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. Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) Paulus Potterstraat 20 1071 DA Amsterdam Netherlands Tel/Fax: +31-20-612-7023 Email: <ceo@xs4all.nl> http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Corporate Watch in Japanese is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________