Post by jeffolie on Jul 15, 2011 9:49:19 GMT -6
Japan slowly ends ALL nuke energy + 4 more may follow
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Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan calls for phase-out of nuclear power
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a television address to the country Wednesday that Japan should decrease and eventually eliminate its reliance on nuclear energy.
“We will aim to bring about a society that can exist without nuclear power,” he said.
The statement was Kan’s clearest yet about the appropriate long-term energy goals for a country dealing with the worst nuclear crisis in a quarter-century. But Kan did not address the strategy behind such a phase-out or its potential economic toll.
For four months now — as the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has leaked radiation — nuclear energy and its future here have polarized Japan, with thousands of protesters demanding its abandonment and some government officials insisting it remains necessary. Before this week, Kan had remained publicly ambivalent, calling for a boost in renewable energy sources but giving few clues about the government’s views on long-term nuclear reliance.
Kan told lawmakers Tuesday that Japan must scrap a plan that calls for the country to increase its use of nuclear power to 53 percent by 2030, up from the pre-quake level of roughly 30 percent. And he took a stand Wednesday against the government’s long-peddled slogan about the safety of nuclear power — the “safety myth” that allowed for the construction of 54 reactors over four decades.
“Through my experience of the March 11 accident, I came to realize the risk of nuclear energy is too high,” Kan said. “It involves technology that cannot be controlled according to our conventional concept of safety.”
Kan’s energy plan faces numerous obstacles, from within his own government and from the utility companies that act as regional monopolies. There is also the matter of Kan’s own domestic unpopularity and his waning authority to guide the country; Kan suggested last month that he would soon resign but subsequently carried on as if he had never said such a thing.
No matter who leads the country, though, Japan’s government must map out the details of its short- and long-term energy strategies, analysts say — in part so it can avoid an energy crisis. Already, 35 of the country’s 54 reactors are offline, either damaged, halted by the earthquake and resulting tsunami, or down for routine repairs. Since March 11, Japan has been unable to restart any of its reactors, scuttled by local opposition and its own meandering policies. That alone has led to nationwide energy shortages, tightening margins for businesses and ensuring a sweaty summer for major cities.
But the energy shortages could become more severe in coming months as the reactors that are still operating come offline for scheduled tests. If Japan does not find a way to restart its reactors, the country could be entirely without nuclear energy by April, according to experts.
On Wednesday, the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second-largest paper, ran a front-page editorial calling for the phase-out of nuclear energy. But the piece also warned against immediate abandonment.
“If we go to zero suddenly, we will encounter power shortages, and our lives and economic activities will be hugely affected,” the editorial said. “It is more realistic to not try too hard but to steadily decrease the dependency.”
www.washingtonpost.com/world/japans-prime-minister-calls-for-phase-out-of-nuclear-power/2011/07/13/gIQAXxUJCI_story.html?hpid=z4
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5 countries joining Japan in rethinking nuclear energy
"....Germany
Germany announced plans in late May to close all the country's nuclear power plants by 2022 -- making it the largest industrialized nation to do so. Nuclear power supplies 23 percent of its energy grid. Since the Japan disaster it has permanently shuttered eight plants (including the seven oldest in the country). That leaves nine plants to go -- six of which, the government announced, will close up by 2021.
This isn't the first time Germany tried to shutter its nuclear plants. The previous center-left government had a similar plan, though it was reversed last September by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition, which said the technology was still necessary. Fukushima changed all that.
The country plans to make up the difference by cutting energy usage by 10 percent, it said, with more energy efficient appliances and buildings and to increase the use of wind energy.
Switzerland
No neutrality here -- the government announced in May it too was taking a side against nuclear technology, in response to Japan's disaster. Nuclear energy accounts for roughly 40 percent of Switzerland's energy supply. Its five nuclear reactors won't fully be phased out, experts estimate, until 2040.
The move is popular with the Swiss citizens -- 20,000 of whom demonstrated against the technology before the government's decision.
Italy
Last month, Silvio Berlusconi's plans to return Italy to the nuclear club were dashed by a referendum that found 90 percent of Italians rejected the technology.
As a result the embattled prime minister said, "We shall probably have to say goodbye to nuclear [energy]." He noted that the government will instead shift its energies to developing renewable energy sources.
Berlusconi had been trying to reconstitute an industry that was already abandoned once before -- back in 1987. Currently there are no nuclear plants, but the prime minister hoped to get nuclear power to account for a quarter of the country's energy needs and planned to begin building new plants by as early as 2013.
Mexico
Despite the fact that nuclear energy only accounts for less than 5 percent of the market in Mexico, which has only one plant, a recent worldwide survey found that Mexico was one of the most anti-nuclear countries in the world, with about 80 percent of its population opposing the power source. That doesn't bode well for future nuclear development.
Mexico is one of only three Latin American nations that uses nuclear power. And last year the country delayed a decision until at least 2012 on whether to go ahead with plans to build 10 more plants, according to the country's energy minister.
President Felipe Calderon has said he'd push to make sure "clean energy" accounts for at least 35 percent of the country's energy needs.
France
Let's be clear, France is unlikely to ditch nuclear power completely anytime soon. A longtime champion of the technology, it accounts for 75 percent of the country's energy needs. But there are indications political leaders are falling out of love -- ever so slightly -- with the power source. On Friday, July 8 the government launched a study of energy technologies that included one potential scenario of completely doing away with nuclear power by 2040. It's the first time the government has ever even mentioned the possibility. A more likely result of the study will be cutting the nuclear share of the market. Indeed, France has increased its investment in wind energy lately.
