Japan must pursue a realistic approach toward nuclear power for the sake of energy security while simultaneously enhancing regulatory mechanisms to prevent accidents, according to a senior official of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
"Anything that can be done by renewable sources is very important for Japan and other countries," Luis Echavarri, director general of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, said in a recent interview. "But logically, you have to be realistic about what the possibilities of the renewable sources are. . . . That capacity is relatively limited."
While commending Japan's recent efforts to review the potential of diverse energy sources in the wake of the fatal criticality accident last September in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Echavarri said that "one of the benefits of nuclear (energy) is that it has demonstrated it can provide a big amount of electricity."