#7: Japan Quakes; Nuke Power Stays Steady

This year enthusiasm for nuclear power in some developed nations 
seemed to vanish after Japan’s nuclear disaster. But while those countries 
recoil from atomic energy, others are committing to a nuclear future.

By Jason Daley
Dec 20, 2011 6:00 AMNov 12, 2019 5:55 AM
nuke.jpg
iStockphoto

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Last March, after the Sendai earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, the aftershocks of the disaster seemed to put the worldwide nuclear power industry on shaky ground. News of multiple core meltdowns and radiation releases spurred governments to drop nuke projects like radioactive hot potatoes. In Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced his support for a phaseout of the country’s dependence on nuclear power and proposed scrapping plans to have nuclear plants supply 50 percent of Japan’s electricity by 2030 (up from 30 percent in 2010).

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