Japan is turning back on their nuclear reactors

[TopWargamer]

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/10/japan-to-restart-nuclear-power-tomorrow-after-energy-prices-soar/

 

We all remember the tragic event that happened back in 2011 in Japan. A giant tsunami hit the island and caused the Fukushima nuclear reactor to leak out large amounts of radiation. This caused Japan to shutdown all of its nuclear reactors by the end of 2013. Since then Japan has had to live off of other energy means, and this has caused prices to skyrocket. Energy prices have risen around 30% in Japan since 2011. Japan has made the decision to slowly but surely restart its nuclear reactors. 

 

The first reactor to go back online is reactor number 1 at the Sendai nuclear power plant. At the current time I'm typing up this thread, I'm sure the reactor is already online by now. With the return of Japan's nuclear reactors, the country has adopted even stricter safety measures for their nuclear plants. These new safety measures include additional safety rules and a stronger, higher tsunami wall near the nuclear plant.

 

Despite these new safety measures, many people are not happy about this decision, and protesters even gathered in front of the plant to oppose it being restarted. I can certainly see why they would be concerned, and I don't blame them at all, but sooner or later Japan has to start using nuclear power again to reduce energy costs. It was never a matter if they would bring them back online, but when they would be back online, and this is to be expected. 

 

The rollout will be slow, as there's no news of other reactors coming back online. Hopefully they won't run into the same situation as before.

 

[Tro]

I understand why they do it, but it should be safety of citizens above all, no matter the cost.

Let's hope this doesn't go wrong again any time soon.

[Sidiox]

NO. We need more nuclear power. I want they entire world to be powered by either thorium or if we must uranium reactors. But maybe put them in a safer spot. Idk in a desert without tectonic activity or something.

[shawno]

NO. We need more nuclear power. I want they entire world to be powered by either thorium or if we must uranium reactors. But maybe put them in a safer spot. Idk in a desert without tectonic activity or something.

Trouble is, they need an active water supply for cooling, not something you can find in a desert. From memory japan runs through a fault line so seismic activity is unavoidable

[That Norwegian Guy]

I thought the title was "Japan turns its back on their nuclear reactors"

 

Incidentally, diametrically opposed to the actual statement

[UnknownEngineer]

Nuclear power is a necessity, windmills are good but they don't provide enough, dams cause havoc on the environment, solar farms are good but they only work during the day. And in places where sunlight isn't guaranteed because of weather there aren't a whole lot of options.

 

More usage means we will also gain more insight to how we can better use the technology, that's at least how I see it.

 

So many are against nuclear power "because radiation" or "because toxic waste", radiation doesn't leak out of functional plants first off, and the amounts inside are minimal, you could get more by going to the beach. And the waste isn't all that radioactive, it's been used up already, there isn't much of it, and it doesn't need to be buried beneath mount everest for it be "safe".

[TrigrH]

NO. We need more nuclear power. I want they entire world to be powered by either thorium or if we must uranium reactors. But maybe put them in a safer spot. Idk in a desert without tectonic activity or something.

 

 

Trouble is, they need an active water supply for cooling, not something you can find in a desert. From memory japan runs through a fault line so seismic activity is unavoidable

 

 

Sidiox - Chemistry Student

 

 

 

[UnknownEngineer]

Sidiox - Chemistry Student

Why was I quoted here? If you want to correct me go ahead.

[TroubleKlef]

It's only a matter of time till more and more of the human population relies on nuclear power. Is it too early now? Who knows.

[You_are_a_cunt]

From my (now limited) geography, Japan seems one of the worst and best places to have nuclear reactors. While Japan is basically surrounded by water that can be used to cool down the reactor(s), it's also prone to disasters like Fukushima. Wouldn't it be safer to "rent" some space from, say, China and have their reactors there and just run underwater powerlines from there (while giving the Chinese a slice of the generated power)?

[TroubleKlef]

From my (now limited) geography, Japan seems one of the worst and best places to have nuclear reactors. While Japan is basically surrounded by water that can be used to cool down the reactor(s), it's also prone to disasters like Fukushima. Wouldn't it be safer to "rent" some space from, say, China and have their reactors there and just run underwater powerlines from there (while giving the Chinese a slice of the generated power)?

 

i'm pretty sure the Chinese and Japanese populous hate each other.

[You_are_a_cunt]

i'm pretty sure the Chinese and Japanese populous hate each other.

T'was an example. NZ is also an option. Hell, even de land down unda' (provided the power distribution would work over that long a distance)

[TroubleKlef]

T'was an example. NZ is also an option. Hell, even de land down unda' (provided the power distribution would work over that long a distance)

 

I think in general its a terrible idea. A country would sacrifice much of its political power by allowing its energy producing units to be physically elsewhere.

