Japan from nuclear to renewable

The on-going Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan has prompted a turnaround of events as Japan abandons plans to double its nuclear power capacity and move over to renewable energy.

Japan with the world's 3rd largest economy has exchanged plans to construct 14 new nuclear plants with an energy policy to develop wind, solar and biomass energy sources.
The Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan has made the incredible announcement two months after Japan was brought close to a nuclear catastrophe by dual impacts of a n earthquake and tsunami on the Fukushima/Daiichi nuclear plant.
The crisis however is far from over and the latest setback for the authorities came as the fuel rods at Fukushima Reactor 1 had been fully exposed and the melted fuel that has now accumulated at the bottom of the reactor vessel is in danger of leaking through, which could cause the release of radiation. A lesson learned that nuclear plants are vulnerable to unforeseen natural disasters, even in a country as technologically advanced as Japan.
The Japan crises also motivated the German government to change their nuclear plans, by reversing an earlier decision to extend the lifetime of existing reactors. The government ordered nearly half of its existing nuclear reactors to immediately stop operations and end the use of nuclear energy in exchange for renewable energy as quickly as possible.
Both countries has made strong statements against nuclear plants and other countries are sure to be influenced by this decision. Both countries are well positioned to lead the development of cutting edge technologies for harvesting renewable energy potential and to combine them into a robust and reliable energy system for a new era. Japan currently gets 30% of its electricity from nuclear and Germany with the 4th largest economy, get 25%.
The growing evidence that renewable energy will power most of the world by 2050 will have other countries not lag far behind Japan and Germany.