Japan is making significant efforts to resurrect its nuclear power industry, fourteen years after the catastrophic Fukushima nuclear accident forced the nation to all but give up atomic energy. The third-largest economy in the world is reconsidering its dependency on fossil fuels due to rising petrol prices and increased energy demands, particularly from rapidly growing AI data centres.
Japan approved the construction of new atomic reactors at existing sites late last year, signalling a significant change in policy. As the government shut down 54 reactors following the 2011 Fukushima accident, nuclear power’s proportion of Japan’s energy mix fell from about 30% to nearly zero. With the restart of 14 of those today, nuclear’s share of the national supply has increased to roughly 8.5%.
By 2040, Japan wants to generate up to 20% of its electricity from nuclear power, according to its updated energy plan. The goal of this change is to reduce the amount of electricity generated by fossil fuels from almost 70% in 2023 to as little as 30% in 15 years. The decision was prompted not only by unstable petrol markets, which were made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also by a growing realisation that, despite Japan’s population decline, the country’s power consumption will rise as a result of energy-intensive technologies like artificial intelligence and data centres.
Within five years, nuclear restarts should be mostly finished, according to Kazuto Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo. Next-generation technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), may be developed enough to have a significant impact by then, he claims. The government has outlined a roadmap for five different types of next-generation reactors, all of which are intended to be safer than the older boiling water reactors at Fukushima. These range from advanced light water and fast neutron reactors to high-temperature gas-cooled models.
But there is some opposition to the push. Communities like Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, which is home to the largest nuclear plant in the world, continue to face strong local opposition. The change has also drawn criticism from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, which contends that the nation should prioritise renewable energy sources in order to reduce its carbon footprint.
In the meantime, Japanese businesses are funding SMR initiatives abroad in order to acquire experience and legitimacy. To prepare for future domestic deployment, companies such as Chubu Electric and IHI are collaborating with NuScale, an American SMR developer. Leaders in the industry concur that clear regulatory frameworks and public trust will be essential. SMRs may ultimately be the innovation that enables Japan to strike a balance between its needs for energy security and the lessons learnt from Fukushima, as Hitachi Energy’s Andreas Schierenbeck points out.