Fast Facts About Japan’s Nuclear Power Industry

The safety of Japan’s nuclear power industry is in the spotlight after Monday’s magnitude 6.8 earthquake caused a small fire and a leak of contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant — the world’s largest — in northwest Japan.

Here is an overview of nuclear power in Japan:
INDUSTRY PROFILE

– More than three decades after Japan’s first nuclear power plant started operating in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1966, nine Japanese utilities and a wholesaler run 55 commercial nuclear power generators that are dotted across the four main islands.

– With a total generating capacity of 49,470 megawatts, the plants supply approximately one-third of the country’s total electric power output.

WHY NUCLEAR?

– Japan is dependent on foreign imports of oil, coal and natural gas for about 80 percent of its energy resources. The island nation says it cannot tap energy from neighbours via power transmission lines or pipelines. The government has made nuclear a cornerstone of the diversified mix of thermal, hydroelectric and renewables it says will help guarantee energy security by countering its reliance for oil from the volatile Middle East.

– Unlike coal and oil-fired generators, nuclear plants do not emit harmful greenhouse gases. Seen as key in meeting Japan’s Kyoto Protocol target of reducing greenhouse gases, nuclear is also touted as a more secure energy source than the world’s finite reserves of oil, coal and natural gas.

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