Dex-chan lover
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2018
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@seekermoc
...Revive? It's the individual chapter comment section. It's not like it's a forum where you can necro old threads back to the top or something. On other platforms (RIP Bato) I've replied to even 5 year old comments before. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to get a reply or expect a reply, but... discussion.
They are merely shut down, however, not decommissioned. They have had their reactors stopped from generating power for use, but because of the heat that they give off just from radioactive decay... they can't be moved for several years. Even "completely" spent nuclear fuel rods get put in separate containing pools on site and are cooled for for several years before the spent fuel rods are (re)moved for disposal/reprocessing. Fukushima might be a different story, but all the other plants that shut down? Everything is still on site. I know that for a fact. Know why? Because Japan is also restarting their nuclear plants and starting to reissue operating permits on a slow roll. Oi was restarted in 2012. Sendai in 2015. Takahama in 2016. All admit lots and lots of protest and attempts by local officials to prevent it, yes, but if you otherwise had no means of reliable and long term power... Those concerns would evaporate overnight. There's currently 39 functional reactors in Japan, of which only 9 are running. And Oma is another new entire nuclear power plant which is actually under construction. Shimane was in the process of having another reactor installed until the Tohoku earthquake hit and it was suspended, and in 2012 construction started resuming.
Japan is going to go back to nuclear power because... they have do. Due the recent climate accords, Japan can't meet their objectives without nuclear power. And as public sentiment about nuclear power dies down and plants actually start reinforcing their sites (which Fukushima was recommended to due and decided not to because TEPCO were cheapskates that didn't want to shell out the money for it... Onagawa power plant, which was the closest power plant to the epicenter of the Tohoku and was operated by the MUCH small Tohoku Electric Power Company actually heeded warnings and reinforced their site and so it didn't suffer like Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings's Fukushima Daiichi did - but it's not like this was the first incident of TEPCO being shady, either) the nuclear power industry of Japan will start coming back again. And just like how with relations with the Japanese get routinely strained because of American bases operating in Japan, eventually attention will be paid to it and people will forget about it until something else happens again. Politics is the same everywhere in these regards, it's human nature.
Japan is going to go back to nuclear power because... they have do. Due the recent climate accords, Japan can't meet their objectives without nuclear power. And as public sentiment about nuclear power dies down and plants actually start reinforcing their sites (which Fukushima was recommended to due and decided not to because TEPCO were cheapskates that didn't want to shell out the money for it... Onagawa power plant, which was the closest power plant to the epicenter of the Tohoku and was operated by the MUCH small Tohoku Electric Power Company actually heeded warnings and reinforced their site and so it didn't suffer like Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings's Fukushima Daiichi did - but it's not like this was the first incident of TEPCO being shady, either) the nuclear power industry of Japan will start coming back again. And just like how with relations with the Japanese get routinely strained because of American bases operating in Japan, eventually attention will be paid to it and people will forget about it until something else happens again. Politics is the same everywhere in these regards, it's human nature.
Currently, Japan is looking to once again have about ~25% of their entire nation's power generated by nuclear by the next decade. Again, it's just being done slowly and bureaucratically in order to not get people protesting and upset. And if tomorrow Japan suddenly found their entire country on another planet, I don't think very many Japanese that hate the idea of nuclear power are going to be up in arms about a nuke plant restarting immediately if otherwise they wouldn't be able to have lights on in their house. The government, public sentiment be damned, would rightfully step in and restart these plants and it would be done fast as shit because it would have to be done.
We're not talking normal circumstances here. We're not even talking emergency circumstances here. Stops would be pulled and it would happen, otherwise people would be dying. There is nothing theoretical about it at all. What takes time to restart reactors is the approval and regulation part of it. Not the technical and operating process. If there was no red tape whatsoever and these plants had all their necessary staff and resources available, it could be done in very short turn over. It would depend on each individual reactor in each individual plant. Some might take days. Others weeks. Some months. It just depends on the state of the shutdown and who and what is available. Considering that most of these reactors were shut down purposefully and carefully and with the hopes of being reused and were attended to during that time and the fact that is hasn't been very long since it's happened, I don't see it taking very long. Again, if red tape were not an issue.
As for uranium, it's not that big of an issue. First of all, they had fuel rods at the plants. Second of all, you can reprocess fuel. In fact, Japan does this instead of merely disposal. Technology like breeder reactors also up efficiency in recycling and reprocessing even more. Yes... Japan eventually will need more uranium. About 30 years down the road, maybe. Not the biggest concern right now.
