TNAG-1658-FCO40-2306-Daya-Bay-nuclear-power-station-project-safety-concerns-in-Ho-1987 — Page 245

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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.