The Japanese public is less enthusiastic about nuclear power these days. Responding to the Fukushima crisis and public concerns earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared the nation’s plans for nuclear power expansion officially dead.
Kan told reporters:
The current basic energy policy envisages that over 50% of total electricity supply will come from nuclear power while 20% will come from renewable power in 2030…But that basic plan needs to be reviewed now from scratch after this big incident.
Currently, 54 nuclear reactors provide nearly one third of the country’s electricity, and officials had planned on building at least 14 new reactors by 2030. But with the government now trying to shift away from nuclear power, how will Japan supply itself with energy? Will it be able to meet its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent of 1990 levels by 2020? What’s an outrageously dense island nation with awfully high per capita energy demands to do?
Well, it sounds like the “Land of the Rising Sun” (the characters that make up the name “Japan” spell out “sun-origin”) is going to turn its attention back to that bright burning star.
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