Japan's ruling party on Tuesday urged the government to push for a return to nuclear power in deliberations on the best energy mix, which is likely to be opposed by a public wary about atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said the government should boost stable "baseload" energy supplies - nuclear, coal, hydroelectric and geothermal - to about 60 percent of the total by 2030 from 40 percent now.
"We think restarting nuclear reactors and using nuclear power as a source of supply, after securing its safety, would be favourable for Japan's energy composition," Fukushiro Nukaga, the chief of an LDP panel on energy policy, told reporters after presenting the plan to Abe.
To achieve 60 percent baseload power, nuclear would probably account for 20 percent of the total mix, the Asahi newspaper said last week, citing the difficulty of burning more coal amid a global push to cut greenhouse gases or wringing more hydro power out of Japan's heavily dammed rivers.
All of Japan's reactors are offline as utilities strive to meet tougher standards imposed after the worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century.
Opinion polls regularly show most Japanese people want to phase out nuclear power, which supplied about 29 percent of the country's power before the 2011 disaster.
Japan Lifts Megaquake Warning, Says Citizens Can Return To Normal Life Japan Set To Lift Megaquake Warning If There Is No "Major Seismic Activity" Japan PM Fumio Kishida To Step Down Amid Sinking Poll Ratings How Extreme Weather Is Leading To Rise In Child Marriages In Pakistan Who Is Jasveen Sangha, "Ketamine Queen" Charged With Matthew Perry's Death "Probably First Time Since '87/88...": Omar Abdullah On J&K Poll Dates Trump-Musk Chat Shows Innovation Alone Can Save Legacy Media Mob Sets Cars On Fire After 15-Year-Old Stabbed Inside Udaipur School On India-Bangladesh Border, A Strip Of Land Where Laws Of Both Apply Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.