Japan decides to extend the life of nuclear reactors Who is Noor Alfallah (Al Pacino’s heavily pregnant 29-year-old girlfriend)?

Japan has decided to extend the life of existing nuclear reactors. Parliament passed legislation on Wednesday that would no longer limit lifespans to 60 years, but allow for a potentially unlimited lifespan. On the one hand, the poor country, like Germany, wants to reduce its dependence on oil and gas imports. On the other hand, Japan wants to achieve its climate protection goals: to reduce CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. The use of renewable energy will also be expanded, but at the same time nuclear energy is considered essential, despite the threat of earthquakes and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011.

After the Fukushima disaster, Japan shut down all reactors in the country and significantly tightened safety standards. Of Japan’s 33 operational reactors, only 10 have been returned to service. For other reactors, operators have applied for restart permits, but this is taking a long time. There is also strong local opposition to restarting closed nuclear reactors.

By 2030, the government wants 20 to 22 percent of electricity generation to come from nuclear energy and 36 to 38 percent from renewable sources. Achieving this goal would require recommissioning nearly 30 reactors, which is unrealistic given lengthy permitting procedures and local resistance, the Nikkei Asia newspaper found.

Under the new law, the nuclear regulatory agency will review the condition of reactors after 30 years of operation at least every ten years to ensure the safety of the old facilities. The government’s plans also foresee the construction of new next-generation nuclear reactors, which should eventually replace the old reactors.

Meanwhile, a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency in Japan is conducting a final check before the country begins dumping large volumes of purified radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, a plan opposed by local fishermen and neighboring countries. . The reactors destroyed in the 2011 disaster due to an earthquake and tsunami still need to be cooled with water that has been filtered and stored in hundreds of huge tanks until now. Due to the overload, the contaminated water must be filtered and diluted before being released into the Pacific Ocean. The drainage of the water is currently being prepared. (oee/sda/dpa)