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Japan's Nuclear Energy Industry Nears Shutdown

Posted by Soulskill on from the less-power-to-the-people dept.

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."

12 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Reportage on Fukushima by olau · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Danish television had a reportage on the effect of the Fukushima incident on the people living nearby.

    After seeing the reportage, I can understand why they are shutting down the other reactors for the time being. It's one thing reading that nuclear power plants statistically kills very few compared to other sources of energy, it's another thing when you have to leave your ancestors home for 12 generations, or be stuck with a house that nobody will buy because even if it's outside the immediate danger zone and the authorities say it's safe, noone wants to take the risk.

    Whether fair or not, the incident violated the trust people had in the administrators of the nuclear tech, and it's going to take something to earn that trust back.

  2. Alternatives? by paleo2002 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And what are Japan, Germany, etc. going to do for energy once they've phased out their big, scary nuclear power plants? Unless they find a way to quickly and effectively implement large-scale solar plants/farms, geothermal, etc. they're going to resort to burning fossil fuel. A big step backwards because, under extreme circumstances, nuclear can be dangerous.

    You know what's even more dangerous than an accident at a nuclear plant? A world-wide war over the planet's dwindling fossil fuel supplies.

    1. Re:Alternatives? by olau · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I get the impression this is a temporary shutdown?

      As for Germany, speaking as someone coming from a neighbour country, it seems they're really into getting more renewable energy sources up and running. If you were really interested in this, as opposed to just complaining, you could check out the Wikipedia page on renewable energy in Germany.

      To be honest, I think the tech is there, it's just a question of dumping some money into it, and the increasing oil prices are helping with that. The Danish engineering society had a plan for Denmark to get rid of (I think?) 90+% of the current dependence on fossil fuels in 2050. We have no nuclear power plants.

    2. Re:Alternatives? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "You know what's even more dangerous than an accident at a nuclear plant?"

      cucumbers. ecoli in salad killed 40 people in europe last year.
      (aids, cars, air pollution, war, tobacco, heart disease, natural disasters, etc also come come out quite high)

  3. Low Power by Eggbloke · · Score: 5, Informative

    My dad was saying that Tokyo is depressing, apparently there are power shortages so most of the signs and escalators are turned off and the city is dark. How are they supposed to make up their energy requirements if they stop using nuclear?

    --
    I care not for your karma and your mod points.
    1. Re:Low Power by Tsian · · Score: 5, Informative

      That is not really true. There was a period of (planned) rolling blackouts, but in the end energy conservation (and increased generation) meant that, except for immediately after the quake, the lights didn't go off.

      However, many buildings (and stations) reduced lighting and took some escalators out of service. However, even those measures have mostly been abandoned, with escalators and the like operating as before (partly due to the fact that it wasn't practical to block off escalators in many of the busier stations). Many stores and offices, however, continue to turn off some of their lights.

      That said, even at "reduced" lighting, most Japanese stations are still incredibly well lit. We aren't talking about platforms half shrouded in shadow so much as a slight reduction in the overall brightness level.

      It will be interesting to see, however, what happens as we once again approach summer (and the increased energy demands due to A/C) combined with the current shut-down of nuclear power plants.

  4. Re:See? by Kreigaffe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, that sounds like JUST want we need -- Germany and Japan starving for energy.

    Certainly that will end well!

    --
    ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|
  5. Re:energy rations? by ommerson · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Japanese have been very successful in curbing demand. I was over in Japan for a week on a business trip last year, and it was interesting to see how they did it. This included absolutely all hand-driers in toilets being switched off, less air-conditioning (room temperature was set for 28C in the office), the business week of large corporations shifted to reduce peak-week-time demand and increase that on the weekend, and a move to more relaxed corporate dress-code - which included in many cases, a small towel attached to the waistband with which to mop off the sweat form the oppressive environment. There were no doubt more measures that I wasn't aware of, but life definitely carries on as normal without power cuts.

    Our suspicion is that this state of affairs will become the norm.

  6. Re:Need login to read an article? by icebraining · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's the NYT paywall - you just need to change the '_r' parameter in the URL to 0 instead of 4.

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    Dilbert RSS feed
  7. Re:energy rations? by El+Torico · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I lived in northern Japan last year during the summer. The Japanese voluntarily cut back their electricity use so much that they didn't need to impose energy rationing. I don't know if that has changed since I left.

    --
    In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
  8. Re:energy rations? by wrook · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I live in Japan. Life here isn't like it is in the west. Before the tsunami the air conditioner in the office was set to 26 degrees C. After it was set to 28 decrees C. In the winter, the heater was set to 15 degrees C before the tsunami and 14 degrees C after. Even then, because it was a cold winter where I am, they ended up pushing up the thermostat to 15 degrees anyway.

    BTW, I work in a school and the class rooms are unheated/uncooled just like always.

    Conservation works reasonably well. The problem was that the Japanese were already conserving.

  9. Re:See? by borrrden · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Probably not....Japanese people are much more willing to put up with personal discomfort for the sake of the collective. A big part of their culture revolves around keeping harmony with the people around them, so speaking up with a complaint is unbecoming. Also having an idea that differs from other peoples' is frowned upon. This summer will probably turn out to be the same as last summer, with the rolling blackouts making a comeback. Although since more power plants have been shut down, the radius of blackouts might be extended. I don't know what my company will do during the blackouts if they come to our area, since we develop software and obviously can't do that with no power ;P.