Nuclear Power Development Toward CO2 Reductions

ON JANUARY 30, 2001, the No.3 boiling water reactor with an electrical output of 825 MWe went into commercial operation at the Tohoku Electric Power Company's Onagawa Nuclear Power Station in the towns of Onagawa and Oshika, Oshika-gun, in Miyagi Prefecture.

The No.3 reactor is Japan's fifty-third commercial nuclear reactor (the fifty-second reactor in operation). It is the nation's twenty-ninth boiling water reactor, and the first to start commercial operation in the new century. Experience with older plants and the results of the light water reactor improvement and standardization program were incorporated in the design of this reactor. In addition, cutting-edge technologies and facilities were adopted to enhance work efficiency in the reactor containment vessel during periodical inspections and to reduce radioactive waste.

Onagawa No.3 Reactor
The Tohoku Electric Power Company's Onagawa Nuclear Power Station.
The building on the right in the foreground houses the No.3 reactor.

In Japan, following on from the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station No.3 reactor, three additional nuclear reactors are being constructed. The Chubu Electric Power Company is constructing the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station No.5 reactor with an electrical output of 1,380 MWe for startup in January 2005. At the Tohoku Electric Power Company's Higashidori Nuclear Power Station, the No.1 reactor with an electrical output of 1,100 MWe is under construction, scheduled for startup in July 2005. The No.2 reactor with an electrical output of 1,358 MWe is under construction at the Hokuriku Electric Power Company's Shika Nuclear Power Station, and is planned to come on line in March 2006.

The Central Electric Power Council on March 28 announced a Summary of the Electric Power Supply Program for Fiscal 2002, setting forth capacity-expansion projects that Japanese electric power companies will carry out in the next ten years. According to the program, Japanese electric power companies are planning to construct a total of thirteen nuclear reactors, including the three units mentioned above, with a combined electrical output of 17,500 MWe over the next decade. The total installed capacity will reach 63,240 MWe by the end of fiscal 2011. As a result, the share of nuclear power plants in all power generating facilities will increase from 20 percent (estimated) in fiscal 2001 to 23 percent in fiscal 2011. The percentage of nuclear power in the total power output is also predicted to rise from an estimated 34 percent in fiscal 2001 to 41 percent in fiscal 2011.

During fiscal 2000, the electric power industry produced 311 million tons of carbon dioxide (t-CO2). Under the Environmental Action Plan of the Electric Utility Industry, the Federation of Electric Power Companies aims "to reduce CO2 emission intensity (CO2 emissions per unit of end-use electricity) in fiscal 2010 by around 20 percent from 1990 levels." Based on the recently announced power supply program, CO2 emissions throughout fiscal 2005 are estimated to remain almost unchanged from fiscal 2000 levels.

If the power output in fiscal 2000 of nuclear power plants, which do not produce CO2 in the power generation process, were to be supplied by thermal power plants other than LNG-fired plants, then CO2 emissions would increase by 241 million tons. This is equivalent to around 20 percent of Japan's total CO2 emissions (1,225 million t-CO2), recorded in fiscal 1999.

Nuclear power plants, which do not produce CO2 in the power generation process and which discharge far fewer life cycle assessment (LCA) CO2 emissions, are the optimum source of power in the battle against global warming.

While placing the highest priority on nuclear safety, Japanese electric power companies will continue their efforts to develop nuclear power generation as a base power source that plays an important role in Japan's electric power supply in order to secure a steady supply of electricity and address global environmental problems.