Japan: relaunched nuclear energy to confirm energy security
Japan is restoring nuclear power as the key energy source, trying to protect its energy security in the crisis that has led to soaring prices of fossil fuels.
The Japanese government on Friday confirmed a new nuclear energy policy, which the country had largely abandoned after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
A panel of experts from Japan's Ministry of Industry has decided that Japan will allow the development of new nuclear reactors and allow available reactors to operate after the current 60-year limit.
Japan, which promised to reduce nuclear power as a source of electricity after the Fukushima disaster, is now considering using nuclear power for longer. In August, in an important reversal of direction, the Japanese government declared its intention to restart other inactive nuclear plants after Fukushima and its interest in developing small nuclear reactor technology, in an energy crisis situation which has pushed consumers to save energy this summer.
Nuclear power has been an essential part of Japan's energy mix due to the country's resource scarcity, which has made it heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels. However, the Fukushima disaster in 2011 turned public opinion strongly against nuclear power, and only now is the trend reversing again, this time in favor of nuclear power.
According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Japan depends on fossil fuels for 88 percent of its primary energy supply, making it one of the organization's members most dependent on fossil fuels.
Faced with an unprecedented energy crisis, Western governments are reconsidering their positions on the role of nuclear power generation, setting the stage for what could be the biggest "return" of an energy source in recent times.
Support for nuclear power has grown in recent months, as politicians see nuclear power as an alternative to the more expensive gas countries have ever paid to import, and a carbon-neutral source of electricity that would help maintain ambitions and climate goals.
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The article Japan: nuclear energy relaunched to confirm energy security comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/giappone-nucleare-energia/ on Sat, 17 Dec 2022 09:19:05 +0000.