Nuclear Power in Japan - Essay Example

EXAMINE THE ARGUMENT FOR USING NUCLEAR POWER AND RENEWABLE AS PART OF THE ENERGY GENERATION MIX IN JAPAN Technological advancement that began from the industrial revolution has increased the demand for energy. If we look at the history of man's usage of energy, sun was the first energy source which provided light and heat to early humans. The discovery of fire resulted in the possibility of burning wood for cooking and heating. Renewable sources of energy such as sun, wind, biomass and hydropower was the only sources of energy for humans for thousands of years. As early as 4000-3500 BC wind energy was used to propel ships and windmills. Fuel wood and dung cakes were also used for burning and producing heat. These are used even today as a major source of energy in different parts of the world (TERI, 2006). Today, the usage of energy has increased so much that in no other century or no millennium in the history of man was the growth in energy use as much as it is in this century. In fact, man in the 20th century used 10 times as much energy as in the thousand years before 1900 A.D. To be more specific, man has probably deployed more energy since 1900 than in all of human history before 1900. Between the dawn of agriculture and 1900 in the 100 centuries, McNeill calculates that only about two-thirds as much energy as in the 20th century was utilized by man (McNeill, 2001). The use of energy escalated during the industrial revolution in the form of fossil fuels, from the exploitation of coal deposits to the exploitation of oil and natural gas fields. Nuclear power as an energy source is only half a century old (TERI, 2006). The Growing demand for electricity and concern for the environment have created an urgent need to find alternative energy to fossil fuels to generate cleaner electricity all over the world and Japan is no exception. The paper analyses the need for using nuclear power and renewable as part of the energy generation mix in Japan. Japan has realized the importance of diversifying the energy sources existing without depending on a single source. It becomes extremely important to maintain a stable and economically feasible supply of energy and at the same time it is also important to attain a best possible combination among all the sources of energy available such as hydroelectric, thermal, nuclear, and renewable energy in a sustainable manner. At present, nuclear power accounts for roughly one third of electricity supply for Japan, and the rest is being resultant from a variety of other sources available (The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, 2002). Today, in Japan the hydroelectric power, nuclear power, coal and natural gas are utilised for base load and mid-range load whereas oil is only utilised for peak demands along with pumped storage hydroelectric power (FEPC, 2007). It is said that the 52 existing nuclear rectors presently in operation supply one third of the entire country's electricity. This makes the country the third largest stock of nuclear power plants in the world, after the US and France (Chesal and Fisher, 2004). Besides, studies have predicted that nuclear power in future will provide about 41% of Japan's electricity by 2012 (see Figure 1). Currently, official sources say that 3 more reactors are under construction and additional 8 are being planned for the future electricity supply (FEPC, 2004). The question that arises in our mind is weather nuclear power is a long term sustainable answer to replace the fossil fuels to generate cleaner electricity in Japan Figure 1: Composition Ratio of Generated Electricity by Fuel in Japan * Projected Source of data: Electricity Review Japan. The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, (2004) http://www.fepc.or.jp/english/erj/erj2003-2004.pdf. Experts agree that every form of energy conversion either using fossil fuel or nuclear power or any other in the process of transforming primary energy into electricity, has some environmental implications. If we take into consideration the energy situation in France it can be noted that at the time of the oil crises in the 1970s, France was importing supplies of energy. Later the situations changed and presently it has built 60 nuclear reactors. Today, it is estimated that nuclear power accounts for 78% of its electricity and France has become a major exporter of electricity (60 billion kWh per year). In case electricity is produced all over the world by nuclear reactors instead by burning coal, it is expected that it will contribute to an additional 2600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) emitted into the atmosphere annually. Therefore, this can contribute to the goal of reducing CO2 emission by 5% (600 million tonnes per year) by the year 2010 (Uranium Information Centre, 2006). Over and above it is estimated that with every 22 tonnes of uranium used for electricity generation, it aids in avoiding the emission of one million tonnes of CO2, when compared to coal (Uranium Information Centre, 2006). In Japan, the yearly quantity of primary energy supply turns out to be three times for the last three and a half decades. Over 90% of the primary energy was supplied by oil and coal before the advent of first oil crises. Nevertheless, in recent year's nuclear power and natural gas have been adopted more and