on nuclear power for a quarter of its electricity, restarted two reactors temporarily to feed its needs after Fukushima.
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Despite this added economic burden across the entire society, however, there is still widespread public dissatisfaction with restarting nuclear power in Japan. His predecessor, Yoshihiko Noda, offered a vague gesture in 2012 at phasing out nuclear power in Japan by 2040 that would still allow a significant number of reactors to operate decades past that date.
