ABSTRACT

The disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the aftermath of the Richter-9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and ensuing tsunami has left a deep imprint, reviving the memory of the nuclear disasters at Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986). For many of those who have long been critical of the use of nuclear energy, this episode provides fresh ammunition for their advocacy against the nuclear option, and justifies their call for a shift to non-nuclear renewable energy sources. For those who view nuclear power as a key solution to dwindling supplies of hydrocarbon-based energy sources, the Fukushima disaster can be viewed as simply an aberration that has caused merely a dent to the mainly sterling safety record of modern NPPs since Chernobyl. The debates encapsulated in this volume have assumed a sharper edge in the wake of the crisis in Japan and underlined the dilemmas that face policymakers. While perceptions of risk have already been altered, nuclear energy may remain a significant option for many states. 1