Pre-Fukushima nearly all 54 of Japan's nuclear power stations were operating. They produced 30% of Japan's electricity. Now only 11 are operating. By April it will probably be none.
This is not a decision by the Japanese Government or the industry. It's the municipal authorities that are refusing to allow reactors to generate after they have been shut down for maintenance.
A new nuclear disaster somewhere in the world is virtually certain within the next ten years. The UK could then be littered with half-built reactors. They are always years late and vastly over-budget. An expensive mega-spin operation by Government and industry has blacked out the awful truth about Fukushima in the British media. Another disaster would kill the world's faith in the false nuclear god.
Within just a few weeks of Fukushima, the German government announced that all eight of the nation's reactors that were built prior to 1981 were to be temporarily shut down as a precaution and to allow time for safety checks. On 26 March, Germany witnessed its largest ever anti-nuclear demonstration when 250,000 people marched demanding that the government "heed Fukushima". By the end of May, Chancellor Angela Merkel had confirmed that Germany would speed up its retreat from nuclear and by 2022, would have shut down the last of its reactors. To compensate, it would instead ramp up its supply of renewables from 17% to 35%.
The UK had no such reaction. The Pied Piper of nuclear power has bewitched both politicians and press.
Also have you seen the latest from the French regulator about French reactors?
http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2061541
Some snips:
"The safety margins of French nuclear facilities should be increased ‘as rapidly as possible,’ the French nuclear regulator has concluded ...
ASN has asked licensees to take a series of measures and reinforce the safety requirements relevant to the prevention of earthquake, flooding and other industrial risks.
French nuclear power plant operator EDF is required, before the end of 2012, to set up an emergency nuclear task force to intervene at the site of a nuclear accident within 24 hours. ASN also requires spent fuel pools at various nuclear facilities to be reinforced to reduce the risk of dewatering."
Does EDF have an "emergency nuclear task force" in the UK for our different kind of gas reactors that they bought?
Posted by: rwendland | January 13, 2012 at 02:36 PM
Reuters has it down to five still operating, after Ikata-2 shuts down today for planned
maintenance:
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL3E8CD1BB20120113
Posted by: rwendland | January 13, 2012 at 02:28 PM