Japan shuts down last nuclear reactor
A power company is due to suspend Japan's sole operating reactor on Saturday night for scheduled maintenance, leaving the nation without nuclear-generated electricity following the 2011 atomic disaster at Fukushima.
Hokkaido Electric Power Co was to shut down Reactor 3 at Tomari Nuclear Power Plant on the northern Japanese island about 11pm (midnight AEST). It will join the other 49 units suspended for check-ups or accidents.
It would be the first time in 42 years that none of Japan's nuclear reactors is in operation.
Japanese power companies have been unable to reactivate their idled reactors because of public fears about nuclear power following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the world's worst atomic accident since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown.
The Fukushima plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co, suffered core meltdowns at three of its six reactors after it was struck by a magnitude-9 earthquake and resulting tsunami in March 2011. A series of blasts and fires caused the plant to release massive amounts of radiation into the environment.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three cabinet ministers declared in mid-April that Reactors 3 and 4 at Oi Nuclear Power Plant, in Fukui prefecture in central Japan, were safe and ready to restart.
The government has repeatedly warned of a possible power crunch unless idled reactors are reactivated, but opposition to the restart has gathered momentum.
According to a poll released in late April by the Kyodo news agency, 59.5 per cent of those surveyed oppose the restarting of nuclear reactors at the Oi plant, run by Kansai Electric Power Co, while 26.7 per cent support it.
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