Japan plans to restart reactors at Ohi nuclear plant

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17703313

Two of Japan's nuclear reactors have been declared safe and should be restarted to combat looming power shortages, the government says.

Since a tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima plant in 2011, residents have demanded reactors not be turned back on after routine maintenance.

The sole nuclear reactor still in action will be switched off in May.

Regional authorities need to give their approval before the two reactors at the Ohi plant in western Japan can restart.

[kristopher]

1. The restart is still uncertain

The neighboring population centers seem to be digging in their heels in opposition and while it isn't legally required, it will be a politically dangerous move to ignore their input. IMO the only safe path to restart is a very clear and concrete plan to shut the nations reactors down and replace them in a timely fashion. So far, the policies implemented have opened the market to renewables greatly, but the overall impression from the government is ambiguous - probably because the pronuclear forces in the bureaucracy are very strong.

[kristopher]

2. Analysis: Japan reactor restart debate swells beyond nuclear frontline

This deals with those neighboring areas.

Analysis: Japan reactor restart debate swells beyond nuclear frontline

(Reuters) - Japan's nuclear power industry had never spent much time or money winning over the hearts and minds of people like Susumu Takahashi, a fisherman angling for small sweetfish from the serene shores of Lake Biwa, a world away from any nuclear reactor.

But with the industry paralyzed after last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster, and badly in need of public trust to get moving again, it may wish it had gone to the trouble.

"If Lake Biwa gets contaminated, then that would be irreversible," said Takahashi, a doctor who regularly casts his line into the mountain-ringed lake in western Shiga prefecture, which contains none of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors but sits next to Fukui prefecture which hosts 13 of them.

"The lake is in our hands now but it is also for future generations, and contamination would be passed down for generations. I am against the restarts of halted reactors," adds the 61-year-old, sitting near a box crammed with fish, each no bigger than a finger, soon to be fried and served as tempura.

Prefectures like Shiga, which have never been courted by the nuclear industry ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/13/us-japan-nuclear-shiga-idUSBRE83C0BQ20120413