Yesterday, Les wrote about the mess that Germany have got themselves in after shutting down Nuclear Power Plants in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake last year.
Well, Japan hasn’t had it easy either:
Japan To Renege On Carbon Emissions Cuts
The problem is the shutdown of Japan’s nuclear reactors. Following theearthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and the ensuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, they have been powered down for safety tests. Japan’s last operational reactor went offline on 5 May, and proposals to restart reactors have triggered public protests.
Japan has reverted to using non-renewable power sources like coal, oil and gas, and their carbon emissions have soared.
Japan’s plan to cut carbon emissions by 25% by 2020 – modest compared to many other countries – was heavily reliant on Nuclear Power and without it they now expect to cut emissions by only 2% to 11% (with the 11% figure being heavily reliant on billions of dollars of investment in to alternative renewable generation).