more and simultaneously the energy share from oil reduced by over a half of the total. At the same time the ratio of electricity consumption to primary energy supply has increased from less than 20% to 40% in the same period. The major concern in Japan is regarding the stable supply of energy. Since energy resources in Japan are very less, the energy self-sufficiency is only 4% which comes from mainly hydro-power. It becomes 19% even with the addition of nuclear energy. Therefore, Japan has to depend on imported fossil fuels and uranium to almost 100 % and this is a major concern today. It is also important for Japan to relay on renewable energy sources for electricity such as solar, tidal and wave energy to hydro, geothermal and biomass-based power generation. These are environment friendly and also a long term solution for energy requirement. Japan has significantly made an effort in this direction also as it has been dedicated to expand and make the most of renewable energy such as wind power, solar energy. The current installed capacities of wind power and solar energy are about 1100 MW and 1400 MW, respectively. However, every one agrees that contributions to the total electricity generation of wind power and solar energy are very small and are not a stable solution. Though presently coal and uranium can be import them from other countries, there is concerns for future due to the fact that obtaining uranium may become difficult due to its limited resources. Global warming is a major concern which is caused by increase of atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. Studies have proven that the amount of carbon dioxide emission per kWh by fossil fuels is more than ten times than that by nuclear energy and renewable energy. Therefore it is very essential to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels for the generation of electricity. Further electricity generation by nuclear energy adds to the decrease of total amount of carbon dioxide by about 15% in Japan. The second most important concern with the nuclear power is the radioactive waste generation and its management. It is very essential to dispose the radioactive waste very safely. Japan has developed policies for safely, rationally and cost-effectively disposing off the radioactive wastes. "The Energy Policy Basic Law sets it as three principles of stable supply, harmonization with global environment and economical competitiveness for Japan to pursue future energy security". Studies have proven that the nuclear energy evidently satisfies these three principles as one of the major energy sources (Saito, 2006). As of now the Japanese electricity industry is being increasingly deregulated in an attempt to further reduce the prices on electricity. The government is currently encouraging more use of nuclear power in order to reduce the imports of fuel for electricity generation (Choy, 1997). Oil has become an expensive fuel soon after the oil crisis in the 1970s and Japan sought to diversify its sources of electricity, relying more on nuclear energy and liquid natural gas (Beder, 2006). According to a study the Japanese energy system using the MARKAL model in order to find out the best technologies that are needed to reduce future carbon dioxide emissions it was found that nuclear energy can make the maximum drop by the year 2010 (Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme). Finally, it can be said that nuclear power along with energy conservation, renewable, and particularly the expanded use of natural gas, would further reduce the CO2 emission. Significant improvements can occur at the local, community, regional, and global levels if sustainable development is given priority. It is there fore very essential to formulate policies that will benefit in long term and reduce the burden on environment. References Beder, S. (2006) New conclusion for the Japanese edition of Power Play: The Fight to Control the World's Electricity, Soshisha Ltd, Japan. [Online] Available from: [Accessed 24 February 2008]. Chesal, R and Fisher, T. (2004) Japan's Nuclear Neglect. Radio Netherlands 10 August issue. Choy J. (1997) Deregulation Jolting Japan's Energy Sector. JEI Report (33). 29 August. Energy Technology Systems Analysis Programme, Japan needs Nuclear Power to Reduce CO2 Emissions, Annex VIII: Exploring Energy Technology Perspectives. [Online] Available from: [Accessed 25 February 2008]. McNeill, J.R. (2001) The History of Energy Since 10,000 B.C. In: Something New Under the Sun. The Globalist. Saito, S. (2006) Japan's Policy for Sustainable Development and Utilization of Nuclear Energy for Future Energy Security. A speech presented at the 2nd COE-INES International Symposium, held at Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan, November 27, 2006. TERI, (2006) Energy. EduGreen. [Online] Available from: [Accessed 23 February 2008]. The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, (2002) Japan's Nuclear Power Program: Power for the future of Japan. [Online] Available from: [Accessed 23 February 2008]. The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC), (2007) Electricity Review Japan, [Online] Available from: [Accessed 23 February 2008]. Uranium Information Centre, (2006) Uranium, Electricity and the Greenhouse Effect, Revised March 2006, [Online] Available from: [Accessed 25 February 2008]. Read More