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built. Under current Japanese plans, nuclear power will provide about
40% of Japanese electricity by the year 2000.
Operational reliability in
the Japanese nuclear power stations has gradually improved so that Japan
can now proudly point to some of the best performance data in the world.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, opinion was strongly influenced
by the Chernobyl accident and the Social Democratic opposition party
which until then had been in favour of nuclear power turned around to a
phasing out policy in which they clearly indicated that the main
alternative was coal. This policy did not, however, help the German
Social Democrats to win the election in January this year. The
government maintains the view that nuclear power is necessary. There are
21 reactors in operation and four under construction. Thirty percent of
the electricity in the Federal Republic of Germany is generated by
nuclear power.
In the United Kingdom, the positive conclusion of a public inquiry
which lasted for more than six years resulted in the government giving
green light for the construction of a new nuclear power station at
Sizewell. This means the launching in the U.K. of a major new nuclear
power programme based on pressurized water reactors. This is a highly
significant decision showing the British government's determination to
rely increasingly on nuclear power.
Canada, Belgium and Spain also have significant nuclear power
programmes which have been reviewed but not modified in the wake of
Chernobyl.