Energy R and D in Japan

In 1997, the public and private sectors in Japan invested $90.3 billion in R and D. Japan is the second largest supporter of R and D after the United States. A very large percentage (79.4%) of all R and D in Japan is supported by the private sector. The prolonged economic recession that has plagued the Japanese economy for most of the 1990s has significantly reduced the scale of the Japanese R and D effort compared to what it would have been had the economy been more robust. The Japanese government has recently attempted to bring the economy out of this recession through the use of economic stimulus packages. These stimulus packages have contained significant new funding for R and D, although it is apparent that much of the funding is going to R and D programs and R and D construction projects with very near tern payoff and not to the support of longer term R and D. In 1998, the Japanese government devoted 13.7% of all public R and D funds to the support of energy R and D. The priority accorded to energy R and D in Japan is significantly higher than in any other industrialized nation. The Japanese energy R and D program, which was funded at $2.5 billion in 1997, is overwhelmingly focused on nuclear energy R and D. Nuclear energy R and D (fission and fusion) accounts for 75% of the total national energy R and D budget. The fission energy R and D effort has decreased nearly 24% since 1996 as the government attempts to refocus this program in the face of growing public opposition to the Japanese government's efforts to expand the nuclear power program. Energy efficiency R and D (8% of the total national energy R and D budget) and renewable energy R and D receive relatively modest support from the Japanese government