[You_are_a_cunt]

I think in general its a terrible idea. A country would sacrifice much of its political power by allowing its energy producing units to be physically elsewhere.

Trading political power for general population safety seems pretty fair to me. Then again that might just be me

[TroubleKlef]

Trading political power for general population safety seems pretty fair to me. Then again that might just be me

 

Perhaps. It's really up to the Japanese people I suppose.

[rattacko123]

 

 

NO. We need more nuclear power. I want they entire world to be powered by either thorium or if we must uranium reactors. But maybe put them in a safer spot. Idk in a desert without tectonic activity or something.

Perfect conditions for this in Australia. Come on Australia, pls we need better sources of energy than fossil fuels.

[HarmFull]

Well Japan doesn't have a lot of choice. Japan is pretty mountainous and a lot of it's grounds (73%) are not suitable for aggriculture or industry (src: wikipedia). Due to a lack of natural resources, Japan has to import a lot of raw materials. This means being dependent on other countries a lot.

 

Nukes are relatively efficient when compared to coal or oil plants. They don't polute the air as much, as well as the fact they don't need much fuel to burn.

 

Only downsides are the water that's needed for cooling and the fact that if they go haywire (due to earthquakes/tsunami's for example) you're gonna have a bad time.

 

But than again, Japan is known for their high quality and low tolerance manufacturing. Also I don't believe they would let such a disaster happen again 

[Gunjob]

Trouble is, they need an active water supply for cooling, not something you can find in a desert. From memory japan runs through a fault line so seismic activity is unavoidable

The LFTR for a Thorium reactor doesn't work via water cooling. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BcHx_9DMcc

 

Its incredibly safe and much more powerful than a Plutonium and Uranium reactor.  

[Trik'Stari]

We need safer containment vessels. Ones strong enough that the reactor could go full on meltdown, and the vessel still contains the molten fuel as well as the radiation from it.

 

 

The LFTR for a Thorium reactor doesn't work via water cooling. 

 

-snip

 

Its incredibly safe and much more powerful than a Plutonium and Uranium reactor.  

 

It's fairly telling that all the politicians could do was make jokes. Telling that either they are in on it, or just don't understand a single thing about it and are afraid of looking like freaking morons.

[spartaman64]

the next generation nuclear reactions use molten salt instead of heavy water and would be much safer. also there are reactors that dont use water like pebble bed reactors which use helium gas. if they are switching to wind and solar i wouldnt be too upset about this but they are probably going to go coal which is a huge step backwards

 

basically you dont have to worry about a nuclear reactor even if there is no coolant if you have no oxygen. people think that the fukushima nuclear reactor exploded because of steam pressure but the ratio of water to water vapor is 1:1000 and the nuclear reactor compared to its housing is built in the same 1:1000 ratio the problem was it got so hot that the water broke down into hydrogen and oxygen and once there is oxygen in those high temps boom thats why many next generation nuclear reactors use sodium as the coolant and something like a pebble bed reactor uses helium gas

[mr moose]

 

 

 

Perfect conditions for this in Australia. Come on Australia, pls we need better sources of energy than fossil fuels.

 

 

Perfect conditions in Australia to lead the way with just about any power technology we want (including thorium) and for whatever reason we can't get the government to even talk about it. :angry:

[euniqe]

Why don't the countries with available cash (such as Japan) support ITER? Obviously this isn't going to help in the short term, but Japan imo is neatly demonstrating exactly why it is necessary.

 

If ITER is successful, we will herald a new age of potentially limitless energy. I don't understand why the world seems to underestimate fusion technology - almost ALL of our energy already arrives on the earth via a fusion reactor (the sun) - why aren't more people interested in this technology? Fusion simply seems to be the answer to everything. 

 

Yes, it is merely theoretical physics in 2015, but Nuclear Power was, too once upon a time. From what I can see, Fusion offers greater potential energy output, at substantially lower risk. Am I missing something or do countries such as Japan simply consider it a pipe dream?

 

edit: Just noticed Japan has already signed up

[Sakkura]

Why don't the countries with available cash (such as Japan) support ITER?

Japan already supports ITER. It's going to take a long time to get viable fusion power though.

[JAKEBAB]

Hell, even de land down unda' (provided the power distribution would work over that long a distance)

Have been saying this for years, we have a massive desert unoccupied, why do we not have massive solar farms?!?! Nuclear power however, i don't think would go down well with the Aus public and i would probably be quite scared to be anywhere near it too.

[Real_PhillBert]

Good. The more nuclear power generation and less coal/oil the better.