The government's Sept. 14 new long-term energy policy of "mobilizing all available policy resources to reach 'zero operation' of nuclear power plants in the 2030s" contains various contradictions, including the continuation of efforts toward an operational fuel cycle that makes new nuclear fuel from spent fuel (after extracting plutonium and uranium).
Focus on this cycle likely assumes that today's nuclear power plants will continue operating. It will also result in the accumulation of surplus plutonium, an ingredient of nuclear weapons.
The 40-year limit to be imposed on the operation of a nuclear power plant under the policy is another contradiction. The day after the policy was announced, trade and industry minister Yukio Edano said that suspension of the construction of three nuclear power plants would be lifted. This means that these plants' reactors will remain online at least into the 2050s. Mr. Edano's statement soon had an effect. On Oct. 1, Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power) resumed construction of its Oma nuclear power plant in Oma, Aomori Prefecture.