Japan can achieve its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 without relying on nuclear power, a prominent backer of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, indicating divisions in the ruling party on energy policy.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto said nuclear power brings enormous risks over time, becoming less appealing as the price of renewable energy falls. He said his view was a minority position in the ruling camp, where many are pushing for a restarting nuclear power plants that were halted after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, one of the world’s worst nuclear power disasters.
“There is no cost advantage for large-scale energy sources centralized on nuclear power,” Akimoto said in an interview about a week before the 10-year anniversary of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
Akimoto, a member of a group of younger, non-aligned LDP lawmakers who backed Suga to become premier, also said he expects nuclear power “to fade out” as the costs of maintaining atomic energy plants stay high. He added Japan has a high potential to further develop offshore wind power and solar to help meet its climate goals.
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
Comments are closed.