Earth News from TerraDaily.com
Japan begins its first dismantling of a commercial nuclear reactor
Tokyo, March 18 (AFP) Mar 18, 2025
A Japanese utility has started dismantling an old nuclear reactor with an eye toward building a new one, a spokesman said Tuesday, as the country drives for more clean energy.

This is the first such attempt on a commercial unit in Japan, after Chubu Electric decided in 2008 to dismantle two reactors at its Hamaoka plant in the central Shizuoka region, to avoid paying for costly anti-earthquake measures for them.

Only about 25 nuclear reactors worldwide have been fully dismantled, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Japan, targeting net-zero emissions by 2050, is shifting back to nuclear power after shutting down all its 54 reactors after the tsunami-triggered 2011 Fukushima meltdown.

Under its current plan, Japan aims for nuclear power to account for 20-22 percent of its electricity by 2030, up from well under 10 percent now.

It is slowly bringing its still-operable units online, and also plans to extend their lifespan, while encouraging the development of next-generation atomic plants.

On Monday, Chubu Electric began removing the top lid of its "Number Two" reactor at Hamaoka, before a similar exercise starts for another unit at the same plant, a company spokesman told AFP Tuesday.

The complicated dismantling process is expected to continue until 2042, which means building a replacement reactor is still many years away.

A total of 26 reactors in Japan, including the Hamaoka units and research units, are currently slated for dismantling, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Japan scrapped a research reactor in the 1990s after it ended operations in 1976.

Meanwhile Japan is also embroiled in a decades-long project to scrap the damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was hit by a huge tsunami in 2011, triggering the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

hih/kaf/sn

CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER





Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Astronauts finally head home after unexpected nine-month ISS stay
China's Ceres 1 completes 18th flight delivering eight satellites to orbit
Rocket Lab boosts Varda's space manufacturing with third successful orbital mission

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Advancing ultrafast spintronics for future memory and computing applications
Dialing in the temperature needed for precise nuclear timekeeping
ESA's Mobile Navigation Lab Tackles Arctic Interference Testing

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Hundreds killed in Gaza as Israel renews attacks targeting Hamas
South Korea, Japan, China top diplomats to meet in Tokyo
China calls outlets facing Trump axe 'notorious' as Beijing, Moscow seek to fill the news void

24/7 News Coverage
Artificial photosynthesis breakthrough replicates early plant processes
EZIE satellites begin mission to map Earth's auroral electrojets
FireSat Prototype Launch Advances Global Wildfire Surveillance


ADVERTISEMENT



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.