Japan, Canada, Nuclear Power and Global Warming..

As we watch Japan dig itself out from it's recent disaster, and in particular as we watch them struggle to get the resulting damage to their nuclear plants under control, a few thoughts come to mind.

Just some things to think about.

According to the New York Times, of the four nuclear reactors damaged in Japan, "industry executives in close contact with officials in Japan expressed extreme concern that the authorities were close to losing control over the fuel melting that has been ongoing in three reactors at Daiichi, especially at the crippled No. 2 reactor where the containment has been damaged."

Losing control over meltdowns in three nuclear reactors - damage that "is way past Three Mile Island already", according to Princeton physicist Frank von Hippel.

Consider this as well - as reported in Bloomberg - "Japan, the world’s most earthquake-prone country, has increasingly relied on 54 nuclear reactors to supply 30 percent of its power as the oil, coal and natural gas burned at other plants all need to be imported. Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said nuclear technology exports from Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. would help revitalize the nation’s economy and meet greenhouse-gas emissions targets."

And are these plants being built and maintained with sufficient due dillegence.  It appears not.  As also reported in Bloomberg:

Revelations from 2007 that the utilities had regularly doctored safety records were a repeat of a 2002 scandal that brought public apologies from Tokyo Electric, the resignation of its chairman and president, and a government shutdown of all 17 of the company’s reactors. The utility said in that year it had falsified reports on power plant repairs for two decades.


The disaster at Fukushima isn’t the first quake-related accident for Tokyo Electric. A 6.8 magnitude temblor on July 16, 2007, caused a fire and radiation leaks that shut down the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, the world’s biggest. It took almost two years to restart.

The government failed to conduct sufficient checks for seismic faults before approving Kashiwazaki as the site, Trade Minister Akira Amari said a week after the quake. The ministry approved the reactor site based on surveys Tokyo Electric conducted in the 1970s, he said.

So, then.

We have  a disaster beyond that experienced by Three Mile Island already, and it's not under control yet, and is possibly spinning out of control.

Which gets me to my point.

We in Canada, and particularly in Western Canada, have been undergoing massive global criticism over the last few years by our global neighbors, because of our use of carbon-based fuel to provide power and to facilitate transportation of our citizens.

But as we watch Japan's poorly regulated nuclear industry literally melt down, and create massive risk of long-term nuclear contamination and poisoning of its citizens, here are a few things to consider:

Nuclear Reactors:

1.  In Western Canada (B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), we have NO nuclear power generating plants, aside from research facilities.  As such, the risk of a meltdown impacting our citizens and our neighbors is, well, zero.  Oh.  And we are almost devoid of earthquake or tsunami risk.

2.  Japan has 55 nuclear reactors in operation, including those at jeopardy of melt down.

3. California has 4 nuclear reactors in operation at two power plants - both located in close proximity to major tectonic fault lines along the ocean - making them prone to both earthquake damage and possible tsunami damage.

Population Density:

1.  Japan has a population density of 337 persons per square kilometer. 

2.  California has a population density of 91 persons per square kilometer.

3.  Alberta has a population density of 4.65 persons per square kilometer.

That means we have to burn much, much more energy to connect with our neighbors and to transport goods to our consumers.

Average Annual Temperature:

1.  Red Deer has an annual temperature of 3.4 degrees Celsius, and while not in the center of Alberta, is in the center of the most populous area of Alberta so is a fair indicator of the bulk of our energy needs for home heating - with average temperatures in January running at about -11.6 Celsius.

2. Tokyo has an average annual temperature of 16.1 degrees Celsius, with an average temperature in January of 9 degrees Celsius.

3. San Francisco - far cooler than the bulk of the the population in California, has an annual average temperature of 17 degrees Celsius, with an annual average temperature in January of 13 degrees Celsius.

That means we have to burn much, much more energy just to keep warm in our homes and to heat our places of business.

The net result - we are forced by geographic reality to burn more energy than others, and, yet, we pose much less risk to ourselves and our neighbors relative to the massive potential threat of nuclear energy usage.

Just something to think about.

Maybe, just maybe, Kyoto wasn't necessarily everything it was cracked up to be.