MILLIONS OF Japanese homes are bracing for a long, hot summer after Japan’s government warned a shortage of electricity generation could lead to mandatory power cuts.
Critics say the threat is a ploy to force the restart of the nation’s idling nuclear power plants. With all 54 reactors shut down or destroyed, the authorities could be forced to demand a reduction in power usage of 20 per cent in western Japan – an area that includes the huge Osaka region, home to nearly nine million people – said a government draft document this week.
The last of the reactors went offline for routine maintenance on May 5th, triggering the start of a debate over the country’s nuclear future. Nuclear power accounted for about a third of Japan’s energy before last year’s triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Businesses say they face a summer slump unless the country’s utilities crank out more electricity. Head of the Japan Business Federation, Hiromasa Yonekura, has repeatedly predicted the $5-trillion (€3.9-trillion) economy could collapse without the plants. A local government in Fukui Prefecture this week became the first to vote for a plant restart since the Fukushima crisis began. Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda sparked condemnation last month when he announced the Oi complex, 362km (225 miles) west of Tokyo, was safe to operate. Kansai Electric, operator of the complex, pays about $30 million in subsidies a year to the local community, which also depends on the plant for hundreds of jobs.
Opponents insist Japan should stay nuclear-free and have accused the government and utilities of hyping the threat of power cuts ahead of the sweltering summer. “The 2012 summer peak in electricity demand can be managed with energy efficiency, proper load balancing and energy conservation,” said Hisayo Takada, Greenpeace Japan campaigner.
Experts have long questioned the safety of nuclear power in a country that experiences 20 per cent of the world’s magnitude-6 earthquakes, but last year’s crisis seriously damaged public faith in the network of coastal reactors. The crisis has increased Japan’s oil and gas imports, leaving it with its first trade deficit in three decades.
