14 Sep (NucNet): Japan’s government has announced a draft energy policy that includes plans to stop using nuclear power by the 2030s, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) has said.
Under proposals put forward by a government panel and published today in Japanese, Japan’s nuclear plants would be shut down completely by the year 2040.
According to JAIF, Japan aims to raise the share of renewable power to 30 percent of its energy mix but will remain a top importer of oil, coal and gas for the foreseeable future.
Before the March 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident, Japan derived about 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, and its previous long-term energy strategy had called for the ratio to be increased to half by 2030.
Under the new policy, the country’s 50 remaining reactors are to be shut once they reach an operating lifetime of 40 years, and no new reactors will be built.
JAIF said the plan is opposed by business groups and has been questioned by officials from the US, the UK and France.
The policy means Japan will join Germany as the second major economy to turn away from nuclear power since last year’s accident.
The draft policy is online (Japanese only): www.npu.go.jp/policy/policy09/pdf/20120914/20120914_1.pdf
