As the Japanese government pushes to restart nuclear reactors and shift its energy policy, the Fukushima nuclear plant appears to be turning into a tourist destination.
Bloomberg reported on the 24th (local time) that as demand grows for tourism to disaster sites, visitors to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant are increasing. Tourists are flowing into villages abandoned by residents, and tours inside the plant are also being offered. According to Tokyo Electric Power Company, the number of visitors in 2024 was 20,542, the highest on record.
Visitors are seeing for themselves the tanks storing radioactive wastewater and the damaged reactor buildings, grasping the scale of the accident. Travel and aviation analyst and Teikyo University lecturer Tori-umi Kotaro said, "It is meaningful to see the site of the tragedy in person and sort out one's thoughts," adding, "It is closer to learning than to travel for enjoyment."
On this, Bloomberg said, "The damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has now become a site of 'dark tourism' (travel to places of tragedy, violence, or disaster)," and noted, "It is similar to examples such as the Auschwitz concentration camp, Cambodia's Killing Fields, and Hiroshima in Japan."
The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major radiation disaster that displaced about 160,000 residents. It occurred on Mar. 11, 2011, when the power supply and cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company were simultaneously paralyzed by the magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami. At the time, core meltdowns and hydrogen explosions followed at Units 1 through 3. A core meltdown means the temperature inside the pressure vessel containing the reactor at a nuclear power plant rises rapidly, causing the central nuclear fuel rods to melt.
Afterward, Japan at one point pursued a "zero nuclear" policy, but it has shifted to a stance of restarting reactors due to power supply issues and carbon neutrality goals. Decommissioning work, including removing about 880 tons of nuclear fuel, is underway and is expected to take decades to complete.
Amid this, Tokyo Electric Power Company said on the 16th that it had resumed commercial operation of Unit 6 at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant in Niigata Prefecture for the first time since the Great East Japan Earthquake. This marks the resumption of commercial reactor operation for the first time in 14 years since 2011. Tokyo Electric said it will operate with safety as the top priority, based on reflection on and lessons from the Fukushima accident.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is the world's largest nuclear power plant with a total output of 8.212 million kW, and the restarted Unit 6 is an advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR). Tokyo Electric said the restart of Unit 6 is expected to save about 100 billion yen in annual fuel costs.
The Japanese government is also pushing an energy policy shift. It plans to expand the share of nuclear power from 8.5% in 2024 to 20%–22% by 2030. Nihon Keizai Shimbun projected that, amid growing concerns over fuel supply for thermal power due to instability in the Middle East, the restart will help stabilize power supply and improve Tokyo Electric's finances.