Ten years after the Fukushima disaster, Japan's nuclear industry remains crippled, with the majority of its reactors halted or on the path towards decommissioning.

The government still hopes to revitalise the sector, in part to reduce the country's dependence on energy imports as well as help it meet a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

- What is the situation at Fukushima? -

Around 5,000 people are still working daily at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where four reactors were severely damaged by the March 11, 2011 tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake.

Tangled scrap metal can still be seen strewn around parts of the site, including at the top of reactor 1, whose roof blew off during the disaster.

Three reactors melted down in all and even now mobile Geiger counters periodically beep throughout the site.

So far, the reactors' surroundings have been cleared, intact fuel rods have been removed with giant cranes, and new concrete dikes are being built to protect against tsunamis.

But the most difficult part lies ahead: extracting nearly 900 tons of molten fuel mixed with other highly radioactive debris.

Development in Britain of a special robotic arm for use in the operation was delayed by the pandemic, pushing back the start of the extraction process by a year to 2022.

But that's barely a blip in a decommissioning process expected to take 30 to 40 years, at best.

- What are the dangers at the site? -

A 7.3-magnitude quake that hit the region overnight on February 13 this year did not spark a tsunami or cause major damage, including at the Fukushima plant.

But it caused cooling water levels to drop in several reactors -- though plant operator TEPCO said the effect was limited, as the water is in a closed system that does not leach into the surrounding environment.

Mountain groundwater that leaks into the subsoil below the reactors and becomes radioactive was a major problem after the disaster.

Seepage is now largely prevented by an "ice wall" of frozen soil that runs 30 metres deep and 1.5 kilometres long, completed in 2018.

Rain and other water used for cooling continues to pose a problem, with around 140 cubic metres of radioactive water generated by the site every day in 2020.

The contaminated water is filtered to remove most radioactive material.

For now it is kept in hundreds of blue, grey and cream tanks at the site -- but space is running out.

By summer 2022, there will be no more storage available and the government is expected to approve a controversial plan to gradually release the treated water into the sea.

- What role does nuclear have now? -

All of Japan's reactors were halted after the accident and nuclear safety regulations were tightened significantly.

Just nine reactors are currently operational, compared to 54 before March 2011, and two dozen are set for decommissioning.

Nuclear accounted for just 6.2 percent of electricity generation in Japan in fiscal 2019, a fraction of the 30 percent before the accident, according to official figures.

The government's current goal, which is being reviewed, is for nuclear to account for 20-22 percent of electricity generation by 2030 -- a target viewed as impossible by many experts.

- Why push for nuclear power? -

A majority of Japanese remain opposed to nuclear power after the trauma of the Fukushima disaster, and dozens of lawsuits have been filed by communities near plants in a bid to prevent them restarting.

Other obstacles include the astronomical costs of implementing new nuclear security measures, as well as the longer-term price tag for decommissioning and maintenance of both operational and halted plants.

In early 2020, Japanese news agency Kyodo calculated these costs for all the country's reactors at 13,460 billion yen ($129 billion).

But the figure does not include the cost of decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi and decontamination work in the region.

"The future of nuclear power is very bleak," Takeo Kikkawa, an energy expert and professor at the International University of Japan, said this week.

With no plans for new or replacement plants, "nuclear power in Japan will wane and gradually disappear," he predicted.

And some Japanese firms in the sector appear to agree, increasing investment in renewable energy as Japan seeks to meet its carbon-neutral goals.

Last June, Tepco announced it would invest 2,000 billion yen ($18 billion) over 10 years to boost its green energy capacity.

Toshiba and Hitachi have also abandoned nuclear power projects in the UK in recent years.

Nuclear sector 'in crisis' 10 years after Fukushima
Paris (AFP) March 4, 2021 - Nuclear power is responsible for 10 percent of the world's electricity production, but it remains a controversial source of energy, a decade after the tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Here is a look at the state of nuclear energy around the world:

- Fewer reactors -

"It was an industry in serious crisis globally before the Fukushima events happened. This crisis has worsened considerably since then," said Mycle Schneider, an independent analyst and consultant on energy and nuclear policy based in Paris.

The high costs of construction and concerns about safety have cooled interest in the industry.

The number of nuclear reactors has receded in the past decade, from 429 in 2010 to 412 at the end of last year, according to Schneider, author of an annual report critical of the sector.

But energy generation has increased, from 365.3 gigawatts in 2010 to 367.1 in 2020, as new reactors tend to be more powerful while older facilities were upgraded.

- China power, Germany out -

Germany decided to abandon nuclear power by 2022 following the Fukushima disaster.

Belgium and Switzerland also plan to phase out of nuclear power.

But other countries are planning to develop the sector, with China at the centre of new projects.

The world's second largest economy is home of 25 of the 57 reactors under construction around the world in the past decade, but even China's plans have been affected by Fukushima.

"(Fukushima) deeply shocked policymakers in China, and this led to -- if not a brutal halt -- a considerable slowdown of nuclear ambitions in China," Schneider said.

Elsewhere, Bangladesh, Belarus, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have launched nuclear projects.

Poland, which still relies on highly-polluting coal energy, wants to get into atomic power.

- Cost and benefits -

In addition to concerns about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste, the nuclear industry is facing growing competition from renewable energies, which have become more affordable.

Fukushima forced the nuclear sector to adopt new safety measures, increasing its costs by a third in the past decade, according to the Lazard financial group.

By contrast, costs for wind and solar energy have fallen by 70 percent and 90 percent, respectively, between 2009-2020.

Proponents of nuclear power argue that it is also a source of energy that emits very few carbon emissions.

"A range of technologies, including nuclear power, will be needed for clean energy transitions around the world," the International Energy Agency, which advises wealthy countries on energy policy, has said.

The future of nuclear energy is uncertain.

In its latest projections, the International Atomic Energy Agency says global nuclear electrical generating capacity could increase by 82 percent by 2050 under a "high case scenario" -- or drop by seven percent in its "low case scenario".

- The future -

The nuclear industry has focused its attention on small modular reactors (SMR), shifting away from bigger, more powerful structures.

With 300 megawatts of power, compared to over 1,000 MW produced by conventional reactors, SMRs were designed to be built in factory assembly lines and then transported to power plants.

Russia already uses the method. The United States, which has the most reactors in the world, and other nuclear countries such as France and Britain have also shown interest in the technology.

Several countries are developing fourth generation reactors that would produce less nuclear waste.

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New highly radioactive particles found in Fukushima
Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Feb 18, 2021
The 10 year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident occurs in March. Work just published in the Journal 'Science of the Total Environment' documents new, large (> 300 micrometers), highly radioactive particles that were released from one of the damaged Fukushima reactors. Particles containing radioactive cesium (134+137Cs) were released from the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) during the 2011 nuclear disaster. Small (micrometer-sized) particles ( ... read more