But, said Japanese delegate Daisuke Matsunaga, the real reduction is 27 percent. Building more nuclear plants is unavoidable if Japan wants to meet the target and continue to provide affordable electricity for its public, he told AFP Wednesday. Nuclear power is one of the contested issues at The Hague. Matsunaga indicated that Japan would take a neutral position on whether nuclear power should be promoted in Kyoto's planned Clean Development Mechanism. Under this, developed countries would get a credit, to be offset against their national quota of carbon emissions, if they transfer clean technology to a developing country.
Japan has the worst nuclear record of any country in Asia.
The unit is scheduled to resume operations next Monday after an overhaul. Japan has 51 nuclear reactors, the bulk of which were built after the 1970s oil shock to help ease the country's enormous dependence on foreign energy. Use of a planned market to trade in surplus emissions should yield a reduction of at least than one percent, he said. If Kyoto, signed in 1997, is completed at The Hague and eventually ratified, it will commit 38 developed countries to trimming carbon-gas outputs by 5.2 percent by 2012. Recipients should seek permission to reprint the article from the source listed above.