Dr. Tsubokura's Radiation Lecture Vol.85

Author: Masaharu Tsubokura

Editors: Akihiko Ozaki M.D., Yuki Senoo

169. Japan’s low rate of energy self-sufficiency

Japan is one of the largest consumers of primary energy in the world, but our country lacks resources, such as oil and natural gas, and therefore has little energy self-sufficiency.

In Japan, a majority of the primary energy supply consists of fossil fuels from abroad, such as oil, coal, and natural gas, and the proportion of imported fuels has increased even more since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The proportion of imported fossil fuels was 81% before the disaster, and it increased to 89% in 2016 due to thermal power plants’ increased power generation following the shutdown of nuclear power plants.

In 2016, Japan’s primary sources of power generation were mainly natural gas (40.4%), coal (33.3%), and petroleum (9.3%). Renewable energy, such as solar power (XX%), biomass (XX%), wind (XX%), geothermal (7.8%), and hydropower (7.5%) occupied small proportions. In addition, nuclear power’s proportion was only 1.7% at the time.