The government is likely responding to growing public pressure to do away with nuclear energy. A recent BBC survey found 57 percent of French respondents opposed the technology.
blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/07/13/reactor_reaction_5_countries_joining_japan_in_rethinking_nuclear_energy
====================================================
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan calls for phase-out of nuclear power
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a television address to the country Wednesday that Japan should decrease and eventually eliminate its reliance on nuclear energy.
“We will aim to bring about a society that can exist without nuclear power,” he said.
The statement was Kan’s clearest yet about the appropriate long-term energy goals for a country dealing with the worst nuclear crisis in a quarter-century. But Kan did not address the strategy behind such a phase-out or its potential economic toll.
For four months now — as the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has leaked radiation — nuclear energy and its future here have polarized Japan, with thousands of protesters demanding its abandonment and some government officials insisting it remains necessary. Before this week, Kan had remained publicly ambivalent, calling for a boost in renewable energy sources but giving few clues about the government’s views on long-term nuclear reliance.
Kan told lawmakers Tuesday that Japan must scrap a plan that calls for the country to increase its use of nuclear power to 53 percent by 2030, up from the pre-quake level of roughly 30 percent. And he took a stand Wednesday against the government’s long-peddled slogan about the safety of nuclear power — the “safety myth” that allowed for the construction of 54 reactors over four decades.
“Through my experience of the March 11 accident, I came to realize the risk of nuclear energy is too high,” Kan said. “It involves technology that cannot be controlled according to our conventional concept of safety.”
Kan’s energy plan faces numerous obstacles, from within his own government and from the utility companies that act as regional monopolies. There is also the matter of Kan’s own domestic unpopularity and his waning authority to guide the country; Kan suggested last month that he would soon resign but subsequently carried on as if he had never said such a thing.
No matter who leads the country, though, Japan’s government must map out the details of its short- and long-term energy strategies, analysts say — in part so it can avoid an energy crisis. Already, 35 of the country’s 54 reactors are offline, either damaged, halted by the earthquake and resulting tsunami, or down for routine repairs. Since March 11, Japan has been unable to restart any of its reactors, scuttled by local opposition and its own meandering policies. That alone has led to nationwide energy shortages, tightening margins for businesses and ensuring a sweaty summer for major cities.
But the energy shortages could become more severe in coming months as the reactors that are still operating come offline for scheduled tests. If Japan does not find a way to restart its reactors, the country could be entirely without nuclear energy by April, according to experts.
On Wednesday, the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second-largest paper, ran a front-page editorial calling for the phase-out of nuclear energy. But the piece also warned against immediate abandonment.
“If we go to zero suddenly, we will encounter power shortages, and our lives and economic activities will be hugely affected,” the editorial said. “It is more realistic to not try too hard but to steadily decrease the dependency.”
www.washingtonpost.com/world/japans-prime-minister-calls-for-phase-out-of-nuclear-power/2011/07/13/gIQAXxUJCI_story.html?hpid=z4
===============================
5 countries joining Japan in rethinking nuclear energy
"....Germany
Germany announced plans in late May to close all the country's nuclear power plants by 2022 -- making it the largest industrialized nation to do so. Nuclear power supplies 23 percent of its energy grid. Since the Japan disaster it has permanently shuttered eight plants (including the seven oldest in the country). That leaves nine plants to go -- six of which, the government announced, will close up by 2021.
This isn't the first time Germany tried to shutter its nuclear plants. The previous center-left government had a similar plan, though it was reversed last September by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition, which said the technology was still necessary. Fukushima changed all that.
The country plans to make up the difference by cutting energy usage by 10 percent, it said, with more energy efficient appliances and buildings and to increase the use of wind energy.
Switzerland
No neutrality here -- the government announced in May it too was taking a side against nuclear technology, in response to Japan's disaster. Nuclear energy accounts for roughly 40 percent of Switzerland's energy supply. Its five nuclear reactors won't fully be phased out, experts estimate, until 2040.
The move is popular with the Swiss citizens -- 20,000 of whom demonstrated against the technology before the government's decision.
Italy
Last month, Silvio Berlusconi's plans to return Italy to the nuclear club were dashed by a referendum that found 90 percent of Italians rejected the technology.
As a result the embattled prime minister said, "We shall probably have to say goodbye to nuclear [energy]." He noted that the government will instead shift its energies to developing renewable energy sources.
Berlusconi had been trying to reconstitute an industry that was already abandoned once before -- back in 1987. Currently there are no nuclear plants, but the prime minister hoped to get nuclear power to account for a quarter of the country's energy needs and planned to begin building new plants by as early as 2013.
Mexico
Despite the fact that nuclear energy only accounts for less than 5 percent of the market in Mexico, which has only one plant, a recent worldwide survey found that Mexico was one of the most anti-nuclear countries in the world, with about 80 percent of its population opposing the power source. That doesn't bode well for future nuclear development.
Mexico is one of only three Latin American nations that uses nuclear power. And last year the country delayed a decision until at least 2012 on whether to go ahead with plans to build 10 more plants, according to the country's energy minister.
President Felipe Calderon has said he'd push to make sure "clean energy" accounts for at least 35 percent of the country's energy needs.
France
Let's be clear, France is unlikely to ditch nuclear power completely anytime soon. A longtime champion of the technology, it accounts for 75 percent of the country's energy needs. But there are indications political leaders are falling out of love -- ever so slightly -- with the power source. On Friday, July 8 the government launched a study of energy technologies that included one potential scenario of completely doing away with nuclear power by 2040. It's the first time the government has ever even mentioned the possibility. A more likely result of the study will be cutting the nuclear share of the market. Indeed, France has increased its investment in wind energy lately.
The government is likely responding to growing public pressure to do away with nuclear energy. A recent BBC survey found 57 percent of French respondents opposed the technology.
blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/07/13/reactor_reaction_5_countries_joining_japan_in_rethinking_nuclear_energy