Japan moves to open some nuclear plants
THE LOCAL assembly in a Japanese town that hosts a nuclear plant agreed yesterday it was necessary to restart two off-line reactors, its chairman said, the first such nod since all the country’s stations were halted after the Fukushima crisis.
But further discussion lies ahead before two reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi plant in western Japan can be reconnected to the grid.
With power shortages looming in the region when demand peaks this summer, the central government has been trying to win approval from towns and prefectures that host reactors. All 50 reactors have been off-line since the last one shut down for maintenance on 5 May.
Nuclear power produced nearly 30 per cent of Japan’s electricity before the tsunami and Fukushima crisis last year.
The government is working on an energy mix policy it hopes to unveil this summer, replacing a programme that had aimed to boost the share of atomic power to more than 50 per cent by 2030.
However Greenpeace said the government’s “reckless push” to get reactors back in service “has left many communities thinking they have to choose between risks to their health and safety, and risks to their jobs and prosperity.”