Reactor makers look to green energy amid nuclear allergy

[kristopher]

Reactor makers look to green energy amid nuclear allergy

...Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. say they now have higher sales goals in the alternative energy fields, including pursuit of "energy-smart communities" that can save power consumption as a whole city or village by using energy control systems.

Analysts said the three reactor makers have little choice but to expand their natural energy-related pursuits because of the ever-strengthening aversion both at home and abroad to nuclear power, even though whether the government will act quickly to support such business remains a question.

..."No one would be against the country introducing a vast amount of renewable energy," said Hitoshi Ikuma, director of the center for emergence strategy at Japan Research Institute Ltd. "The focus is when it will be introduced."

Ikuma's comments are based on forecasts that the country's nuclear power capacity will decline sharply over the next few decades. Overall capacity in 2030 is expected to be half the roughly 46,000 kw of 2010 because a reactor has a life of about 40 years.

It will also be hard to construct new reactors for the next 20 to 30 years...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110611a2.html


As I've said, a consensus is emerging...

Perhaps a global boycott of these three companies' consumer goods would help them make a firm commitment to completely abandon the promotion of nuclear energy as a profit center.

[PoliticAverse]

1. "It will also be hard to construct new reactors for the next 20 to 30 years..."

Being that's about the half-life of the radioactive Cesium-137 spread all over...

[kristopher]

2. Their problem is more economic.

Nuclear was already a poor choice based on economic criteria, and dealing with the naturally escalated safety concerns post-Fukishima pushes it even further into the red.

Do you think an economic boycott of Toshiba electronic goods could push them to get out of the business? I'm not usually much on the idea of economic boycotts because my not too informed opinion is that they generally aren't that effective. In this case, however, Toshiba is already being seen on their home turf in a bad light because of their involvement in promoting nuclear. It might not be that difficult to tip the scales and get them to follow the lead of Siemens. Their present strategy is to put their nuclear division in a holding pattern and concentrate on consumer electronics for their profit base. If we could make the cost of holding onto the nuclear division too high...