Japan approves nuclear energy U-turn to avert crisis

23.12.22

News

Japan approves nuclear energy U-turn to avert crisis

Japan has approved a plan to revive the use of nuclear energy, reports the Financial Times, “redrafting an energy policy that has been paralysed since the 2011 Fukushima crisis to address a serious electricity shortage”. The paper continues: “The U-turn in nuclear policy, first signalled by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August, follows softening public opposition to restarting reactors after repeated blackout scares in Tokyo this year along with rising electricity bills. Under a new policy outlined by an advisory panel for the government [yesterday], the country would ‘maximise the use of existing nuclear reactors’ by accelerating restarts in a reversal of a post-Fukushima plan to phase out the use of nuclear power plants. It would also extend the lifespan of nuclear reactors beyond 60 years and develop advanced reactors to replace those that are decommissioned.” Japan sourced about a third of its energy from 54 nuclear reactors before the Fukushima disaster, the paper says, but, “now, only nine are operational, forcing the country to burn additional coal, natural gas and fuel oil despite pledges to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050”. ABC News‘s numbers are slightly different, noting that “utility companies have applied for restarts at 27 reactors in the past decade. Seventeen have passed safety checks and only 10 have resumed operations”. The Associated Press writes: “According the paper laying out the new policy, nuclear power serves ‘an important role as a carbon-free baseload energy source in achieving supply stability and carbon neutrality’ and pledged to ‘sustain use of nuclear power into the future’. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he planned to get the cabinet to approve the policy and submit necessary bills to parliament.” Deutsche Welle, Nikkei Asia and Bangkok Post also have the story.

Deep freeze grips US as winter ‘bomb cyclone’ looms ahead of holiday weekend

Reuters

There is continuing coverage of what Reuters describes as a “deep freeze enveloping most of the US”, which has left left two-thirds of the nation under extreme weather alerts. It says: “Heading into the Christmas holiday weekend, the looming storm was forecast to develop into a “bomb cyclone”, unleashing heavy, blinding snow from the northern Plains and Great Lakes region to the upper Mississippi Valley and western New York…Combined with the Arctic cold, wind-chill factors as low as -40F (-40C) were forecast in the High Plains, the northern Rockies and the Great Basin, the [National Weather Service] said. Exposure to such conditions without adequate protection can cause frostbite within minutes.“ The Hill says that, in many places, temperatures are falling “with staggering speed – resulting in a drop of 20F (11C) within an hour or less”. Speaking from the Oval Office yesterday, President Joe Biden warned that the country faced “dangerous and threatening” storms in the days before Christmas and told those who plan to travel to visit family or friends to leave right away, reports Reuters. He said: “It’s dangerous and threatening, it’s really very serious weather and it goes from Oklahoma all the way to Wyoming and Maine…If you all have travel plans, leave now, not a joke. I’m sending my staff…if they have plans to leave tomorrow, I’m telling them leave now.”

There is continuing discussion of the immediate cause of the deep freeze – the polar vortex – which, says a New York Times explainer, is “a large rotating expanse of cold air that generally circles the Arctic, but occasionally shifts south from the pole”. Vortex-related cold snaps “occur regularly in the US”, the paper says, but the debate over whether “Arctic warming is causing disruptions in the vortex, through the changes in the polar jet stream” remains unresolved. (Carbon Brief’s 2019 Q&A explains more.) The New York Times also reports on how “climate change can supercharge snowstorms”, noting: “Less snow is falling in a warming world, but higher temperatures also allow the air to hold more water, creating additional precipitation.” There is further coverage of the storm in Axios, Le Monde and New Scientist, while the Hill has “everything you need to know” about the bomb cyclone.

Emperor penguin at risk of extinction, along with two-thirds of native Antarctic species, research shows

The Guardian

New research warns that two-thirds of Antarctica’s native species, including emperor penguins, are under threat of extinction or major population declines by 2100 under a scenario of very high global CO2 emissions, the Guardian reports. The study, which outlines priorities for protecting the continent’s biodiversity, “identified emperor penguins as the Antarctic species at greatest risk of extinction, followed by other seabirds and dry soil nematodes”, the paper explains. However, “implementing 10 key threat management strategies in parallel – which would cost an estimated US$23m annually – could benefit up to 84% of Antarctic organisms”. Lead author Dr Jasmine Lee, from the British Antarctic Survey, told the paper: “There are multiple threats impacting Antarctic species despite the fact that we think of it as this remote and pristine wilderness.” The Independent also quotes Lee, who said: “What this work shows is that climate change is the greatest threat to Antarctic species and what we need is global mitigation efforts to save them. This will not only help to secure their future, but also our own.” The New Scientist adds that “not all species suffered from climate change: some native flowering plants are expected to spread with warmer temperatures and more available liquid water”.

Elsewhere, the Independent also reports on a separate study “marine phytoplankton are much more resilient to the looming climate crisis than previously thought”. It adds: “An international team of scientists revealed that a mechanism, known as nutrient uptake plasticity, allows marine algae to adapt and cope with nutrient-poor ocean conditions expected to occur over the next decades in response to global warming of the upper ocean.”

