While it is still uncertain how the worsening crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant will ultimately play out, Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s decision to pump in seawater to cool the reactors effectively damaged them beyond repair.
This raises a key question: How will Japan answer its demand for electricity?
"It's easy to assume seawater did severe damage to the reactors," nuclear energy expert Kumao Kaneko said, noting there is no way to predict how the impurities in seawater will affect sealed reactors.