Japan's Nuclear Energy Industry Nears Shutdown

mdsolar sends this quote from an article at the NY Times: "All but two of Japan's 54 commercial reactors have gone offline since the nuclear disaster a year ago, after the earthquake and tsunami, and it is not clear when they can be restarted. With the last operating reactor scheduled to be idled as soon as next month, Japan — once one of the world's leaders in atomic energy — will have at least temporarily shut down an industry that once generated a third of its electricity. With few alternatives, the prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has called for restarting the plants as soon as possible, saying he supports a gradual phase-out of nuclear power over several decades. Yet, fearing public opposition, he has said he will not restart the reactors without the approval of local community leaders."

Comments

Shutting down is the right thing to do

[dtjohnson]

Nuclear power is very expensive, generates toxic dangerous waste that requires long-term storage, and has the sizable potential to contaminate large areas of land making them uninhabitable for decades. Other power generation methods are much better.

over reaction my ass !!

[Anonymous Coward]

Entire towns are fucking uninhabitable, yet some of you fuckers are talking about this being an over reaction ??????!!!!!!! When you live in Japan its a completely different story, easy to talk that pro nuclear talk when you're thousands of miles away. Melt down and radiation contamination happens in your fucking backyard and you will change your tune, you fucking nuclear industry shills !!!