Japan: Only 1 of 54 Reactors Operating

Japan: Only 1 of 54 Reactors Operating, 26 March 2012

There is only one of Japan’s 54 reactors now operating, after operator TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) shut down its Kashiwazaki-6 unit in the early morning of 26 March 2012. The owner of the Fukushima nuclear power plant took off the grid the last of its 17 nuclear reactors—10 at Fukushima and 7 at Kashiwazaki—and the last one that was still operating on Japan’s main island Honshu. The only remaining operating plant in Japan is Tomari-3, located in Hokkaido and scheduled to be shut down for maintenance on 5 May 2012. All attempts by the operators and the federal government to restart reactors have met fierce opposition by local authorities and citizens. An unwritten law in Japan stipulates that no nuclear plant can be started or restarted against the will of the local communities. News agency Reuters has published a useful assessment of the current state of nuclear power plants in Japan.