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Speaker 2: Last winter, on a windy, chilly morning, Bloomberg's reporter Shoko
Speaker 2: Oda arrived in a tiny rural city called Kashiwazaki. It's
Speaker 2: on the western coast of Japan, surrounded by mountains and rice.
Speaker 1: Fields, and it's about a two hour bullet train ride
Speaker 1: from Tokyo, and it's known for heavy snow during the winter,
Speaker 1: so there's a lot of ski resorts. The other thing
Speaker 1: that it's really well known for is really good quality
Speaker 1: of rice, so there's a lot of sake brewers that
Speaker 1: are making sake there as well.
Speaker 2: But Shoko wasn't there for skiing or sak tasting. She
Speaker 2: was invited to tour the world's biggest nuclear power plant,
Speaker 2: known as kk SO.
Speaker 1: KK stands for Kashawazaki Kadiwa, and it's named after the
Speaker 1: two cities that it straddles over, and it has seven
Speaker 1: nuclear reactors and it's it's also the world's biggest nuclear
Speaker 1: power plant, with eight point two gigabot capacity. If kk
Speaker 1: ran smoothly without any problems at a very conservative maintenance schedule,
Speaker 1: it would produce enough power for roughly thirteen million households
Speaker 1: in Japan.
Speaker 2: That's enough to power double the homes in Tokyo. Now,
Speaker 2: KK doesn't allow electronic devices in its facility, so Shoko
Speaker 2: couldn't record anything, but she walked us through her visit.
Speaker 1: You know, nuclear power plants are one of the most
Speaker 1: highly secured places in Japan. Lots of checkpoints. They also
Speaker 1: give you protective gear. And then we went inside the
Speaker 1: actual reactor. You'd at number seven where we were taken
Speaker 1: to an observation deck and you could kind of see
Speaker 1: through the glass the operating floor where there's a spent
Speaker 1: nuclear fuel pool. That's where they keep the used fuel.
Speaker 1: There's lots of pipes and wires. Some places are quite small.
Speaker 1: You have to kind of walk through noks and grannies
Speaker 1: to get to places. You feel like you're getting lost
Speaker 1: inside a complete maze, like a labyrinth.
Speaker 2: Sho goo. What was going through your head as you
Speaker 2: were walking through this power plant?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, it really hits you when you're inside
Speaker 1: the actual facility itself. Of course you follow the roles
Speaker 1: on the protocol, but you know, it makes me wonder
Speaker 1: sometimes what happens if an earthquake strikes at that point,
Speaker 1: how will we be getting out of the facility? In
Speaker 1: times like that. So that's something that crosses my mind
Speaker 1: whenever I'm at a nuclear power plant.
Speaker 2: Shoko's worry was once a living nightmare for about one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty eight million people living in Japan. In
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, an earthquake hit the east coast of the
Speaker 2: country and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear
Speaker 2: power plant. That facility is owned by Tokyo Electric Power
Speaker 2: Company or TEPCO, which also owns KK. Fukushima Japan suspended
Speaker 2: operations of all its nuclear reactors, but now thirteen years later,
Speaker 2: the debate about restarting KK, the world's largest nuclear power plant,
Speaker 2: is heating up.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kashawazaki Katiwa is incredibly symbolic. It's symbolic in
Speaker 1: a sense that it's the last nuclear power plot operated
Speaker 1: by TEPCO, the company responsible for the Fukushiba Daichi disaster,
Speaker 1: and if this world were to be able to restart,
Speaker 1: I think the Japanese government sees it as a positive
Speaker 1: thing that boosts sentiment to adopt more nuclear power use.
Speaker 1: So I think the government really is looking at it
Speaker 1: as a critical piece of the puzzle.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha.
Speaker 2: Every week we take you inside some of the world's
Speaker 2: biggest and most powerful economies and the markets TAIKUUS and
Speaker 2: businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the show,
Speaker 2: will the world's biggest nuclear power plant get a Second Chance?
Speaker 2: Japan has a relatively long history of developing nuclear power.
Speaker 2: The country's first nuclear reactor began operating in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 1: So Japan's always been resource scant. We import a lot
Speaker 1: of our energy needs from abroad. In the nineteen seventies,
Speaker 1: Japan was impacted by the oil shocks. That was one
Speaker 1: of the drivers for Japan then to turn to use
Speaker 1: of nuclear power because they thought that it's important to
Speaker 1: reduce dependency on imports of energy. So at one point,
Speaker 1: Japan had a goal to boost nuclear power used to
Speaker 1: fifty percent of its power box by twenty thirty.
Speaker 2: With that goal, Japan boasted fifty four nuclear reactors throughout
Speaker 2: the country in twenty eleven, among the most globally, and
Speaker 2: made nuclear energy a strategic priority, and it worked. At
Speaker 2: one point, nuclear was about a third of Japan's power
Speaker 2: mix until Fukushima.
Speaker 1: So in March eleven, twenty eleven, there was a massive
Speaker 1: earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern coast of Japan.
