While the world considers its energy future and the costs associated with development of new and fledgling clean energy technologies it is important to reflect on the real lifetime costs of not only coal power generation but also nuclear power. In stark comparison to the ongoing nuclear disaster in Fukushima Japan, a clean energy project is expanding just outside of the radiation danger zone.
A Japanese children’s theme park company is planning to open a major new solar power plant just 15.5 miles away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. The nuclear reactors suffered damage from an earthquake and tsunami in March of this year.
Kansai Electric Power and Sakai City developed the power plant jointly. The plant has the capacity to generate about 11 GWh per year, equivalent to the power consumption of approximately 3,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 4,000 tons per year.
The newest project, located on a 3.7 acre tsunami-damaged site in Minamisoma, involves the creation of a one megawatt solar power plant. The cost of the new solar plant is estimated to be $5.1 million U.S. The project plans to allow visitors, especially children, to experience life as a solar plant worker in a realistic setting, and conduct other activities like maintenance inspections to monitoring operations.
The project is the brainchild of Kids City Japan KK, the company behind the theme park chain KidZania, where children experience life as workers across a variety of real-life professions.
The project speaks to the anti-nuclear sentiment that has been sweeping across Japan and around the globe since the nuclear crisis began. Several countries including Germany, Japan and Switzerland have changed their plans for future nuclear sites or have suspended plans until they review their options.
