This section warns that excessive reliance on optimistic projections of renewable energy, leading to the abandonment of advanced nuclear technology, threatens national energy security and could jeopardize the survival of the state itself.

2016-03-16

However, placing excessive expectations on these technologies and discarding the nuclear technology that has been refined to this level would mean abandoning one of the nation’s core energy sources, and from the standpoint of energy security, it could place the survival of the state itself at stake.
Let us return to the “Monologue Record.”
Even now, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry claims that “nuclear power is cheap.”
That applies only to the moment electricity is generated by burning nuclear fuel.
How much tax money is required to build and operate nuclear power plants?
Unless subsidies are provided—such as promises to build community centers or swimming pools—local governments will not approve nuclear plant construction.
Even decommissioning requires massive public funds, whether for training researchers or creating waste disposal sites.
If an accident occurs, compensation cannot be borne by electric power companies alone.
Such costs, it is claimed, are not included.
This is false.
The Ministry’s cost estimates for each power source include compensation costs that far exceed subsidies or grants.
Even so, nuclear power is concluded to be the cheapest at 10.1 yen per kilowatt-hour.
Mega-solar power costs 24.2 yen.
Onshore wind power costs 21.6 yen.
Geothermal power costs 16.9 yen.
LNG thermal power costs 13.7 yen.
Biomass costs 12.6 yen.
Coal-fired power costs 12.3 yen.
Hydropower costs 11.0 yen.
From April 2016, electricity retailing becomes fully liberalized.
Wind, solar, geothermal, small hydropower, gas, biomass.
If electricity cheaper than nuclear becomes available, nuclear power will not survive under liberalization.
Both consumers and business managers will choose the cheaper option.
Proponents of nuclear power then began to say that nuclear energy cannot survive unless the government provides further support.
They argue that nuclear power is an industry that cannot continue without tax input.
They casually say, “If electricity cheaper than nuclear becomes available,” but reality is far harsher.
In the United Kingdom, reports indicate an increase in people suffering headaches and health problems caused by low-frequency noise generated by wind turbines.
In Hokkaido, white-tailed eagles, designated as a national natural monument, have been killed after colliding with turbine blades at large wind farms.
Such bird-strike incidents occur frequently.
Geothermal power is commercialized, but drilling steam wells costs approximately 500 million yen each, at a pace of one every two years, placing severe pressure on small-scale power plant operations.
After two years, silica accumulates inside well pipes like tree rings, narrowing steam pathways.
Corrosive gases such as sulfur dioxide damage condensers.
Because condenser vacuum pressure does not increase sufficiently, steam turbine efficiency cannot be improved.
Operating costs are extremely high.
In the United States, shale gas extraction once fueled a so-called shale gas revolution, but accidents occurred in which natural gas erupted from farmers’ wells, causing fires.
The release of large amounts of methane into the atmosphere demands rigorous environmental assessment.
Small-scale hydropower does not offer sufficient potential.
Biomass accounts for 6 percent of Germany’s energy mix and has the greatest potential among renewables.
Using pruned branches as fuel also helps preserve satoyama landscapes through human intervention.
It is true that various technological developments are anticipated, and promoting renewable energy is necessary.
However, abandoning nuclear technology that has been developed to this extent based on excessive expectations would mean relinquishing one of the nation’s core energy pillars.
From the perspective of energy security, this could place the nation’s survival at stake.
Media organizations such as Asahi and the so-called cultural figures aligned with them have already acted in line with the wishes of South Korea and China, weakening Japan’s national power across the board, effectively staking the nation’s survival itself.
What follows is from an essay published on January 5, 2016, titled “As readers know, South Korea and China have formally decided to massively expand new nuclear power plants.”
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corporation, selected two new construction sites facing the Sea of Japan, Samcheok in Gangwon Province and Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang Province.
Up to four reactors will be built at each site, totaling eight.
Including these, South Korea plans to build nineteen reactors by 2030.
Of the twenty-one reactors currently in operation, fifteen are already concentrated along the Sea of Japan coast, and all newly planned reactors will also be located there.
Deciding national energy policy based solely on “expectations” that resemble castles in the air is extremely dangerous.
To be continued.