Japanese Prime Minister suggests the country build new nuclear power plants
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida suggested on Wednesday that his country consider building new, safe, small-scale nuclear reactors to meet energy targets.
Japan is currently targeting 2050 as the deadline to become carbon neutral, and Kishida said the country needs to explore multiple energy sources to achieve this goal, particularly due to rising energy costs.
“In order to overcome our looming electricity shortage crisis, we must do everything possible to mobilize all possible policies in the coming years and prepare for any emergency,” Kishida said at a conference on “transformation green ».
It would be a significant change for Japan, as the country shut down many nuclear power plants after an earthquake and tsunami caused a disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.
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FILE – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Tokyo August 10, 2022. Kishida said on Wednesday August 24, 2022 that he had asked his government to consider to develop safer and smaller nuclear reactors, signaling a renewed interest in nuclear power years after many of the country’s power plants were closed. (Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool Photo via AP, File)
(The Associated Press)
Japan’s Minister of Economy and Industry, Yasutoshi Nishimura, spoke of the need for the country « to secure all options to redesign a stable energy supply for our country », and that in this spirit « we will also consider all nuclear energy options ».
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Kishida said he has seen proposals for « new, innovative reactors designed with new safety mechanisms ».
FILE – In this January 25, 2018 file photo, installation of a domed roof housing key equipment nears completion at the Fukushima Dai-ich nuclear power plant’s Unit 3 reactor ahead of removal fuel from its storage pool in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northeast Japan. Japan has partially lifted an evacuation order in one of the two hometowns of the Fukushima nuclear power plant destroyed by the tsunami for the first time since the 2011 disaster. The measure taken on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 allows people to return about 40% of Okuma. The other hometown, Futaba, remains off-limits, as do several other nearby towns. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi, File)
Toyoshi Fuketa, commissioner of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Authority, said the country would need time to be ready to use the new technology. He told reporters that they currently have no safety standards for next-generation reactors and that it could take more than a year to have standards in place.
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Opponents of new nuclear reactors fear that it will be costly, given the need to account for waste management and storage. They also fear another accident like the one in 2011, as well as a possible attack in sight from Russia targeting a Ukrainian factory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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