{"id":33649,"date":"2022-12-23T03:26:19","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T21:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=33649"},"modified":"2025-04-20T00:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T18:49:11","slug":"japan-reverses-nuclear-phaseout-plan-adopted-after-fukushima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/japan-reverses-nuclear-phaseout-plan-adopted-after-fukushima\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan reverses nuclear phaseout plan adopted after Fukushima"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Nuclear Power in India \u2013 About, nuclear energy generation in India<\/li>\n<li>News Summary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, Japan adopted a new policy promoting greater use of nuclear energy to ensure a stable power supply amid global fuel shortages and to reduce carbon emissions.<\/li>\n<li>This is a major reversal of its phase-out plan following the Fukushima nuclear disaster.\n<ul>\n<li>It was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in \u014ckuma, Fukushima, Japan.<\/li>\n<li>Following a major earthquake, a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident beginning on 11 March 2011.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>About Nuclear Power in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Nuclear power is a clean and environment friendly base load source of electricity generation, which is available 24X7.<\/li>\n<li>It also has a huge potential and can provide the country long term energy security in a sustainable manner.<\/li>\n<li>Keeping these in mind, India has a largely indigenous nuclear power programme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the nuclear energy generation capacity of India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India currently operates 22 nuclear reactors, with a total capacity of more than 6.7GW.\n<ul>\n<li>Besides these 22 reactors, the Indian government is currently building 8 reactors with 3 proposed (total 11), with a total capacity of 8.7GW.<\/li>\n<li>The public sector entity, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), is responsible for designing, building, commissioning and operating nuclear power reactors in the country.\n<ul>\n<li>NPCIL operates under the Indian government\u2019s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In 2021, about 3.2 percent of the domestic production of electricity in India was derived from nuclear energy.\n<ul>\n<li>Following thermal, hydroelectric and renewable sources and gas, nuclear is the fifth-largest production source of electricity in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>India has planned to increase the nuclear power capacity to 22,480 MW by 2031.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/sBTFtrMvfCANN7tw-Ae5m4ReyxcEfN2bXNQDcQTtuAgyCYNx2cMryFU0FavW0mMyCwxN1gY7QzydRQaWBgcN3U8ycALZT46l5ebXntxzXiHqEPoTu58vhP23s5l_EoB4dgIOOD9TNUzq4YrTluNF-g\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Location of nuclear plants in India<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Japan adopted a plan to extend the lifespan of nuclear reactors, replace the old and even build new ones.<\/li>\n<li>The new policy says Japan must maximise the use of existing nuclear reactors:\n<ul>\n<li>by restarting as many of them as possible and prolonging the operating life of old reactors beyond their 60-year limit, and<\/li>\n<li>by developing next-generation reactors to replace them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This is a major shift in a country scarred by the Fukushima disaster that once planned to phase out atomic power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Japan is reversing its nuclear phaseout plan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Fukushima disaster supercharged anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan and at one point led the government to promise to phase out the energy by around 2030.<\/li>\n<li>But since then, the government has recommitted to the technology, including setting a target for nuclear to make up 20-22% of the country\u2019s energy mix by the end of the decade.\n<ul>\n<li>At present, nuclear energy accounts for less than 7% of Japan\u2019s energy supply.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the face of global fuel shortages, rising prices and pressure to reduce carbon emissions, Japan\u2019s leaders have begun to turn back toward nuclear energy.\n<ul>\n<li>Japan seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is nuclear energy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Nuclear energy is a form of energy released from the nucleus, the core of atoms, made up of protons and neutrons. This source of energy can be produced in two ways: fission \u2013 when nuclei of atoms split into several parts \u2013 or fusion \u2013 when nuclei fuse together.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the fuel for nuclear energy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Uranium is the most widely used fuel by nuclear power plants for nuclear fission. Nuclear power plants use a certain type of uranium\u2014U-235\u2014as fuel because its atoms are easily split apart.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/world\/japan-reverses-nuclear-phaseout-plan-fukushima-8338780\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japan reverses nuclear phaseout plan adopted after Fukushima<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nuclear power is an environment-friendly source of electricity generation and ensures a stable power supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}