Nuclear power hasn't been popular of late.
Most news globally has been about governments strategically moving away from atomic energy. Shutting down reactors in favour of alternate power sources.
But last week one of the world's biggest energy players cast an official vote for nuclear.
Japan.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry officially recommended that nuclear should be embraced as a go-to power source for the country.
The announcement came as part of Ministry efforts to draft a first-ever energy policy for Japan. One that outlines the country's strategy for the next 20 years in procuring power supplies.
That strategy will apparently include nuclear energy in a big way. The draft energy plan released last week called nuclear the "important base power source" for Japanese growth going forward.
Importantly, the plan calls for the restarting of currently-idled nuclear reactors. Flying in the face of speculation that the Japanese government might make an official move away from nuclear following the events at Fukushima.
The draft policy did recommend that nuclear should be augmented with renewable energy wherever possible. However, given Japan's very limited renewable infrastructure, this is probably a token statement. Unlikely to have much impact in reducing overall nuclear output.
It thus appears more and more likely we will see a large-scale restart of Japanese nuclear facilities. Significant news for both nuclear technology companies and for the uranium market.
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Here's to planning ahead,
By. Dave Forest
