Japan's trade and industry minister said Tuesday that he doesn't see a contradiction between the government's policy of promoting nuclear power plant exports and its goal of reducing or eliminating the use of nuclear power at home.
Japan
's
trade and industry minister said Tuesday that he doesn't see a contradiction
between the government's policy of promoting nuclear power plant exports and
its goal of reducing or eliminating the use of nuclear power at home.
"Decisions that other sovereign nations make do not have to be the same as
ours," Yukio Edano told reporters at a regular press conference.
Prime Minister Noda is expected to announce early next week how the government
plans to proceed with nuclear power generation going forward.
The government is expected to choose one of three scenarios: phasing out
nuclear power by 2030, reducing dependence to 15%, or keeping it at current
levels around 20% to 25%. Mr. Noda and his ministers have shown an inclination
toward the zero scenario recently in response to rising public opposition in
the wake of the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (9501.TO) Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear plant.
But in what appears at least on the surface to be a double-standard,
Japan
has
also been busy promoting lucrative nuclear plant exports to emerging countries
as way of propping up its economy.
Thanks to their technological prowess and high efficiency, Japanese firms such
as Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO) are in high demand overseas for orders for nuclear
plants.
Mr. Edano explained that different countries have different environments
compared with
Japan
,
which regularly "faces huge risks from earthquakes and tsunamis."
He also argued that
Japan
has
knowledge including lessons from the
Fukushima
disaster, which would be helpful for countries who want to introduce nuclear
power plants.
In October 2010,
Vietnam
chose
Japan
as a
partner in the construction of two nuclear reactors. The southeast Asian
country stuck to the agreement even after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi
plant in March 2011.
In his visit to
Vietnam
in
mid-August, Mr. Edano and
Vietnam
's
Science and Technology Minister Nguyen Quan signed a preliminary agreement
under which
Tokyo
will
cooperate with
Hanoi
in
making compensation rules for damages caused by a potential nuclear power
accident.
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