Energy common sense is in short supply these days, so all the more reason to cheer Japan for rethinking its flight from nuclear power. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday unveiled plans to return nuclear energy to a central place in the country’s electric grid.
Tokyo will aim to bring seven reactors back into service, for a total of 17, and will invest in developing and installing next-generation reactors. Nuclear plants generated about a third of the country’s electricity 20 years ago, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, but that has fallen to 7.2%. Most of the country’s 33 operational reactors have been offline for years undergoing safety checks.
