Berliner Boersenzeitung - Japan shifting back to nuclear to ditch coal, power AI

EUR -
AED 4.325935
AFN 82.295246
ALL 97.926243
AMD 452.928874
ANG 2.108041
AOA 1080.157743
ARS 1459.669854
AUD 1.798908
AWG 2.12321
AZN 2.007149
BAM 1.955925
BBD 2.378252
BDT 144.489211
BGN 1.956381
BHD 0.443228
BIF 3509.023701
BMD 1.177925
BND 1.500096
BOB 8.139519
BRL 6.38271
BSD 1.177875
BTN 100.523408
BWP 15.600995
BYN 3.854646
BYR 23087.331819
BZD 2.365951
CAD 1.603098
CDF 3398.314319
CHF 0.935664
CLF 0.028547
CLP 1095.129815
CNY 8.440309
CNH 8.439249
COP 4689.39895
CRC 594.837921
CUC 1.177925
CUP 31.215015
CVE 110.27203
CZK 24.646321
DJF 209.743371
DKK 7.461454
DOP 70.494494
DZD 152.109697
EGP 58.022699
ERN 17.668876
ETB 163.469121
FJD 2.637615
FKP 0.863276
GBP 0.862601
GEL 3.204416
GGP 0.863276
GHS 12.190777
GIP 0.863276
GMD 84.22618
GNF 10215.651249
GTQ 9.056577
GYD 246.42571
HKD 9.2463
HNL 30.773962
HRK 7.536412
HTG 154.649859
HUF 399.203326
IDR 19062.0084
ILS 3.939983
IMP 0.863276
INR 101.068035
IQD 1542.998366
IRR 49620.09495
ISK 142.446936
JEP 0.863276
JMD 188.001985
JOD 0.835195
JPY 170.275556
KES 152.179701
KGS 103.010002
KHR 4732.301685
KMF 492.373101
KPW 1060.088497
KRW 1605.924627
KWD 0.359609
KYD 0.981663
KZT 611.718997
LAK 25381.61808
LBP 105536.527962
LKR 353.392529
LRD 236.165056
LSL 20.719221
LTL 3.478107
LVL 0.712516
LYD 6.344404
MAD 10.572174
MDL 19.841265
MGA 5300.337897
MKD 61.533923
MMK 2472.967489
MNT 4223.442545
MOP 9.523607
MRU 46.74898
MUR 52.948179
MVR 18.14445
MWK 2042.530211
MXN 21.952406
MYR 4.972067
MZN 75.340533
NAD 20.719221
NGN 1802.15516
NIO 43.342763
NOK 11.864468
NPR 160.837253
NZD 1.944493
OMR 0.452069
PAB 1.177875
PEN 4.176666
PGK 4.86531
PHP 66.570482
PKR 334.365716
PLN 4.243888
PYG 9386.598396
QAR 4.304974
RON 5.059075
RSD 117.187471
RUB 92.591703
RWF 1693.207942
SAR 4.416905
SBD 9.820272
SCR 16.592058
SDG 707.348348
SEK 11.256846
SGD 1.500092
SHP 0.925664
SLE 26.444855
SLL 24700.50455
SOS 673.142913
SRD 44.036774
STD 24380.6712
SVC 10.306657
SYP 15315.211479
SZL 20.70332
THB 38.118091
TJS 11.45473
TMT 4.134517
TND 3.431819
TOP 2.758823
TRY 46.955033
TTD 7.988509
TWD 34.086841
TZS 3109.79825
UAH 49.123132
UGX 4225.269361
USD 1.177925
UYU 47.273014
UZS 14790.942924
VES 128.951587
VND 30838.07893
VUV 140.323223
WST 3.056689
XAF 655.99882
XAG 0.031783
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.183402
XDR 0.815852
XOF 655.99882
XPF 119.331742
YER 285.234989
ZAR 20.722353
ZMK 10602.74357
ZMW 28.533819
ZWL 379.291399
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Japan shifting back to nuclear to ditch coal, power AI
Japan shifting back to nuclear to ditch coal, power AI / Photo: Yuichi YAMAZAKI - AFP

Japan shifting back to nuclear to ditch coal, power AI

Glinting in the sun by the world's biggest nuclear plant, the Sea of Japan is calm now. But as the huge facility gears up to restart, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has a new tsunami wall, just in case.

