Nuclear Energy Dependency
The earthquake and tsunami has brought upon severe issues with nuclear reactors in Japan, their safety and viability. The world awaits if a possible catastrophe is about to unfold and the population be further devastated. At least the population around Chernobyl was not as large as this, so one has to pray or something.
However, the question has to be asked and is being asked. Given the population of Japan and its limited energy resources what can it do with regards to the availability of it and to maximise energy efficiency when geographically the incidents of earthquakes is always going to be a threat at this sort of level. The statistics of one in a hundred year event is suddenly becoming more regular than that and so all forms of energy sourcing for Japan is at high risk. Refineries are on fire as well so this applies to carbon and non-carbon fuels.
With the plate tectonics mainly to the East of the islands of Japan it would seem to make more sense to source energy as far away as possible on the western side and using wind farms if the conditions are appropriate. The rest of the world needs to look at their energy provision and for Japan the fact that the Fukushima Daiichi plant relates to reactors that should be at the end of their operational life makes it more pressing. I am concerned that governments that have nuclear reactors are going to keep on using these facilities which will inherrently increase the risk curve because the cost of de-commissioning of old equipment, together with the commissioning of new is almost (and it has always been) financially irresponsible. A general review of the viability of this whole industry is overdue and a policy of whether it should form a part of any country's energy requirements must be made soon.
However, the question has to be asked and is being asked. Given the population of Japan and its limited energy resources what can it do with regards to the availability of it and to maximise energy efficiency when geographically the incidents of earthquakes is always going to be a threat at this sort of level. The statistics of one in a hundred year event is suddenly becoming more regular than that and so all forms of energy sourcing for Japan is at high risk. Refineries are on fire as well so this applies to carbon and non-carbon fuels.
With the plate tectonics mainly to the East of the islands of Japan it would seem to make more sense to source energy as far away as possible on the western side and using wind farms if the conditions are appropriate. The rest of the world needs to look at their energy provision and for Japan the fact that the Fukushima Daiichi plant relates to reactors that should be at the end of their operational life makes it more pressing. I am concerned that governments that have nuclear reactors are going to keep on using these facilities which will inherrently increase the risk curve because the cost of de-commissioning of old equipment, together with the commissioning of new is almost (and it has always been) financially irresponsible. A general review of the viability of this whole industry is overdue and a policy of whether it should form a part of any country's energy requirements must be made soon.
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