Japan to Strive to Reduce Plutonium Stockpile

July 3, 2018

Tokyo- The Japanese government clarified Tuesday its aim to reduce the amount of plutonium held in Japan while leaving intact its target of generating 20-22 pct of the country's total electricity at nuclear plants in 2030.

The government included the plutonium reduction policy in its new basic energy plan, adopted at the day's cabinet meeting, after examining public comments and opinions from the ruling coalition on a draft plan drawn up by the industry ministry in May.

The government has been promoting the nuclear fuel cycle, in which plutonium is extracted from spent nuclear fuel and used as fuel.

But Japan's stockpile of plutonium has been increasing partly because most of nuclear power plants in the country have gone offline in the wake of the March 2011 triple meltdown at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc..

The government was requested by the public and the ruling bloc to make clear its stance of cutting back plutonium holdings to ease U.S. concerns about the accumulation of the radioactive substance, which can be used to make nuclear weapons, in Japan, a nonnuclear power, from the standpoint of nonproliferation, officials said.

Meanwhile, the new medium- to long-term plan describes nuclear power as "an important base-load power source" as did the previous basic plan adopted by the cabinet in 2014, calling for restarting plants after safety confirmation to meet the 2030 energy mix share target, which the government specified in July 2015.

The latest plan also maintains the goal of achieving a share of 22-24 pct for renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, in 2030.

The government aims to make renewables "a steadfast mainstay power source" by reducing the costs to construct and install facilities and systems, which are said to be higher than the international standard, it says, adding that efforts will be made to increase their share beyond the official target level for that year.

On coal-fired thermal power generation, the basic plan says the government will continue to help improve the efficiency of the existing plants to cut emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide further while promoting the development of next-generation plants. Jiji Press