Thousands
march as Japan switches off last nuclear reactor
Thousands
of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of
their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as
giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol
5
May, 2012
Japan
was without electricity from nuclear power for the first time in four
decades when the reactor at Tomari nuclear plant on the northern
island of Hokkaido went offline for mandatory routine maintenance.
After
last year's March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at the
Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor halted for checkups has been
restarted amid public worries about the safety of nuclear technology.
"Today
is a historic day," Masashi Ishikawa shouted to a crowd gathered
at a Tokyo park, some holding traditional "koinobori"
carp-shaped banners for Children's Day that have become a symbol of
the anti-nuclear movement.
"There
are so many nuclear plants, but not a single one will be up and
running today, and that's because of our efforts," Ishikawa
said.
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Energy
conservation in spotlight as Japan faces summer without nuclear power
As
the nation's last operating nuclear reactor is set to be suspended
for regular inspections late on May 5, Japan is facing the prospect
of its first summer without nuclear power in over 40 years
26
April, 2012
Hokkaido
Electric Power Co. (HEPCO) is poised to suspend the operation of the
No. 3 reactor at the utility's Tomari Nuclear Power Plant in the
Hokkaido village of Tomari at around 11 p.m. on May 5. The reactor is
the last one in operation among the 50 reactors remaining after the
Fukushima nuclear crisis.
A
number of reactors have been suspended for regular inspections
following the onset of the nuclear disaster at the tsunami-hit
Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in March last year, but there are
no immediate prospects of their reactivation.
According
to HEPCO, workers will insert control rods into the Tomari plant's
No. 3 reactor at around 5 p.m. to decrease its power output before
the reactor is halted at around 11 p.m.
Amid
fears of a power crunch, the lifestyles of residents in Japan have
been undergoing major changes since the nuclear crisis triggered by
the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, with
people becoming more conscious of the power they use.
A
newly built condominium in Yokohama's Asahi Ward boasts some 600
solar panels on its rooftop, supplying electricity to some 100 homes
in the complex. Each household in the five-story condominium is
allocated six solar panels, and surplus power is sold to utilities.
"It's
fun to see how much energy my solar panels can generate," said
Takeshi Nomura, a 42-year-old company employee who moved into the
condo in late April, as he pointed to a solar energy output
monitoring device on the wall of his living room on May 2. Although
it was rainy, the monitoring device indicated that Nomura's portion
of solar panels had supplied 0.1 kilowatts of power that day.
According
to Takara Leben Co., the seller of units in the condominium, most of
the units, which cover 70 to 80 square meters, are priced at less
than 40 million yen. In a standard household, residents can save some
60 percent in utility costs by using solar energy and all-electricity
settings. Households whose occupants tend to be absent in the daytime
can even expect to earn about 2,500 yen a month through the sale of
more than half of their solar energy production -- an amount that
could offset the domestic electricity price hike of 10 percent or so
that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is considering introducing as
early as July.
Nomura
recalls being inconvenienced during the rolling blackouts last year,
as he was living in a district prone to power outages at the time.
"Since
then, energy-conservation has become the norm for me," he said,
indicating that the experience led him to purchase the solar-powered
apartment.
An
official with the planning and research department at Real Estate
Economic Institute Co. comments: "Since the March 11, 2011 quake
disaster, the question of whether condominiums are eco-friendly, such
as being equipped with solar panels, has emerged as one of the key
considerations for aspiring home buyers in the Tokyo metropolitan
area."
Light-emitting
diode (LED) lighting, which has garnered attention as an easy-to-use
energy-saving innovation, still boasts popularity, and household LED
ceiling lights have been one of the biggest hits over the past year.
Fluorescent
tubes were the mainstream for household lights in March last year,
according to one research source, with LED lighting accounting for
only 2.9 percent of all sales figures. However, with a number of
manufacturers making forays into the LED market following the quake
disaster, the sales figures of LED lighting topped 50 percent for the
first time in March this year.
Rising
energy-conservation awareness is also evident in other ways. While
the maximum power demand in TEPCO's service area fell an average of
19.7 percent during the government-ordered electricity usage
restriction period between July and September last year compared to
the same period the previous year, the maximum power demand continued
to stay low even after the lifting of the restriction, falling an
average of 9.7 percent in October and November compared to a year
earlier. The maximum power demand was also 11.4 percent lower between
April 1 and 23 this year compared to the figure recorded in 2010.
