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10 January 2007 - Japan has announced that it was considering providing financing for the construction of new US civilian nuclear plants as part of a larger US-Japanese energy co-operation effort.
Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari described the possible public financing for American power plants after a meeting with US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The officials said specific details would not be available until the countries' settled a joint plan to guide their nuclear energy collaboration in April.
Amari, speaking through an interpreter, said US-Japanese cooperation is "an important turning point in the global history of energy policy."
"Japan and the United States have a very important responsibility for the stability of global energy supply and demand as the two largest economies in the world and large energy consumers," he told reporters.
Japan has also included money in its budget for next fiscal year for participation in a US-led effort to construct an emission-free coal fired electricity plant, Amari said. He did not say how much money, but a spokesman for Bodman said $10 million was the standard amount countries have contributed to the US programme.
The Bush Administration is pushing an ambitious plan to promote nuclear energy around the world as a source of electricity. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership calls for stepped-up research into reprocessing nuclear fuel, instead of using it once and then disposing it.
The United States abandoned nuclear fuel reprocessing in 1977 because of worry that it would make it easier to steal or divert plutonium for a nuclear bomb. President George W. Bush's plan envisions a new technology that would not separate pure plutonium, removing - according to its advocates - the nonproliferation risks.
Bodman touted US-Japan cooperation as a way to increase American expertise by allowing better access to skilled Japanese engineers and scientists. "We expect significant cooperation from our friends in Japan, and they have considerable skills to bring," Bodman said.
Last year, in an effort to become the world's top nuclear power company, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba bought US nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric.
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