TOKYO: Japan is considering a financial scheme to help utilities boost safety measures at existing nuclear power plants to promote the restart of reactors that have been idled since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Power utilities, facing higher energy costs and expenses related to implementing safety measures and stricter emissions goals are reluctant to invest in nuclear facilities as there has been a lack of predictability on their returns on investment.

Japan is already set to introduce a new auction programme in January next year as a measure to encourage the construction of new decarbonized power plants such as renewable and nuclear energy.

But the industry ministry proposed on Wednesday to alter the scheme so that existing nuclear power plants can take part in the auction to receive financial support for necessary upgrades.

The revised scheme is aimed at encouraging utilities to invest in existing nuclear power stations to comply with stricter safety standard imposed after the 2011 disaster, an official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said.

“The proposal is to help Japan make maximum use of existing nuclear energy,” the official said, adding it will improve predictability on the utilities’ returns on investment.

The proposal was made at an expert committee’s meeting on Wednesday to discuss the country’s nuclear energy policy.

Japan made a major nuclear power policy shift last year to tackle an energy crisis more than a decade after the 2011 Fukushima disaster prompted it to idle most of its reactors.

The government has restarted only about a third of its 33 operable reactors. Japanese companies had 54 reactors operating before the Fukushima disaster.

The programme, called “long-term decarbonised power supply auction,” guarantees income for 20 years for electricity generation companies building new decarbonised power stations, using funds collected from electricity retailers.

Another panel of energy experts will discuss METI’s proposal in coming months, with no deadline being set, the METI official said, adding that no decision will likely be made in time for the first auction.

The programme also covers the construction of thermal power plants that reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to zero with new technologies by 2050, the METI official said.

Reuters