The effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have made energy policy more important than ever.
The government must utilize lessons from the nuclear crisis to improve the safety of nuclear reactors. It is an urgent task for the government to allow resumption of idle reactors after confirming their safety as part of its efforts to avert a power crisis.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda declared at a press conference on Sunday that he would “take the lead” in persuading local governments and residents in areas hosting nuclear power plants to cooperate with the resumption of the plants’ operations. His stance is commendable.
He also has maintained his administration will aim at lowering the nation’s dependence on nuclear power to a minimum in the medium and long term. However, he remains ambiguous about the specific content of the policy.
The government will compile a new energy strategy this summer. It will need to show an ideal combination of power sources for the future and clarify a timetable for achieving the goal.
The important thing for the government is to come up with a practical energy policy that takes into consideration safety, cost-efficiency and a stable supply of electricity rather than getting carried away by emotional opposition to nuclear power.
Within the government, expectations are running high on expanded use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. A new program to encourage the use of renewable energy sources will start in July to oblige electric power companies to purchase electricity generated by renewable means such as solar power at relatively high fixed prices.
It is desirable to promote the spread of such energy sources, but the government should not expect too much. In European countries where a similar purchase system was introduced earlier, it has led to higher power charges and the system is now under review.
With the exception of hydroelectric power, renewable natural energy accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation’s total power output. The weather and other factors have a deleterious effect on power output. There must be limits on the expansion of these energy sources.
When the rate of dependence on nuclear power is lowered, power companies cannot help but depend on thermal power generation, which also has many problems. Even now, fuel costs for thermal power stations being used as an alternative to nuclear power are said to top 3 trillion yen a year, which is a heavy burden on the nation’s economy.
International competition for resources is expected to increase the risk of rising fuel costs and difficulty in procuring supplies.
To secure electricity in a stable manner, Japan must improve its nuclear technology and enhance power-plant safety to continue utilizing nuclear power.
Therefore, the government must avoid taking a “no nuclear power plants” stance in its new energy strategy.
Such a stance would accelerate the overseas outflow of nuclear engineers and make it difficult to cultivate new talent. It would then be difficult to safely manage nuclear power reactors and spent nuclear fuel.
The government should also keep open the option of replacing old nuclear reactors in the country with newer and safer ones.
China and other emerging countries have been increasing their numbers of nuclear power reactors. Japan has a duty to continue contributing to the international community in terms of the peaceful use of nuclear power by maintaining its technological capacity.
