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Japan's cabinet on Friday approved
an energy policy reversing the previous government's plans to gradually
mothball nuclear power plants, a move likely to be unpopular with a wary public
following the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
But the plan may be too little too
late for Japan's moribund atomic industry, which is floundering under the
weight of estimated losses of almost $50 billion, forcing two utilities to ask
the government for capital last week.
Plant operators have had to pay out
almost $90 billion on replacement fossil fuels, with domestic media saying they
have also spent an estimated 1.6 trillion yen ($16 billion) on nuclear plant
upgrades to meet new safety guidelines.
A recent Reuters analysis shows as
many as two-thirds of the country's 48 idled nuclear reactors may have to be
left closed because of the high cost of further upgrades, local opposition or
seismic risks.
"I think it is unavoidable
that the Japanese utilities will write off most of their nuclear 'assets' and
move on," said Mycle Schneider, a Paris-based independent energy
consultant.
The plan defines nuclear as an
"important baseload power source" meaning it can feed constant power
to the grid to meet minimum requirement. But the policy document did not
specify the share of nuclear in the nation's energy mix.
"Given the slim realistic
prospects for a major nuclear share, the challenge will be flexibility and the
whole baseload concept flies out of the window," Schneider said.
The government also named coal and
hydro power as baseload sources. . . .
Japan will do as much as possible
to increase renewable energy supplies, Motegi said. The government has set up a
ministerial level group to study boosting such energy sources.
In the plan on Friday, Japan said
it would aim to surpass renewable energy targets in past plans.
A footnote in the document said
previous plans had set a target for renewable energy sources to contribute 13.5
percent of total power generation in 2020 and around 20 percent in 2030.
Renewable energy sources, including hydro power, contributed around 10 percent
of the country's energy by 2012.
The decision to reinstate nuclear
power is likely to be unpopular and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had to spend
months convincing skeptical members of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party as
well as coalition partner New Komeito, which opposes atomic energy, to accept
the final draft of the plan.
The public has turned against
nuclear power after watching Tokyo Electric Power Co's struggle to deal with
the disaster at its Fukushima Daiichi station following a massive earthquake
and tsunami in March 2011.
The crisis was the worst since the
Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and all reactors in Japan have been shut for safety
checks with no schedule for restarts. . . .
Recent polls put opposition to
nuclear restarts at about two-to-one over support. An Asahi newspaper poll last
month found that nearly 80 percent of those surveyed supported a gradual exit
from atomic power.
* * *“Japan approves energy plan reinstating nuclear power,” Reuters, April 11, 2014
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