Protests greet reboot of Japanese nuclear reactor

Nuclear power is go again in Japan, although not everyone is happy. About 650 protestors gathered outside the Oi nuclear facility in Fukui Prefecture in western Japan on Monday. But as reactor 3 reached criticality ? a self-sustaining nuclear reaction ? the protesters began to disperse.

Their unease about restarting nuclear power so soon after the Fukushima disaster echoed that of an estimated 180,000 protesters ? according to march organisers ? who gathered outside the offices of the Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda in Tokyo on Friday. Noda announced on 16 June that reactors 3 and 4 at Oi would resume operation.

Energy shortfall

The reactor is the first to be re-activated since the catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility following the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March last year. The event prompted the country to close down its 54 reactors for safety checks. The last of the reactors was switched off in May.

But with energy shortages looming, Noda is adamant that Japan can't do without nuclear power, which supplied a third of the country's electricity before the quake.

The Oi plant, operated by the Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO), should help to avoid the predicted shortfall in supply of 15?per cent. The company said that the 1.18 million-kilowatt reactor was due to resume power transmission on Wednesday, reaching full operation on Sunday. KEPCO plans to reboot reactor 4 at the same site on 17 July.

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