Japan without nuclear power, first time since 1970

[marmar]

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japan's Hokkaido Electric Power Co. closed the nation's last remaining nuclear power plant in operation on Saturday, leaving Japan without any nuclear-power source for this first time in over 40 years, according to reports. In the year before Japan's catastrophic Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, nuclear power supplied 26.4% of the country's electricity, with more than 30 plants in operation, Kyodo News reported. The Japanese government hopes to restart two downed reactors in Fukui prefecture to deal with anticipated power shortages, but public opinion remains opposed to such a move, Kyodo reported. The last time Japan went without nuclear power was in the spring of 1970, just four years after commercial nuclear power generation began in Japan, when the nation had just two reactors.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-without-nuclear-power-first-time-since-1970-2012-05-06?link=MW_home_latest_news

[xchrom]

1. They'll live. Buh-bye nuclear power.

Don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

[felix_numinous]

2. Wow it just took one year

to decommission 30 nuclear power plants. What an impressive task. US has 104 nuclear power plants.

http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/usnuclearpowerplants/

[felix_numinous]

4. Japan mulls shift to renewable energy

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/03/2780781/crisis-hit-japan-mulls-shift-to.html

I am in awe of Japan, for their ability to recover from natural and unnatural disasters. We all have so much to learn from them.

[LAGC]

3. Great. So how much coal are they importing now?

I'm sure its done wonders to the environment...