The outline of a new draft plan that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will soon compile for the Basic Energy Plan (ESP), which will outline the direction of the country’s medium- to long-term energy policy, has been made public. The statement, which was put forward after the Great East Japan Earthquake, that “we will reduce our dependence on nuclear power as much as possible” has been removed, making the company’s stance of returning to nuclear power even clearer. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will present a draft plan at a meeting of experts to be held as early as next week. Final adjustments are being made to remove the word “reduce” and include language to the effect that “there will be no excessive reliance on any particular power source or fuel source.” The Energy Basic Policy is revised approximately once every three years, and the plan drawn up in 2014 after the earthquake disaster stated that “the energy strategy drawn up before the earthquake will be reviewed from scratch, and dependence on nuclear power will be reduced as much as possible.” The phrase “reduce as much as possible” has been maintained in subsequent revisions. However, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused resource prices to soar, the administration of previous Prime Minister Kishida Fumio shifted its stance to promoting nuclear power. In June 2010, the “Basic Policy,” which serves as a guideline for economic and fiscal management, dropped the reference to “reducing dependence” that had been included the previous year, and instead went further to state that nuclear power would be “made to the maximum extent possible.” The “Basic Policy for Achieving Green Transformation (GX),” approved by the Cabinet in February 2011, also made clear the movement back toward nuclear power. The new Energy Basic Plan will continue this trend, and also plan to move forward with the replacement of nuclear power plants. The GX Basic Policy limited reconstruction to “within the site of a nuclear power plant that has been decided to be decommissioned,” but the new Energy Basic Policy will include a proposal to allow the same power company to build new reactors on the sites of other nuclear power plants, equal to the number of reactors that have been decommissioned. However, the target for nuclear power to account for 20% of the power source mix in fiscal 2040 is set to be lower than the 30% level before the earthquake. To compensate for this, the plan is to increase renewable energy to 40-50% and thermal power to 30-40%. Discussions on the new energy policy began in May of this year, and discussions are underway to position nuclear power, along with renewable energy, as a decarbonized power source toward fiscal 2040, and to advocate that “it is necessary to expand its use.” The reason for this is that there is a high possibility that future electricity demand will increase due to the construction of new data centers and semiconductor factories, and this is in response to this. However, as the number of nuclear power plants that can be operated decreases, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry wants to start rebuilding nuclear power plants as soon as possible, so it was a challenge to remove the word “reduction,” which could be an obstacle. “Reduction” was a “hindrance” The government has changed its stance on returning to nuclear power… (The following is a paid version, 1014 characters remaining) Asahi Shimbun, December 11, 2024, 20:03.
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>>3 Petrochemical products are the most productive in Japan and are also the most competitive with other countries. Although the oil itself does not flow.
>>8 Let’s have a referendum in each of the 47 prefectures to decide whether they want to build a nuclear power plant or install solar panels in their prefecture. That way there won’t be any complaints.
>>19 In the case of Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear material released from the nuclear plant was ownerless, so TEPCO was not responsible, and the Supreme Court made it clear that they did not have to pay compensation, so there should be no compensation for nuclear accidents.
Electric power companies in western Japan have agreed to work with Mitsubishi to build next-generation nuclear power plants in the 2030s and are moving forward with the project. In eastern Japan, the situation is at a point where the decision is on whether to restart next-generation nuclear power plants, let alone build them.
Since the nuclear power plants were shut down, imports of crude oil and gas have increased, and this part has increased power generation costs by 10 trillion yen per year, which is the cause of the trade deficit. We have already lost a cumulative 150 trillion yen, which is also the cause of the weak yen.
Is reducing dependency the goal? Making more efficient use of resources, even if it means increasing safety, seems like one approach that resource-poor countries should take.
In a country as earthquake-prone as Japan, I don’t think there’s a nuclear power plant that would never meltdown, even if there was a magnitude 5+ earthquake on the pipes.
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