By Staff on 14 September 2012 for Aljazeera -
(http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/09/2012914114627184867.html)
Image above: Continued protests have been against nuclear energy since last year's Fukushima disaster. From original article.
A panel of the Japanese cabinet has called for phasing out of nuclear power over the next three decades in a major shift for Japan as it overhauls energy policy following the Fukushima disaster last year.
“Based on facing the reality of this grave accident and by learning lessons from the accident, the government has decided to review the national energy strategy from scratch,'' the policy document said on Friday.
“One of the key pillars of the new strategy is to achieve a society that does not depend on nuclear energy as soon as possible,'' it said.
Adopting the proposals would be a break with Japan's decades-long advocacy of nuclear power.
The new energy policy faces opposition from powerful business interests but phasing out nuclear power is popular with the public.
It calls for greater reliance on renewable energy, more conservation and sustainable use of fossil fuels and would see Japan joining Germany in turning its back on nuclear energy.
The new policy requires endorsement by the entire Cabinet. Japanese news reports say the Cabinet has already agreed to the changes.
Japan began reviewing its energy policy following last year's disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was set off by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Before the accident, the resource-poor country relied on nuclear power for one-third of its energy and had planned to raise that to 50 per cent by 2030.
Anti-nuclear sentiment
Growing anti-nuclear sentiment and mass protests made it difficult for the government and plant operators to restart reactors idled for inspections, and by early May all 50 Japanese reactors had gone offline.
Imports of oil and gas for electricity generation have surged as a result and Japan's trade balance has swung into deficit.
Officials acknowledge many questions remain unanswered, among them how to pay for the costly expansion of renewable energy and how to minimize the environmental impact of a return to heavier use of natural gas and other fossil fuels.
The phase-out of nuclear power by the 2030s is to be achieved mainly by retiring aging reactors and not replacing them.
The proposed new policy calls for adhering to a 40-year life span for each reactor and for building no more new reactors.
It leaves open the possibility of restarting reactors before they are eventually phased out, but only if they have passed strict safety tests and won approval by a newly formed regulatory commission.
“We will launch all possible policy measures to achieve a nuclear-free society by the 2030s,'' it said.
The new policy delays a decision on spent fuel processing and radioactive waste disposal, leaving open the questions of how Japan will handle its spent nuclear fuel and avoid accumulating stockpiles of plutonium.
The new policy calls for Japan to increase use of renewable energy by eight-fold over the 2010 level by 2030.
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1 comment :
Good move. Next up - India!
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