See how Japan does it
For the first time since 1970, and 14 months after the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl set off a meltdown at Fukushima, Japan will go totally without electricity from nuclear power. The success of Japanese activists in ending nuclear power, as the last of its 50 nuclear reactors at Tomari on Hokkaido island went offline Saturday, is ostensibly temporary.
But in reality the rising public anger at the nuclear industry’s inability to ensure safety norms at the Fukushima Daiichi unit, which still spews radiation over a year after the quake-tsunami triggered the accident, could ensure Japan may never go back to nuclear power again. No nuclear plant shut for maintenance has reopened with local authorities reluctant to give clearance over fears that these can’t withstand natural disasters. Japanese government officials are of course worried as an energy crunch looms with the country reverting to oil and gas, as well as the looming danger of a larger carbon footprint. And this in a country that till last year’s accident was the world’s third biggest user of nuclear power, relying on this “clean” energy for over 30 per cent of its needs.
The challenge before resource-poor Japan is to find alternative sources of energy. For others, like India, which recently wrestled the Koodankulam protests to the ground, it’s to ensure trust, public confidence and post-accident safety norms top the agenda in our own quest for clean, safe and reliable energy, which must see a judicious add-on of renewable energy resources.
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