USA and Japan Sign Nuclear Cooperation Plan

USA and Japan Sign Nuclear Cooperation Plan





    
 
January 2007  – The United States and 
Japan will collaborate on a plan to build new nuclear power 
plants, top energy officials of the two countries said in 
Washington Tuesday. 
U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Japanese Minister of 
Economy Trade and Industry Akira Amari said their countries 
will collaborate on various aspects of the civilian nuclear 
fuel cycle. 
Japanese Minister of Economy Trade and Industry Akira Amari 
and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman shake hands for the 
cameras at their joint press conference Tuesday. (Photo 
courtesy DOE) 
Bodman said that detailed plans will be developed over the 
next three months but will include inviting Japanese engineers 
to work on new nuclear power plants in the United States. 
He said that Japanese scientists and nuclear engineers would 
offer technical expertise in advanced, fast reactors, which 
use nuclear fuel more efficiently than current reactors. Fast 
reactors yield more energy while producing less radioactive 
waste. 
Japan is in the process of developing such reactors to be 
operational on a trial basis next year, Amari said. 
"In Japan we have among the greatest scientists and engineers 
in this field," Bodman said. 
The officials said their joint civilian nuclear energy action 
plan will be completed by April 2007. 
The plan will build upon the civilian nuclear energy technical 
cooperation already underway between the two countries and 
will include regulatory and nonproliferation-related nuclear 
exchanges. 
The Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa Prefecture on 
Japan's west coast is one of the country's newest. The second 
Shika reactor went commercial on March 15, 2006. (Photo 
courtesy Hokuriku Electric Power Co) 
Japan has bilateral nuclear power co-operation treaties with 
six nations - the United States, Britain, France, Canada, 
Australia and China. Under these agreements, the parties 
exchange expertise and information on the peaceful use of 
nuclear power, and provide and receive nuclear equipment, 
materials and services. 
Bodman and Amari said the new plan will focus on research and 
development activities under the Global Nuclear Energy 
Partnership initiative, advanced by the United States. 
Under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, GNEP, the United 
States will build a nuclear fuel recycling facility and sell 
fuel for nuclear power plants to other countries. 
While Japan has a nuclear fuel recycling facility, it 
currently ships much of the spent nuclear fuel from its 54 
operating nuclear power plants to France and Britain for 
reprocessing. The reprocessed fuel is shipped back to Japan 
for further use. 
While there has never been a disaster, the shipping of such 
large amounts of radioactive material halfway around the world 
has drawn objections from many countries along the shipping 
routes as well as from environmentalists who point out that 
the ships could be subject to accident or terrorist attack 
that would release radioactivity into the environment. 
If Japan has its spent nuclear fuel reprocessed in the United 
States, the shipping distance would be roughly halved. 
The GNEP, endorsed by President George W. Bush, is now 
undergoing a programmatic environmental impact statement 
process, which allows for public comment. 
Owned and operated by FirstEnergy, the Perry nuclear power 
plant is near Cleveland, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. It 
began operating in 1987. (Photo courtesy FirstEnergy) 
In the United States, 103 nuclear reactors supply nearly 20 
percent of the nation's electricity, but since the 1979 
accident at Three Mile Island and the 1986 fire and explosion 
at Chernobyl in Ukraine, safety concerns have stalled U.S. 
nuclear development. Only one U.S. plant has come on line 
recently, in 1996. 
The Bush administration has encouraged the nuclear industry, 
which now has 18 new nuclear power plants in various stages of 
licensing and siting approval, according to the Nuclear Energy 
Institute, an industry association. 
To ensure mutual energy security and address global climate 
change, Bodman and Amari said both sides recognize they must 
improve energy efficiency and diversify their energy mix. 
The two countries intend to make wider use of "clean and 
alternative energy, such as clean use of coal, nuclear energy 
and renewables," the officials said. 
Bodman welcomed Japanese participation in the $1 billion 
FutureGen Project, a United States sponsored initiative to 
construct the world’s first emission-free coal fired 
electricity generation plant to be constructed in the United 
States at a site yet to be selected. 
The project will employ coal gasification technology 
integrated with combined cycle electricity generation and the 
sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions. 
Japan will contribute expertise, funding, and information 
exchange on carbon capture and sequestration technology. 
Both sides said they recognize that the engagement of emerging 
economies, particularly China and India, is "crucial for 
ensuring global energy security." 
Integrating these growing energy consumers into the global 
energy market and promoting responsible market-based policies 
and energy use will be a priority for both countries, said 
Bodman and Amari. 
The officials agreed to strengthen their countries' 
cooperation with China and India on energy efficiency and 
emergency preparedness. They said the Five-Country Energy 
Ministers’ meeting in December 2006, in which ministers from 
China, India, Japan, Korea and the United States participated, 
was a good example of a coordinated engagement effort.