Japan rushes to restart reactors to avoid total shutdown

Japan PM, ministers to discuss reactor restart today* Summer power crunch looms, but how bad? * ‘Anti-nuclear sentiment will become energised’ if all reactors shut down By Linda Sieg and Osamu Tsukimori TOKYO: Japan’s government is racing to get two nuclear reactors, idled after the Fukushima crisis, running again by next month out of what experts say is fear that a total shutdown would make it hard to convince a wary public that atomic power is vital. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three cabinet ministers are to meet today to discuss the possible restarts of the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co’s Ohi plant in Fukui, western Japan - a region dubbed the ‘nuclear arcade’ for the string of atomic plants that dot its coast. Trade minister Yukio Edano, who holds the energy portfolio, could travel to Fukui as early as Sunday to seek local approval for the restarts, Japanese media said. If approved, the restarts would be the fi rst since a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima plant a year ago, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. Concern about a power crunch when electricity demand peaks in the summer has been set against public fears about safety since Fukushima, the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years. Nuclear power, long advertised as safe and cheap, provided almost 30 percent of Japan’s electricity before the crisis but now all but one of Japan’s 54 reactors are off-line, mainly for maintenance. The last reactor will shut down on May 5. ‘They want to avoid setting a precedent of the country operating without nuclear power because it will create a huge barrier in terms of restarts,’ said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Tokyo campus. ‘People will question why we need it,’ he said. The government is crafting a new energy mix formula, with options for atomic power ranging from zero to 35 percent of electricity by 2030 against an earlier target of more than half. Whether the reactor restarts can go ahead before the last reactor shuts down, however, remains in doubt. Edano has said he wants to gain understanding from communities near the reactors, including those such as Shiga and Kyoto prefectures that are not hosts to atomic plants but are close enough to be at risk of radiation from a big accident.