The catastrophe that began at Fukushima four years ago today is worse than ever.
But the good news can ultimately transcend the bad—if we make it so.
An angry grassroots movement has kept shut all 54 reactors that once operated in Japan. It’s the largest on-going nuke closure in history. Big industrial windmills installed off the Fukushima coast are now thriving.
Five U.S. reactors have shut since March 11, 2011. The operable fleet is under 100 for the first time in decades.
Ohio’s Davis-Besse, New York’s Ginna, five reactors in Illinois and other decrepit American nukes could shut soon without huge ratepayer bailouts.
Diablo Canyon was retrofitted—probably illegally—with $842 million in replacement parts untested for seismic impact. Already under fire for illegal license manipulations and an avoidable gas explosion that killed eight in San Bruno in 2010, Pacific Gas & Electric has plunged into a legal, economic and political abyss that could soon doom California’s last reactors.
Meanwhile, Germany is amping up its renewable energy generation with a goal of 80 percent or more by 2050.
France—once nuke power’s poster child—has turned away from new reactor construction and is moving strongly toward renewables.
Worldwide the Solartopian revolution is ahead of schedule and under budget. Predictions about its technological and economic potential are being everywhere exceeded...
MORE: Fukushima's 4th Anniversary Brings Hope Amidst Radioactive Ruins as Renewable Energy Revolution Soars | EcoWatch
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