A few days ago, the Japanese government announced its plans to begin to phase out nuclear power with the country aiming to end all nuclear power by 2040. But less than a week later, the announced policy policy was already backing away from that commitment.
Of course, Japan suffered an enormous environmental crisis in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami when the Fukushima nuclear reactor complex suffered a series of explosions and meltdowns of some of the reactors, contaminating the region with radioactive material. There has been strong public sentiment in Japan favoring an end to the use of nuclear power in the aftermath of the crisis.
The government had initially announced plans to end all nuclear power by 2040. But only a few days later, this decision was evidently reversed in an announcement of the new energy policy that leaves more room for continuing use of nuclear power. Business interests had lobbied hard for changes in the policy.
Other countries have taken steps to phase out nuclear power, but they generally have stronger programs of renewable power already in place. Japan is particularly poor in fossil fuel resources, but could be well situated for renewable sources including wind, wave, and tidal, as well as solar.
image: CC BY-SA 3.0 by Digital Globe/Wikimedia
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