ASIATODAY.ID, DUBAI – More than 20 countries, including Japan and the United States (US), on Saturday, December 2 2023 pledged to double the world’s nuclear energy capacity by 2050 to reduce global carbon emissions, according to their statement.
The declaration, released by the US Department of Energy, pointed to “the critical role of nuclear energy in achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emissions” and was issued at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which underway in the United Arab Emirates.
Countries supporting the declaration also include Britain, Canada, France, South Korea, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.
In the declaration, they said they would work together to double nuclear capacity by 2050 from 2020 levels.
However, this statement received criticism from climate activists. In a press release by 350.org, an international environmental organization, Japanese campaigner Masayoshi Iyoda said that Japan needs to “stop using the climate crisis to justify its addiction to nuclear energy while allowing carbon-intensive industries to prolong fossil projects.”
Japan’s government passed a law earlier this year allowing the country’s nuclear reactors to operate beyond the current 60-year limit and estimates about 20-22 percent of its energy will come from nuclear energy in the 2030 fiscal year.
The draft law aims to ensure adequate energy supplies for the country, where the use of nuclear power has raised concerns among the public following the 2011 nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in northeastern Japan.
The crisis led to the shutdown of all nuclear reactors, with most remaining inoperative as they had to meet stricter safety standards imposed after the disaster before they could be operational again.
Source: Kyodo-OANA
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