An Indirect effect of green technology by Japanese LWRs

Yanagisawa, Kazuaki

(1) The cost of electricity generated by 54 Japanese light water reactors in 2005 is 42,682 million dollars (2) During a nuclear cycle the emitted carbons from LWR (22 g/kWh) is 1/23 to 1/44 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 carbon dioxide. The non-fossil fuels can suppress the amounts by 3.79E08 ton carbon dioxide, where the contributing ratio of nuclear energy is 57%. Because the price of carbon emission trading is 18.5 dollars for the developing country and 27.7 dollars for European Community (EC) per ton carbon dioxide, an indirect effect of green technology by Japanese LWRs is estimated to be 3,993 million dollars for the former and 5,989 million dollars for the latter. Consequently, the role of green technology to suppress the global warming is very significant and cost effective.