Japan' nuclear industry not really back on its feet - FUKUSHIMA MAIS MORTÍFERA QUE HIROSHIMA, NAGAZAKI E CHERNOBYL JUNTAS 3

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Japan' nuclear industry not really back on its feet

Source : Financial Times,

Fukushima hurts nuclear revival hopes 

By Jonathan Soble - October 30, 2013 8:00 pm

Japan’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics has reminded the world of the country’s many attractive qualities, from delicious food to

safe streets and punctual trains. But it has also refocused attention on a sore spot: the continuing efforts to deal with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Two and a half years after the triple meltdown, new failures at the stricken plant seem to be reported each week. Most have to do with contaminated water. Hundreds of tons of water cycle through each day, either as coolant pumped into still-hot reactors, or as groundwater seeping in and out of cracked plant basements.

Containing it all has proved to be beyond the capacity of Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the much-criticised owner. Some water has leaked out, exposing workers to radiation and contaminating the sea around the coastal site.

Experts say there is little risk to Olympic-hosting Tokyo, 240km south, but the situation looks a shambles: in a Nikkei newspaper poll, 80 per cent of respondents said they distrusted an assurance given to the International Olympic Committee by Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, that the clean-up was “under control”.

All this has complicated Mr Abe’s efforts to get Japan’s nuclear industry back on its feet. In the months after the accident in March 2011, nearly all of Japan’s 50 surviving reactors were closed indefinitely, amid public anxiety over safety and political wrangling between local governments and Tokyo.

The result pleased many Japanese – slightly more than half say they want the country to go nuclear-free – but left utilities struggling to replace an energy source that had provided 30 per cent of Japan’s electricity.

Power bills have risen by 8-17 per cent, greenhouse gas emissions have jumped, and the cost of importing gas and other fuels has pushed a country that ran fearsome trade surpluses into a persistent...LINK

Leia (em português) uma introdução à esta série de posts aqui.