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Japan drops plans to phase out nuclear power by 2040
September 21, 2012
Japan drops plans to phase out nuclear power by 2040
Japan has effectively abandoned a commitment to end its reliance on nuclear power by 2040 amid pressure from the country’s business lobby, dropping the deadline recommended by a cabinet panel only a few days ago.
The trade and industry minister, Yukio Edano, acknowledged that meeting the target date could prove impossible. “Whether we can become nuclear free by 2030s is not something to be achieved with only a decision by policy-makers,” he said. “It also depends on the will of [electricity] users, technological innovation and the environment for energy internationally in the next decade or two.”
The change in the decision regarding Japan’s energy strategy came after sustained pressure from business and industry leaders, who said the move would harm the economy by forcing firms to shift production overseas due to high price of imported oil and gas.
The deputy prime minister, Katsuya Okada, said that ditching the deadline did not mean the government had abandoned its goal of a nuclear-free future. “We aim to have zero nuclear power by the 2030s, but we have never said we will achieve zero by that date,” he told a group of European journalists. But he conceded that a nuclear-phase out was “the wish of a large number of Japanese people”.
Read more at Guardian Environment Network.
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