Asia’s second-largest economy Japan is reportedly seeking to reactivate its nuclear energy plants for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Reports say Japan is now laying the groundwork for its long-idled nuclear energy reactors to restart, amid rising gas prices and power-consuming data centres causing a reassessment of its nuclear policy following the earthquake and tsunami disaster 14 years ago.
The Financial Times reports Japan is reopening 14 out of 54 nuclear reactors that were shut down with the reactivation phase expected to last until at least 2030.
The news comes as Western Australian Premier Roger Cook yesterday (6 July) was en route to Japan for high-level talks for continuing collaboration on the clean energy transition, as reported by Mining.com.au today.
At the start of 2025, Japan’s government adopted new decarbonisation targets aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% from 2013 levels over the coming 15 years.
The renewed energy plan is part of an updated climate plan expected to help the country achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Japan aims to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2035 from 2013 levels, and by 73% by 2040. The earthquake-prone country previously set a 46% reduction target for 2030.
Japan’s new plan is replacing the 2021 vision and and now will be bolstering renewables up to 50% of electricity needs by 2040.
At the same time, the country will be maximising nuclear power to accommodate the surging power demand with the advent of AI and use of data centres.
In October 2025, Western Australia will host the 62nd Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee (AJBCC) Annual Joint Business Conference with the theme: Navigating New Realities – Turbulence, Transition and Technology.
Premier Cook says Japan is a significant investor in Western Australia, with decades long partnerships in the state’s resources sector.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
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