Speaker 2: Boady seen wipes four meters high, that's thirteen feet. We
Speaker 2: saw houses being swept into rice fields. Then now.
Speaker 1: And these tsunami overwhelmed top coast Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant,
Speaker 1: and it led to a power loss and failure to
Speaker 1: cool down the nuclear reactors there, and it caused a meltdown.
Speaker 1: An evacuation was ordered less than an hour ago for
Speaker 1: residents that live within about two kilometers of.
Speaker 2: A reactor in the prefecture of Fukushima. The Fukushima disaster
Speaker 2: is regarded as the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six. In the aftermath of Fukushima, Japan suspended
Speaker 2: operations of all of its fifty four nuclear reactors and
Speaker 2: permanently scrapped about a third of them.
Speaker 1: Fukushiba basically changed everything. The disaster really changed Japan's energy policy.
Speaker 1: Japan took all of its nuclear power plants offline to
Speaker 1: chuck for safety, and they also put in place a
Speaker 1: due regulatory framework that requires utilities to follow that process
Speaker 1: before they can bring nuclear reactors back online.
Speaker 2: Since Fukushima. Japan has restarted twelve nuclear reactors and five
Speaker 2: more are waiting to come back online pending additional approvals.
Speaker 2: That includes two reactors at KK. Shoko spoke with Raphael Grossi,
Speaker 2: Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He thinks
Speaker 2: it's important for Japan to be able to rely on
Speaker 2: nuclear energy again.
Speaker 1: He thought that Japan has all these nuclear reactors sitting
Speaker 1: idle in the country, all of that capacity that's wasted,
Speaker 1: that's sitting there has potential to lower carbon emissions from
Speaker 1: coal and gas plants, but it's just the restart takes
Speaker 1: such a long time and that it just remains there
Speaker 1: collecting dust.
Speaker 2: Today, Japan relies almost seventy percent of its power mix
Speaker 2: on imported fossil fuel like coal and liquefied natural gas,
Speaker 2: which makes Japan incredibly vulnerable to the swings in energy prices.
Speaker 1: So whenever there's a spike in let's say an LNG price,
Speaker 1: Japanese utilities get impacted. Then the same goes for like coal.
Speaker 1: On top of that, you know, the yen has been
Speaker 1: at historic weakness against the dollar, which makes it even
Speaker 1: more expensive for utilities to procure energy from abroad. Just
Speaker 1: to give a figure. Japan imported like twenty seven trillion
Speaker 1: yen of energy last year. That's about one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy three billion dollars.
Speaker 2: One hundred and seventy three billion US dollars. That's more
Speaker 2: than what Japan made exporting cars last year. That big
Speaker 2: energy bill means there's little room for debate on why
Speaker 2: Japan needs a new way to power its four tillion
Speaker 2: dollar economy, and Shoko says the regional wars and conflicts
Speaker 2: in recent years made this need even more urgent.
Speaker 1: The invasion of Ukraine really had a big impact. After
Speaker 1: the invasion, you know, cobodity prices went flying through the roof,
Speaker 1: and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explained that in order to
Speaker 1: achieve energy security but also achieve climate goals because nuclear
Speaker 1: can provide carbon free energy, the Prime Minister himself said
Speaker 1: that Japan should restart as video of its reactors as possible,
Speaker 1: so long as it's passed the safety protocols, but also
Speaker 1: look into developing next sedervation reactors and trying to harness
Speaker 1: that technology more.
Speaker 2: There are other reasons why Japan wants to harness nuclear
Speaker 2: power more. For one, it wants to attract more semiconductor
Speaker 2: manufacturers like TSMC to make chips in Japan, and that's
Speaker 2: expected to increase electricity demand significantly. Plus there's also a
Speaker 2: move to revive nuclear power around the world.
Speaker 1: China has plans to roll out more nuclear power plants,
Speaker 1: there are talks in the US to try to bring
Speaker 1: some back online. Even developing countries or looking at nuclear power,
Speaker 1: including Bangladesh, India. So it's really not just a path,
Speaker 1: but every other country is looking at atomic energy as
Speaker 1: a way to secure energy.
Speaker 2: This year, Japan started a review of its national Energy
Speaker 2: Strategy to set a target for the country's power mix
Speaker 2: in the future. The strategy says Japan will aim for
Speaker 2: nuclear to be up to twenty two percent of its
Speaker 2: power mix by the end of the decade. In fiscal
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, nuclear accounted for just five percent of
Speaker 2: the energy mix, and next month, lawmakers and Nigata, the
Speaker 2: prefecture where KK is based, will meet and likely consider
Speaker 2: whether to support a restart.
Speaker 1: I spoke with some of these lawmakers and they're very
Speaker 1: wary about restarting KK, and many have said that it's
Speaker 1: not the right time to be even discussing whether KK
Speaker 1: should be restarted or not.
