IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v127y2019icp308-319.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regulating Japan's nuclear power industry to achieve zero-accidents

Author

Listed:
  • Behling, Noriko
  • Williams, Mark C.
  • Managi, Shunsuke

Abstract

Our review of worldwide nuclear accident data shows Japan has had more nuclear accidents of greater severity than other countries. Cultural and geological factors likely combined to increase the severity of accidents, while policies designed to incentivize expansion of the reactor fleet likely increased the consequences of accidents. Cost estimates for the Fukushima disaster have doubled to $220 billion, and a literature review indicates total accident costs could exceed $500 billion. Indirect costs could increase that amount even more. To mitigate risk of future accidents, Japan could consider constructing a new fleet of 25 highly advanced reactors and require plant owners to establish set-asides to pay for future accidents in much the same way banks set aside funds to cover loan losses. This would build a profit motive into improving safety protocols and incentivize businesses to foster a stronger safety culture. At the same time, Japan might increase investments in clean fuels, such as hydrogen, to ensure it has feasible alternatives for successfully achieving safe, economically viable, and secure forms of energy.

Suggested Citation

  • Behling, Noriko & Williams, Mark C. & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "Regulating Japan's nuclear power industry to achieve zero-accidents," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 308-319.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:127:y:2019:i:c:p:308-319
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.11.052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518307900
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.11.052?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sun, Chuanwang & Zhu, Xiting & Meng, Xiaochun, 2016. "Post-Fukushima public acceptance on resuming the nuclear power program in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 685-694.
    2. Ming, Zeng & Yingxin, Liu & Shaojie, Ouyang & Hui, Shi & Chunxue, Li, 2016. "Nuclear energy in the Post-Fukushima Era: Research on the developments of the Chinese and worldwide nuclear power industries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 147-156.
    3. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yukutake, Norifumi, 2017. "Estimating the residential land damage of the Fukushima nuclear accident," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 148-160.
    4. Behling, Noriko & Williams, Mark C. & Behling, Thomas G. & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "Aftermath of Fukushima: Avoiding another major nuclear disaster," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 411-420.
    5. Kenta Tanaka & Shunsuke Managi, 2016. "Impact Of A Disaster On Land Price: Evidence From Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(01), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Fam, Shun Deng & Xiong, Jieru & Xiong, Gordon & Yong, Ding Li & Ng, Daniel, 2014. "Post-Fukushima Japan: The continuing nuclear controversy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 199-205.
    7. Wang, Qiang & Jha, Awadhesh N. & Chen, Xi & Dong, Jie-fang & Wang, Xing-min, 2015. "The future of nuclear safety: vital role of geoscientists?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 239-243.
    8. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2008. "The costs of failure: A preliminary assessment of major energy accidents, 1907-2007," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1802-1820, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Portugal-Pereira, J. & Ferreira, P. & Cunha, J. & Szklo, A. & Schaeffer, R. & Araújo, M., 2018. "Better late than never, but never late is better: Risk assessment of nuclear power construction projects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 158-166.
    2. Hu, Xiaoli & Zhu, Weiwei & Wei, Jiuchang, 2021. "Effects of information strategies on public acceptance of nuclear energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    3. Jorge Hugo Barrientos-Marín & Sebastian Ospina-Valencia & Sebastian Giraldo, 2020. "The economic cost of natural disasters the case of the tsunami and nuclear emergency in Japan in 2011," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 93, pages 225-260, Julio-Dic.
    4. Yasuhiro Sato & Keita Shiba, 2021. "The impact of Tsunamis on land appraisals: Evidence from Western Japan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Wang, Shanyong & Wang, Jing & Lin, Shoufu & Li, Jun, 2019. "Public perceptions and acceptance of nuclear energy in China: The role of public knowledge, perceived benefit, perceived risk and public engagement," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 352-360.
    6. Zheng, Shanshan & Wang, Derek D., 2024. "The local economic impacts of mega nuclear accident: A synthetic control analysis of Fukushima," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    7. Humphrey, Uguru Edwin & Khandaker, Mayeen Uddin, 2018. "Viability of thorium-based nuclear fuel cycle for the next generation nuclear reactor: Issues and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 259-275.
    8. Siler-Evans, Kyle & Hanson, Alex & Sunday, Cecily & Leonard, Nathan & Tumminello, Michele, 2014. "Analysis of pipeline accidents in the United States from 1968 to 2009," International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 257-269.
    9. Kentaka Aruga, 2017. "Consumer responses to food produced near the Fukushima nuclear plant," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(4), pages 677-690, October.
    10. Polyakov, Maksym & Iftekhar, Md Sayed & Fogarty, James & Buurman, Joost, 2022. "Renewal of waterways in a dense city creates value for residents," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    11. Kumar, Yogesh & Ringenberg, Jordan & Depuru, Soma Shekara & Devabhaktuni, Vijay K. & Lee, Jin Woo & Nikolaidis, Efstratios & Andersen, Brett & Afjeh, Abdollah, 2016. "Wind energy: Trends and enabling technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 209-224.
    12. Guojun He & Takanao Tanaka, 2019. "Energy Saving Can Kill: Evidence from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2019-67, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Sep 2019.
    13. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Walter, Götz, 2018. "Major hydropower states, sustainable development, and energy security: Insights from a preliminary cross-comparative assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 1074-1082.
    14. Matthias Beck, 2016. "The Risk Implications of Globalisation: An Exploratory Analysis of 105 Major Industrial Incidents (1971–2010)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, March.
    15. E. Julie Hald & Alex Gillespie & Tom W. Reader, 2021. "Causal and Corrective Organisational Culture: A Systematic Review of Case Studies of Institutional Failure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 457-483, November.
    16. Lina Escobar Rangel & François Lévêque, 2012. "How did Fukushima-Daiichi core meltdown change the probability of nuclear accidents?," Working Papers hal-00740684, HAL.
    17. Scholtens, Bert & Boersen, Arieke, 2011. "Stocks and energy shocks: The impact of energy accidents on stock market value," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 1698-1702.
    18. Rui Jiang & Rongrong Li, 2017. "Decomposition and Decoupling Analysis of Life-Cycle Carbon Emission in China’s Building Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    19. Bizet, Romain & Bonev, Petyo & Leveque, Francois, 2020. "The effect of local monitoring on nuclear safety and compliance: Evidence from France," Economics Working Paper Series 2014, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    20. Shang, Delei & Geissler, Bernhard & Mew, Michael & Satalkina, Liliya & Zenk, Lukas & Tulsidas, Harikrishnan & Barker, Lee & El-Yahyaoui, Adil & Hussein, Ahmed & Taha, Mohamed & Zheng, Yanhua & Wang, M, 2021. "Unconventional uranium in China's phosphate rock: Review and outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:127:y:2019:i:c:p:308-319. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.