Restart of reactors is premature - Japan

[kristopher]

Restart of reactors is premature

Trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda on June 18 declared that the nation's 11 companies operating nuclear power facilities had taken adequate measures to handle severe accidents and called for restarting the power plants.

What occupies his mind is the fear of power shortages during the summer and of unstable power supplies hampering economic activities that may compel Japanese manufacturing firms to move their factories overseas.

Of Japan's 54 commercial reactors, 35 are out of operation because of either regular checks or damage from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

In view of the circumstances in which Mr. Kaieda's declaration and call were made, people will not yet be convinced that Japan's nuclear power plants are adequately safe.

People will not fully support...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20110624a1.html

[PearliePoo2]

1. Re-Start?? Are You kiddng?

Fukushima is beyond melt-down , it is at "melt-through".

[kristopher]

5. There are 11 reactors in Fukui Prefecture that the governor will not allow to restart.

That is just an example. The utilities are obligated to get permission from the governors before they can run reactors in the individual prefectures, and most of them are not allowing them to restart.

In fact, Fukui is right next to Kyoto and Kyoto wants the right to veto restart in Fukui.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukui_Prefecture

[PearliePoo2]

2. The pro nuke bots are at it and hitting un-rec . nt.

[Yo_Mama]

3. Until the lights go out I don't think the prefecture governments are going to buy it

Companies seem upset, but it is natural for each local area to look at the risks a different way.

Kan is supposed to resign soon anyway - that was a condition of the confidence vote. So what real authority or conviction can he bring to this argument?

It's not just being down to the 17 reactors - at least 4 of those reactors still in operation have to shut down by August for scheduled maintenance. Companies are extremely worried about this, because many of them moved operations centers from the areas which were originally supposed to see power rationing, and now they are being told that power consumption in the areas they shifted to will have to be cut 15% as well.

Some companies will have to move operations overseas, but in the meantime there is a major effort to bring other sources - including power from company plants - onto the grid for summer. If they can keep things basically running, I don't think the reactors will be restarted in most of these areas.

But it is a major crisis for Japan's grid in the higher-consumption regions, and it is an immediate crisis, and it is going to affect Japan's economy.

[kristopher]

4. Kan is being pushed out because he wants to move away from nuclear. BUT

...he doesn't seem inclined to cooperate. He has made passing a measure moving the country away from nuclear and towards renewables the condition of his leaving.

A consensus is emerging. It isn't ripe yet, but it is emerging. The prefectural governors are helping to shape it.

"...In Japan, an arc lamp was installed on a street corner in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1882. It attracted a crowd of visitors who came to see its 'dazzling brightness." A magazine at the time carried a caricature of a personified street lamp proudly saying, "We are going to light up every corner of the nation." As we know, those words proved true.

Times have changed. On the summer solstice, June 22, lights were switched off after dark across the nation and people spent their night in candle light. The movement, which started several years ago, grew on the back of environmental consciousness. This year, it had a special meaning. Electricity is no longer inexhaustible.

Come to think of it, it was not that long ago that whole families would stay in one room with their legs under a "kotatsu" (heated table) in winter. Television channels were changed manually. In the last three decades, electricity consumption per household has jumped more than 50 percent. In that time, the number of nuclear reactors grew from 23 to 54.

Building more reactors was a national policy. But did the number of reactors increase to meet growing demand? Or did we come to use more electricity because of the increased power supply? The relationship is difficult to understand, like that of the chicken and the egg. As a general rule, when we get lost in the mountains, we should stop and go back. There are new ways that can only be found by going back."

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106220179.html