Fukushima disaster paves way for new geothermal plants in Fukushima prefecture

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/09/fukushima-disaster-new-geothermal-plants      Justin McCurry, The guardian 9/8/12

By spring 2014, Tsuchiyu, 9 miles (15km) from Fukushima, will be generating 250 kilowatts of electricity – about a quarter of the city's total needs – at a geothermal plant hidden away in the surrounding mountains…..The plant will be the first to be built inside a national park, a controversial move that only became possible after the environment ministry recently relaxed regulations on developing protected areas…..Scientists believe the sector's share could rise enormously thanks to the feed-in tariff, new subsidies to fund feasibility studies and test-drilling, and official recognition that nuclear's heyday has passed….According to one estimate, Japan's geothermal capacity could reach 24m kilowatts – the third biggest in the world after the US and Indonesia …In the long term, Ikeda believes Tsuchiyu will become a model for other small towns struggling to find clean and stable sources of energy, while experts debate if nuclear has any role to play in Japan's future energy mix…Eventually, the geothermal plant will be capable of generating 1,000 kilowatts, according to Ikeda. That is a tiny fraction of the capacity of just one of Fukushima Daiichi's now crippled reactors. But with opposition to nuclear restarts unlikely to waver, towns such as Tsuchiyu have no choice but to turn to alternatives, he said."If it hadn't been for the nuclear disaster, we would never have given this project a second thought."