This section refutes claims that nuclear power costs ignore compensation and decommissioning, presenting official cost estimates and highlighting the practical limits of renewables beyond rhetoric and expectations.

2016-03-16

Returning to the “Soliloquy,” it is said that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry still claims nuclear power is cheap, but only when generating electricity by burning nuclear fuel.
It is argued that enormous tax money is required to build and operate nuclear plants, that municipalities will not approve construction without grants for community centers or swimming pools, that large sums of public funds will be needed for decommissioning, researcher training, and waste disposal, and that compensation in the event of an accident cannot be covered by power companies alone and is not included in costs.
This is false.
The Ministry’s cost estimates for each power source include compensation amounts far exceeding those of community facilities and subsidies, yet nuclear power is still concluded to be the cheapest at 10.1 yen per kilowatt-hour.
By comparison, mega-scale solar power costs 24.2 yen, onshore wind 21.6 yen, geothermal 16.9 yen, LNG thermal power 13.7 yen, biomass 12.6 yen, coal-fired power 12.3 yen, and hydropower 11.0 yen.
It is further argued that from April 2016 electricity retail would be fully liberalized, and that if cheaper electricity than nuclear could be obtained from wind, solar, geothermal, small hydro, gas, or biomass, nuclear power would no longer survive, since consumers and businesses would choose cheaper options.
Such claims sound simple, but reality is extremely harsh.
In the case of wind power, reports from the United Kingdom indicate increasing numbers of people suffering headaches and health problems due to low-frequency noise from turbines, while in Hokkaido frequent bird strikes have occurred, including white-tailed eagles, a nationally protected species, colliding with turbines.
Geothermal power is already in use, but requires drilling steam wells costing approximately 500 million yen each at a pace of one every two years, placing pressure on the management of small-scale plants.
After only two years, silica accumulates inside well pipes like tree rings, narrowing steam pathways.
Corrosive gases such as sulfur dioxide in the steam damage condensers, and insufficient vacuum levels prevent turbine efficiency from improving, resulting in extremely high operating costs.
To be continued.