NPP from various perspectives --IAEA
Without sufficient domestic sources of energy, Japan depends heavily on imports.
That is, the country’s energy situation is highly subject to changes in international circumstances, as awell as in domestic demand; this sometimes presents challenges to Japan’s energy security.
In order to handle these situations, Japan’s energy policy is based on a long term, comprehensive, systematic perspective.
In June 2002, the Basic Act of Energy Policy was enforced to steadily implement energy policies. Based on the act, the first Strategic Energy Plan was drawn up in October 2003, followed by the second and third plans in March 2007 and June 2010, respectively.
In the third plan, Japan aims to nearly double its self-sufficiency primary energy supply ratio to about 70% by 2030 by domestically developing fossil fuel.
However, after the third plan, the domestic and international circumstances surrounding energy changed drastically in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the accidents at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (hereinafter referred to as the “TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi accident”).
In Japan, the fourth Strategic Energy Plan was drawn up in April 2014, following the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi accident.
The plan shows the direction of the government policies to balance the achievement of the “3E+S (Energy Security, Economic Efficiency, Environmental Protection, and Safety)”.
The following policies were set forth to construct a multilayered, diverse and flexible energy supply–demand structure:
(1) achieving a strong, realistic and multilayered supply structure by which each energy’s strengths are used and its weaknesses are compensated;
(2) having the participation of various main bodies and availability of various options and creation of a more flexible and effective energy supply–demand structure;
and (3) promoting and developing and introducing domestic energy, as well as improving the energy self-sufficiency ratio to minimize the impact of changes in circumstances overseas
In the above government policy, nuclear energy is positioned as follows:
Nuclear power’s energy output per amount of fuel is overwhelmingly large and it can continue producing power for several years using a domestic fuel stockpile.
Further, nuclear power is an important baseload power source.
As a low carbon and quasi-domestic energy source, it contributes to the stability of the energy supply–demand structure, on the major premise that its safety is ensured, because of:
(1) its superiority in terms of stability of energy supply and efficiency,
(2) its low and stable operational costs,
and (3) its freedom from greenhouse gas emissions during operation.
Dependency on nuclear power generation will be lowered to the extent possible through energy savings and introduction of renewable energy, as well as improvements to the efficiency of thermal power generation.
Country nuclear profiles (International Atomic Energy Agency) (https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/Japan/Japan.htm)(2019/6/16)
Taiyo Kase
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