Japan May Be 'Momentarily'
Without Nuclear Power
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
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Japan may go
"momentarily" without nuclear power
next month when the only one reactor still in operation
shuts down for maintenance work, the country's industry
minister warned Sunday.
Yukio Edano
made the comment as the government prepared to restart two
offline nuclear reactors
amid criticism from media and environmental groups skeptical
over the safety of atomic power after the Fukushima
accident.
"The number of nuclear
reactors operating across the country may go down to zero,
perhaps momentarily, from May 6," he said in a seminar in
Tokushima, western Japan.
The government of Prime
Minister Yoshihiko Noda
announced on Friday that it was safe and necessary to
restart the reactors at the Oi
nuclear power plant in western Japan, which could
help prevent power shortages in the summer months.
Only one of Japan's 54
reactors -- in northernmost
Hokkaido -- is in operation at present, but it is scheduled
to be shut down for maintenance work on May 5.
But it was not certain if and
when the government could gain approval from regional
authorities around the Oi plant for the reactors to be
restarted amid persistent public distrust.
"Without nuclear reactors, it
is understandable that there will be considerable strain on
many areas in this summer," Edano added.
Edano on Saturday called on
the governor of Fukui, where the Oi plant is located. The
governor, Issei Nishikawa, did not give an immediate
response to his request for approval of the plan.
But the major daily Mainichi
Shimbun said Sunday: "It is hard to understand why the
government is in such a haste to restart the reactors."
It added in an editorial that
more thorough checks were needed to ensure safety.
"Independent studies show
that there will be no power shortages," said Wakao Hanaoka,
the Japan campaign manager for the environment watchdog
Greenpeace.
A massive earthquake and
tsunami in March last year caused reactor meltdowns at the
Fukushima Daiichi plant.
None of reactors shut for regular checks before the disaster
have resumed operation amid safety concerns.
"The nuclear industry and the
government were totally unprepared for the disaster at
Fukushima Daiichi and now they are trying to pretend they
can call Oi safe without improving safety or emergency
measures," Hanaoka said.
The government set criteria
nine days ago for restarting nuclear reactors included
measures to prevent a nuclear accident even if reactors are
hit by natural disasters as severe as those that ravaged the
Fukushima plant.
"It is uncertain if the plan
will ever gain an understanding of communities which have
raised objections to the resumption of the reactors," the
Asahi Shimbun reported Sunday.
The influential daily
criticised the Noda administration for being "inconsistent"
over its nuclear power policy.
Before Noda took office last
September, he promised to follow his predecessor Naoto Kan
in ridding Japan of nuclear power, Asahi said.
But he backtracked last
January when he said in a policy speech that the
resources-poor country would reduce its dependence on
nuclear power "as much as possible on a medium- and
long-term basis".
Striking
a more positive tone, the conservative daily Sankei Shimbun
called on Noda to visit Fukui himself and "speak clearly in
his own words about his government's energy policy and why
it is necessary to restart reactors".
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