Summary Report on the 1st Meeting of the Panel on
“Role of Nuclear Energy for Sustainable Development in Asia”
October 20-21,2004
Capitol Tokyu Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
The meeting was participated by 17 delegates from 8 FNCA countries and 41 observers. Prof. Kondo, Chairman of AEC of Japan presented the opening address.
1. The meeting noted the following points;
(a) Energy demand in the region of FNCA countries will increase rapidly in the
future, due to fast socio-economic development.
(b) In the FNCA region, there is not much exploitable fossil fuel reserve. The
per-capita reserve of fossil fuels of the region is the far lowest in the world.
(c) The use of fossil fuels has been steadily rising to fuel the economic growth
in the world. In 2003 fossil fuels provide 88% of primary energy, and
nuclear provides 7% worldwide. Oil dependency of some FNCA countries
on the Middle East is increasing so that their economies are more
susceptible to supply disruptions.
(d) The global warming mainly caused by CO2 emitted from the burning fossil
fuels, and the pollution due to SO2 and NOx caused by coal burning are
threats to the environment.
2. The meeting noted the following points of energy policy;
(a) The national energy demand-supply strategy can be formulated in line with
the policy of energy security. The national energy security possibly can be
enhanced by international and regional cooperation.
(b) Long-term energy security is an important challenge because the reserve of
fossil fuels is limited and energy demand is rapidly increasing in the region
of FNCA countries. Possible countermeasures are (1) further exploration
of fossil fuels, (2) energy conservation and improving energy efficiency, (3)
development of renewable energy, (4) diversification of energy sources, and
(5) enhancement of the use of nuclear power.
(c) Approaches to reduce CO2 emissions are: (l) saving energy, (2) fuel
switching, (3) enhancing the use of renewable energies such as wind, solar,
3.Technical Tour
October 22,2004
(1)Tokai Power Station/Tokai No.2 Power Station,
The Japan Atomic power Company (JAPC)
(2) The High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR))
Oarai Research Establishment,
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI)
and biomass.
(d) Nuclear power generation can play a key role for securing energy supply
and environmental protection. In this regard, more effort should be put
toward to enhance public education and information diffusion and to
improve public acceptance of nuclear power in light of safety assurance, risk
and benefits of nuclear power.
3. The meeting has reached an agreement on the following points;
(a) Objective, scope and work plan of the Panel as shown in Annex 1.
(b) Reporting of the Summary of the 1st Panel Meeting to the 5th FNCA
Ministerial level meeting in December 2004.
(c) The 2nd Panel Meeting will be held in autumn of 2005 in Japan. Therefore,
representatives of each country to the Panel are requested to prepare for the
Agenda Item No. 3 described in the Work Plan.
Annex1
The Panel Meeting on “Role of Nuclear Energy
for Sustainable Development in Asia”
Objectives and Scope
1.Exchange views on medium and long term energy demand and supply in the South. East Asian and East Asian countries on the basis of its social and economic development.
2. To collect and analyze information on energy usage and associated problems in the FNCA member countries, such as;
- expanding demand of fossil fuels in the member countries and limited reserve in the region
- environmental impacts of the usage of fossil fuel energy
- advantages and disadvantages of non-fossil energy
3. To discuss and recognize the roles of nuclear energy for sustainable development and to define issues to be taken into account for the use of nuclear power, for examples;
- safety assurance and regulation,
- enhancement of public acceptance,
- economic feasibility,
- human resources development and technological infrastructure,
- non-proliferation of nuclear weapon.
And to discuss possible ways for international cooperation for the above mentioned issues among FNCA member countries.
Work Plan
1. The 1st Meeting (2004)
(1) Agreement on the objectives and scope of the Panel,
(2) presentation and discussion on a medium and long term (2030, 2050)
energy demand-supply plan based on a perspective of socio-economic development of each FNCA country,
(3) identification of problems for sustainability of energy supply specific to each country and common among FNCA countries,
(4) preliminary discussion on feasibility and roles of nuclear for power supply,
(5) work plan and sharing works for 2005 and 2006.
2. The 2nd meeting (2005)
(1) Presentation of a revised version of long term energy demand and supply plan of each FNCA country taking into account the discussion of the 1st Meeting,
(2) compilation of these plans, the total picture of energy demand and supply in the South East Asia and East Asia,
(3) more comprehensive discussion on the item 2 and 3 of the objectives to have a common understanding,
(4) to define possible FNCA cooperation for a better sustainability of energy supply,
(5) to finalize a table of contents of the final report of the panel,
(6) work plan and work sharing for 2006.
3. The 3rd (final) Meeting (2006)
(l) Discussion and confirmation of the final report of the Panel including
recommendation and conclusion of the Panel.
Program
Tentative Program of the First Meeting of the Panel
Date: October 20-22, 2004
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Organized by: Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) of Japan / Cabinet Office (CAO)
Wednesday, October 20
Opening
Session 1
Overview
(1)Purpose and action plan of the panel
(2) Prospect of economic growth and energy demand in Asia
Session 2
Country report “Policy of long-term energy demand and supply, and
role of nuclear energy for sustainable development” - (1)
- The country reports should include the view on following points quantitatively.
• Medium and long term energy strategy and plan
• Role of nuclear energy in the plan
• Environmental impact of energy supply
Thursday, October 21
Session 2
Country report “Policy of long-term energy demand and supply, and role of nuclear energy for sustainable development” - (2)
Session 3
Discussion
- Discussion will be focused on following points after introductory presentation. :
(1) World trend of energy and sustainable development
(2) Nuclear energy
(3) Global warming and the Kyoto Protocol.
Session 4
Wrap-up discussion and confirmation of minutes
Friday, October 22
Technical Tour
- Proposed site
Tokai Power Station, The Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPCO)
High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR), Oarai Research Establishment,
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI)
|
