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Japan Urges Power-Saving After Nuclear Shutdown
Tokyo (AFP) July 20, 2007 Japan on Friday asked businesses to save on energy during peak hours this summer after a powerful earthquake led to the closure of the country's largest nuclear power plant, officials said. The order came as authorities said that heat was contributing to illness among elderly people staying in shelters after Monday's powerful earthquake, which killed 10 people and injured more than 1,000 more. The 6.8 Richter-scale earthquake caused a small radioactive leak at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, which supplies some 10 percent of electricity to the nation's largest power company, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) The plant has been shut down since the quake and TEPCO has faced a storm of criticism for initially under-reporting the leak. "The trade ministry has decided to instruct all businesses under our supervision to save power and we are preparing to issue administrative instructions," Nobuhiro Watanabe, a ministry official, told AFP. The ministry supervises virtually all manufacturing and service industries. TEPCO voiced confidence it would have enough electricity by making use of other facilities -- unless the weather is exceptionally warm. Temperatures are starting to rise in Japan with the end of the rainy season. However, "if this summer becomes very hot, power supply may become insufficient," TEPCO said. "In order to avoid this situation, we will keep making efforts to secure stable supply and to ask our customers to wave on power," it said in a statement. Trade Minister Akira Amari also instructed power companies to review safety measures of all existing nuclear plants. He said power companies needed to develop better firefighting capabilities and to improve countermeasures, including quick reporting of incidents. The earthquake has also caused leading automakers to curtail production after damage to a key supplier of car parts. As shelters for evacuees tried to install fans and air conditioners, a local official said that 45 earthquake survivors have been taken to hospitals for health problems. Many of them are elderly people affected by the heat. More than 3,100 people are still staying at 66 shelters, which are mostly school gymnasiums or other public buildings. Despite being one of the world's most earthquake-prone nations, Japan relies on nuclear power for one-third of its needs and hopes to boost that level. Japan has virtually no natural energy resources, meaning the world's second largest economy is at the mercy of the volatile Middle East for oil and gas. The damage to the nuclear plant -- the first such incident in Japan -- caused particular alarm as seismologists did not consider the area to be on an active fault line. Even though earthquake guidelines were last reviewed in September, "they are still very insufficient," said Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a professor of earthquake seismology at Kobe University. "I think the new guidelines should be reviewed again," he told a news conference in Tokyo. "These guidelines basically assumed that magnitude-seven or larger earthquakes would all be found after an investigation into active faults," he said. "The basic assumption needs to be changed." US experts are planning to come to Japan to help work on safety measures for nuclear plants during earthquakes, the Nikkei business daily said in its evening edition.
Source: Agence France-Presse Related Links Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Russian Anti-Nuclear Activist Killed In Attack
Moscow (AFP) July 21, 2007A Russian environmental activist died on Saturday after armed attackers raided a protesters' camp outside a nuclear facility in Siberia, officials and activists said. One of some 20 protesters at the tent camp told AFP the attackers were "skinheads" who had used baseball bats, hammers, metal rods and an axe during the raid near the Angarsk uranium enrichment plant. |
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