Japan's Nuclear Blunder
The Japanese nuclear industry is under fire. The sector there has been attacked for years for documented lax safety procedures. But it was a
6.8 magnitude earthquake that set off radiation leaks and flames that
is prompting the latest surge of scrutiny.
A central question is whether the recent malfunctions and cover-ups in
Japan will have an affect on the nuclear renaissance that is underway
in the United States. It's unlikely. Certainly, the accident gives
opponents the ammunition they need to continue to wage battle against
the industry. But it also gives proponents some fodder. Notably,
despite being hit with a huge quake, little damage was suffered and certainly not enough to cause danger to the environment or to human life.
Nevertheless, Tokyo Electric Power Co. can be faulted for taking too
long to report broken pipes, radioactive water leaks and a small
release of radioactive material into the air. It was not until hours later when smoke and fire were seen at a transformer site near the plant that the utility made a public statement, noting that 315 gallons of radioactive water had made its way into the Sea of Japan, although it said such amounts were negligible. The company also said that small quantities of cobalt-60 and chromium-51 were released via smokestacks but that the level of toxins would not cause any harm.
"I believe that nuclear power plants can only be operated with the
trust of the people," says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a press conference in Tokyo, about 160 miles south-east of Niigata prefecture, where the earthquake occurred. "If something happens they need to report on it thoroughly and quickly. We need to get them to strictly reflect on this incident."
Japan, which has no domestic oil and gas industry, generates about a
quarter of its power through nuclear energy from 55 separate
facilities.
The nation is also one of the most susceptible places to earthquakes
with experts giving it a 90 percent chance of getting hit with a major
trembler in the next 50 years. That potential, along with the fact that accidents have plagued the industry, re-enforces to opponents that nuclear power is unsafe. In fact, two nuclear workers in 1999 died in a fuel processing plant accident while another four died in 2004 from a similar misfortune. Meantime, Tokyo Electric admitted in 2002 to falsifying records and covering up problems since the 1980s.
That caused it to temporarily shut down its 17 nuclear plants.
"This fire and radioactive leakage reminds us yet again of the serious
threats posed by nuclear power," says Jan Beranek, Greenpeace
International Nuclear Campaigner. "There is a real risk in Japan, and
globally, of larger earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as of terrorist attacks that could lead to far more serious nuclear
accidents." Nuclear power undermines the real solutions to
environmental challenges, he adds, by eroding the resources necessary to build out the renewable energy sector.
*Bad PR*
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa -- where the latest mishap took place -- is the
world's largest nuclear plant in power output capacity. It generates
8.2 million kilowatts of electricity and by comparison, the United States' largest nuclear generator at Palo Verde, Ariz. produces 3.88 million kilowatts, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute.
During the earthquake, three of the seven units that make up the
Kashiwazaki facility were down for repair. Only one of those reactors,
designed by General Electric and similar to ones found in the United
States, suffered a leak. The functioning units at the time, which were
automatically shut down during the incident, must undergo government
safety inspections before they will be allowed to return to operation.
About ten people were killed and another 900 injured, all
earthquake-related and none of them because of any leaks at the nuclear facility. Despite the event, Japan remains committed to nuclear power.
Roughly 13 nuclear reactors are under construction there and officials
say that nuclear will play an even bigger role than it does now because of the country's commitment to greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
"Personally I think a nuclear power plant is the safest place you could go in an earthquake," Hisashi Ninokata, a nuclear engineering professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, told /Reuters/. "That's how much care they take over construction."
That's overstated to illustrate a point. Still, proponents of nuclear
power maintain that it's not only safe but also necessary as the world
grapples with dwindling oil and gas supplies as well as to how to
combat climate change.
Nations around the globe are interested in prospective nuclear
technologies. The difference between the so-called Very High
Temperature Reactors and current designs is that the future ones will operate three times the temperature of today's light water reactors. That results in a more efficient use of fuel and the ability to create hydrogen in the process. All of that makes the proposition a lot more economically attractive.
Meantime, those future reactors will be cooled by helium gas and not
water. That means that the reactors rely on gravity to flush water
through the system in the event of emergency. Therefore, the odds of
any leaks and subsequent meltdowns are close to zero, say advocates of the design.
Sophisticated engineering is one matter. Simple public outreach is
quite another. Witness the effect of Three Mile Island on the global nuclear industry. While no one was hurt or injured because of the recent incident at the Japanese facility, the nuclear operator there failed to promptly notify the public of all known facts and it has therefore undermined confidence in the whole nuclear movement. It probably won't be enough to derail the industry's forward momentum. But the bad publicity won't help as the industry works to regain its footing and develop new plants.