Regarding the Aug. 10 article "Nuclear power debate heating up": I strongly disagree with the notion that just because we seem to be doing fine amid the current electricity deficit, Japan will be just fine without nuclear power plants in the future.
One reason we are doing fine is that there is a concerted effort to save power. But will ordinary citizens continue to save power several years down the line after the memory of the tsunami begins to fade?
If we are hit with massive heat waves next year, power consumption will rise. But let's say, for the sake of argument, that power-consumption levels stay the same. You will still want to have more than enough power capacity for an emergency.
If an outage in just one power plant could cause blackouts, then you do not have enough reserve power in place.
I agree that we should have more renewable power sources to take the load off the power grid, but as Globis Corp. CEO Yoshito Hori said in the article, these should not be relied upon as it is not realistic for Japan to cover so much of its countryside with solar panels and wind generators.
These should be supplemental sources of power — not our main sources.
I might add that the Fukushima power plants were outdated plants that were originally slated to be decommissioned. Other nuclear plants were also hit by the March 11 earthquake, but they held up without any catastrophic accidents.
If the plan to scrap the Fukushima plants had gone through, we would not be in this mess right now.
JAMES DOBSON
CHIBA
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.