An Indirect effect of green technology by Japanese LWRs

Yanagisawa, Kazuaki; Nagano, Koji*

(1) The cost of electricity generated by 54 Japanese light water reactors in 2005 is 16,466 million dollars at the supply end and is 42,682 million dollars at the demand end. (2) The nuclear market is expensive for the construction cost (2.0 cent per kWh) but cheap for the fuel cost (1.4 cent per kWh). The introduction of LWR can reduce gross amounts of fuels and then increase the gross domestic products (GDP). (3) During a nuclear cycle the emitted carbons from LWR (22g per kWh) is from one 23rd to one 44th of those from fossil power plants. The gross electricity produced in Japan in 2004 is about 8,651 TWh. Emitted carbons assuming that coal and petroleum are main carbon contributors are 7.43E08 ton. The no fossil fuels can suppress the amounts by 3.79E08 ton, where the contributing ratio of nuclear energy is 57%. An indirect effect of green technology by Japanese LWRs is estimated to be from 3,993 to 5,989 million dollars.