Japanese electrical power

--- So if the Japanese government goes insolvent -- which it will -- and all the power companies go insolvent -- which they will -- then who's going to contain the reactors at Fukushima? Who is going to contain and control Reactor #2? -- MCR

Ratio of electric power generated by thermal plants surpasses 70% following nuke crisis

The ratio of electric power generated by thermal power plants in Japan has surpassed 70 percent following the March 2011 nuclear meltdowns, while that by nuclear plants, which stood at over one-fourth, has fallen below 3 percent, say industry insiders.

Mainichi News,

26 March, 2012

Since fuel for thermal plants is more expensive than that for nuclear plants, all nine electric power companies in Japan that have nuclear plants are estimated to have run into the red in the business year that ended in March this year. Okinawa Electric Power Co. in Okinawa Prefecture has no nuclear power stations.

In February last year, the month before the disaster, 36 of 54 commercial nuclear reactors owned by the nine companies were in operation, generating 26.81 percent of power consumed in their service areas.

Following the accident, however, many of the nuclear reactors were stopped one after another for regular inspections and for other reasons, and the number of such reactors in operation had decreased to a mere three by February this year. As a result, the ratio of power generated by such plants declined to 2.46 percent.

In contrast, the ratio of electricity generated by thermal power stations, which had stood at 50.08 percent, sharply rose to 73.82 percent. The ratio for hydraulic power stations remains largely unchanged.

"We've managed to make up for a decrease in power generated by nuclear plants by fully operating thermal plants," says a high-ranking official with the Osaka-based Kansai Electric Power Co.

Of the three reactors, the No. 3 reactor at Kansai Electric's Takahama Nuclear Power Plant was stopped for regular inspections that began on Feb. 20. Furthermore, the No. 6 reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, the last reactor operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), stopped on March 25. Operations at the No. 3 reactor of Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari plant, the last of the 54 nuclear reactors, are scheduled to be stopped on May 5.

As a result, utilities' reliance on thermal power will further increase. However, thermal power stations cannot be regarded as stable sources of electricity because they cannot endure full operations over a long period.

If power suppliers are forced to operate such plants over an extended period, they could develop technical problems one after another, according to a senior official with the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

Moreover, the nine power suppliers' increased reliance on thermal power pushed up their total fuel costs over the April-December period of last year alone by approximately 1.43 trillion yen.

As suspended nuclear reactors cannot be reactivated due to strong opposition from the communities that host them and other factors, "The more electricity we sell, the greater the deficits we suffer," says an official with the industry's regulator, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry.

TEPCO, the operator of the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, raised electric power charges for corporate customers in April this year.

Moreover, an increase in the dependence of utilities on thermal power will result in a rise in the emissions of carbon dioxide that is believed to cause global warming. The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEE) estimates that Japan's carbon dioxide emissions in fiscal 2011 increased 2.1 percent from a year earlier.

"There are limits to Japan's excessive reliance on certain energy sources," says IEE Chairman and CEO Masakazu Toyoda.