- Japan’s government has decided to set a “no-nukes in the 2030s” national energy policy, and problems are already arising. The draft report issued Wednesday by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) says “we will devote all policy resources to achieving zero nuclear power generation in the 2030s”. It adds that the island nation will turn away from its current policy of recycling used nuclear fuel and begin research on direct disposal (permanent burial). The report stresses that Aomori Prefecture, site of Japan’s principle nuclear fuel recycling facility, will not be home to the permanent repository. Finally, the new policy will be review each year until 2015, and then at least once every three years thereafter. The decision is based on the wishes of “some local governments” in Japan and some opinions voiced by a few American “experts”. At this point, there is no speculation on how the effects of the nuclear energy abolition will be handled in those communities now hosting nuclear plants, or how it might affect Japan’s civilian nuclear cooperation pact with America. The government says it will limit nuclear plant operational age to 40 years and not allow new nukes to be built. (Mainichi Shimbun) The first of what will undoubtedly be many local rejections of the new policy comes from Fukui Prefecture. Fukui Prefecture hosts the largest number of nukes of any prefecture in Japan. Governor Issei Nishikawa strongly criticized Tokyo for their new nuclear energy policy. He pointed out Prime Minister Noda said Japan cannot survive without nukes prior to restarting Oi units #3&4, and also that nuke are essential to national security. Nishikawa says Noda has essentially contradicted himself by backing the new energy policy. Nishikawa asserted that if the government wants to decommission the reactors in his prefecture, it must immediately remove all the spent nuclear fuel and restore the plant sites back to their original state. (NHK World) The chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), Hiromasa Yonekura, told Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda that he is opposed to ending nuclear power generation. Keidanren’s chief explained that he shared his position in a phone conversation with PM Noda that lasted more than 10 minutes. (Kyodo News) The United States has expressed their concern over Japan’s no-nukes policy. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman met with the ruling DPJ policy chief Seiji Maehara on Tuesday. Poneman said if Japan takes steps to achieve such a target, it could have unexpected effects on the United States and other parties concerned. Maehara explained that Japan will set a target but stop short of declaring its full commitment to it, fearing that Japan’s large increase in Middle East fossil fuel consumption would mean higher prices for everyone.Poneman suggested Japan maintain policy flexibility and not make a fixed decision.(Yomiuri Shimbun) Noted environmentalist Mark Lynas says the new Japanese energy policy is “nothing short of insane”. He points out that the Japanese people have been subject to constant fear-mongering since Fukushima, and the current government is catering to the will of the fear-mongers “…in order to eliminate the safest power source ever invented.”. (World Nuclear News)
- Replacing nukes with renewables would cost Japan more than $600 billion, not to mention severe economic penalties for not meeting their target for greenhouse gas emissions. By not meeting their 25% emission-reduction commitment by 2020, Japan would have to purchase 320 million tons of overseas emissions credit. Tuomas Rautanen, head of regulatory affairs and consulting at First Climate in Zurich, agrees that the 25 percent goal may be out of reach, “In order to reach that target, or even a lower one, Japan would need to draw strongly on international offsets” of emissions. This would mean even higher electricity costs and heavier consumption taxes for the public than the staggering cost of building enough renewables to replace the nukes. Under the zero nuclear option, Japan would need to invest $550 billion on solar, wind and other types of renewable energy and about $50 billion on power grids. Undaunted by the crushing impact the full replacement policy would have on Japan’s already-crumbling economy, Seiji Maehara, chairman of the DPJ’s policy research committee says three principles are mandated. First, all nukes are to be scrapped after 40 years of operation, no matter how well-maintained they might be. Second, no more nukes are to be built in Japan. Lastly, restarting currently-idled reactors should not be allowed until they receive safety approval from the forthcoming Nuclear Regulatory Commission. To spur renewable development, Tokyo has created an unprecedented subsidy for companies getting involved in the business; called a “feed-in tariff”. For solar alone, the subsidy will triple the current electricity costs for industrial users. The plan is to put solar panels on 12 million homes, or about 44 percent of all of the country’s detached houses, as well as build massive solar and wind farms. Keidanren, the nation’s biggest business lobby that includes industry giants like Toyota Motor Corp as well as power utilities, has called the zero nuclear plan “unrealistic” and a threat to manufacturing and jobs in Japan. They say the zero percent scenario “is ignorant of economic efficiency and entails a large increase in the public burden. If energy cannot be stably supplied at an economically efficient price, not only will growth be set back, the hollowing-out of industry and employment will accelerate in the midst of intense global competition.” Industry minister Yukio Edano rejects the Keidanren speculation saying the increase in renewable spending would have an eventual positive impact on Japan by improving Japan’s competitiveness in the world renewable market. Reiji Ogino, a Tokyo-based energy analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., says the new energy policy is little more than a ploy by the DPJ to “guarantee them a victory in the next election.” (Japan Times)
- In what seems suddenly contradictory, Tokyo says they will seek to continue spent fuel recycling at the Rokkasho facility, Aomori Prefecture. However, if the new no-nukes energy policy remains in place over the next two decades, the recycled nuclear fuel will have no Japanese customers to use it. Under the new policy, it seems there would be no point in reusing plutonium and uranium, extracted through reprocessing, as reactor fuel. Could this announcement be an attempt to counter possible international criticism of Japan’s new energy policy? (NHK World)
- A Fukushima government effort to identify the Prefecture’s radiation exposures moves forward. As of the end of July, more than 400,000 of the prefecture’s 2 million citizens have submitted radiological surveys estimating their F. Daiichi-related exposures. The survey began in June of 2011 with evacuees from Namie town, Iitate village and Kawamata town, but was expanded to the entire prefecture last fall. 56% of the evacuees responded, as did 40% of the other residents of northern Fukushima. The lowest response rate was 15% from the Aizu island area where estimated radiation levels are the lowest. Many of those who did not respond say their memories have faded and the forms are complicated. “Although we are visiting households to seek submissions, such efforts have produced only limited results,” said a prefectural official involved in the survey. Some choosing to not partake in the survey say they simply don’t trust their government’s effort because it began many months after the accident, suggesting that the prefecture is less than serious about the program. The prefecture says they have told about 10% of the respondents of their calculated levels of exposure, which is lower than the government had hoped. It says they are limited by a lack of enough people to make the assessments and the fact that many surveys were submitted incompletely. Regardless, Hisakatsu Kotani, an official in charge of monitoring health, said, “Although one year and six months have passed since the nuclear accident, we are still at an early stage of the crisis. I hope people will send back the forms so we can prepare for the future.” (Japan Times)
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