Russia may cut oil output in response to price caps – deputy PM

Reuters

Russia may cut oil output by 5%-7% in early 2023 as it responds to price caps on its crude and oil products by halting sales to the countries that support them, reports Reuters. Speaking to state television today, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak detailed “for the first time” the Russian response to the price caps introduced by the west over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the newswire explains. “We are ready to partially cut our production early next year,” Novak said, reports Bloomberg, adding that the cuts could amount to 500,000-700,000 barrels per day and would apply to countries that join the price cap and companies that demand its observance. In a separate “exclusive” article, Reuters says its calculations suggest “exports of Russia’s flagship Urals crude blend from Baltic Sea ports may fall by up to a fifth in December, after a western price cap and an EU embargo on Russian oil took effect”. It adds: “Traders said Russia has been unable to fully redirect Urals exports from Europe to other markets, notably India and China, and it had struggled to find enough suitable vessels.” A third Reuters article reports that “oil prices rose more than $1 on Friday on expectations of a drop in Russian crude supply, which helped offset worries of a hit to US transport fuel demand growth as a looming Arctic storm”.

In other oil and gas news, the Times reports that “production at Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas plant has been suspended yet again, this time after a fire”. It continues: “The oil major said a small fire had been detected on Wednesday in a turbine enclosure on board the facility, 120 miles off the coast of Australia. Although it was extinguished with no injuries, ‘production has been temporarily suspended and an investigation into the cause of the incident is under way’, Shell said. Shell, Europe’s biggest oil and gas group, is the world’s biggest independent LNG trader. Prelude, the biggest floating object ever built, theoretically is capable of producing almost 1% of global LNG supplies, but it has been plagued by a variety of problems that have repeatedly forced it offline.” Reuters reports that Shell will pay £13m to “communities in Nigeria that were affected by multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta, the oil company on Friday said in a joint statement with the Dutch division of Friends of the Earth”. And the Financial Times discusses Amazon Prime’s new drama, “The Rig”, and how television shows are “waking up to the climate crisis”.

Comment

Inhofe’s legacy: A vast alumni network on climate, energy

Timothy Cama, E&E News

In a news feature, E&E News reporter Timothy Cama looks at the “legacy” of retiring Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, which will “live on for years in environmental policy circles through dozens of former staff members in key, influential positions”. He writes: “The Oklahoma Republican established an international image for his denial of climate change, calling it a ‘hoax’, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus. That denial led him to fiercely oppose many sweeping climate and environmental policies and major legislation in areas like infrastructure and chemical safety. Over his decades in the Senate, many people gravitated toward Inhofe and his message. The former Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee chair churned out a steady team of dedicated, ambitious staffers who are now in powerful positions in energy and aren’t afraid to argue passionately for their conservative, pro-business positions. They stand to continue dominating right-wing environmental spaces for years.” This alumni group has “worked at all levels of government and the private sector, in jobs ranging from climate science scepticism to fossil fuels, renewable energy and diplomacy”, Cama says: “Perhaps Inhofe’s best-known former staffer is Andrew Wheeler, currently the top environmental adviser to Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin and formerly [Environmental Protection Agency]’s administrator. He was EPW’s Republican staff director under Inhofe from 2003 to 2009.” Cama adds that “Marc Morano, another former Inhofe staffer, has dedicated his career to denying climate change as founder and executive director of Climate Depot”. Morano said that Inhofe “helped me immensely to understand how to oppose bad ideas in Washington, and he aided me in launching my climate opposition career”.

The Guardian view on buses: a subsidy for £2 fares is money well spent

Editorial, The Guardian

An editorial in the Guardian says the announcement earlier this week that bus companies in England will be subsidised to cap local fares at £2 for three months, from January to March, is “very welcome”. It continues: “If the subsidy persuades people to travel by bus instead of by car, as ministers hope and expect, it will also have a beneficial effect on the environment. Car journeys are a hugely significant source of carbon emissions and localised air pollution, with 91% of the UK’s total transport emissions coming from roads.” The paper says that “past policy failures have left Britons more exposed than they needed to be to the current energy crisis”, adding: “Had ministers more actively promoted a shift away from fossil-fuel-intensive transport and heating towards more sustainable energy sources and insulation, households would now be less vulnerable and more secure. But the £60m being spent on making buses cheaper will be money well spent.”

In other transport-related comment, an editorial in the Sun calls for an “independent PumpWatch regulator” to bring an end to “rip-off” petrol prices. The paper also criticises the announcement on rising rail fares, saying: “If things were not bad enough for strike-hit rail travellers, their already expensive train fares are to go up by nearly 6% in March.” An editorial in the Daily Mirror makes a similar point, arguing that “long-suffering rail passengers have been given yet another kick in the teeth”.

Science

Unprecedented droughts are expected to exacerbate urban inequalities in southern Africa

Nature Climate Change

Future droughts in southern Africa will “probably polarise urban inequalities, generate localised public health crises and regress progress in water access”, a new study says. The researchers build a “social-environmental scenario of the possible impacts of an unprecedented drought in Maputo” – a city that “epitomises a southern African city with highly uneven development and differential vulnerability across urban areas”. Noting that “socio-political factors influencing societal responses to drought are often overlooked in risk assessments”, the authors argue that “climate policies must address these inequalities and develop equitable water distribution and conservation measures to ensure sustainable and inclusive adaptation to future droughts”.

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