Following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has prompted debate about the country’s energy future.

One of the most frightening results of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that ravaged Japan on March 11 was the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which resulted in meltdowns and explosions at three of the reactors and damage at a fourth.

On May 24, officials from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima plant, revealed that three of the reactors had suffered meltdown. A 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) evacuation area around the plant, as well as other areas where high amounts of radiation have been detected, has resulted in 100,000 nearby residents abandoning their homes.

The Japanese government has revised its estimate of radiation released from Fukushima Daiichi the first week after the earthquake. “The latest figure is still only about 10 percent of the radiation released from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster,” Dow Jones reports. “But the sharp upward revision shows that the failure to contain the crisis swiftly resulted in greater radioactive contamination of surrounding regions than previously thought.”

As TEPCO and government and international aid workers attempt to stop the radiation leaking from Fukushima and consider cleanup efforts, many are questioning the efficacy of nuclear energy in Japan, as well as the country’s energy future as a whole.

International anti-nuclear power activists have responded to the Fukushima tragedy with outspoken demonstrations against the development of more nuclear power stations.

On March 27, about 1,200 protesters converged upon TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo demanding that the government and TEPCO shut down all nuclear power plants unprepared for similar disaster scenarios, and that alternative energy sources be used instead. Regular protests demonstrating for similar anti-nuclear causes have continued since that time, drawing thousands of Japanese citizens.

The Kyodo News Agency released a survey revealing that 58.2 percent of Japanese citizens do not approve of the government’s handling of the Fukushima disaster.

The official response to Japanese energy concerns has been mixed. On May 25, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan “called for a review of Japan’s energy policy that aims to increase nuclear power to more than 50 percent of electricity supply by 2030 from about 30 percent now,” Reuters UK reports. He also stated his intentions to increase the role of renewable energy sources in electricity production to 20 percent by the 2020s. Kan made similar remarks at the G-8 summit in Deauville, France, in the following days, although he insisted that nuclear power would retain a presence in Japanese energy production.

As Kan told British Prime Minister David Cameron, “we want to continue nuclear power while maintaining the utmost security,” Agence France-Presse reports. The other G-8 members pledged support for Japan in managing the crisis and continued support for strong nuclear safety regulations, and Kan expressed his desire to hold an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Japan in the latter half of 2011.

Future Japanese policy was thrown into more doubt when, just before a vote of no-confidence in the Japanese Diet, which did not pass, Kan announced he would step down as prime minister. “Once my handling of the earthquake disaster is settled to some extent and I have fulfilled my role to some extent, I would like younger generations to take over my various responsibilities,” Kan said in a statement, as the Telegraph reports. The date of Kan’s resignation is unconfirmed.

Independent observers doubt that Japan will seriously consider a nuclear-free energy future.

While noting that companies like Chogoku Electric Power Co. have reined in numerous new nuclear projects in light of the Fukushima disaster, the Journal of Energy Security notes that “it is highly unlikely that Japan will opt for a long-term or permanent freeze on nuclear power given the absence of any comparable alternative technology capable of providing greenhouse-gas emission free energy. Nuclear energy is currently the main indigenous source of energy for Japan.”

In the wake of Japan’s nuclear problems, other countries are revising their own energy policies.

On May 30, the German coalition government announced its intention to close all nuclear power stations in the country and switch to alternate energy sources by 2022. The country, which has been the site of many large protests since the Fukushima incident, will boost solar, wind and other renewable energy sources to supply electricity, BBC News says. A European Union nuclear safety review, consisting of “stress tests” to ensure the confederation’s nuclear power stations can cope with a wide array of complications, began this month.

Outside the EU, Switzerland, India, Taiwan, the United States and other countries were sites of anti-nuclear protests.

As Bloomberg News reports, U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said that the Obama administration won’t “second-guess” Germany’s energy plans and that President Obama “continues to see nuclear energy as an important part of America’s clean, diverse energy portfolio,” but the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the middle of a 90-day safety review. The Commission’s report is due in mid-July.

Resources

Tokyo Doubles Estimate for Total Radiation Release In 1st Week After Quake
by Mitsuru Obe
Dow Jones Newswires, June 6, 2011

58% Do Not Approve of Gov’t Handling of Nuclear Power Plant Crisis
Kyodo News, March 27, 2011

U.S. Administration Won’t ‘Second Guess’ German Nuclear-Plant Phase-Out
by Simon Lomax
Bloomberg News, May 31, 2011

Germany: Nuclear Power Plants to Close by 2022
by Stephen Evans
BBC News, May 30, 2011

Nuclear Energy in Asia: A Post-Fukushima Perspective
by Hooman Peimani
Journal of Energy Security, May 31, 2011

Japan PM Reassures G8 over Nuclear Clean-Up
by Kimiko de Freytas
Agence France-Presse, May 27, 2011

Japanese Prime Minister Survives No-Confidence Vote after Offering to Resign
by Julian Ryall
The Telegraph, June 2, 2011

TEPCO Admits Other Reactors Melted Down
by Jesse Emspak
International Business Times, May 25, 2011

Anti-Nuclear Protests in Japan
by Mark Worthington
BBC News, 27 March, 2011

Japan PM Vows to Boost Renewable Energy
by Yoko Kubota
Reuters UK, May 25, 2011

After Fukushima: EU Stress Tests Start on 1 June
Europa, May 25, 2011