Text size:

Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but with the G7's dirtiest energy mix, it is seeking to cut emissions, and atomic energy is making a steady comeback, in part because of AI.

At the 400-hectare (1,000-acre) KK plant, shown to AFP in an exclusive tourthe 15-metre (50-foot) wall is just one measure to prevent another catastrophe and reassure the public and Japan's jittery neighbours.

"We believe that (a similar accident to Fukushima) could be largely avoided," Masaki Daito, KK deputy superintendent, told AFP. Japan now has "the strictest (regulatory) standards in the world".

The facility in central Japan -- like the nation as a whole -- is no stranger to earthquakes, having been shut down for two years for "upgrades" after a big jolt in 2007.

At Fukushima, a 15-metre tsunami cut power lines and flooded backup generators, disabling water pumps needed to keep nuclear fuel cool.

In this century's worst nuclear accident, three reactors went into meltdown and hydrogen explosions blew off roofs and released radioactivity into the air.

To keep the power running in the event of a quake, KK has new backup power supply vehicles on higher ground, plus "blow-out" panels and a new vent meant to filter out 99.9 percent of any radioactive particles.

In addition to the recently built sea wall, an embankment has been enlarged and reinforced. In corridors deep inside the reactor building, luminous stickers mark pipes and faucets.

"The lights all went out at Fukushima and no one could see," Daito said.

- Climate goals -

Before the 2011 quake and tsunami, which killed around 18,000 people, nuclear power generated about a third of Japan's electricity, with fossil fuels contributing most of the rest.

All of Japan's 54 reactors were shut down afterwards, including those at KK. To keep the lights on, resource-poor Japan has hiked imports of natural gas, coal and oil while increasing solar power.

But fossil fuels are expensive, with imports last year costing Japan about $510 million a day.

It is also not helping Japan achieve its climate pledges.

The E3G think-tank ranks Japan in last place -- by some distance -- among G7 nations on decarbonising their power systems.

Britain recently closed its last coal power station. Italy, France and Germany plan to follow suit. Japan and the United States, however, have no such target.

The government is striving for "carbon neutrality" by 2050 and to cut emissions by 46 percent by 2030 from 2013 levels.

It wants to increase the share of renewables to 36-38 percent from around 20 percent and cut fossil fuels to 41 percent from around two-thirds now.

Hanna Hakko, a Japan-based energy expert at E3G, thinks Japan could aim higher and have renewables generate 70-80 percent of its power by 2035.

"This would allow Japan to phase out coal, as it has committed to doing together with its G7 peers," Hakko told AFP.

- Nuclear resurgence -

Yet even under this scenario, the remainder would need to be covered by gas and nuclear energy.

Under its current plan, Japan aims for nuclear power to account for 20-22 percent of its electricity by 2030, up from well under 10 percent now.

Japan in late 2022 decided to accelerate reactor restarts and to extend operating time for nuclear reactors to 60 years from 40.

Nine of Japan's 33 still-operable reactors are currently online. At KK, unit seven is ready to join them once the local governor approves, with others set to follow.

Because of tougher safety rules since Fukushima, getting approval is a slow process. One restart was recently blocked because of earthquake risk.

Business groups remain worried about power shortages, particularly as Japan seeks to go big in energy-hungry data centres for artificial intelligence (AI).

"Japan has large untapped potential for renewable energy development," new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told local media last week ahead of elections on October 27.

But he added: "Obviously, nuclear energy needs to be utilised."

- Megaquake -

The meltdown at Fukushima still looms large for people in Japan and elsewhere.

Japan is hit by hundreds of earthquakes per year -- mostly minor -- and in August, it issued a first "megaquake advisory" for its Pacific coast.

The alert was lifted after a week, but the government still sees a roughly 70 percent chance of a monster tremor within 30 years.

Making Fukushima fully safe, meanwhile, has also barely begun.

Japan last year started to release into the Pacific Ocean some of the 540 Olympic pools' worth of treated cooling water amassed since 2011. China banned Japanese seafood imports in response.

Engineers still have not worked out what to do with 800 tons of highly radioactive fuel and rubble. Humans still cannot enter the wrecked facility.

Mototsugu Oki, picnicking with his family at the beach by KK, said that like many Japanese, the Fukushima accident turned him off nuclear power for good.

"It is operated by human beings, and human beings naturally make mistakes," he told AFP.

(P.Werner--BBZ)