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TOKYO, May 10 (UPI) -- Japan's prime minister says the country will abandon plans to build new nuclear reactors and will "start from scratch" in creating a new energy policy. Under a plan released by Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government last year, Japan was to build 14 more nuclear reactors by 2030 and increase the share of nuclear power in Japan's electricity supply to 50 percent.
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"We need to start from scratch," Kan said. "We need to make nuclear energy safer and do more to promote renewable energy."
His statement came as residents of evacuated areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were allowed to briefly revisit their homes for the first time since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March caused the nuclear accident, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
About 100 residents, evacuated from an area close the Fukushima plant, returned to their homes Tuesday for 2 hours to collect their belongings under a government program.
The residents had to wear protective suits to guard against radiation, officials said. The report said for some of them, it was their first visit home since April 22 when the government issued the mandatory evacuation from a 12-mile area around the nuclear plant, CNN reported.
Officials said they would soon allow some residents to retrieve pets they had left behind during the evacuation.
The Japanese government has been facing criticism for allegedly taking hours to deliver a map on radioactive leaks from a quake-hit nuclear plant to local officials, sources told Kyodo News.
The sources from the Fukushima prefectural government said there was a delay of more than 8 hours by the federal government in sending the map showing areas likely to have atmospheric radioactive emissions following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the report said.
Such maps during emergencies help local governments take immediate safety steps but the delay may have impeded the Fukushima government's evacuation efforts, the sources said.
A government agency responsible for making the maps was quoted as saying a dedicated line for sending the document had been destroyed. The local government finally got the map through e-mail without sufficient data on radiation, the report said.
Separately, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. operator of the Fukushima plant, citing funding problems, has asked for government aid to pay compensation to those affected by the nuclear crisis.
Tokyo Electric President Masataka Shimizu, who sent the request to the government, told reporters his company accepts its liability and would like to disburse the compensation quickly, but has problems raising funds, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal, quoting Merrill Lynch estimates, said the payments could run into the billions of dollars.
The government wants more restructuring at the company in exchange for its support, including more cuts in corporate compensation, the report said.
Shimizu said eight board members, including himself, would get no compensation. Company managing directors would take a 60 percent salary cut while regular employees would see a 20 percent reduction. Additional asset sales also have not been ruled out.
