Japan is scrambling to find alternative energy sources as the lights go out at its nuclear power plants this year. On February 20, Kansai Electric Power shut down its last nuclear reactor, leaving only two in the nation still in operation, out of a total of 54. By the end of next month, the remaining two will also be turned off for regular maintenance. European countries, including Germany, Italy and Switzerland are turning away from nuclear but the fear is that many will revert to fossil fuels instead of making a commitment to genuine clean energy.

As Richard Matthews writes in “Global Warming is Real” : Nuclear reactors are located adjacent to sources of water for cooling. With many of the world’s 442 nuclear power reactors located by the sea, these power plants must integrate additional safeguards against flooding and tsunamis. This is a legitimate concern as ocean levels are rising due to global warming.

Kwan Weng Kin, Japan Correspondent, Straits Times (10 March 2012):

TOKYO: Japan is scrambling to find alternative energy sources as the lights go out at its nuclear power plants this year.

On Feb 20, Kansai Electric Power shut down its last nuclear reactor, leaving only two in the nation still in operation, out of a total of 54. By the end of next month, the remaining two will also be turned off for regular maintenance.

Before the disaster at the Fukushima plant on March 11 last year, nuclear energy supplied a third of Japan’s power needs, while coal, oil and natural gas supplied slightly more than half.

People like Assistant Professor Hiroaki Koide, a nuclear researcher at Kyoto University, have long pressed for the nuclear plants to be shut down immediately. The Fukushima disaster has boosted their cause.

‘Nuclear reactors are extremely dangerous as they produce very toxic, radioactive by-products. I am confident that existing fossil-based power stations will be able to supply all the power that we need,’ he said.

Will they’

So far, the gradual switch to fossil- based energy after March 11 has proceeded smoothly, with the country experiencing no unintended power blackouts.

Despite the unusually frigid temperatures this winter, power companies have not had to appeal to consumers to save power even though demand sometimes exceeded 90 per cent of peak supply.

But fossil-based power plants, on which the country is now increasingly dependent, are not without their own problems. Since last July, there have been more than 10 instances of operational problems, fuelling worries of instability of supply.

To address fears of a potential power shortage, the Japanese government is considering deregulation to boost the development of alternative energies.

A government panel has drawn up plans to relax rules in 183 energy-related fields to encourage the construction of mega plants for the production of solar, geothermal and wind energies.

Currently, renewable energies account for only about 1 per cent of Japan’s energy needs. Deregulation is a means by which the government hopes to boost that figure to 3 per cent in three years.

For instance, existing laws limit the size of a power plant to 50 per cent of the area of the land it stands on.

Stripping away such rules would enable the building of much bigger plants and hence the more efficient generation of power.

The government also proposes to allow geothermal and wind power plants to be built in Japan’s national parks, which is currently illegal.

It is even eyeing the use of the country’s nearly 400,000ha of unused farmland, of which about 170,000ha is deemed suitable for building solar or wind power plants.

The only snag is that much of this dormant land lies scattered around the country, requiring the use of land swops or other means to consolidate them into bigger properties for building power plants.

Recently, the government has shown interest in exploring for methane hydrate off the coast of central Japan.

Methane hydrate – an ice-like substance consisting of crystallised methane gas molecules trapped in water – can be used to produce methane gas for use in gas-fired plants.

The seabed surrounding Japan is believed to contain enough methane hydrate to supply the country with 90 years’ supply of natural gas.

In the meantime, efforts are being stepped up to find more efficient ways of using energy .

One post-March 11 innovation being explored is a new type of building material for use on the walls of buildings to generate power from sunlight.

This material, which uses organic semiconductors and is thinner and lighter than traditional solar panels, when applied on one or two skyscrapers, is said to be able to produce the same amount of electricity as a large-scale solar power plant.

Source: www.power-eng.com

Richard Matthews in Global Warming is real:

The safe operation of nuclear power plants will be aggravated by climate change. In the age of global warming, additional safeguards are required to make nuclear power safer. Nuclear reactors are located adjacent to sources of water for cooling. With many of the world’s 442 nuclear power reactors located by the sea, these power plants must integrate additional safeguards against flooding and tsunamis. This is a legitimate concern as ocean levels are rising due to global warming.

Even nuclear reactors located near inland waterways pose problems because they remain vulnerable to heat waves, which are another corollary of climate change. A 2003 heat wave in Europe forced Electricite de France to close or lower output at about half its 19 nuclear plants because of temperature limits on the water it returns to rivers.

There are still other issues for nuclear reactors related to climate change that are not typically subject to heat waves or water-born risks. Tornadoes, also a corollary of climate change, are increasingly a concern. Last year tornadoes crippled three nuclear reactors in Browns Ferry in Athens, Ala., and knocked out power at two nuclear reactors at Surry Power Station in Surry, Va.

When it comes to building new reactors, the NRC said that “redesigning nuclear plants to address newer threats from climate change may also be too expensive at many locations.”

Source: www.globalwarmingisreal.com