Nuclear mattersJapan plans nuclear power expansion
Japan imports 80 percent of its energy; the government has a plan aiming to reduce that figure to just 30 percent by 2030; the key to the plan: building eight new nuclear reactors by 2020 — adding to the country’s 54 operating reactors; Japan is also about to resume operations of the world’s only fast-breeder reactor; the plan faces public opposition, especially in light of Japan’s history of earthquakes
As is the case with most countries that embraced nuclear power decades ago, Japan has soured on the technology in recent years. Prompted by worries about climate and energy security, however, the country’s industry ministry last week placed a big bet on a rapid expansion of its nuclear power capability.
David Cyranoski writes that when the draft energy plan is finalized and signed by the Japanese cabinet in June, it will stand as a roadmap for the country’s new government, which campaigned on a platform of reducing carbon emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 — a promise that is unpopular with the business community. Despite the government’s nuclear ambitions, individual reactors will still need approval from local authorities, which is far from certain.
Cyranoski notes that Japan relies on imports for more than 80 percent of its total energy needs, and that the plan aims to reduce that figure to just 30 percent by 2030. “With the balance of energy demand changing dramatically we really have to think about energy security,” says Ken Sasaji, director of the ministry’s energy planning office.
Japan already has fifty-four reactors with a total generating capacity of forty-nine gigawatts, accounting for about a quarter of its electricity supplies. Following a series of accidents between 1997 and 2007, however, growing public resistance meant that only five reactors were built in the past decade. The new plan proposes building eight reactors by 2020 to supply an additional 11.4 gigawatts of electricity.
To ensure that those reactors have fuel, Japan forged a nuclear-energy deal in March with Kazakhstan, which holds the world’s second-largest uranium reserves and mines about 20 percent of the world’s uranium ore, making it the world’s biggest producer. Japan has promised to supply nuclear-energy technology to Kazakhstan in return for a stable supply of uranium.
Last week, Itochu, a Tokyo-based trading company backed by the government, bought a 15 percent stake in Kalahari Minerals, headquartered in London, which is developing a large uranium mine in Namibia. The mine is expected to begin producing more than 5,000 tons of uranium per year in 2013 — roughly 10 percent of the total uranium mined around the world in 2008.
Cyranoski writes that Japan is also counting on its nuclear recycling program, which recently started after years of failed efforts to convince local residents of its necessity and safety. In December 2009, a reactor on the southern island of Kyushu started
