Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
Japan to close down last nuclear reactor on Saturday | Japan's last running nuclear reactor is scheduled to shut down on Saturday, resulting in the complete shutdown of 50-strong reactors in the country, leaving it without nuclear power for the first time since 1966. It is unclear for how long the reactors will be closed. Most of the
country's reactors had been closed down for routine maintenance, but then left offline while
their safety was being reviewed, the
Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, Japan is feeling the absence of its reactors
in everything from threatened power shortages and electric-rate increases to strained
power grids. Japan's Government is making efforts to restart two units in western
Japan before energy demand rose during summer, which produced roughly 30 percent of the
country's electricity, stay offline. Owing to fears about safety, local
communities had demanded the shutdown of reactors after last year's devastating
accident in Fukushima. Before the Fukushima accident, Japan's energy policy
called for a 'nuclear-powered nation' encouraging the funding of new reactors
and that had planned as many as 40 percent of its electricity from atomic energy
by 2030. Post Fukushima , the agency pulled its nuclear-energy policy from its
website, and the government said that was hoping to come up with a new policy
this summer. Japan 's ruling party has said that it was now aiming to reduce the
country's dependence on nuclear energy. Some of Japan 's older reactors, or those
situated in the most earthquake-prone spots, may never get approval to restart.
Japan is now purchasing gas and oil to make up for the loss of nuclear energy,
and had bought 4.7 trillion yuan worth of liquefied natural gas in 2011, one-third
more than in the previous year. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the operator
of the Fukushima Daiichi plant and one of the earliest utilities to feel the crunch
from the loss of its reactors, has asked its maintenance crews to speed things
by working double shifts to meet up to the demand.
|
|
|
|
|
|