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Fukushima water release: Asian states to pursue nuclear energy plans despite recent protests
- The protests by Japan’s neighbours over the Fukushima water discharge won’t stall plans by Asian states to build nuclear energy plants, analysts say
- Countries such as Malaysia are considering nuclear power due to affordability and long-term security as they transition to clean energy
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Japan’s release of Fukushima waste water is unlikely to set back development of nuclear energy across the Asia-Pacific despite protests by its neighbours about the environmental impact from the discharge, analysts say.
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Last week, Japan conducted the first of a long-planned series of releases of treated waste water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was wrecked by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has assessed that the water release is safe and launched a webpage to provide live information on the discharge, but Japan’s actions have provoked fury and unease among Chinese and South Korean citizens.
China has imposed a blanket ban on all imports of Japanese seafood, while stones were thrown at a Japanese school in Qingdao city last week, and another Japanese school elsewhere in China was pelted with eggs, Bloomberg reported.
Investors in nuclear energy, however, are undaunted.
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