nuclear-news

Japan’s government likely to select the zero nuclear power option

government officials said Tuesday that the council is now most likely to select the zero-nuclear option.

Japan Weighs End to Nuclear Power WSJ, By MARI IWATA and TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI 23 Aug 12, TOKYO—The Japanese government is likely to decide to eliminate all nuclear power over the next two decades in a new long-term energy plan that comes amid strong public opposition to atomic energy and ahead of national elections expected in the next few months, said government officials familiar with policy discussions.

Following the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear-plant accident in March 2011, Prime Minister Yoshihiko
Noda set up a council to recommend a long-term energy strategy based
on three scenarios: phasing out nuclear power completely by 2030,
reducing dependence to 15% or keeping it at current levels of about
20% to 25%. All of the scenarios aim to increase the use of renewable
energy to at least 20% from the current 10%.

The government is expected to announce a final decision in September,
ahead of general elections for parliament expected by the end of the
year.

While it had been widely expected to choose the middle option,
government officials said Tuesday that the council is now most likely
to select the zero-nuclear option. “Zero nuclear is our hope and
goal,” one of the officials said. “We are moving toward it, and I
don’t think others will be aggressively against it.”….
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August 24, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general