Options require big boost for renewable energy sources. It’s
official: nuclear power will have a much smaller role in Japan’s
energy future than was once thought. Since the meltdowns and gas
explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in
March 2011, all of Japan’s remaining reactors have been shut
down for inspections and maintenance. Last week the government
offered a glimpse of their future, and that of the country’s
nuclear power in general, when it published an outline of four
ways to satisfy Japan’s future energy demands. One scenario
recommends using a market mechanism to determine the nuclear
contribution. Under the other three, nuclear power would supply
at most one-quarter of Japan’s energy by 2030 — and in one case,
none at all. The scenarios come from a 25-person advisory
committee to the industry ministry. The committee has been
meeting since last October to discuss revisions to the 2010
Basic Energy Plan, which had proposed that nuclear energy would
generate 45% of the country’s ele