Carbon savings from nuclear restarts
25 June 2010
The return to service of Kashiwazaki Kariwa units 6 and 7 helped Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to cut its carbon emissions by 11% in 2009. The company cited a decrease in electricity consumption due to the economic slowdown, plus the restart of the two units, as enabling it to reduce its fossil fuel consumption and thereby lower its emissions. The two 1315 MWe advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs), offline since the Niigata Chuetsu offshore earthquake of 16 July 2007, restarted in May 2009. The 107.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted for the period allowed Tepco to redeem 16.8 million tonnes of carbon credits for the year ending 31 March 2010. The total for the previous year had been 24.9 million tonnes.