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Japan forum to discuss nuclear-free energy future

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I agree with Disillusioned, this meeting is total BS. This supposed target date of 2040, how coincidental that it happens to be an even number, but no one in Japan will scratch their head, because this fabricated target date has already appeased public discontent, and being naive, people will actually think that the government is working so hard to solve the problem, when it is clear they are incompetent. You couldnt make this garbage up...

By the time 2040 comes, the public will have lost all their animosity, and the nuclear power industry will have had plenty of time to refortify their power and control. If there was a time to stop nuclear power here in Japan, it has come and it has gone, the nuclear lobby won, and the public lost.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Oh, bla bla bla! Discussion discussion discussion! How about some decision and action? Yeah, developing alternative energies is difficult. Big effing deal!!! Tell that to the third of Fukushima prefecture that can never return to their family homes wombat! Stop procrastinating and get on with it! Japan has a chance and the motivation to become a world leader in alternative energy, instead of being a procrastinating puppet of the US trying to save nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is finished in Japan and 70% of the population want it to be so. Wakatta???

3 ( +4 / -1 )

These guys will come to the same conclusion that practically every power engineer has stated. There are no alternatives right now except for fossil fuels

NPPs can cut down on Fossil Fuel use though.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Yup, fossil fuels are changing the climate, affecting crop yields and animal habitats, allowing diseases to spread, increasing sea level, etc. This year the Arctic Sea ice volume fell to 20% of its 1979 summer value - portending a hotter time at the top of the world, and more unstable weather for us. Even though there are massive methane deposits in the permafrost in Siberia, just waiting to warm up and mess the world up even more, Japan is worried about NPPs and importing more fossil fuels to cover them.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Star-vikingOct. 07, 2012 - 12:21PM JST

NPPs can cut down on Fossil Fuel use though.

Guess you haven't been listening to power engineers yet arrived at the same conclusion. Japan needs base load power, and there are currently two options for that. One is massive coal/oil boilers, the other is nuclear. One is estimated to kill 360 people a year at just 1% of Japan's needs not including accidents, the other is expected to kill 300 people over thirty years while providing 25% of Japan's needs including accidents. And yes, the larger number of deaths is fossil fuels. Power engineers are overwhelmingly for nuclear simply because it's safer than the alternative of fossil fuels.

Maybe in a few dozen years when fusion reactors or some yet to be discovered source of energy is available power engineers will suggest a different path.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Basroil,

I can agree with you on one thing, when it comes to climate change, the future for humans is bleak. Coal may take us their faster, but Nuclear power will take us there all the same.

But if you are gonna get on your computer and publicly comment that "people" evacuees, and victims of the Fukushima disaster, whomever these people may be who are against nuclear power, cannot see past today, and are too busy following anti-nuclear propaganda, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Go to the disaster area yourself, look these people in the eye, and repeat to them your insensitive speculative comment.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Some inventions...http://new4stroke1.123guestbook.com/

As I see massive construction that are to demolish the building of Reactor No. 3 is me shivers go .. Certainly the building suffered the most, because it was the biggest explosion. So the walls are certainly very weak, and it seems to me that the water in the pool of fuel remains a miracle there is to do there can not be inspected, that does not mean that the building is sturdy .. Therefore, demolition should in my opinion not cause additional shocks, and be carried out as gently as possible ... Heavy construction equipment, rather they should not be used ... They are after all modern methods, such as cutting concrete with water. The company offers cutting up to 3 meters ..

[ur]http://ajaks.eu/en/services-for-civil-engineering/hydrodynamic-demolition-of-concrete--hydrodynamic-robots.html"]http://ajaks.eu/en/services-for-civil-engineering/hydrodynamic-demolition-of-concrete--hydrodynamic-robots.html[/url]

I do not want to think what would have happened, if as a result of the vibrations, the resulting leaks in the fuel pool and the water came out of it ... Almost as a result of radiation inside the building and its three filling remains, you can not to re-seal it. ..

Therefore, even mild disturbances such methods may be used: diamond cut rope ..

http://www.hilti.com/data/editorials/-14620/ds-wss%2030%20leaflet%20e.pdf

https://www.hilti.co.uk/fstore/holuk/techlib/docs/DS-WS10%20en.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ04OdpmJ84

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=N54madabs9s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=GVI8Z5grdOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=I8xoHvhiA2k

Andrew

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Great, another group of experts who make enough money to pay any price for a kilowatt of electricity. How can they ever understand what it is like to be on a limited income and try to "protect the environment?'

