Japan needs not only to maintain a diverse energy mix — including nuclear power — but also diversify the ways of securing imported fuel in the face of the changing global supply-demand structure, a former executive director of the International Energy Agency said at a recent seminar in Tokyo.
The Democratic Party of Japan-led government's plan to seek a phaseout in nuclear power lacks the perspectives of energy security for the country and fails to address international concerns such as the possible impact of a Mideast turmoil on oil supply, or the effects of rapidly growing energy consumption in countries like China and India, said Nobuo Tanaka, currently an associate at the government-affiliated Institute of Energy Economics.
Tanaka was speaking at a seminar on energy security organized by the Keizai Koho Center on Oct. 30.