The Nuclear Safety Commission and the Atomic Energy Commission have issued their annual reports for 2009, in which they call for the promotion of nuclear energy as an important means of fighting global warming. Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide while operating.
The reports came as the Hatoyama administration is pushing a policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Japan agreed to slash emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels during the 2008-2012 period, but present levels still exceed those of 1990.
To both reduce CO2 emissions and increase the supply of electricity, the NSC and the AEC call for improving the operation rate of Japan's 54 nuclear power plants, which produce about 30 percent of the nation's electricity.