Japan, which relies on imports for most of its energy consumption, has long embraced nuclear power, especially as the government touts its friendliness to the environment. After the 2011 nuclear catastrophe, experts say companies’ inability to adapt to the fast-changing nuclear energy landscape - growing skepticism, rising costs and more time needed for safety upgrades, and cheaper alternatives like renewable energy - has chipped away at their ability to compete with global rivals. Yet there is a common factor behind all this. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Heavy’s Turkey project is faced with skyrocketing working expenses. nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric Co., which it acquired in 2006 and subsequently left the storied Japanese electronics company on the brink of bankruptcy. Toshiba jettisoned its nuclear business after selling its U.S. Although Hitachi didn’t cite the U.K.’s tenuous business environment in the face of the Brexit drama, it was a factor in the process, according to Takeo Kikkawa, a professor of management at Tokyo University of Science who studies nuclear policy. To be sure, the reasons behind each case vary. abandoned its international nuclear business altogether in 2017, and Mitsubishi Heavy is reportedly considering pulling the plug on its project in Turkey. Hitachi was seen as the last holdout after some of its Japanese rivals threw in the towel in the global nuclear business. “But we judged that by postponing the decision, we would rack up further project costs.” “It is now clear that more time than anticipated is needed to reach an agreement with the British government,” Higashihara told reporters at a solemn news conference. He denied that the U.K’s struggles with Brexitwas a factor. In January, Hitachi President and CEO Toshiaki Higashihara announced plans to freeze a ¥3 trillion project to build a nuclear power plant in the United Kingdom as the company, blaming rising costs, reported a ¥277 billion loss attributed to the project. In the past two years, almost all of Japan’s nuclear export projects have ground to a halt, indicating that even the nuclear export industry cannot escape the stigma of Fukushima and raising the question: Is nuclear power still good business for Japan? Now those plans are falling apart at the seams. After all, nuclear energy, which emits virtually no greenhouse gases while generating power, is in demand in countries such as Turkey, Poland, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Argentina that are eager to cut carbon dioxide emissions and boost their energy security. Japan’s public-private partnership to build power plants abroad was regarded as a lucrative opportunity. made inroads into foreign markets with the help of past and current prime ministers directly selling the idea abroad. Big names like Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. For Japan’s nuclear industry, overseas opportunities were the last hope to keep it afloat after the Fukushima disaster.Īnd for a while, it appeared to be working. 1 crisis in March 2011 forced Japan to rethink its use of nuclear energy, the resource-scarce nation had hoped nuclear power would still serve it well.Īlthough only nine of Japan’s 38 commercial reactors are currently operating amid delays in getting approval for restarts by the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the government and the nuclear industry had hoped it could export its way out of trouble.įor the government, the plan was a key component of its infrastructure export program to boost domestic economic growth.
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