Community | May 06, 2012 | 22 comments

Japan Nuclear Power-Free As Last Reactor Shuts!!!

source: http://world.einnews.com/article/94466093

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http://world.einnews.com/article/94466093

Japan nuclear power-free as last reactor shuts
Sat May 5, 2012 8:32am GMT


TOKYO May 5 (Reuters) - Japanese utility Hokkaido Electric Power Co began shutting the country's last active nuclear reactor on Saturday, leaving the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since 1970.

A crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where an earthquake and tsunami in March last year triggered radiation leaks, has hammered public faith in nuclear power and prevented the restart of reactors shut down for regular maintenance checks.

Hokkaido Electric said it started lowering output from the 912-megawatt No.3 unit at Tomari nuclear plant in northern Japan at 5 p. m. (0800 GMT).

The maintenance on the unit is set to begin at around 11 p.m. (1400 GMT) when power generation falls to zero, with the unit to be shut down completely by the early hours of Sunday.

The shutdown means all of Japan's 50 reactors have been taken off line, marking the country's first nuclear power-free day since May 1970.

Trade Minister Yukio Edano and three other ministers have been trying to win the support of communities to reactivate two idled reactors at Kansai Electric Power's Ohi nuclear plant to help ease expected power shortages of nearly 20 percent in coming hot-weather months.

The two Ohi reactors are the first to be considered for reactivation by the central government, but it faces an uphill battle of winning public support.

Kansai Electric's expected deficit for this summer was the highest among four Japanese nuclear plant operators that forecast shortfalls when demand peaks in the summer.

The last time Japan was nuclear power-free was for five days to May 4, 1970, when the two reactors then existing were shut for maintenance, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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22 comments // Japan Nuclear Power-Free As Last Reactor Shuts!!!

  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  

    • The good news is that old, unsafe first generation nuclear power plants are all shut down in Japan, and also shutting down in Germany and England.
      The bad news is that they plan to replace it with coal, oil and gas (until solar and wind can supply more than 5% of their electricity demand) which will mean billions more tons of carbon, methane, mercury, lead, acid and radioactive fly ash released every year into the atmosphere, forests and oceans, exacerbating global warming exponentially.
      This is nothing to celebrate.

    • 1 year ago
  • mitekillem
    • 0
      mitekillem  
    • coolplanet:

      For a country that's thought to be home to some of the brightest engineers, you'd imagine they'd find a cleaner/safer solution than Nuclear reactors, i.e. Geothermal/Ocean Current/Solar. Two of those should be a no-brainer considering the level of geothermal activity they experiences plus the fact that they're surrounded by ocean.

      -interesting side note. If I ever figure out a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere into a solid form, I will be a rich mo-fo.

    • 1 year ago
  • Swisher
    • +3
      Swisher  

    • Great that they've shut down these OLD plants, but now they'll be burning oil and gas for their power. Yes, they will step up use of solar, wind and geo, but that will never be enough to power the country as a whole. I hope this will force the research necessary for the next technology that can provide alternate power.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • Swisher:

      Very good points.
      Have you heard of the exciting new electric company, SEFE, which harnesses atmospheric electricity with balloons and blimps? I plan to post a story about this and invest in this promising new company. This is what Nikola Tesla was talking about.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • Swisher
    • 0
      Swisher  
    • artemis6:

      Actually, I do. Wind and solar are never constant. They can not be relied upon to be the sole source of power - ever. It's the dirty little secret of wind and solar that few talk about. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for those sources as supplemental, but we still need an alternate, consistent source of energy. Will there be a day when geothermal will be sufficient for ALL of Japan's energy needs? Highly unlikely, and they'd still need to come up with a way to convey that energy from areas that have it to those that don't. Today, such methods are impractical and still on the drawing table.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  
    • Swisher:

      Are you aware there are some good battery options to store the excess for later use ? The wind farms in my state are OFTEN asked to shut down because they produce too much power ...

    • 1 year ago
  • Swisher
    • 0
      Swisher  
    • artemis6:

      I am aware. There are also many other strategies being used to store that excess power, such as pumping water to an elevated level for later generation, storing the energy as heat in salt mines, even automated systems that heat water in residences so that heating won't be required during peak hours. Unfortunately, none of that can replace a constant and reliable source of energy.

    • 1 year ago
  • RichLoudMagic
  • circlesquared
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +1
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  

    • After Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it seems a third catastrophe was the charm. What more will citizens of the United States have to suffer before we collectively demand that they get that life ending get rich quick technology out of our country?

    • 1 year ago
  • circlesquared
  • David__H
  • artemis6
  • circlesquared
  • JanforGore
  • artemis6
  • circlesquared
  • circlesquared
    • +3
      circlesquared  

    • HURRAY JAPAN...too bad it took the continued poisoning of the Earth from Fukushima to realize the stupidity of nuclear tea pots. Germany understands too...will the rest of us get it as well or continue to fight with systems rather than work within them?

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • circlesquared
  • artemis6
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