Many
people are also rethinking their lifestyles. One 44-year-old company
employee in Kyoto says he affixed cushioned packaging materials to
his windows to improve heat insulation and made it through winter
with his heater set at around 20 degrees Celsius -- even though he
used to set it at around 24-25 degrees during previous winters. He
now also sets his living room lighting 40 percent darker.
"I
don't feel like I'm having to give up a lot. Perhaps thanks to the
absence of extreme changes in temperature, I didn't catch a cold this
winter," he said. This past winter he saved up to 20 percent on
his monthly electricity bills compared with the previous winter --
equivalent to 20,000 to 30,000 yen when converted to a yearly figure.
A
32-year-old nursing-care worker living with his wife and child in
Tokyo's Suginami Ward made it a rule to shut down the circuit breaker
every time his family went out during the rolling blackouts last
year. He and his family don't watch TV any more than necessary, and
set the three-tier brightness of their household lighting at "Level
2." As a result, their monthly electricity charges have dropped
from the 4,000-5,000 yen range to somewhere around 2,000 yen.
"The
nuclear disaster made me realize that we'd been wasting electricity.
Saving energy pushed down my utility costs, and it was worth the
effort," he said, with a satisfied look.
Cesium
pushing wild plants off menu
Many
local governments are calling on producers and harvesters of edible
wild plants to refrain from shipping their products after a number of
them were found to contain levels of radioactive cesium that exceed
state limits.
5
May, 2012
Some
of these plants are now at the height of their picking season, but
citizens are also being urged not to gather the plants in certain
areas affected by cesium discharged into the environment by the
accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.
In
Fukushima Prefecture, some local governments have been told by the
central government to refrain from shipping five types of edible wild
plants whose radiation readings exceeded the state's safety limit of
100 becquerels per kilogram.
The
five include royal fern (zenmai in Japanese), ostrich fern
(kusasotetsu), Angelica tree sprouts (taranome), butterbur sprouts
(fukinoto), and young fronds of koshiabura, a deciduous tree
belonging to the ginseng family. Young shoots and immature fronds of
these plants are cooked as vegetables and considered a delicacy.
The
prefectural government also told the city of Date to refrain from
shipping bracken (warabi in Japanese), as the plants harvested there
were found to contain 110 becquerels of radioactive cesium per
kilogram.
According
to the prefectural government, many similar edible wild plants with
radioactive cesium content in excess of the new safety limits adopted
April 1 have been found, prompting producers and harvesters to
suspend their shipments.
Most
of these plants were shipped through the end of March, as their
radioactive cesium content was less than the previous provisional
safety limits of 500 becquerels per kilogram.
In
the town of Iino in Fukushima city, where wildly grown taranome
shipments have been suspended, local direct sales depots are
refraining from selling most edible wild plants for the time being.
In
a typical year, local farmers bring edible wild plants to these local
stores, the sale of which accounts for nearly half the stores' sales
during the Golden Week holiday season.
As
few customers are in the market for edible wild plants this year,
these stores' sales have fallen 75 to 80 percent compared to levels
seen before the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
"Farmers
know they won't sell, so they don't bring them [edible wild plants]
in. I wonder if our customers will ever come back...There is no
prospect for returning to normal now," lamented Toshihiro Ito,
61, manager of the direct sales shop in Iino.
Edible
wild plants gathered for private use are not subject to the
government's restriction.
The
months of May and June are considered high season for gathering these
young fronds and shoots.
Although
an increasing number of people are expected to go up into the
mountains in search of the wild plants, officials of the Fukushima
prefectural government said they want people to refrain from doing
so.
Wild
taranome from Ichikai in southeast Tochigi Prefecture was found to
contain 110 becquerels of radioactive cesium, prompting the
prefecture to request the town to refrain from shipping the produce.
Elsewhere,
in the town of Kami in Miyagi Prefecture, ostrich fern gathered
locally was found to contain 310 becquerels of radioactive cesium. In
Ibaraki Prefecture, young koshiabura fronds gathered in Hitachi and
those from Hitachi-Omiya were found to contain 1,300 and 140
becquerels of radioactive cesium, respectively, prompting the
prefectural government to ask the local municipalities to refrain
from shipping them.
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