With the next long-term basic energy strategy due to be set before the end of the fiscal year, candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party's Sept. 27 presidential election face two basic, but politically difficult, choices about the country’s energy future.

The first is to continue with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s plan to increase the use of nuclear power alongside that of renewable energy.

The second is to reduce nuclear power’s share while moving more toward renewable and ammonia- and hydrogen-generated electricity.