Nuclear Japan?

[NickB79]

2. Importing fuel is destroying their economy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-20/japan-trade-gap-widens-more-than-forecast-as-fuel-imports-surge.html

Japan posted its biggest October trade deficit on record, as a revival in exports to the U.S. and China was overwhelmed by the nation’s soaring costs for imported fuel in the wake of the nuclear industry’s shutdown.

The shortfall of 1.09 trillion yen ($10.9 billion) extended a record run of deficits to 16 months, and was larger than all 28 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey, a finance ministry report showed today in Tokyo. Imports (JNTBIMPY) climbed 26.1 percent from a year earlier, while exports gained 18.6 percent.

snip

Fossil fuels contributed to nearly half of the gain in imports, with the value of petroleum shipments to Japan soaring 67.8 percent from the previous year, and liquefied natural gas rising 39.4 percent. The large gain in October this year may partly reflect depressed imports a year earlier following a tax change for some fossil-fuel imports.

At this point, they have no choice but to restart the reactors in the short term, or risk long-term damage to their economy.

Really between a rock and a hard place, they are.