At the International Conference “Nuclear Energy Opportunities for Country’s Development: Wartime and Postwar Reconstruction”, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ukraine Office Mr. Hideki Matsunaga, in his speech, outlined the close links between war, energy and climate change. He emphasized that russian aggression not only poses serious threats to the energy sector of Ukraine, in particular, to the safety of nuclear power plants, but also undermines the efforts of Ukraine and the world in the fight against climate challenges.

Mr. Matsunga shared Japan’s experience in formulating strategic energy plans, which are reviewed by his country’s government every three to four years. In particular, in the new version of the energy plan, which is currently being updated, the main principle is the “S+3 E” concept, where S stands for “Safety” which is foundation of energy policy, and the three E’s include “Energy Security”, “Economic Efficiency” and “Environmental Sustainability”. Nuclear energy, as a low-carbon industry, is a key element in Japan’s energy strategy in fighting climate change, and its development is important for Japan’s energy sustainability. 

The JICA representative’s speech emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, as well as in preventing disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima. Instead, the barbaric actions of putin’s russia, which strive for destroying the distribution infrastructure of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, should consolidate the international community in developing effective measures to prevent the risk of a nuclear disaster and bring the russian federation to justice.

Japan continues to stand side by side with Ukraine in these difficult times for our country. Thus, JSC “NNEGC “Energoatom” is working with the Japanese side on the possibility of supplying a crawler crane with a load capacity of 350 tons, which is necessary for the construction of new power units in Ukraine, in particular at the Khmelnytskyi NPP. Currently, consultations regarding the supply of equipment within the framework of the JICA Emergency Recovery and Reconstruction Project are ongoing.