A Japanese utility said on Tuesday, July 22nd, that it was taking an initial step towards building the nation’s first new nuclear reactor since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster more than a decade ago.
After the 2011 tsunami and meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan shut down all of its nuclear reactors, with the public voicing unease about the energy source.
But the government has continued to back nuclear power as a reliable and clean source of energy that Japan needs as it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
And 14 years since the disaster, Japan has restarted many reactors, with the public’s concerns about nuclear power declining, according to opinion polls.
Utility Kansai Electric’s president Nozomu Mori said on Tuesday that the company will conduct a geological survey to “evaluate the possibility to construct the successor plant to Mihama Nuclear Power Station,” resuming a project delayed by the 2011 disaster.
“As natural resources are limited in our country … it is important that nuclear power fulfils its role in the years to come,” he said during a televised press conference, adding that it was not clear when construction might start.
