Japan Paper.docx

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Japan Paper September 18, 2020 After reviewing the risks of earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, as well as watching the video, Japan’s Killer Quake , I believe it is a wise move to re-start the remaining 39 power plants. Japan has very limited resources to produce energy and with a growing population the demand for electricity is also increasing. Many people are not in favor of the re-starting of the plants so in order to re-start the power plants Japan must increase their tsunami walls or either build plant sites at a higher altitude to be safe. However, I believe Japan should only open a few plants temporarily to produce enough energy while the other plants are reconstructing to meet safety requirements. Japan is always going to be at risk for earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis and instead of living in fear they should re-start the power plants with more safety precautions. Japan lacks the resources that produce energy such as oil, coal and natural gases. They have turned to nuclear energy which these power plants produce and without them they are losing a main portion of their energy used to power their country. This is one reason why it is wise of Japan to re-start their nuclear power plants. Of course, there are other forms of energy sources such as hydroelectricity, but for the purpose of the video, Japan greatly relies on these nuclear power plants. Until Japan finds a safer alternative for the nuclear power plants, the plants need to be restarted to get Japan back on track. Many people would argue that it will be unsafe and these nuclear power plants will see the same fate in the future. However, I still believe it is wise of Japan to restart the plants as long as they raise the tsunami walls to protect the generators. With higher walls it will at least protect the generators better than the walls before. There is another way of avoiding drastic damages. I have learned through our lecture that Japan is mountainous and this sparked an idea of creating nuclear power plant sites at higher altitudes to avoid damage by tsunamis. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site was very vulnerable to the tsunami that struck in 2011 because it was located at a low altitude and next to the sea. Many believed the walls were high enough to keep the generators safe but the tsunami overcame the seawall with ease. Moving most of their nuclear power plant sites to higher elevation and constructing a higher and stronger seawall for sites such as the one in Fukushima Daiichi will make it safer for the plants to re-start with less vulnerability to natural disasters. Although I believe they should re-start the nuclear power plant sites, they should only open a few at a time. Opening all the nuclear power plants is not ideal so I believe they should only open a few plants at a time. I believe it would be best to open a few at a time just to get some plants going again. Once they start producing enough energy that will provide for a good amount of time, I say to temporarily close those sites and open new sites 1 Geog 315 Fall 2020

Japan Paper September 18, 2020 to get those going. Opening a few sites allows Japan to produce energy and at the same time reconstruct current closed sites and construct new sites at higher elevations. Another reason why I believe it is wise for Japan to re-start the nuclear power plants is because a lot of the plant sites are still in good condition and with a few more safety requirements they should be good to go. Another benefit to opening a few sites at a time allows for new sites such as the one in Fukushima Daiichi to construct a higher seawall to protect the generators. Once most or all of the sites are meeting safety requirements, then Japan should have their nuclear power plants up and running. Despite learning about Japan’s geography and how vulnerable they are to earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, I still believe it is wise for Japan to re-start their nuclear power plants. As I stated earlier, Japan lacks the resources used to create energy and nuclear energy plants were working just fine up until the earthquake in 2011. Although many people are against the re-start of these plant sites due to fear of disaster striking again, they should not live in fear and instead do what they can to prevent these nuclear plants from said disaster. Building sites in higher elevation and increasing the height of seawalls for sites near shore are a few ways of taking precautions. Word Count = 2 Geog 315 Fall 2020

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