As soon as World War II came to a close, the world fantasized of harnessing the inferno of nuclear power for peaceful, useful means. The first reactors sprung up in the 1950s, and the quest for commercial nuclear technology took on the frenzied urgency of a Soviet arms race. The 1973 oil crisis further buoyed the idea of nuclear power as the homegrown energy of the future.
But since its inception, commercial nuclear power has also provoked a kind of blood-curdling dread, and countries embraced the vision of a nuclear future to very different degrees. The 2011 catastrophe in Fukushima confirmed, once again, the nightmarish potential of nuclear power, and refigured the debate about nuclear across the globe. Is nuclear power a critical part of our energy future? Or a Cold War-flirtation bound for the history books? Here are some facts you may not know about the post-Fukushima nuclear world:
Japan abandoned its plans to get 60 percent of its energy from nuclear sources by 2100
With few natural resources of its own, Japan was one of the most enthusiastic adopters of nuclear energy. Before Fukushima, Japan was the world’s third largest producer of nuclear power, with its reactors generating around 30 percent of the country’s electricity. The government’s goal was to cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than half between 2000 and 2050, and by 90 percent by 2100, thanks largely to an expansion in nuclear. Then, Fukushima happened. Japan shut down all 54 of its nuclear reactors -- later restarting two of them -- massively increased its oil and gas imports, resulting in a record trade deficit, and slashed its CO2 targets. Now, Japan is now the world’s second largest importer of fossil fuels after China, sparking a national debate over whether to restart its reactors.
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