0 ( +0 / -0 )

you sun warms the earth, convert waste heat into electricity for industry and services and solve two problems in one. translate knowledge into money, and not money from a limited budget to work long.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Japan has no need to increase coal and oil use. Natural gas is plentiful and cheap, and less harmful than those. It is a better option than nuclear. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/30/us-energy-power-nuclear-shale-idUSBRE86T0AX20120730

0 ( +1 / -1 )

this concerns the whole world , they just keep spending money on meeting and listening to themselves instead of funding that champagne to scientific research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_fusion or any of the others, there's so much to explore. bureaucracies slow-motion in the end might be the world's downfall

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Officials at the annual Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum will discuss the experience of removing nuclear power from a country’s energy mix, and what independent institutions can advise on the process.

These guys will come to the same conclusion that practically every power engineer has stated. There are no alternatives right now except for fossil fuels, and those do far more damage to people's health and the environment. Anyone in the science and engineering communities that actually looks at the whole picture understands the difference between ideal and optimal choices.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

shimonetadaisukiOct. 07, 2012 - 02:31PM JST

Coal may take us their faster, but Nuclear power will take us there all the same.

How the hell do find that to be true? The only CO2 released is in steel production (if captured into calcium carbonate can be included into the concrete), and transport of materials during manufacturing (same as all energy sources) and transport of fuel (can be made zero if electric modes used). In fact, solar usually costs more CO2 wise at nearly twice the grams released per kWh produced due to the production methods, and that's before taking into account the CO2 released by the 3-4kWh per watt nameplate capacity needed to produce and install it.

Fossil fuels are on an entirely different level of pollution, nearly ten times more than solar for even the most efficient gas systems, and 50 times more than nuclear for coal. And that's before the toxic chemicals released by burning fossil fuels, many of which are known carcinogens.

Do you not care about the millions of victims of fossil fuel related illness and death in Japan?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

warnerbroOct. 08, 2012 - 01:23PM JST

Japan has no need to increase coal and oil use. Natural gas is plentiful and cheap, and less harmful than those

Right now nearly half of Japan's generating capacity is oil (or combined oil/gas) another 25% coal and gas. Using gas would require three things:

1) Taking down coal and oil plants for 6mo to 2 years to upgrade to gas burners instead of coal/oil

2) New gas turbine designs would have to be created to withstand near baseload generation, or purchase three times the generation capacity to allow the turbines to be maintained properly.

3) It would require advances in pipeline infrastructure in the US, which can take up to a decade. All other options are currently being used and will cause the price of gas to soar. It would also require that the US not ban frackling, which many states are already considering.

This of course is better than using oil/coal, but doesn't do crap about CO2 emissions or the hazards of having large gas tanks in every major city. Just one standard size gas tank can level a quarter mile, and blow out windows in a five mile radius if it bleves (dependent on the internal temperature and direction of bleve). You really want that inside Tokyo next to Disney Land? (yes, you have commercial ports and gas storage tanks there, including Cosmo Oil which caught fire due to the earthquake despite being very far from danger)

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I think going nuclear free is a mistake. There are plenty on new designs that are far safer and even more efficient. Japan is known world wide for innovation and redesigning technologies in a better way. It is a good time to show their tenacity and play to their strengths and make existing tech better, not run and hide because of some rare accident.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

shimonetadaisukiOct. 07, 2012 - 12:49PM JST

the public lost.

They actually won.

Won a future free from the control of coal and oil interests that will destroy the earth for hundreds of thousands of years though uncontrolled climate change and release of heavy metals and other poisons.

But sadly they won't consider that because they are too busy following anti-nuclear propaganda to see beyond today.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

mrmaliceOct. 09, 2012 - 03:35PM JST

this concerns the whole world , they just keep spending money on meeting and listening to themselves instead of funding that champagne to scientific research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_fusion or any of the others, there's so much to explore. bureaucracies slow-motion in the end might be the world's downfall

Japan supports the ITER experiment rather than stuff like the Z machine (non laser confinement) and national ignition facility ("laser fusion"). We are very unlikely to see Japan ever try large scale fusion experiments using laser setups, or any large scale experiments in Japan period. Japan has however, put over 150 billion yen from it's nuclear research and development fund into ITER and related projects. However, nuclear fusion has "nuclear" in it's name, and will likely be scrapped if clueless protestors and politically motivated politicians get their way.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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