Fourteen years after the worst nuclear accident in human history since Chernobyl – the Fukushima disaster – Japan is beginning to make plans to increase its reliance on nuclear power. The reason – the growing demand for energy from high-tech sectors, including to support artificial intelligence. An energy plan approved by the cabinet in mid-February calls for “maximum use of nuclear power.”
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s energy plan states that by 2040, nuclear power should account for 20% of Japan’s energy supply, BBC reported. The figure represents more than double the share of power from nuclear plants in 2023 – 8.5 percent. This is happening even though the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster of 14 years ago still brings back painful memories, the BBC recalls.
In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake near Japan’s northeast coast triggered a tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people, destroyed entire towns and flooded the Fukushima nuclear plant’s reactors.
Japan currently operates 14 nuclear reactors. Before 2011, there were 54. Back then, 30% of the country’s energy came from nuclear sources.
The new energy plan has not yet been approved by parliament. It will be discussed in the coming months.
Japan imports 90% of the fuel it uses. The reason for the turn to energy is the need to reduce carbon emissions. This is one of the explanations of Daishiro Yamagiwa, a lawmaker – part of a government advisory committee on the energy plan. “Because of the conflict in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, even fossil fuels have become difficult to buy, he told the BBC. – Japan is a country with no energy resources, so we have to use whatever is available in a balanced way.” Yamagiwa added that energy burdens were increasing due to demand from artificial intelligence data centres.
However, experts say increasing reliance on nuclear power will be both risky and expensive, the BBC noted.
Japan will have to import uranium, which is expensive and will make the country dependent on other countries, said Professor Kenichi Oshima of the political science department at Ryukoku University. The main concern is that the increase in the number of nuclear power plants raises the risk of potential accidents, said Prof. Oushima. Oshima was quoted by the agency as saying.
He recalled the New Year’s Day earthquake in 2024 on the Noto Peninsula, where a plan to build a nuclear power plant was cancelled two decades ago because local residents objected.
“If there was a nuclear plant there, it’s quite clear it would have caused a major accident,” he said.
The Fukushima Mark
Any mention of nuclear power in Japan inevitably brings back heavy memories of the nuclear meltdown at the Daiichi power plant in Fukushima in 2011. “We all experienced something so terrible during the Fukushima earthquake,” recalls Yuko Maruyama, a Tokyo resident. – How can I support the nuclear power plan? I want the government to rely on other sources of energy. As a mother, I think about the children, about their safety. I can’t help thinking about what will happen in the future,” she added.
The Fukushima accident sparked new controversy in 2023 when Japan began releasing purified water from the plant site. That provoked protests from Japan’s neighbours, including China, over safety concerns.
The UN nuclear regulator IAEA said the wastewater was safe and would have a “negligible” impact on people and the environment.
Responding to the new energy plan announced this week, Greenpeace said promoting nuclear power was “outrageous” when the Fukushima disaster was still ongoing. “There are no excuses for maintaining nuclear power. It produces radioactive waste that requires long-term management and carries risks in earthquakes and terrorism,” the organisation said.
To achieve the government’s goal, experts say 33 reactors must be restarted. The current pace of safety inspections, as well as objections from residents in some areas, will make the process more difficult. Many of the nuclear plants are old and will have to be retrofitted with new technology to operate safely.
In recent months, regulators have given approval for several old reactors to continue operating. In October 2024, Japan’s oldest reactor, the Takahama nuclear power plant, was given the green light to continue operating, making it the first reactor in the country to receive approval to operate after 50 years.
Let’s not forget
On March 11, 2011, the greatest tragedy in Japan’s recent history descended on Japan. It was the aftermath of a massive earthquake that triggered a 14-metre tsunami and knocked out the emergency generators at the Fukushima plant. Tens of thousands of residents in the vicinity of the plant have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Some 18 500 people are dead or missing in north-eastern Japan. Dozens more fall ill with cancer after exposure to radiation. Decommissioning work is expected to be finally completed between 2041 and 2051.
Meanwhile, in early 2024, highly radioactive water leaked from a contaminated water treatment machine at Fokushima-1. This increased the risk of soil contamination. The plant’s operator, TEPCO, said the water – some of which may have seeped into the ground – probably contained 220 times the standard level of radioactive substances. The cause was a fault in the filtration machine, which had been shut down for maintenance.
In 2023, Japan began releasing controlled purified water from the nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. This sparked protests not only in the country but also in China and South Korea. Beijing has imposed a complete ban on Japanese seafood imports despite UN assurances that the discharge meets safety standards. More than a tonne of water that was used to cool nuclear reactors will end up in the ocean.
The myth of cheap electricity from nuclear power plants
The construction of nuclear power plants is not only dangerous for the environment and people, it is economically unviable for society, said Ilian Iliev from the Public Center for Environment and Sustainable Development – Ecovarna. It requires huge capital costs, including design, licensing, construction and building, as well as investing in security systems. Projects often exceed planned budgets and take much longer than expected. NPPs maintain high operating costs because they have to implement stringent security measures and devote significant resources to the storage and disposal of radioactive waste.
Even at the end of their operational life (about 40-60 years), the process of closing and safely decommissioning facilities can cost billions of dollars and take decades.
Nuclear accidents such as those at Chernobyl and Fukushima highlight the economic risks associated with operating nuclear power plants. The aftermath of such incidents leads to significant clean-up, evacuation and compensation costs that can run into hundreds of billions of dollars.
In recent years, prices for renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, have fallen significantly. In many cases, they are now more competitive in terms of the cost of electricity generated than nuclear power. Renewable sources are not only more environmentally friendly, but also require lower capital costs and have shorter construction periods.
The construction of nuclear plants often relies on government subsidies and loan guarantees, as the private sector is more cautious due to the high financial risks. This means that much of the cost is borne by taxpayers. If the project fails, the losses are also borne by the state and society.
Look at a case of a nuclear power plant that never got off the ground:
