Japan's Power Market News 2022/W39

Outlook brightens for nuclear power in Japan.

The recent increase in power prices, supply security issues, and fear of blackouts have turned public opinion back in favor of restarting nuclear power plants in Japan and developing the technology further.

Threats to power supply continue to occur, even in off-peak months. For example, The Denki Shimbun reported that Kyushu Electric was rescued by other EPCOs on September 12th and 13th, narrowly avoiding blackouts. And prices are on the rise everywhere. Last week, the Nikkei wrote about TEPCO's plans to increase corporate tariffs by 14% in April and revise them monthly depending on moves in the wholesale market. This comes on top of price hikes over recent months and the introduction of new contracts indexed to JEPX.?

There is growing evidence that people's attitudes to nuclear are becoming more favorable. In one recent survey by Nikkei on September 19th, 53% of people supported Prime Minister Kishida's plan to build next-generation reactors, along with calls from EPCOs to accelerate the restart of existing nuclear plants. METI is leveraging this increased public support with new policy measures. These include the possibility of extending the current 40-year lifetime limit of nuclear reactors. Many countries, including France and the US, have operating reactors older than 40 years.

The Denki Shimbun also reported METI's pledge to restart the design of fast breeding reactors that use sodium-cooled technology, with a prototype design expected by 2024. This could be the first step in replacing and extending the number of nuclear plants in Japan in the long term.

Beyond that, the government also discussed a new nuclear fusion strategy, to be finalized in April 2023. Japan is part of the international ITER project and has a Tokamak experimental reactor in Ibaraki but is also considering other options. Ultimately, steps are being taken to ensure that nuclear power substantially contributes to the 2050 energy mix. Restarts could help reach the challenging 22% 2030 target, while fast reactors could play a role by 2040-50 and fusion beyond that.

The Genkai nuclear power plant in southwestern Japan. Five reactors are currently active nationwide. (Photo by Shinya Sawai)

Sources: Kyushu EPCO avoid blackouts (Denki Shimbun September 16th), TEPCO to increase corporate tariffs by 14%, METI to consider increasing lifetime of nuclear plants past 40 years, METI to start design of fast breeder reactors, Japanese government working on Nuclear fusion strategy

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