As the closure of the nation's 54th and final reactor approaches, businesses and think tanks are starting to wonder whether Japan can survive next summer without atomic energy and a mandatory power-saving order.

Japan has survived a winter and a summer without its full complement of nuclear plants, but utilities and experts think it will be tough to get by without restarting some of them.

However, as revelations of poor government disclosure and gross incompetence continue to emerge from the Fukushima disaster, the prospects for nuclear energy are dim. Only two reactors are online and both will be offline by May.