The last reactor

A shutdown,as in Japan,is not the best way to address valid and specific safety concerns.

A shutdown,as in Japan,is not the best way to address valid and specific safety concerns.

With the shutting down of the fourth reactor at the Ohi nuclear plant,Japan has closed its last operating reactor. This may seem to be the logical conclusion to a process that began with the nuclear blackout after the March 2011 tsunami-related accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan did without nuclear power in 2012,and the Ohi shutdown is ostensibly for a safety inspection. However,with no timetable for a restart,and given the strong public antipathy to nuclear power since the Fukushima meltdown,this closure is a setback for Prime Minister Shinzo Abes goal of restarting at least eight of Japans 50 reactors in 2013 to reduce the countrys reliance on crude oil and natural gas.

In the post-Fukushima global nuclear discourse,valid and plant-specific safety questions have been overwhelmed by spectre-mongering on nuclear disaster. Governments have tended to capitulate. Germany went so far as to announce a phase-out of nuclear energy. While this stood in contrast to France where 80 per cent of electricity comes from nuclear power and the discourse is scientifically informed the Fukushima investigation commissions report itself blamed the accident on human error,pointing at inefficiency and all-round collusion in violating norms. This underscored the need for authorities to allay anxieties and counter misinformation,while ensuring that regulators operated independently. In India,the Supreme Courts support for operationalising the Kudankulam plant emphasised that same need to separate valid concerns from generalised fears about nuclear power.

Recent incidents of radioactive waste water leakage at Fukushima have not helped matters in Japan. But at a time when the US is looking to revive its nuclear industry,Japan would do better to restore its nuclear power supply after inspections. Its renewed emphasis on coal-based power cannot make anti-nuclear ecological activists happy. Fukushima,after all,had first-generation reactors,nowhere near the sophistication of current third-generation reactors. It is time the debate shifted to optimal regulation and case-by-case safety assessment,rather than remaining stuck on nuclear power per se.