Japan abolishing Nuclear Power

[Mllcg]

TOKYO: Japan will abandon nuclear power within the next three decades under new government policy on the post-Fukushima energy mix, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

 

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration will declare its intention to permanently shut down reactors by some time in the 2030s, the Mainichi Shimbun reported, citing unnamed government sources.

 

The move would bring resource-poor Japan into line with Germany, which has said it will wean itself off nuclear power by 2022, and comes as regular vocal protests against nuclear power continue.

 

The government "will formally decide at an energy and environment meeting this weekend" to stop the use of nuclear power, the paper said.

 

Tokyo has worked to hammer out a new energy policy in the wake of last year's crisis, when reactors at Fukushima were swamped by the tsunami, sparking meltdowns that spread radiation over a large area.

 

In the months that followed, Japan's entire stable of reactors were shut down for routine safety checks, with only two of them ever having been restarted, and those in spite of often vocal public protest.

 

Last week, Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) issued a policy recommendation saying Japan should "put every political resource to realise a situation where the number of nuclear plants operated be zero in the 2030s".

 

The DPJ listed three principles to achieve this: not constructing new nuclear plants, stopping old nuclear plants after 40 years of operation, and only approving the restart of nuclear plants that had passed safety checks by a nuclear regulator.

 

The policy paper recommended Japan make greater use of renewable energy, and take further energy saving measures, including the use of smart metering.

 

It also said Japan should develop resources in nearby waters and look to cheaper procurement of liquefied natural gas and other fossil fuels, including shale gas.

 

Japan, with precious few resources of its own, is presently heavily dependent on oil from the Middle East and has been forced to ramp up its imports to make up the energy shortfall over the last 18 months.

 

Nuclear had provided around a third of the country's electricity before the disaster at Fukushima.

 

Noda said Monday he will incorporate the DPJ's recommendations into his new energy policy, which is expected to be finalised later this week.

 

Ahead of a general election expected this autumn, nuclear energy has become a hot button issue in Japan with regular protests that sometimes attract tens of thousands of people calling for it to be ditched.

 

At the same time the country's powerful business lobbies have worked hard to push for a restart of shuttered reactors, fearing power shortages.

 

Germany last year said it would shut down its 17 nuclear reactors by 2022, while in Italy, a referendum rejected any resumption of nuclear energy generation, which was halted after the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl.

 

Switzerland has approved plans to close its five reactors by 2034. However a number of Asian countries are pushing ahead with expanding their nuclear programmes.

 

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp...1225541/1/.html

[PorkChong]

just a move to keep his people happy and his pm job safe for the time being while the ones taking over him in future will have a hard time solving the power shortage.

[LoverofCar]

Go solar is the only way for human race...

[Mockngbrd]

Yes!!!! BURN MORE FOSSIL FUELS instead!!!

[Wt_know]

nuclear power is the easy way out for power hungry ...

no matter how tight the control is ... nuclear waste is undestroyable for the next hundreds years !!!

 

abolish nuclear is the way to go

 

[Mllcg]

nuclear power is the easy way out for power hungry ...

no matter how tight the control is ... nuclear waste is undestroyable for the next hundreds years !!!

 

abolish nuclear is the way to go

 

its the only way left.

 

with our fossil fuels and oil expected to run out in <100 years time, where else can we get power?

[Mustank]

nuclear power is the easy way out for power hungry ...

no matter how tight the control is ... nuclear waste is undestroyable for the next hundreds years !!!

 

abolish nuclear is the way to go

 

Mankind brought this upon itself. in the past, we were offerred this:

 

 

but we wanted knowledge, technology

 

[1fast1]

 

I actually remember seeing that movie back in the theatre when it first came out. I remember the fateful Coca-cola bottle fall.

 

Now, there are schoolkids who don't even know that Coca-cola once came in glass bottles.

 

Shows how old I am, I guess.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Turboflat4

[RadX]

er....jurrasic?

[Tcx607]

Likelyhood...human may find better means to generate power.

I hope H2O fission will prove a better choice to generate power. Solar will be the next solution if technology able to make it economical and easy to generate. Current solar technology is still very pre-mature and expensive to maintenance.

Edited September 12, 2012 by Tcx607

[Mllcg]

Likelyhood...human may find better means to generate power.

I hope H2O fission will prove a better choice to generate power. Solar will be the next solution if technology able to make it economical and easy to generate. Current solar technology is still very pre-mature and expensive to maintenance.

Solar also not possible. Daytime has sun. Night how? We not talking small scale. If u wanna power a city, how many batteries u wanna have to last the night?

[Happily1986]

I actually remember seeing that movie back in the theatre when it first came out. I remember the fateful Coca-cola bottle fall.

 

Now, there are schoolkids who don't even know that Coca-cola once came in glass bottles.

 

Shows how old I am, I guess.

 

so you reckon you are an old fart now?

 

[Watwheels]

Maybe they will build dams on their rivers as an alternative.

[Hotshot85]

Who else here wonders if another global conflict will occur soon over water and power supply?

[ER-3682]

Those few "Islands" Japan 'fighting' with China & Korea claimed to have huge natural gas & oil deposit,maybe part of the reason behind it.

Edited September 12, 2012 by ER-3682

[Gitanic]

Q......if Singapore uses Nuclear will you consider move to other country?

[Hotshot85]

If it means cheaper utility bills then no, I'll stay put.

[Jamesc]

If there is one country that knows the danger of radiation,

its Japan. They should never have used nuclear power in the first place.

 

Japan's economy is in the doldrums and many engineers are unemployed, the best solution

is to get these engineers making solar panels and wind turbines.

 

There is always typhoons in Japan and that is a lot of wind.

Japan is surrounded by coastline and they can have wave power below the sea

and wind turbines above the sea.

 

Lastly they have so many hotsprings and that is geo thermal energy.

They are one of the best countries to use renewable energy.

 

I salute Son san of Softbank on organisating a conference on

renewable energy.

 

Edited September 12, 2012 by Jamesc