FINANCIAL TIMES: Japan will phase out nuclear power by 2040 marking a big policy shift and the first formal decision to retreat from atomic energy since the disaster at Fukushima 18 months ago.
The plan, which was announced on Friday, is opposed by business groups and has been questioned by officials from the US, the UK and France, and means Japan will join Germany as the second leading economy to turn away from nuclear power since last year’s accident.
Tokyo’s timetable is much slower than Berlin’s, however. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, ordered half her country’s nuclear plants to be shut last year and pledged to replace the rest with renewable energy sources over the next decade. Japan’s plan would give it almost 20 more years to accomplish the same goal… (more)
