Future unclear over nuclear energy

A national energy policy will be set next week, with no position yet agreed on nuclear power, Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa said yesterday.

An anti-nuclear clamour has grown in Japan since the earthquake and tsunami in March last year that severely damaged the Fukushima power plant, triggering the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

The government, wary of public opinion ahead of an election that seems likely before the end of the year, had hinted that it might set a target of eliminating atomic power by 2030 – a big shift for an economy that, before the earthquake, had planned to boost nuclear energy.

REUTERS