Speaker 2: After the break, what it takes to restart a nuclear reactor,
Speaker 2: and the challenges ahead Shoko. Earlier, we talked about how
Speaker 2: Japan wants to restart the world's biggest nuclear power plant
Speaker 2: to tackle soaring energy costs. How do you even go
Speaker 2: about doing that? I mean, obviously it's not like restarting
Speaker 2: a computer. You're not just flipping a switch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an incredibly complicated and long winded process. So basically,
Speaker 1: Japanese utilities have to submit a plan to the nation's regulator,
Speaker 1: and that's submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority and they
Speaker 1: check whether it matches the new framework that came into
Speaker 1: place after the Flukushiba disaster. Once that's approved, it goes
Speaker 1: back to the utility to conduct the necessary safety construction
Speaker 1: work at the power plant, and then on top of that,
Speaker 1: they also have to gain the blessing of the local
Speaker 1: governor of the town that the nuclear power plant's in.
Speaker 2: And that blessing from the local governor, it's not even
Speaker 2: a legal requirement. Technically, idler reactors just need regulators approval
Speaker 2: to restart. Companies like TEPCO typically seek consent from the
Speaker 2: local governor and a STEM, but citizen lawsuits or protests
Speaker 2: can slow that down. For KK, two of its seven
Speaker 2: reactors have passed the required safety protocols. But Shoko says
Speaker 2: local lawmakers and residents in Niganta, where KK is located,
Speaker 2: don't seem excited about restarting a nuclear plant in their backyard.
Speaker 1: And the reason for that is Japan saw another earthquake
Speaker 1: on January first, and it happened to take place somewhere
Speaker 1: close to Nigata. It shook quite a lot in Nigatta.
Speaker 1: The lawmakers themselves said that they saw a lot of
Speaker 1: people trying to evacuate, and the roads were getting congested
Speaker 1: because everyone's trying to evacuate all at once. All of
Speaker 1: this gets compounded, and so they don't think the evacuation
Speaker 1: plan put in place is adequate enough. They don't think
Speaker 1: the road infrastructure is strong enough. And so I could
Speaker 1: really feel the temperature difference between, you know, the national
Speaker 1: government that's been very proactive and trying to promote you
Speaker 1: nuclear energy versus the actual local government that's actually dealing
Speaker 1: with the risk of a potential disaster.
Speaker 2: And even if all these safety concerns are addressed, the
Speaker 2: residents in Nigata don't actually have much to gain from
Speaker 2: restarting KK.
Speaker 1: Tokyo Electric operates KK. That means if Tokyo Electric were
Speaker 1: able to cut back off fossil fuel imports at lower
Speaker 1: power bills, all of that benefit goes to people like
Speaker 1: me living in Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures. Nigata is
Speaker 1: actually covered by a different utility, and so they don't
Speaker 1: get the benefit of, let's say a lower power bill.
Speaker 1: All they get is just the risks.
Speaker 2: A Bloomberg NEF report forecasts that Tepco could resume operations
Speaker 2: at kk's Number seven reactor as soon as October. For now,
Speaker 2: there's no official target date, and for many Japanese today,
Speaker 2: the memory and trauma of Fukushima still loom large.
Speaker 1: Obviously, Japan is one of the most sizifically active places
Speaker 1: in the world. You know, every single time there's an earthquake,
Speaker 1: I as an energy reporter, the first thing that comes
Speaker 1: to my mind is what's the closest nuclear power plant
Speaker 1: to where the earthquake took place? And so it's the
Speaker 1: key sticking point for people when they debate whether nuclear
Speaker 1: is safe or good or not. The Trade Minister once
Speaker 1: said that it takes years and years to gain trust
Speaker 1: and it only takes a second to lose that trust.
Speaker 1: That was his line to TEPCO. To make sure that
Speaker 1: they know that attentions on them and make sure that
Speaker 1: they need to do everything they can to gain that
Speaker 1: trust back from the public.
Speaker 2: Shoko. Despite the trauma of Fukushima, it seems that the
Speaker 2: reality and the needs on the ground are making people
Speaker 2: think differently about nuclear.
Speaker 1: In Yeah, I think. I mean, it was a very
Speaker 1: traumatizing event for the country, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's spent thirteen years and public sentiment toward nuclear in
Speaker 1: Japad has shifted, especially with the invasion of ukraateive power
Speaker 1: bills going up, people started to kind of warm up
Speaker 1: to the idea of nuclear power because if that means
Speaker 1: lowering fuel imports and lowering power bills, then you know,
Speaker 1: why not.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to The Big Take Asia podcast from
Speaker 2: Bloomberg News. I'm wan ha. This episode was produced by
Speaker 2: Young Young Naomi, Jessica Beck, and Alex Sugiera. It was
Speaker 2: mixed by Blake Maples and fact checked by Naomi. It
Speaker 2: was edited by Bill Ferries and David Stringer. Naomi Shaven
Speaker 2: and Kim Gittleson are our senior producers. Elizabeth Ponso is
Speaker 2: our senior editor, Nicole Beemster is our executive producer. Sage
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