Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Japan's prime minister said his government will put a new emphasis on renewable energy and conservation as central elements of the country's energy policy.

Naoto Kan says nuclear energy and fossil fuel had served as pillars of that policy, but he's scrapping a plan that called for Japan to get half of its electricity from nuclear plants. The announcement comes after a March earthquake and tsunami triggered a crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

At a Tokyo news conference, Kan said the government "bears a major responsibility for having promoted nuclear energy," and he apologized for "failing to prevent the nuclear accident."

Tokyo Electric power has been struggling to restore the Fukushima plant's cooling systems. Radiation releases from the plant prompted authorities to evacuate some 80,000 people who had been living within a 12-mile radius of the plant.

About 100 evacuees were allowed into that exclusion zone today to gather belongings from their homes. They were allowed to spend two hours, and were provided with protective suits, goggles and face masks. All were to be screened for radiation contamination after leaving the zone.