Japan could at least scale down if not close out nuclear program

Japan economy minister, Yukio Edano told Reuters during a break at a ministerial meeting hosted by the International Energy Agency in Paris that Japan would reduce if not eliminate its use of nuclear energy.  “I am certain that we are going to reduce nuclear power generation but whether we are going to reduce it to zero is a separate issue,” Edano said.  He said that a complete pullout from nuclear power was still under consideration, although new prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda appears more favorable to nuclear than his predecessor, Naoto Kan who declared the need to Japan to abandon nuclear energy. Edano (pictured) was seen daily at press briefings during the early stages of the Fukushima-Daiichi reactor crisis.