False claims of Japan's truck-sized nuclear reactors spark envy in Australia
- Published on December 2, 2025 at 04:33
- 3 min read
- By Dene-Hern CHEN, AFP Australia
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While Japan has ambitions for nuclear energy to power about 20 percent of its electricity needs by 2030, it does not have truck-sized reactors keeping the lights on in its northern island of Hokkaido. According to false posts on several social media platforms, the East Asian country is testing "a tiny, box-sized nuclear power plant" built by Japan's National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) that has the capacity to electrify a small town. But the agency told AFP that no such technology exists.
"Japan launched the Yoroi Reactor -- a tiny, box-sized nuclear power plant that fits in a shipping container and can supply 1 megawatt of clean energy to small towns or disaster areas," says a November 23, 2025 post from an Australia-based Facebook user, adding two units were unveiled in Hokkaido.
It also shares a post published on November 7 that largely repeats the false claim, along with an illustration of three workers examining what appears to be a working power plant tucked into a truck, with the yellow-and-black symbol for radiation on the vehicle's exterior.
Similar claims with the same image were also shared by Facebook users in other countries, and it also appeared on TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube.
In Australia, where this claim was shared in several conservative Facebook groups critical of the ruling Labor party, the government has poured billions into solar power, wind turbines and green manufacturing in its pledge to make the country a renewable energy superpower.
But the green push has detractors within the opposition centre-right Liberal Party, which earlier this month announced it would drop its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 -- first introduced by the party's former leader Scott Morrison when he was premier in 2021 (archived link).
"This is the smart technology Australia needs to be using for our regional cities," wrote one user as she shared the claim on November 8 in a Facebook group in support of a Liberal MP.
"Clever people. Pity we don't have any clever politicians," said a commenter.
Energy-hungry Japan pulled the plug on more than 50 nuclear reactors nationwide after a colossal earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused a meltdown at the Fukushima plant, but more than a dozen have slowly resumed operations since then.
This month, local authorities in Niigata province approved the restart of the world's biggest nuclear plant, making a significant milestone for the government as it seeks to revive atomic energy to reduce its heavy dependence on fossil fuels and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 (archived link).
'Misleading information'
But it is "entirely inaccurate" that truck-sized nuclear reactor units are being tested in Hokkaido, said an official from the National Institute for Fusion Science, which the circulating posts credited with building the mini-plant (archived link).
"I would like to clarify that NIFS is not involved in any research, development, or operation related to the so-called 'YOROI Reactor'," Kazuya Takahata, director of NIFS's public relations office, told AFP in an email on November 26 (archived link).
"We have recently become aware that misleading information about this reactor is circulating online, and in some cases, our institute is incorrectly associated with it. Please note that this information is entirely inaccurate. At this time, we have no understanding of how or why such misinformation originated."
The regional utility operator Hokkaido Electric Power Company also told AFP in a November 26 email that it has "no knowledge" of the truck-sized nuclear reactor, "including whether it exists".
The three reactors at the Tomari plant in Hokkaido -- one of which has passed a safety inspection, while the other two are under review -- are not currently operational (archived link).
Similar claims about portable nuclear reactors in Japan circulated earlier this year with a different image -- generating millions of views. It was debunked by the Australian Associated Press in July (archived link).
AFP has previously fact-checked claims related to Australia's energy policy.
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