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Japan should modernize energy system rather than restart obsolete reactors: Aussie expert

Xinhua, June 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

Japan should modernize its energy system rather than restart obsolete nuclear reactors that were shut down on safety concerns following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

"The (Japanese) government, I don't think, has learnt its lesson," Mark Diesendorf, University of New South Wales associate professor of sustainable energy, told Xinhua.

In August last year, Japan's Kyushu Electric Power's Sendai No. 1 reactor became the first reactor to be restarted after a tsunami caused meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

It was rated a level 7 nuclear accident by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the highest reading and worst disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, displacing up to 180,000 people and destroying the local agriculture and fisheries industry.

Following Sendai's restart, Japan has plans for another five reactors at three plants to come back online following safety upgrade and regulatory approvals from Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Its other reactors are also undergoing safety upgrades.

Diesendorf, however, said Japan should follow the advice of former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who was in power at the time of the disaster, and "get out of nuclear" as the risks are just too great.

Early estimates, likely leaked as "any information from (TEPCO) is very biased," show it will cost 270 billion U.S. dollars to clean up the reactors and find the missing melted nuclear fuel at Fukushima, despite the plant only being insured for 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, Diesendorf said.

The country's electric transition system needs to be modernised as when the meltdown occurred, electricity could not be fed from other parts of Japan to restore power in the region.

As the fallout from the nuclear accident continues, Japan should also be thinking of its own food security as the agriculture region around Fukushima is unlikely to recover on fears of radiation contamination. Japanese customers are possibly losing their confidence in domestic food products.

Australian agriculture exports to Japan have surged in recent years. Rice exports in particular are up 29.5 percent year-on-year over the past five years, according to research firm IBISWorld, attracting a significant price premium. Endit