Japan will inevitably return to nuclear energy

The Economy, Trade, and Industry Ministry of Japan has released a statement that carbon dioxide emissions in the 12 months prior to March 2014 were the highest on record. The rapid increase in carbon dioxide emissions is attributed to the transition to using natural gas and coal as sources of energy due to the shutdown of all the nuclear reactors due to the emergency caused by an earthquake and a tsunami at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Japan produced 1.224 billion tonnes of CO2 in the fiscal year that ended in March, said The Wall Street Journal. The figure was 1.4% above the previous fiscal year and 16% above 1990, which is used as the reference point for reducing carbon dioxide emissions as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Back in 2010 the Japanese government stated that greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by increasing the share of nuclear energy in the country’s energy budget from roughly 30% to 50%. However, after the Fukushima emergency all the 48 nuclear reactors in the country were shutdown. The situation resulted in a steady increase in CO2 emissions since nuclear fuel was replaced by organic kinds of fuel as a source of energy.

From the point of view of elementary logic increasing the number of operating nuclear power plants will be the most feasible way out for Japan, BelTA learned from Professor Sergei Baranovsky, President of the public organization Green Cross, Doctor of Engineering, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. It is easier to resolve the problem of increasing CO2 emissions by developing nuclear power engineering. The power plants have been built already, there is no need to build new ones, it is just necessary to upgrade the safeguards to match new requirements.

The development of alternative sources of energy is a disputable way to resolve the problem of emissions. Not all the alternative sources of energy can be used at any given location. Japan could use solar batteries but it would require additional investments and will not resolve the problem of energy dependence because solar batteries will not be able to substitute the nuclear power plants that have been shut down. Therefore, it seems to me that raising the number of operating nuclear reactors and the consequent development of nuclear power is the optimal way for Japan.