Japan - Power from People to People
In late May of 2024, we were honored to participate in a nuclear energy workshop hosted by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, and by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). The theme of the event was stakeholder involvement, and it included focused tours and discussions in a region that is both a producer and a consumer of energy.
Our team started with a visit to the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant, where we found two operating pressurized water reactors tucked into a quaint seaside village in the south of Japan. Terraced rice fields overlooked the verdant hills and island-dotted sea, and ancestral homes, dotted along a craggy coastline, showed us a life connected to the land and steeped in tradition. When our guides later mentioned that the region was trying to figure out how to attract more tourists, it seemed almost funny that this question wasn’t immediately answered by merely taking in the view.
Energy Dance Dance Revolution
One step inside the Genkai Energy Park, and we were transported to a cross between a science fair and Disneyland. The center featured interactive video games for kids (picture Dance Dance Revolution … only about energy) and a multi-level energy education experience centered around a full size mockup and cutout of a reactor vessel. This was truly above and beyond anything I had seen before. On the top level, sweeping views of the coastline showed giant wind turbines alongside the nuclear plant facility, emphasizing how the region was helping to power the lives of Japan’s 124 million people.
The Genkai Nuclear plant hosted a gigantic greenhouse, previously fed by warm water from Units 1 and 2 (directly behind it) which are now being decomissioned. Now the greenhouse is powered by solar. Operating Units 3 and 4 are in the background.
Us with the CEO of IEEJ, Tatsuya Terazawa-san, in front of a life-size mockup of a reactor vessel, complete with fuel assemblies inside the cutaway AND a projection of uranium atoms undergoing fission
Genkai Energy park, painted with rainbows
We were honored to attend a presentation hosted by the General Manager of the Genkai Nuclear Power Station and by the Deputy Head of the Environmental and Public Relations Group, where they gave us an overview of the site’s history and the decommissioning of the Units 1 and 2 reactors alongside the operation of two 1180 MW Mitsubishi pressurized water reactors. The power generated on that small site provides much-needed electricity for the region as well as major population centers such as Osaka, where we later ended our journey.
While we listened to their presentation and viewed the materials, a few points stuck out to me. First, they had spent around one-and-a-half times the cost of initial construction on post-Fukushima safety upgrades—a staggering sum. Even then, the total cost of construction and upgrades was below that of a comparable build in the United States which meant that, when coupled with reliable operation, this plant would provide low-cost electricity to customers. Second, we learned that public engagement is an ongoing commitment and part of the station’s core business. For example, plant employees engage one-on-one with each member of the local community at least once a year to provide information and listen to their concerns. While the community is fairly small, this is still an impressive and laudable outreach effort.
We noticed similar messaging to US nuclear communications - an overemphasis on machines, safety, and what has gone wrong in the past. Let’s shift to a message of hope for the future!
One thing that got me thinking while sitting in that room is still turning around in my head weeks later—there was an overwhelming focus on the machines, technology, and robust new construction in order to assure the regulator and the community that the plant is operated safely. This was impressive and certainly appropriate, especially given the Fukushima Daiichi accident only 13 years ago. Even so, a question slowly grew as I viewed slide after slide of safety features: “What about the people?”
Something I appreciate more and more, the longer that I work at a nuclear power plant and grow my roots in the surrounding community, is the importance of the team that operates the machines. Humans have achieved amazing scientific breakthroughs and technological advances that have improved our lives, of which nuclear technology is a prime example. Through the power of the humble atom, we can have a reliable electricity source, one that produces no air pollution or carbon emissions and requires only a modest land footprint, saving more room for nature to thrive. We can harness the hidden power of the elements in the very formation of our planet to power our lives without destroying the planet’s resources. But science alone doesn’t make this technology happen or keep it safe for our communities—it is the people who devote their efforts to orchestrating and caring for this dance of machines, nature, and procedure. As an engineer, I came away impressed by their machines, but as a mother and community member, I came away hoping that nuclear communicators would remain sensitive, even reverent, to the global nuclear industry’s greatest asset: the people.
