East Asia's Nuclear Policies Fukushima Effect or a Nuclear Renaissance?

Abstract

Until 2011, nuclear power seemed to be on a roll around the world. A number of countries, including China and Japan, placed atomic energy as a core pillar in their energy policies or had plans for a massive expansion of reactors. China aimed to host 70 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear energy by 2020, South Korea aimed to boost nuclear power from 30 to 60 percent of its energy mix by 2035, and Japan planned to add fourteen reactors to its fleet of fifty-four. Specifically, Japan hoped to boost nuclear power’s place in its energy mix from 30 percent in 2011 to over 50 percent by 2030. The March 11, 2011 triple disasters in Japan altered that calculus. Where Japan had relied on nuclear energy for close to one-third of its electricity production until the Fukushima meltdowns, that production dropped to zero for much of 2011 and 2012 and has remained low since then. China suspended its nuclear fleet expansion plans for half a year, and countries quite far from the disasters—including Germany, Italy, and Belgium—suspended or ended their use of nuclear power.