Tepco hopeful nuclear will regain place in Japan mix

Chief nuclear officer tells of company’s renewed focus on safety, adds the fuel source is both desirable and cheap

Nuclear power still has an important role to play in Japan’s energy mix, despite the upheavals in the industry triggered by Fukushima Dai’ichi disaster in 2011, a leading official from Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which owns the facility, told WEC delegates. Zengo Aizawa, Tepco’s chief nuclear officer, said the limited role he foresaw for renewable energy in the country, together with the expense of importing alternative fuels to Japan, made the continuing use of nuclear power both desirable and relatively cheap. “We should develop renewables, but we should not remove nuclear power from the energy mix,” he told a session on post-Fukushima nuclear challenges. Aizawa said he believed