People around the globe are reconsidering nuclear energy as our planet continues to warm, as our best efforts to contain greenhouse gas emissions continue to fall woefully short of our targets. At COP28 in 2023, more than 20 nations committed to triple their nuclear capacity by 2050, in a powerful admission that nuclear energy is needed in our global efforts to take meaningful actions on carbon reduction. The science is clear, but public acceptance is struggling to keep up. A quick rewind through the lowlights of nuclear technology history—weapons, lack of consent, misinformation, public fear, accidents, and poor response—leaves no wonder why. This history can’t be erased, and maybe it shouldn’t be, for with it would go the advancements that have emerged from our global imperative to steward this technology and never to repeat our failures.
In short, “follow the science” isn’t enough, although it’s an easy crutch for the engineers and scientists among us. Too often, this myopic perspective lends to forgetting who advances the science, who implements the engineering, who votes to fund it, who allows it in their communities. While the global nuclear industry continues to innovate and advance in operational excellence, I think it’s time for us to consider how we can advance our people—both developing the nuclear industry’s human capital and pursuing excellence in stakeholder engagement. As we work towards a clean energy future, nuclear needs more attention to supporting diverse perspectives and engagement inside the industry as well as new and innovative approaches in public engagement.
Genkai school visit
Sinks for brushing teeth and washing up, plus real ceramic dishes for every meal
The human element was clear in the day’s later visit to the local Genkai school, an impressive educational center by the sea filled with its own sea of darling little smiling faces. The open architecture streamed natural light into well-equipped classrooms, and the library was so cozy that I felt the urge to curl up with a book. Both Heather and I felt an immediate draw as we witnessed their lunch routine, which featured real bowls and chopsticks, composting, toothbrushing, and minimal trash production—an endearing and hope-inspiring nod to our values of conservation and stewardship. Not only are the students receiving an academic education, they are also learning to be mindful users of our planet’s resources. The story behind the story here is that funding from the operation of the local nuclear plant enables a top-level educational experience for the local children in an area that wouldn’t otherwise be able to provide these resources. Local community leaders and school administrators affirmed that coexistence with their nuclear neighbor was one of mutual benefitand that it was necessarily dependent on transparency and open communication.
In the following days, we traveled to Osaka to meet with business and industry leaders and hear their input on nuclear energy from the perspective of a power-consuming area. The global perspectives from participants from the UK and Finland, along with thoughtful questions from ASEAN and East Asian countries confirmed the value and the necessity of communication between nuclear operators, their communities, and the public at large. Participants from ASEAN and East Asian countries reminded listeners that there are many countries hungry for ways to power their societies in ways that are clean and affordable. Japan is also seeking to reduce its reliance on foreign energy sources, as a significant portion of their national wealth is being sent overseas to import oil and gas to feed their hungry fossil-fueled power sources, which took over the majority of the baseload after their nuclear plants were closed following the Fukushima Daiichi accident. Japan’s energy conversation is more honest and focused than that of the West, perhaps because their experience has clearly shown the economic consequences of moving away from nuclear. Today, Japan continues to reinvest in its nuclear industry and to bring more balance to its energy mix. This meeting was a chance to reflect on the importance of diversity in energy sources as well the diversity of the people who enable those sources to function.
Presenting in Osaka - in both Japanese and English
These workshops were a few short days filled with a year’s worth of learning and thought-provoking experiences. The synthesis of power production, energy education, and community prompted us to reflect on how we can move forward using technology for humanity, with the consent of local communities and for their benefit. It is possible and necessary to do all of these things with nuclear. As Heather and I have been saying since we founded Mothers for Nuclear in 2016, nuclear energy has a good story to tell, but we need to get better at telling it.
-Kristin
Press conference in Genkai
Press conference in Osaka
As of our visit in May, 2024, Japan had restarted 12 of the previously operating 54 nuclear reactors. On our drive out of town our last night in Osaka, we passed this gigantic facility for fossil fuels, and felt not just the enormity of our challenge, but the importance of nuclear energy as a path forward. The video helps capture the size - it goes on and on and on, as we filmed out the window of our bus.