Energy Problems and Nuclear Power Development in Japan
Japan has virtually no natural energy resources and, at present, is unable to import energy in the form of electric power. There are currently 49 commercial nuclear power stations in Japan, with a total capacity of 1.191GW. If the plants now under construction are included, these figures are expected to rise to 54 and 46.7GW, respectively,
Estimates of future electric power demand indicate that at the end of 2010, nuclear power plants with a total capacity of 72.5GW, representing about 27% of the total generating capacity, will be necessary, which means constructing 20 additional 1300MW-class plants. At the same time, some plants currently in operation are expected to be decommissioned and replaced with new plants.
At present, about 425 nuclear power plants with a capacity of 356GW are operating in the world. Through 40 years of operating experience, nuclear power has proven to be safe and reliable, and has become an indispensable source of electric power. In some areas of the world, such as the United States and the EU, development of nuclear power plants has been halted due to problems relating to electric power demand and anti-nuclear movements. Asian countries, which are expected to undergo rapid economic development in the years ahead, have an urgent need to develop more nuclear power plants. Another crucial problem before us is upgrading the safety of nuclear power facilities in Eastern Europe.
Those plants to be constructed in the next few decades are likely to be predominantly light-water reactors (PWRs and BWRs), which are approaching technological maturity in Western nations with advanced nuclear power industries. In Japan, larger reactors, ABWRs and APWRs, which incorporate evolutionary improvements over current reactors, will probably be the main types of reactors in the next generation in view of the site selection and reasonable capacity of one unit. The design concepts of these reactors are expected to incorporate as many passive safety features as possible. The design concepts of what is called the passive featured reactors being proposed in advanced countries are fundamentally suitable for small – and medium-capacity plants, so the countries where reliability of the power supply system is not adequate and which have a desire to develop small – and medium-capacity plants would be suitable for facilities of this type.
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