Not only Europe goes back to the atom: 14 years after Fukushima, Japan plans to build a new nuclear reactor

The nuclear has experienced several fortunes during the previous decade. But the energy of the atom is increasing again. First in Europe, where a growing number of countries has expressed its last months of interest in nuclear.

This time it is Tokyo who would be ready to return to him. And it is the first since 2011 and the Fukushima disaster, which caused 19,630 dead and 2,569 disappearances according to the Japan Embassy.

The regional Kansai Electric company is, therefore, a study to “evaluate the possibility of building a replacement center at the Mihama Nuclear Energy Plant,” said the company’s president Nozomu Mori, during a television press conference.

After the disaster of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in 2011, the victim of a tsunami, Japan, stopped all its nuclear reactors, including the three reactors of Mihama, the public that expresses great concern against this energy.

At that time, Kansai Electric had decided to suspend an ongoing geological study related to a replacement project for one of Mihama’s reactors. In 2015, Kansai Electric put two of Mihama’s three reactors to stop for more than 50 years. The last reactor is still operational today, although it has been in service for almost five decades.

There is no calendar for the moment

Mr. Mori said that the resumption of the study itself would not be the only determining factor to decide to build a new reactor, adding that it has no visibility in terms of a date of the potential work.

Local media reported that a new reactor could cost about $ 6.8 billion and could take 20 years before being operational. The government has continued to support nuclear energy as a reliable and clean source and a tool that Japan needs to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Almost 15 years after Fukushima disaster, Japan has restarted many reactors, while the fears of the Japanese public towards nuclear energy have decreased. Large companies have also supported nuclear energy because Japan will need more electricity to operate artificial intelligence and data centers in the future.