Facing rising power demand and geopolitical risks, Japan turns back to nuclear energy

Japan has plans to replace up to 14 nuclear reactors in the next 24 years in order to meet rising power demand and increasing geopolitical risks. 

The proposal from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will replace up to five nuclear power plants by sometime in the 2040s, and build up to nine more in the following decade, Bloomberg reported. 

The proposal, which was sent to an internal committee, revises the country's nuclear energy policy. The country had shut down all its nuclear power plants in 2011 following the Fukushima incident in 2011. It's gradually been turning back to nuclear power and has restarted around half of its 30 commercially available reactors. 

The boom in artificial intelligence and the need to reduce emissions, as well as the need to rely less on energy imports in the wake of the war in Iran, have been a big driver of the reverse in policy. 

Should all the reactor replacements and construction be carried out, it will add up to 16 gigawatts of power to the Japanese grid by 2050.