Nuclear power once accounted for about 30 percent of Japan's power supply. On March 26, Tokyo Electric Power Co. shut down the last of its 17 reactors — the No. 6 unit at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture — for regular inspection and maintenance. Now, of Japan's 54 commercial reactors, only Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari No. 3 reactor remains in operation, and it is scheduled to be shut down on May 5 also for regular inspection and maintenance.
The upcoming summer promises to be a challenging time for both the Japanese people and the power industry because of the possibility of power shortages. It will be all the more important for people and businesses to make serious efforts to conserve energy.
The public must also remain vigilant and not allow the government to use the specter of power shortages as a pretext to push for a restart of the nation's nuclear reactors before it completes its investigation of the catastrophic Fukushima nuclear accident and establishes new safety standards based on those findings for nuclear power plants.