Category:

Japan Solar Boom Fizzling as Utilities Limit Grid Access

Japan ’s solar energy boom is starting to fizzle after two years of rapid expansion left utilities saying they’re unable to accept electricity from so many new sources that generate power only when the sun shines. At least five of the nation’s biggest utilities are restricting the access of new solar farms to their grids. Struggling to compensate for nuclear shutdowns after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns, the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offers some of the highest incentives for solar in the world. That’s helped make Japan the second-biggest market for photovoltaic panels, providing an alternative to downturns in Germany and Spain, nations that once led the industry. “Everyone was entering the solar market because it was lucrative, and that has strained the market,” said Yutaka Miki, who studies clean energy at the . Japan’s trade ministry has approved plans for about 72 gigawatts of renewable energy projects […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fukushima risk of 26-meter tsunami

Fukushima risk of 26-meter tsunami Tokyo Electric Power Co. has warned its stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could be hit by tsunami as high as 26.3 meters. The deluge would likely cause seawater to mingle with the radiation-tainted water accumulating in the basements of the reactor buildings at the six-unit plant, allowing 100 trillion becquerels of cesium to escape, according to an estimate that Tepco revealed Friday at a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Tepco said a tsunami of that size occurs once every 10,000 to 100,000 years. The Fukushima No. 1 plant, more than 40 years old, was crippled by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami after waves as high as 15.5 meters inundated the facility, knocking out all power and disabling the vital backup cooling systems for reactors 1 to 4, triggering three core meltdowns. Tepco also said the nearby Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Volcanoes May Be Next Hurdle for Nuclear Restarts in Japan

The volcanic eruption of Japan’s Mt. Ontake over the weekend may strengthen the argument of activists campaigning to keep the country’s 48 reactors shut. Japan’s atomic plants are off-line for safety checks as a result of the earthquake and tsunami that caused the meltdown of three reactors in Fukushima more than three years ago. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has said two reactors at a plant run by Kyushu Electric Power Co. (9508) in southern Japan meet new safety standards, indicating they are closest to restarting. Kyushu Electric’s plant, known as Sendai, is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from another active volcano called Sakurajima. It’s also not far from a cluster of calderas, volcanic craters caused by past eruptions. “The NRA has been criticized for not taking the elevated risk of volcanic eruption into account,” Stephen Church, a Tokyo-based partner at equity researcher JI Asia, said in a note yesterday. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Japan’s Idled Reactors, Weak Yen Drive Deficit on Energy

Few are as eager as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to see Japan ’s idled nuclear reactors brought back into operation. Since the country flicked off the switch to its nuclear energy program a little more than a year ago, expensive energy imports, particularly of liquefied natural gas, have worsened trade deficits. That’s placed an extra burden on an economy that contracted at an annualized rate of 7.1 percent in the second quarter, its worst showing since 2009, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Sept. 22 issue. Abe’s push to restore Japan’s 48 functioning reactors faces deep opposition from a public that can’t forget the radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactor complex following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Revelations of the regulatory lapses that led to the leaks galvanized local governments to keep Japan’s other reactors idle after they were shut down for scheduled maintenance. By September 2013 the country was without […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Japan Takes Another Step Toward Restarting Nuclear Power Plants

Japan ’s atomic regulator today approved a safety report for two reactors owned by Kyushu Electric Power Co., another step toward restarting plants shut after the Fukushima nuclear disaster more than three years ago. The report was approved by the regulator’s commissioners at a meeting in Tokyo today. The reactors must still clear two more steps in the stricter safety approval process set up by the Nuclear Regulation Authority after the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima plant north of Tokyo in 2011. The two units are unlikely to restart before the first quarter of 2015, Hidetoshi Shioda, a Tokyo-based analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said last month in a report. With all Japan’s 48 operational nuclear plants shut for safety reviews, the country will have functioned without nuclear power for one year on Sept. 15. Kyushu Electric is among 10 utilities that have applied for safety […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Power Plants Heading Out to Sea in Post-Fukushima Japan

One of the biggest hurdles to building new power plants in Japan is finding a place that’s safe from earthquakes and tsunamis. That place may turn out to be 30 miles at sea. Sevan Marine ASA (SEVAN) , a Norwegian builder of offshore oil-drilling vessels, is proposing a $1.5 billion natural gas-fired power plant that will float on a cylindrical platform bigger than a football field moored off the Japanese coast. It’s one of several innovative efforts Japan is considering for generating electricity after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 prompted widespread public concern over how the country will produce electricity — and where. Already, plans are being made to dot the coast off Fukushima with some of the largest floating wind turbines in the world. “We are now focusing on mainly floating offshore wind, but we want to push various types of technical development and research” for floating […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Japan hits Russia with more sanctions

The Japanese government said Tuesday it enacted sanctions on dozens of entities in response to Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine. Tokyo said it was imposing additional sanctions on Russia for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty through the continued support of separatists in the east of the country. Rebels there are suspected in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 last month, which left all 295 people on board dead. The list of those sanctioned include dozens of high-ranking officials in Crimea as well as Crimean oil and gas company Chernomorneftegaz. Tokyo’s sanctions follow similar actions by the U.S. and European governments targeting Russia’s energy sector. When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled his list of sanctions against Russia, he sad it was in response to Russia’s occupation of the Crimean region in Ukraine and its military action in eastern Ukraine. Japan receives Russian oil through the 2,900-mile Eastern […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Japan Rejoining Nuclear Club Leaves Fossil Fuel Appetite

Japan is poised to rejoin the world nuclear club — barely. Yesterday’s report vouching for the safety of Kyushu Electric Power Co. (9508) ’s atomic station in southern Japan means the utility’s two reactors in Sendai may begin operating as soon as October or November, according to Yoko Nobuoka, a Tokyo-based analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Two more units may be working by the end of the year, she says. The lengthy approval process — utilities began applying to restart their reactors more than a year ago — indicates Japan may remain nuclear-free throughout the summer when power demand is typically at its highest. Even with some nuclear capacity restored, the contribution to Japan’s energy mix will remain marginal, leaving the nation reliant on dirtier-burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and liquefied natural gas. “We still hold the view of not a wave of nuclear restarts, it’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fukushima: Bad and Getting Worse

Fukushima: Bad and Getting Worse Fukushima’s radiation disaster is “far from over” There is broad disagreement over the amounts and effects of radiation exposure due to the triple reactor meltdowns after the 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) joined the controversy June 4, with a 27-page “Critical Analysis of the UNSCEAR Report ‘Levels and effects of radiation exposures due to the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake and tsunami.’” IPPNW is the Nobel Peace Prize winning global federation of doctors working for “a healthier, safer and more peaceful world.” The group has adopted a highly critical view of nuclear power because as it says, “A world without nuclear weapons will only be possible if we also phase out nuclear energy.” UNSCEAR , the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, published its deeply flawed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

LNG Rally Fading on New Supply as Nukes Set to Restart

The three-year rally in liquefied natural gas is cooling as Asia-Pacific supplies jump and demand slows from Japanese utilities preparing to restart nuclear reactors. LNG shipped to northeast Asia next winter may be sold at the lowest price since 2012 for that time of year, when demand typically peaks, according to a Bloomberg News survey of traders and analysts. Exxon Mobil Corp. and BG Group Plc are bringing new supplies to Asia this year before at least four projects start in 2015, including the first U.S. exports. Prices have doubled over the past three years since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, as utilities turned to fossil fuels such as LNG to compensate for the loss of the atomic plants. Japan is preparing to restart at least two of 48 nuclear reactors that were shut in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami that hit the country. “We have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple