Japan's nuclear spring didn't last long. Though the country's
nuclear power plants were taken offline following the Fukushima
nuclear disaster last year, the government restarted a reactor
earlier this month. But that hasn't stopped a small village some
50 miles from the Oi plant from ditching conventional
electricity from the grid and going solar. Sanno in Hyogo
Prefecture, population 42, has become the first municipality to
rely on solar power. Residents of the 11 households have an
average age over 60, and the village, like many in rural Japan,
is suffering depopulation. Costs for maintaining shared … Read
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