15 Years After Fukushima, Attitudes Toward Nuclear Power Now Shifting
15 years after the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, global instability is seeing a shift back towards support for nuclear power, in Japan and beyond.
Japan’s Nuclear Shift After Fukushima
REPORTER:
18-year-old Hashimoto Takuma is rearing to go on this cold February day—at the starting line of a marathon through his hometown of Iwaki in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture. Events like this show how far the region has come since March 11, 2011. That day, a massive earthquake followed by a historic tsunami, devastated the area.
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Unlike most of the runners today, though, Hashimoto has only brief flashes of memory about the catastrophe.
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He was only three at the time, around when this photo was taken.
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No images of the many people dragged out to sea. No recollection of the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant that followed, forcing 150,000 from their homes, many never to return.
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Hashimoto, in fact, is studying nuclear energy—a sign of a turning of the generational wheel and a reckoning with a world that is much more unstable than it was in 2011.
Hashimoto Takuma (VOCATIONAL COLLEGE STUDENT):
There was indeed an accident 15 years ago. But after going to the sites, talking to specialists, and seeing things myself, I don’t think nuclear power should be treated as inherently dangerous. I think it should be considered as one of the options for future energy.
REPORTER:
And while opposition persists, Hashimoto is not an outlier. Popular support for nuclear power is surging—now reaching a narrow majority of 51%, according to a recent survey. Much of that is driven by young people under 30.
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This shift is producing results. Japan relaunched the biggest nuclear plant in the world, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, in January.
REPORTER:
And more could be restarted after pro-nuclear Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s resounding snap election win last month. Support may be far from universal, but as one former disaster official charged with counting the dead in Fukushima says, times have changed.
Inada Seiji (MANAGING DIRECTOR, FGS GLOBAL):
So, after 15 years, people started to face the realities and reality means increasing energy prices and geopolitical uncertainty such as the Ukraine crisis. And so, most people while we have some protesters here, as you see, most people here in Japan have come to the realization that energy security is important.
REPORTER:
That security is now under threat as the war in the Middle East expands. Japan gets 95% of its oil supply from the region—now virtually blocked off amid the fighting. And Japan’s need for energy to power future data centers will only grow.
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But it's not just Japan rethinking nuclear power. Taiwan’s plan to go nuclear free under the leadership of the Democratic Progressive Party did go ahead on schedule.
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But as Taiwan faces an energy crunch, even the current DPP administration has suggested embracing new nuclear technologies.
REPORTER:
Europe also appears to be reversing course. European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said Tuesday that a third of Europe’s electricity came from nuclear plants in 1990, but that's now down to around 15%. She called it a—quote—“strategic mistake”—one she plans to reverse amid volatility in fossil fuel supplies.
Ursula Von Der Leyen (EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT):
We need to mobilize investment. And today, I can announce that we will create a 200 million Euro guarantee to support investment in innovative nuclear technologies.
REPORTER:
And so, while the crisis in Japan on March 11, 2011 prompted a push away from nuclear power, the crises of 2026 are now driving opinion in many parts of the world in the opposite direction.
Andy Hsueh and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.
