The Fukushima Dai-ni Nuclear Power Plant in December.
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg
The Big Take
Nuclear Power’s Revival Reaches the Home of the Last Meltdown
The Fukushima crisis traumatized Japan, but a global energy crisis is boosting public support for nuclear reactors.
Twelve years after one of the worst nuclear disasters in history shook Japan and turned the public against atomic power, a global energy crisis is encouraging the country to switch its reactors back on.
Faced with rising heating bills this winter after a sweltering summer spent worrying about blackouts, more people are now reappraising the benefits of cheaper and more stable energy. Even some of those living near nuclear plants are looking beyond their fears of another radioactive disaster.