After several arguments the government of Japan has come to a conclusion that it aims to abandon the nuclear power by the 2030s. The move will be a major shift from policy goals before last year’s Fukushima disaster which sought to increase the share of nuclear energy to more than half of the electricity supply.
Japan will now be joining the countries like Switzerland and Germany in turning away from the nuclear power after last year’s massive earthquake and deadly tsunami which had swamped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It had caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyle in 1986.
Japan was considered as the third biggest user of nuclear energy before the disaster. Japan in terms of abandoning the nuclear power aims to triple the share of renewable power to 30% o its energy mix. But still the country will remain to be the top importer of oil, gas and coal for the foreseeable future.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s unpopular government which could face an election this year had faced intense lobbying from industries to maintain nuclear energy . A policy statement said, “This is a strategy to create a new future” after the ministers finalized the decision on September 14, 2012.
