Japan's nuclear dilemma

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Technology Review; (United States)

OSTI ID:5506083

Suzuki, T

This paper reports that more than any other industrial country, Japan is staking its industrial future on nuclear power. Its 39 commercial reactors generate more than 31,000 megawatts of electricity-supplying more than a quarter of Japan's electricity. By early in the next century, reactors now planned or under construction will bring that figure to near 45,000 megawatts, and half of Japan's electricity will have nuclear origin. These reactors perform as reliably as any in the world: since 1982 Japanese nuclear plants have, on average, operated at above 70 percent of their maximum capacity. Such success with nuclear power is hardly surprising for a technologically advanced country that has virtually no domestic coal or oil. Nuclear power has been Japan's ticket to energy independence. But these glowing statistics may be obscured by a growing cloud. Not only have recent accidents marred a previously excellent safety record and diminished public confidence, but the Japanese nuclear program's guiding vision-the establishment of an indigenous nuclear power supply using breeder reactors and recycled plutonium fuel-is threatened. Many countries -including the United States-made breeders a key part of their nuclear energy strategy in the early 1970s. But most nations have scaled back their breeder plans, for two reasons. First, the fuel they breed in plutonium, which can be directly used to make a nuclear bomb. Second, the economics that once made breeders seem a prudent energy strategy have changed dramatically. With uranium supplies ample and demand slack, the material's cost has dropped and its availability risen; meanwhile, the cost of extracting plutonium from spent fuel has skyrocketed.

• OSTI ID: 5506083
• Journal Information: Technology Review; (United States), Journal Name: Technology Review; (United States) Vol. 94:7; ISSN 0040-1692; ISSN TEREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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