Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yuko Obuchi yesterday said the resource-poor nation should be realistic about its energy needs as the government tries to convince a skeptical public on the necessity of nuclear power.
More than three years after the disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where a tsunami sent reactors into meltdown, the Japanese public remains unconvinced of the safety of the technology.
The difficult task of winning them round has fallen to Obuchi, appointed the country’s first female minister of economy, trade and industry by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“It would be very difficult to make the decision not to have nuclear power right now,” Obuchi said during a live debate program on public broadcaster NHK. “It’s an issue difficult to explain in short phrases — we have to take seriously voices of concerns after the accident in Fukushima.”
However, with Japan’s energy self-sufficiency rate at just 6 percent, compared with the US’ 85 percent and France’s 50 percent, energy costs were soaring, Obuchi said.
“After the Fukushima accident, the cost of fossil fuel imports jumped by ￥3.6 trillion [US$33 billion], or ￥10 billion per day,” she said.
In pre-Fukushima Japan, nuclear power accounted for nearly one-third of the country’s energy needs.
An unsteady supply of renewable energy from solar and wind power, and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, meant Japan could not afford to rely heavily on fossil fuels, she added.
Japan’s nuclear watchdog earlier this month gave a green light to plans to restart two reactors.
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