Aftershocks of Fukushima

As the world waits to see whether the catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is contained, the impact is already being felt globally. Concern about the safety of nuclear power calls into question not just the boom in new capacity being led by emerging markets, but its future in traditional markets like the US and EU. Today’s GR Energy and Climate Brief highlights some key developments that provide some insight into how responses to this incident may play out in the US and other key markets.

Supporters of the industry, which has more than 200 reactors currently under construction or planned around the world, were put on the defensive, calling for safety reviews and distancing their own situations from Japan's. In at least seventeen countries with nuclear power profiles, politicians called for reviews of industry safety as a response to evens in Japan. Switzerland suspended plans to build and replace nuclear plants; Germany and the UK planned full reviews of the safety of national nuclear energy policy. But there were also exceptions to this trend; both Russia and Italy said they were moving full speed ahead; Russian Premier Putin said the events in Japan did not change his plans in any discernible way. 

Full article here.