PM Fumio Kishida said that the country would be using nuclear power plants to reduce the dependence on Russian energy sources.
Japan is now more dependent on Russian gas after shutting down nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe. An earthquake and tsunami caused the reactor to meltdown, which devastated the region’s north-eastern region.
But with the upcoming elections and rising prices for energy, Kishida doesn’t want to miss out on nuclear energy. He added that Japan would address its “vulnerability of our self-sufficiency in energy” by expanding the places it sources its energy by promoting renewable energy and making use of nuclear power to develop the sources of its energy.
Japanese Still In Trauma From Fukushima Nuclear Plant Incident
“We will utilize nuclear reactors with security assurances to reduce dependency on Russian energy sources,” Kishida told an audience in London’s financial district.
“Restarting just one nuclear reactor could have the same impact as supplying one million tons of brand new LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) annually to the global market.”
A decade has passed since the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake caused the most severe nuclear disaster since Chornobyl; the nuclear power industry is a sensitive topic in Japan.
However, most businesses and the public would like the government to restart nuclear reactors to tackle energy security: the Ukraine crisis and the rising cost of energy contributing to the shift in perception.
Kishida spoke to his audience in the City of London with the message of being investment-friendly: “Japan is a buy”. He also said that 150 trillion yen ($1.16 trillion) in investment will be increased over the next decade to reach its goal of achieving carbon neutrality in 2050 and cutting greenhouse emissions to 46% by 2030.
He laid out a plan for 2030 on maximizing the utilization of “pro-growth carbon prices” and promoting long-term projects.
Source: Reuters
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