Subject: [cwj 104] Nuclear power needed for Japan to keep Kyoto pact
From: "Adam Ma'anit" <ashaman@xs4all.nl> (by way of Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 15:53:44 -0700
Seq: 104

Nuclear power needed for Japan to keep Kyoto pact  

JAPAN: September 15, 2000  

TOKYO - Japan's pledge to trim greenhouse gas emissions may be 
hard to achieve unless Japan proceeds to use more nuclear power, the 
chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies said 
yesterday.  

The Japanese government pledged at the Kyoko conference in 1997 to 
trim emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide by an 
average of six percent in the 2008-2012 period from 1990 levels.  

"To achieve the goal will not be easy. We again want to stress the 
importance of promoting nuclear power," federation chairman Hiroji Ota 
told reporters.  

In fact, the federation issued figures showing carbon dioxide emissions 
from the nation's power industry actually rose in the past year to March 
as nuclear power generation declined due to plant shutdowns.  

Emissions of carbon dioxide relative to power consumption rose to 
0.37 kilogram per kilowatt hour (kWH) in 1999/2000, up three percent 
from the previous year - but down 12 percent from 1990 levels, the 
federation said.  

The year-on-year increase was mainly attributable to the lower 
capacity utilisation rate of nuclear power plants in 1999/2000 along 
with a rise in electric power demand.  

The growing public distrust of nuclear power, especially after an 
accident last year at a uranium processing plant, has resulted in 
delays in building additional nuclear power plants.  

Nuclear plants currently provide a third of Japan's electric power.  

Japan currently has 51 commercial nuclear reactors, and the 
goverment had planned for another 16 to 20 to be built by 2010/2011.  

But the government is now reviewing its nuclear policy, and is 
expected to revise downward its target for the construction of new 
nuclear power plants.  

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE 

CEO, is a European-based research and campaign group targeting the 
threats to democracy, equity, social justice and the environment 
posed by the economic and political power of corporations and 
their lobby groups.

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Email: <ceo@xs4all.nl>
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo

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