Abstract
The Japanese electricity industry is currently being gradually deregulated in the hopes that high electricity prices can be reduced. At the same time the government is keen to encourage more use of nuclear power. It is aiming to reuse nuclear fuel in order to close the nuclear fuel cycle and thereby reduce Japan’s reliance on imports to fuel electricity generation.1 However deregulation in other parts of the world has not brought prices down, nor has it been conducive to investment in nuclear power. More importantly, the competitive pressures encouraged by deregulation do not encourage reliability and safety, issues which are very important to the Japanese people, particularly in the wake of a series of nuclear accidents over the past decade.
Publication Details
Beder, S, Conclusion: The Japanese Situation, in Beder, S (ed), Power Play: The Fight to Control the World's Electricity, Soshisha, Japan, 2006.