With tomorrow’s scheduled shutdown of Japan’s Tomari nuclear
power plant the country will be free from nuclear power for the
first time since 1966. Can it seize this historic opportunity?
Here at Greenpeace we believe it can. All of Japan’s 54 nuclear
reactors will be offline. Now, the country’s government must
learn from its mistakes of the past, listen to its people and
scientists, keep reactors offline, and usher in Japan’s
renewable and sustainable future. History is within their grasp.
There will never be a better time. Since the terrible events of
March 11 last year when an earthquake and tsunami triggered the
Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has shown that nuclear power
can be abandoned quickly and with an invisible impact on
people’s daily lives. The Minister for Economy, Trade and
Industry Yukio Edano has said there will be no restrictions on
electricity use or rolling blackouts. The operator of the
destroyed Fukushima reactors, Tokyo Electric Power added “for
the electricity supply and demand in th