20 percent by 2030?

January 26, 2015

METI considers 20% ratio for nuclear power

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150126_17.html

Jan. 26, 2015 - Updated 02:50 UTC+1

Japan's industry ministry wants to have nuclear energy account for 20 percent or more of the country's electricity supply by 2030.

The ministry has asked a panel of experts to start talks this week on the nation's optimal energy mix.

The government's basic energy policy calls for reducing dependence on nuclear power as much as possible, but still calls it an "important base load power source."

Before the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, nuclear energy provided 28 percent of Japan's electricity.

All the nation's nuclear reactors are currently offline. The 20-percent figure assumes restarting some, while scrapping other aging reactors by 2030.

The industry ministry also hopes to raise the aggregate share of nuclear and renewable energy to a maximum of 50 percent of total supplies.

The aim is to reduce Japan's emissions of greenhouse gases.

It's unclear what the expert panel will recommend. Some of the members apparently favor keeping the ratio of nuclear power as low as possible.