Japan plans to end reliance on nuclear power within 30 years

 The Fukushima accident sent radioactive materials into the ocean and atmosphere, contaminated the food and water supply, and forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features

Japan has announced plans to end its reliance on nuclear power within 30 years, in a historic policy shift prompted by the triple meltdown at the Fukushima power plant.

The move to close all 50 of the country's functioning reactors by around 2040 marks a dramatic change of course by a country that had previously championed atomic energy, putting Japan alongside Germany and Switzerland, which also turned away from nuclear power following the disaster.

Japan, the world's third biggest user of nuclear power before the disaster, had planned to increase nuclear's share of the energy mix to 50% by 2030. But the country's attachment to nuclear power was severely weakened after the Fukushima accident sent radioactive materials into the ocean and atmosphere, contaminated the food and water supply, and forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents.

Read more:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/14/japan-end-nuclear-power

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