$123 million per day – the cost of not restarting Japan’s nuclear reactors

The Financial Times wrote a telling piece today about Japan and nuclear power. Prior to Fukushima, Japan relied on nuclear reactors for 30% of its power requirements. With all but two reactors still silent, the country finds itself in a position in which (to quote Japan’s Sankei newspaper citing a govt report) “every day Y10B ($123 million) of our national wealth is disappearing” due to the cost of importing additional natural gas, coal and other thermal fuels.

The country is quite rightly, putting its fleet of reactors through a variety of stress tests. However, the Financial Times article draws attention to the role of local politicians who, though most of them are pro-nuclear power, are holding up the process – quite possibly as part of standard political bargaining with the national government.

The cost of such bargaining is not one the country is likely to bear for long. Not only is the national economy suffering – with the cost of energy imports estimated to reach as much as a third of 1% GDP – but local economies which rely on nuclear-related jobs, subsidies and grants and also hurting.

In my opinion? With the enormous cost of getting by without nuclear power, the pro-nuclear stance of many in Japan, it’s likely to be only a matter of time before Japan restarts its reactors.

Dev Randhawa