NOVA

In Japan, the bright lights never stop burning.

The nation has an insatiable need for energy,

but virtually no natural resources to generate it.

To meet demand here, they bet big on nuclear power.

We blindly believed nuclear plants

were completely safe, immune from accidents,

and the cheapest source of energy.

But the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi changed everything.

To avoid another Fukushima,

we should close all nuclear plants.

Like the rest of the world,

Japan is at a crossroads.

Can they get along without nuclear?

Sure.

The price is going to be very, very high for them.

Wind and solar

are not going to run the Ginza lights.

How will we power the planet

without wrecking the climate?

If you really do wish to do something

about climate change, nuclear is the path.

We don't use nuclear, because we got freaked out in the '70s.

No more nukes!

There are some innovative ideas

on the drawing boards.

For my generation,

we are much more concerned

about climate change and global warming.

We're not going to rule anything out

because the issue is so important.

But given its checkered past,

how realistic is atomic power?

Are we ready for the "Nuclear Option"?

Right now on NOVA.

Breaking news-- a violent earthquake

off Japan's northeast coast has rocked the nation.

A 7.9 earthquake in Japan, a powerful...

It began with an epic earthquake at sea...

...which spawned a giant tsunami...

...a 45-foot high wall of water.

It rolled over the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant...

...triggering a cascade of failures.

Three hydrogen gas explosions.

Three meltdowns.

The uncontrolled release of radioactivity into the ocean

and into the air.

It contaminated a huge swath of land...

...prompting the evacuation

of more than 100,000 people in a 12-mile radius.

The worst affected areas,

northwest of the plant, remain off-limits, abandoned.

No one will be able to live here for a very long time.

As the groundwater

passes through the plant, it gets mixed in

with the contaminated water...

It's now been nearly six years since the meltdowns

at Fukushima.

I've been reporting on this since it happened.

Six trips in as many years.

I've traveled up and down

the desolate evacuation zone.

We are about a kilometer from the Fukushima Daiichi plant,

geing particularly high readings here--

34 microsieverts per hour.

Victims who lost so much in the earthquake and tsunami

in limbo, unsure when, or if, they can return home.

I lost three family members--

my mother, my wife, and my oldest son.

I thought if we fixed the house,

we could return here to live.

I thought that when we left.

But now that I see it, there's no way, no way.

And many are understandably opposed to nuclear power.

From now on, I don't want them

to build another nuclear plant ever again.

That is a sentiment shared all over Japan.

In Tokyo, the drumbeat remains steady.

Protesters still regularly gather

outside the prime minister's office to demand

a permanent shutdown

of all the nuclear power plants.

The owner of Fukushima,

the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO,

is pushing hard for permission to restart another

sprawling nuclear power facility on the west coast of Japan.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa atomic plant is the largest

in the world.

Or was.

Today at KK,

the operators are simulating disasters.

But the plant remains closed,

like nearly every other nuclear power facility in Japan.

After the meltdowns at Fukushima,

TEPCO invested heavily in safety upgrades here:

a 50-foot-high seawall;

and watertight doors;

on high ground, a fleet of backup generators

and fire engines;

and a five-million-gallon holding pond,

designed to keep water flowing down to the reactor cores

as a last resort.

The price tag-- nearly $5 billion.

Despite all of that, the provincial governor

is opposed to a restart,

as are most people who live here.

I have young children.

In my opinion, nuclear plants should be eliminated.

Honestly, I don't want them to resume.

With the impact of Fukushima,

I don't want to use nuclear plants in the future.

Before the Fukushima disaster,

Japan derived 30% of its electricity

from 54 nuclear reactors.

There were extensive plans to build two dozen more.

The goal-- generate half of their electricity

with nuclear by 2030.

Now the nation relies

on imported fossil fuels to fill the gap.

Japan is at a crossroads.

And so is the rest of the world.

How can we answer

the relentless demand for more energy

without burning fossil fuels,

the chief culprit in global warming?

Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear is a potent source of energy

that does not generate any of the greenhouse gases

like carbon dioxide that trap heat in the atmosphere,

warming our planet.

A nuclear reactor is fueled by uranium, an element

that naturally splits apart, releasing atomic particles

called neutrons.

It's called fission.

And uranium fission can induce more fission.

When a loose neutron fires into a nearby uranium nucleus,

the atom becomes unstable and quickly splits.

Each time an atom splits

it generates heat.

It's used to boil water.

The steam turns turbines,

generating electricity without releasing

any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Renewable sources of energy may seem like safer, simpler ways

to generate carbon-free power.

But without a practical means

of storing what they produce, are they reliable enough?

We expect electricity on demand.

What happens when the sun doesn't shine?

What happens when the wind doesn't blow?

We don't have a battery technology

that can meet the rigorous performance requirements

of the grid-- namely, super-low cost

and super-long service lifetime.

but we have so little storage now that even if it grows

very rapidly, it'll be a long time before it has a big impact.

We need to have

base load carbon-free power.

And nuclear is a great example of something that is

base load carbon-free power.

But since the dawn of the nuclear age...

That signal means to stop whatever you're doing

and get to the nearest safe place fast.

...fear of atomic bombs, radiation, and concerns about

storing the radioactive waste

have made nuclear power seem too risky.

- No more nukes! - No more nukes!

No more nukes!

Fukushima is a lesson in what happens

when these hypothetical risks become all too real.

It was one of the largest

nuclear power plants in the world.

Today it is still a busy, crowded workplace,

but now a dangerous decommissioning site.

My invitation to see it up close was unique.

What next?

Does three have a lot?

Yes, yes...

But even with special permission,

getting inside is not easy, by design.

Radioactive contamination has gone down,

but not nearly enough to dispense with the Tyvek suits,

three layers of socks,

and gloves,

and full face respirators.

4,000 workers endure the ritual every day.

They work long and hard without access

to water or a toilet.

It's like being an astronaut on a spacewalk.

But this mission is less scripted and rehearsed.

There is no playbook.

The biggest challenge

is that we've never done anything like this.

No one in the world has this experience.

Naohiro Masuda

is TEPCO's Chief Decommissioning Officer--

the man in charge of this unprecedented cleanup.

It's neither a job he sought, nor could have imagined

when he began working for the utility 30 years ago.

My generation joined the company

to generate electricity with nuclear power.

That was our purpose in life.