We're not talking normal circumstances here. We're not even talking emergency circumstances here. Stops would be pulled and it would happen, otherwise people would be dying. There is nothing theoretical about it at all. What takes time to restart reactors is the approval and regulation part of it. Not the technical and operating process. If there was no red tape whatsoever and these plants had all their necessary staff and resources available, it could be done in very short turn over. It would depend on each individual reactor in each individual plant. Some might take days. Others weeks. Some months. It just depends on the state of the shutdown and who and what is available. Considering that most of these reactors were shut down purposefully and carefully and with the hopes of being reused and were attended to during that time and the fact that is hasn't been very long since it's happened, I don't see it taking very long. Again, if red tape were not an issue.
As for uranium, it's not that big of an issue. First of all, they had fuel rods at the plants. Second of all, you can reprocess fuel. In fact, Japan does this instead of merely disposal. Technology like breeder reactors also up efficiency in recycling and reprocessing even more. Yes... Japan eventually will need more uranium. About 30 years down the road, maybe. Not the biggest concern right now.
It's less. The figure I found that mentioned 84% was from 2010, before even the Tohoku earthquake.
Japan generates 10% of its electricity from renewable energy sources and is going to over double that in a decade (again, Paris Climate Accords). As I also mentioned, the Japanese government wants over 20% of power to be generated by nuclear in the next decade as well. After the nuclear planet shutdowns in 2011, hydroelectic actually took over and is generating a lot more power now. Japan was actually using nuclear power plants to pump storage into dams and even before the Tohoku earthquake Japan was one of the top producers of hydroelectric power in the world. They have the most pumped storage of hydroelectric dams of any country in the world and can (and have) been utilizing that since the nuclear disaster.
As for oil consumption, it seems to be dropping and has for some time. With Japan consuming about 3.2 million barrels per day in 2017. That's only slightly more than Canada in the same year, a country with about 30% of the population of Japan. Japan also has a stockpile of oil. The Japanese government has 92 days worth of consumption with private stockpiles adding another 77 days worth for a total of 169 days/579 million barrels of oil. And, of course, this could be extended with rationing.
As for current figures, I was able to find 2016 numbers:
82% gasoline, coal, fuel oil
(by the way? Japan imports most coal right now because it's cheaper than mining local coal in mines in places like Hokkaido but Japan has plenty of coal - about 50 years ago their electric power industry ran about half the country on coal with the aid of local Japanese coal, and coal has been increasing since 2011 with dozens of new coal fired plants being opened and currently about 25% of electricy generated by coal)
8% hydroelectric
4% biomass and waste conversion
2% nuclear
Remaining ~4% comes from wind, geothermal and solar energy.
Japan generates 10% of its electricity from renewable energy sources and is going to over double that in a decade (again, Paris Climate Accords). As I also mentioned, the Japanese government wants over 20% of power to be generated by nuclear in the next decade as well. After the nuclear planet shutdowns in 2011, hydroelectic actually took over and is generating a lot more power now. Japan was actually using nuclear power plants to pump storage into dams and even before the Tohoku earthquake Japan was one of the top producers of hydroelectric power in the world. They have the most pumped storage of hydroelectric dams of any country in the world and can (and have) been utilizing that since the nuclear disaster.
As for oil consumption, it seems to be dropping and has for some time. With Japan consuming about 3.2 million barrels per day in 2017. That's only slightly more than Canada in the same year, a country with about 30% of the population of Japan. Japan also has a stockpile of oil. The Japanese government has 92 days worth of consumption with private stockpiles adding another 77 days worth for a total of 169 days/579 million barrels of oil. And, of course, this could be extended with rationing.
As for current figures, I was able to find 2016 numbers:
82% gasoline, coal, fuel oil
(by the way? Japan imports most coal right now because it's cheaper than mining local coal in mines in places like Hokkaido but Japan has plenty of coal - about 50 years ago their electric power industry ran about half the country on coal with the aid of local Japanese coal, and coal has been increasing since 2011 with dozens of new coal fired plants being opened and currently about 25% of electricy generated by coal)
8% hydroelectric
4% biomass and waste conversion
2% nuclear
Remaining ~4% comes from wind, geothermal and solar energy.
A ISLAND nation that is insular and prone to disasters and having one of the best response/disaster/relief systems in place for its citizens and their citizens instilled culturally, from birth, to be polite/helpful and co-operate ? I think you're selling the Japanese short. They might be one of the very few countries that could do so. Would it be a walk in the park? Of course not. Yes, people would tragically die. That's unavoidable. Would Japan, however, fall into Mad Max-esque chaos and anarchy? ...No. I'm afraid you're just not giving them credit here. There have been disasters in Japan before were large regions of the country did shut down and have no working services and the government there was totally focused on just saving lives and keeping people fed. Guess what? None of what you suggested happened. And given that in this circumstance that all the infrastructure still on Japan works and getting food from the locals is possible... Yeah, no, it wouldn't happen here either.
