Japan's Nuclear Renaissance: Embracing Power After Trauma

0:00You're listening to Global News today, powered by the Daily News Now. 15 years after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns, Japan is reviving its nuclear power program. Once providing 30% of the nation's electricity from 54 reactors, the industry shut down completely in the disaster's wake. Now, 15 of 33 operable reactors are back online, including one at the massive Kashi-Wazaki Karawa plant earlier this year. A pro-nuclear leader, buoyed by recent election wins, is accelerating restarts and new tech to cut reliance on imported fossil fuels. Public support has climbed to 51% overall, and 66% among 18-29-year-olds, up from just 28% over a decade ago. Factors like Middle East tensions and surging AI energy demands are fueling the momentum. Among survivors like 18-year-old Takamahashi-Moto embody the shift. Living near Fukushima as a three-year-old during the crisis, he couldn't escape with his

1:03family due to fuel shortages. Today, as an engineering student in Iwaki, he's training for nuclear work despite weekly run-ins with anti-nuclear protesters at his train station. Former crisis manager Seiji Inata, who coordinated from a Tokyo bunker amid exploding reactors and mass evacuations of 150,000 people, reflects on the trauma. He recalls warning his own family to prepare for the worst while assessing risks to Tokyo. Now, he says time has moved the conversation from raw emotion to weighing energy trade offs and strong governance. Industry veteran K.G. Matsunaga at Toshiba is applying hard lessons with safer designs, like fortified roofs and back-up cooling systems to prevent meltdowns. These report booming sales, but talent shortages loom with nuclear student emissions down sharply to just 177 nationwide last year. This DNN story comes to you thanks to our sponsor. When you want calm, do not reach for your phone.

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