Ten years after Fukushima, nuclear power still dying in Japan - France 24

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Japan) (AFP)

Ten years after the Fukushima disaster, the Japanese nuclear industry is still struggling, with a large part of the country's reactors shut down or in the process of being dismantled.

The government is however in favor of relaunching the sector, to reduce the country's significant energy dependence, and also its CO2 emissions with a view to its new objective of carbon neutrality by 2050.

- Where is the construction site in Fukushima?

About 5,000 people work daily on the site of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, whose reactors 1 to 4 were severely damaged after the tsunami of March 11, 2011.

Tangles of scrap here and there, as at the top of reactor number 1 with its still decapitated roof, recall the violence of the disaster.

And with their strident sound signals, the mobile dosimeters placed everywhere are hardly reassuring. For ten years, the peripheries of the reactors have been cleared, new dikes built, intact fuel rods removed with giant cranes.

But the hardest part remains to be done: extract nearly 900 tonnes of molten fuel along with other debris which has also become highly radioactive.

The development in the United Kingdom of a special robotic arm having been delayed by the pandemic, the start of the withdrawal of molten fuel has been postponed by one year, to 2022: almost a trifle for a dismantling which still has to last 30 to 40 years , the best.

Luckily, the powerful earthquake that once again rocked northeastern Japan on February 13th did not cause a tsunami or cause major damage, including in Fukushima Daiichi.

However, this has accelerated the flow of cooling water in several reactors, the operator Tepco noted.

But the situation is under control, assures the group, as this water is kept in a closed circuit and pumped.

Groundwater from nearby mountains, becoming radioactive as it seeps into reactor basements, has long been a big problem, now mitigated by a "wall of ice" 30 meters deep and 1.5 kilometers long. under the reactors.

But also because of the rain, around 140 m3 of radioactive water per day on average was generated in 2020 on the site.

This contaminated water, filtered but still containing tritium, currently accumulates in a thousand blue, gray and white cisterns on the site.

With on-site storage capacity reaching saturation in the summer of 2022, the solution of a gradual discharge into the sea has emerged, but the Japanese government has not yet formalized this politically very sensitive decision.

- What role does nuclear still play?

Only nine nuclear reactors are currently operational in Japan, against 54 before March 2011, and the dismantling of 24 reactors has already been recorded.

All Japanese reactors had been shut down after the accident, to drastically strengthen national nuclear safety standards.

The share of the atom in the country's electricity production was only 6.2% in 2019, compared to 30% before 2011, according to official data.

The government's current objective is to increase it to 20-22% by 2030. This objective, which is currently being revised, nevertheless seems impossible to achieve in the eyes of many experts.

- Why is the relaunch of the sector slipping?

A majority of Japanese have been hostile to nuclear power since the trauma of Fukushima.

And dozens of disputes, initiated by residents of power plants to oppose their reopening, are still ongoing.

The new nuclear safety standards, dismantling and maintenance of power plants also entail astronomical costs.

In early 2020, the Japanese press agency Kyodo had estimated these costs at 13.460 billion yen (more than 106 billion euros).

This estimate did not include the costs of dismantling Fukushima Daiichi and decontamination work in the area, which were probably even higher.

"The future of nuclear power is very bleak" in Japan, said Takeo Kikkawa, an academic expert advising the government on energy programming this month.

It will be at best a transitional energy because the renewal of the nuclear fleet is not planned, he added.

Japanese players in the sector therefore prefer to invest more in renewable energies, a much more profitable sector in which Japan now wants to accelerate.

Last June, Tepco notably announced its intention to invest around 2,000 billion yen (nearly 16 billion euros) over ten years to strengthen itself in green energies.

Toshiba and Hitachi have abandoned plans for nuclear power plants in the UK in recent years.

© 2021 AFP