Japan’s lower house of parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to promote investment in solar and other renewable energy sources as politicians took a step towards the prime minister’s goal of reducing reliance on nuclear power.
Damage and the radiation leak at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has shattered the public’s confidence in the safety of atomic power and plunged the country’s energy policy into disarray. Ahead of the disaster, Japan had planned to build enough reactors to raise nuclear power supply to meet 50 percent of demand by 2030 from 30 percent.
