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July 24, 2015

Title: Is Japan Going Nuclear?
Topic: Going Nuclear Again

Discussed by Marita Noon
with Energy Makes America Great

Another country goes nuclear – and it’s not Iran! Following the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Japan shut down all their nuclear reactor plants. This process took about three years, so they have only been without nuclear power for roughly two years. During this time, Japan was forced to import 90% of their fossil fuels from the Middle East. They received about half of their natural gas from Australia.

Marita Noon  discusses the 1973 OPEC report on the importance of utilizing more than one source of energy. While she and other energy experts agree on this issue, it is also important to note that fossil fuels are still the cheapest and most reliable source for energy worldwide. However, nuclear energy should definitely not be relied upon for the majority of a nation’s energy supply. “Nuclear energy requires a minimal amount of uranium to produce very large amounts of energy,” Marita warns. The good news: Japan is reducing the amount of nuclear energy they will rely on and exploring other forms of energy, like coal and fossil fuels.

Listen in as Marita Noon explains the new standards Japan is using to meet the growing need for energy resources for the population. They are basically telling the environmentalists to go away (to put it nicely). “Japan is building seven new coal-fired power plants,” Marita says. She suspects that those coal-fired power plants will make up the difference they are losing from nuclear energy.

“The price of energy dictates either a growing or shrinking economy.” – Terry Lowry, host of The What’s UP Radio Program

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