Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
depended extensively on self-regulation. After a series of mishaps, a tighten-
ing of regulatory supervision in 2002 resulted in the discovery that the Tokyo
Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which managed 17 reactors, had falsiied
inspection reports and concealed damaged to reactor vessel shrouds in 13 of its
17 units.
18
Up until recently political opposition has been almost nonexistent,
with even the anti-nuclear special interest groups seemingly acquiescent to the
necessity of nuclear power, choosing to focus more on lobbying for improved
transparency and governance of the technology.
Prior to the Fukushima disaster, such widespread support for nuclear
power engendered a political climate that discouraged unbiased evaluation of
alternative electricity generation technologies. his was particularly true for
wind power, which was widely seen as a supplemental technology at best. he
utilities opposed wind power because it was troublesome to integrate into grid
operations. he government opposed wind power (or any other alternative
energy technology) because billions of dollars had been committed to nuclear
power development. Politically, the government had passed the point of no
return in regard to nuclear power support. he general public was generally
apathetic toward a transition away from nuclear power because the govern-
ment had, for years, sold the public on the belief that nuclear power was the
cheapest form of electricity and that a switch away from nuclear power would
unnecessarily inlate electricity costs and damage industrial competitiveness.
his of course all changed in March 2011.
On March 11, 2011 an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale
occurred approximately 70 km of the east coast of Japan's Tohoku region. he
earthquake triggered a tsunami which in some places was over 40 meters high.
he leading edge of the tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant, causing serious (level 7) damage to three of the reactors. Boron-infused
water was dumped onto the reactors to prevent meltdown of the cores, and
this resulted in the leakage of radioactive materials into the ocean. Concerns
over the extent of radioactive contamination induced widespread panic that
extended 300 kms south to Tokyo, where there was considerable alarm over
the prospect of tainted water supplies. Although oicials are still struggling to
contain the damage, in the irst week alone this nuclear disaster had already
become the second worst in human history.
In the weeks that followed the disaster, the government inally succumbed
to public pressure and ordered that all but two of the nation's nuclear power
reactors be shut down for safety checks. Removing so much electricity gen-
eration capacity from the nation's power network in one fell swoop created
chaos in energy policy circles. TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear
power plant, was forced into inancial insolvency by the event, eventually
having to be inancially propped-up and semi-nationalized by the Japanese
