Resumption of Unnecessary Reactor

Shikoku Electric Power Company on Friday resumed operation of the reactor #3 of Ikata Nuclear Power Plant for the first time from suspension right after the severe accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant caused by East Japan Great Earthquake in 2011. This is the third reactor in Japan that resumed the operation. Although the consumers in Japan already have enough electricity they need, SEPCO insisted on nuclear generation to improve its own financial balance.

Ikata plant stopped its operation for regular inspection in April 2011. After improving security measures or evacuation plan in possible accident, Ikata passed the examination of Nuclear Regulation Authority based on new standard last summer. Nuclear fission in the reactor will reach critical point on Saturday. It will start delivering electricity on Monday and begin commercial operation next month.

With the resumption of one reactor in Ikata, SEPCO can obtain 980 thousand kilowatts of surplus electricity in its covering area. There is no situation in which people suffer from scarcity of electric power, being accustomed to saving energy in their ordinary life. What SEPCO actually seeks in the resumption is to sell electricity to urban area such as Tokyo or Osaka.

Financial balance of each electric power companies is improving with decline of crude oil price. Thanking preferable foreign exchange rate, they can obtain cheap oil for thermal power generation. Future crude oil price in West Texas Intermediate dropped from $80 to $100 per barrel in these previous years to $20 this February. All of the nine electric power companies marked the black in March for the first time since the great earthquake in 2011.

Nuclear power generation is no longer a cheap method to supply electric power. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released a data, which indicated superiority of nuclear power generation with cost of ¥10.3 per 1 kilowatt hour compared to other kinds or power like thermal or solar. However, nuclear generation necessarily requires final solution of used nuclear fuel. Reprocessing project in Japan still has not reached conclusion with consecutive accident in related facilities.

Actual cost on the severe accident in Fukushima is swelling greater than initial calculation by Tokyo Electric Power Company. Compensation for evacuated sufferers in Fukushima is rising up to ¥5.4 trillion, while cost of dismantling broken nuclear power plant will be as high as ¥ 2 trillion. The myth of good cost performance of nuclear power generation has gone away.