Tokyo activists demand nuclear referendum

[ellisonz]

AFP – 58 mins ago

Activists in Tokyo said Thursday they had collected enough signatures to demand authorities in Japan's capital hold a referendum on using nuclear power to supply the megalopolis with electricity.

Some 250,000 people in Tokyo have signed a petition circulating since December 10 -- more than the 214,000 threshold, one fiftieth of all electors, required to request a poll.

The campaign follows the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plant after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11. Many Japanese now want to abandon atomic energy or reduce its share of electricity generation.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/tokyo-activists-demand-nuclear-referendum-192413697.html;_ylt=Akt0dry3wsnf3iDHUcFQj9MBxg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTQydDAxYzY4BG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBXb3JsZFNGIEFzaWFTU0YEcGtnAzMwODg5MzA4LWE0MmMtMzUwNy04ZWJlLTRjNWM2M2QwNDNjNwRwb3MDMgRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgNlZTlhMzRlMC01MzUzLTExZTEtYWZiMy1hMzE3MTBiNWI5NTM-;_ylg=X3oDMTF1N2kwZmpmBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxhc2lhBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

[truedelphi]

1. Hopefully they will succeed.

The activists already had this happening some years prior to the catastrophe of last spring.

But then the Bush Administration hastily sent over its Big People from GE and those people bribed government officials to keep the nuke plants operating.

And the Obama Administration is no less friendly to the Big Nuclear people than Bush was.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. What's the alternative?

I don't know what percentage of electricity is generated by nukes in Japan, but that power will need to be produced by something else if nukes are shut down. Does Japan have the capacity to replace the electricity produced by nukes?

[Confusious]

3. A. most of it

B. no

They will probably have to built plants to generate more power. Most likely natural gas burning plants until they get more renewables.

[Art_from_Ark]

4. 90% of the nuclear power plants in Japan are already shut down

Some are shut down for inspection, others are shut down until further notice. The loss of generating capacity has been been compensated for by increasing power generation in existing thermal and other plants, and through a vigorous energy conservation campaign, among other things.

The chart that's about 1/4 of the way down on this page shows the current (as of December 2011) status of nuclear power plants here in Japan. The 4th column in the chart shows the current operating status.

停止-- shut down
点検-- being (or scheduled to be) inspected
運転中-- currently operating

http://ameblo.jp/kennkou1/entry-11119399163.html