[Brief translation]
The government is considering installing an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system around Okinotorishima island, the country's southernmost uninhabited island, government sources said Wednesday.
Japan is at odds with China over the establishment of exclusive economic zones (EEZ) around the atoll - which is about 11 kilometers in circumference - under the U.N. Convention of the Law of Sea.
On Tuesday, the National Fisheries University, an independent administrative agency, and Saga university will launch a joint research project in the area, which is about 1,740 kilometers south-southwest of metropolitan Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean, to gather data about water temperatures and seabed tomography, according to the sources. If the findings of the research confirm the feasibility of an OTEC system around Okinotorishima island, the government will go ahead with its OTEC plan for the territory by fiscal 2006, beginning with the selection of a spot where an ocean temperature gradient power generation system will be set up, the sources said.