JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu

Fukui looks back at prefecture’s first nuclear reactor

50 years after reactor’s debut, views of nuclear power have shifted

Hidemune Komori, chairman of Kiko, a Tsuruga-based firm which sells industrial machinery and tools for nuclear plants, recalls the time when the city was booming economically because of the Tsuruga plant. | CHUNICHI SHIMBUN

Chunichi Shimbun

Mar 27, 2020

Japan’s first commercial light-water nuclear reactor started operations in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, on March 14, 1970.

Fifty years later, those involved look back on the project with mixed feelings.

In that era, nuclear power was touted as a key future energy resource. But now, following the March 2011 triple nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture, public perceptions of nuclear energy have turned negative.

Fukui looks back at prefecture’s first nuclear reactor

50 years after reactor’s debut, views of nuclear power have shifted

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