US to partner Japan in push for next-generation nuclear technology
Posted: 13th January 2022
- Tokyo hopes to put the Fukushima disaster in the past with a new partnership aimed at developing plutonium-burning fast reactors and advanced SMRs
- Driving its nuclear ambitions are both a need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and secure domestic energy sources in case of a geopolitical crisis
Julian Ryall
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Published: 7:00am, 13 Jan, 2022
Storage tanks at tsunami-crippled Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Japan is hoping to put the past behind it with a new push for nuclear power. Photo: EPA
Tokyo is embarking on a series of ambitious next-generation nuclear projects that could power Japanese industry for decades to come and go some way towards erasing the blot on its reputation caused by the Fukushima disaster.
A key element in the development of future nuclear energy technology will involve collaboration with scientists and companies in the United States, with Koichi Hagiuda, Japan’s minister of industry, holding talks with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on January 6 and agreeing to cooperate in the development of plutonium-burning fast reactors and advanced energy plants based on small modular reactors (SMRs).
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3163110/us-partner-japan-push-next-generation-nuclea…