Q & As on Japan's energy plan

 December 22, 2013

News Navigator: What are the key points of the new basic energy plan?

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20131222p2a00m0na002000c.html

The Mainichi answers some common questions readers may have about the key points of Japan's long-term energy plan, a draft of which was recently approved by a government panel.

Question: The country's new energy policy has been firmed up, hasn't it?

Answer: You are talking about the Basic Energy Plan, aren't you? Resource-poor Japan drew it up for the first time in 2003 as its medium- to long-term program to secure a stable energy supply. The government reviews it every three years in principle. The basic plan lays out targets for improving energy self-sufficiency through nuclear and solar power generation, promoting resource development, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, among other measures. The targets are nonbinding, but they serve as key guidelines for businesses to decide which energy sectors they should place priority on for their investments. The draft basic plan was approved on Dec. 13. The new Basic Energy Plan is expected to be formally approved by the Cabinet as early as next January.

Q: What are the key points of the basic plan?

A: The biggest point is where the country's nuclear policy will stand. The draft basic plan lists nuclear power as an "important base-load electricity source," setting out a government policy of maintaining nuclear power on a certain scale. The plan paves the way for building new nuclear power stations or rebuilding existing ones.

Q: That is quite different from the policy adopted by the previous government led by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), isn't it?

A: The DPJ-led government, which had initially planned to proactively use nuclear power under its policy of combating greenhouse gas emissions, worked out a basic energy plan in June 2010, which would boost the ratio of power generated by nuclear reactors to the total electricity produced in the country to at least 50 percent by 2030. But in September, 2012 in the wake of the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, the government shelved the basic plan and instead drew up the Innovative Strategy for Energy and the Environment, which called for a "zero nuclear" policy. But the strategy itself is different from the basic plan, and therefore it was not approved by the Cabinet.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, weighing economic growth, reviewed the "zero-nuclear policy." Many members of an advisory panel of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry were replaced in March this year by those complying with views of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The new panel members have been discussing a new basic energy plan in the direction toward endorsing the use of nuclear power. Therefore, attention is being focused on to what extent the nuclear policy will be reversed.

Q: What will be the ratio of nuclear power to Japan's overall electricity supply?

A: Although nuclear reactors, that are currently offline, must pass the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA)'s safety checks in order to be restarted, it still remains unclear which reactors will actually pass the screening. Because of all this, the government will unlikely be able to set the target ratio for the time being of power generated by nuclear reactors to the total electricity produced in the country as previously planned. Some NRA members argue that it is "irresponsible" not to show the ratio. (Answers by Wataru Okubo, Tokyo Economic News Department)