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Japan’s new energy plan will not phase out nuclear energy and calls it important in supplying electricity

Friday, December 6, 2013 1:12

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(Before It's News)

The Abe administration plans to say in a draft of the national medium-term energy plan that nuclear power should continue to be “important” in supplying electricity despite the Fukushima nuclear crisis, sources said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Government, led by the Liberal Democratic Party since elections in 2012, is expected to adopt the new basic energy policy in January. They will urge Japan to continue to use nuclear energy.

The draft was to be presented Friday to a meeting of a panel tasked with compiling the so Basic Energy Plan before the end of December. The plan will become official after securing Cabinet approval, possibly early in the new year.

According to the sources, the draft will say nuclear power should be seen as an “important source of electricity,” because relying too much on thermal power generation would mean having to import more fuel and damaging the trade balance.

Concerns also remain over being highly dependent on Middle East countries for fossil fuel, given the region’s political instability.