The United Nations nuclear watchdog head visited Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant on Wednesday ( Feb 19 ), the same day that Tokyo approved a plan to bring back nuclear power to meet growing AI demand.
Following the 2011 earthquake-triggered tsunami that killed 18, 000 people and caused the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) is monitoring Japan’s efforts to decommission the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The case approved a plan to increase nuclear power as IAEA head Rafael Grossi arrived in Japan on Tuesday to help meet the rising energy demand from the microchip and artificial intelligence industries.
After meeting with the foreign secretary, Grossi said,” It is important that this is done in complete security and with the confidence of the society,” noting that Japan is gradually returning to nuclear power in its regional energy mix.
Japan had previously pledged to “reduce emphasis on nuclear energy as much as possible.”
However, this promise was removed from the most recent Strategic Energy Plan, which states that renewable electricity will be the nation’s main source of energy by 2040.
Under the program, nuclear energy may accounts for around 20 per cent of Japan’s power provide by 2040, away from 5.6 per share in 2022.
The country’s transition to nuclear comes as Fukushima Daiichi is being decommissioned, a procedure that is expected to take years, with the most dangerous step still to be completed: removing around 880 kilos of radioactive particles from the reactors.
Grossi, making his second visit to Fukushima, viewed the great “interim” land backup facilities near the plant for the first time.
To eliminate harmful radiation, 13 million square meters of soil and 300,000 square meters of ash from incinerated pure material were removed from the area’s land.
Trucks and building vehicles moved between various locations on Wednesday, where hundreds of huge, soil-filled black bags were stacked, some of which had been partially covered in thin layers of snow.
A signal displaying the energy level was hung on a locked gate around the storage facility.