News reports I'm reading say that all of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors have been shut down today, as the government has decided to abandon nuclear power.

Questions for our members who live in Japan (centurion and others): How do you feel about it? Are you relieved, considering the meltdowns caused by last year's tsunami? Or are you apprehensive over the threat of other energy costs now going sky-high, increased carbon emissions (from oil and gas) in your air, etc.?

Anyone else, your feelings on nuclear energy?

-- Nephele

I agree with them. There are much safer and cleaner ways to create energy these days... alternative solutions that don't involve deadly radioactive fall-outs in the event they go wrong (by human error or natural disaster). I know personally I would pay more for energy produced by greener means, but that is just me (and I realise that I am in the privileged position of being able to afford those options).

I'm not sure how I feel about it.

On one hand, if Japan is in a position to rid the country of nuclear Power, then I wish them all the best of luck.

On the other- are they ready for such a move? It is no small decision. How will it effect economy? Will this ruin the lives of many who lives there, financially? What alternatives are they going to use?

I am with Minty in the fact that there are many sources of renewable, natural energy that we can tap into (Solar, Water, Wind, etc...), but it is not cheap- at least it isn't right now that I am aware of. I now plenty who would love to put solar panels on their houses, or buy hybrid cars but who can afford these things- not most people.

So, in light of this (American) view, I wonder if this will help or hinder Japan's people. If it succeeds and people thrive and Japan is better for it- then I can only hope other countries follow Japan's example.

I've just watched an IRC discussion on the topic. TL;DR: they're fucked. This will mean massive blackouts all summer.

Is the international cold fusion research program [located in Japan] unaffected by their new atomic energy policy? I sure hope they don't intend to scrap it too.

Also, is anyone considering thorium? It's much safer than uranium is [the Japanese are using uranium because that was the standard here 30+ years ago- many of their power plants are US made or clones of US plants].

In theory I agree with a country so succeptable to earthquakes or other related things abandoning nuclear energy, but to do it overnight?
In a country so dependant on technology it seems short sighted, more a political move than a real attempt at fixing problems, and of course, it will be the people that suffer for the empty posturing.

I'm seeing a sudden surge in the building of coal fired energy plants, and the sun getting blotted out. They really should have taken time and slowly geared down their nuclear footprint until they could move out of that area gracefully.

It's a weird public-run thing. Apparently they have to ask the entire locality if they're okay with the plant being on or something. They will have to import huge amounts of coal to run plants they don't have, and without power they'll see heavy industry pulling out fast.

It's not going to happen overnight, I guarantee......

I was part of those protests, so I'm against nuclear energy obviously.

Personally, with two extremely dangerous men in office (Ishihara and Hashimoto), abandoning nuclear energy is the least of my worries for this country.

This is where I have the problem. This should not have been something done in haste. I agree that in a country where earthquakes are prevalent and expected to increase in number and severity that nuclear energy is not the way to go, but you can't just kill 30% of your energy supply over a weekend. They need to phase out nuclear as they phase in other renewable energy sources.

I see some plants coming back online before this summer to ease the burden on the grid that is sure to come. If not, I see big black clouds covering most of the island as has befallen parts of China due to the use of fossil fuels.

~spidey

For a country like Japan nuclear reactors are not necessarily the ideal solution with all the earthquake potential, however elsewhere they really aren't all that bad. I don't get the fuss really.

Naturally is such an big decision not easy and of course it will be have hard consequences. But in light of the natural disaster last year, i think it was the best step, that they can do. And anytime the prices for the renewable resources wil be sink and than it will be normal for the people.

i think, other countries shall to follow this example.

They probably will restart some reactors in summer, when they need more energy for the air condition, but the direction is clear. Japanese will substitute nuclear power through other technologies. They have an enormous potential for wind energy for example. Japan is a leading nation in technology and the world will gain more input from there in the next few years. I think it's positive that the number 3 and 4 of the global economy are finished with nuclear power.

At the very least, the world should give up uranium fueled nuclear power, as it can be used to create nuclear weapons. There are other radio active substances that can be used as a nuclear power fuel which don't have the same risks of WMD proliferation.

Yes that's true, but the potential to build nuclear weapons with this technology is attractive to a lot of gouvernments. I think it will be dammned expensive in the future to store the radioactive waste for 50 000 years or even longer. Until yet no country got an permanent repository which is safe enough to forget the waste.