Japan to be without nuclear power after May 5

[nrshida]

Decades isn't enough bud, and also not sensible to expend it all.

[Chalenge]

You mean Japan even stopped working on the LHD? Thats too bad.

[nrshida]

Why they built BWRs there perplexes me, given their geology.

[TheAssi]

Not for long matey 

For who?

How long is not long?

[Sundowner]

Lets hope they can make a go of this.
I wish them the best.

Regards,
Sun


Japan without nuclear power for first time in 42 years


TOKYO –  Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol.

Japan was without electricity from nuclear power for the first time in four decades when the reactor at Tomari nuclear plant on the northern island of Hokkaido went offline for mandatory routine maintenance.

After last year's March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor halted for checkups has been restarted amid public worries about the safety of nuclear technology.....

.....Before the nuclear crisis, Japan relied on nuclear power for a third of its electricity.

The crowd at the anti-nuclear rally, estimated at 5,500 by organizers, shrugged off government warnings about a power shortage. If anything, they said, with the reactors going offline one by one, it was clear the nation didn't really need nuclear power.

Whether Japan will suffer a sharp power crunch is still unclear.

Electricity shortages are expected only at peak periods, such as the middle of the day in hot weather, and critics of nuclear power say proponents are exaggerating the consequences to win public approval to restart reactors.

Hokkaido Electric Power Co. spokesman Hisatoshi Kibayashi said the shutdown was completed late Saturday.

The Hokkaido Tomari plant has three reactors, but the other two had been halted earlier. Before March 11 last year, the nation had 54 nuclear reactors, but four of the six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi are being decommissioned because of the disaster.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/05/japan-to-be-without-nuclear-power-for-first-time-in-42-years/#ixzz1u36LW7nC

[ghi]

Too late, over 35% of young people tested have  cysts and nodules in thyroid gland ; in less than 1 year exposure and the unit 4 didn't collapse yet:

 http://enenews.com/govt-thyroid-cysts-nodules-detected-35-children-18-years

[PR3D4TOR]

Alarmist crap. The people of Fukushima Prefecture will undoubtedly face some radiation related consequences. However, thyroid nodules are extremely common in young adults and children; almost 50% of people have had one. They indicate a thyroid neoplasm, but only a small percentage of these are thyroid cancers. Around 80 percent of adults will have at least one by the time they reach 70 years of age. Only about 5 percent are cancerous, and under 3 percent of those result in fatalities.

[Rolex]

Someone has forgotten to include the conclusion of the study. There is a statistical chance that one person may die as a result some time within the next 25 years. But with continuous checks being done, even that is unlikely, since no cancers will be undetected or detected too late for treatment.

Yes, we have no nuclear power plants operating now. I wonder how many have stopped to consider how this has affected you, too? Japan has drastically increased imports of oil and gas to attempt to make up the shortfall from no nuclear-generated power. Have you noticed a change at the gas pump over the last year?

Replacing 30% of the power requirement of the country cannot be done by increasing other sources 30%. It doesn't work like that. It takes almost double the oil imports to make up that thermal capacity.

We'll have to pay the piper here soon. Electricity rates are about to go up close to 20% for businesses and industry, and it'll have to be increased again. Japan already has the highest rates in the world. The sales tax rate is going to double and we'll still have energy shortages. It may well put the economy into a severe recession or worse.

The difference between a 1st-world economy and a 3rd-world, desperate place is power.

I suspect there is a plan afloat to intentionally create shortages to make people miserable during the scorching, tropical summers in Japan. People will demand some of the power plants restart. I know that I will.

[Delirium]

Rolex is spot on with his assessment and it mirrors my own.

[Sundowner]

US Crude Oil Tumbles Below $100 On Host Of Factors


NEW YORK –  U.S. crude oil prices fell below $100 a barrel Friday for the first time since early February--and promptly tumbled past the $99 and $98 marks after a weak reading on U.S. employment.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery recovered a bit by the end of the day and settled $4.05, or 4%, lower at $98.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest finish for the benchmark since Feb. 7. The slide marks the biggest one-day drop for the contract since December.

Futures have fallen 7.2% over the last three sessions. Meanwhile, Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange settled $2.90 lower, or 2.5%, at $113.18 a barrel, its weakest finish since Feb. 2.

But oil futures have been grinding down since hitting a recent settlement high of $109.77 on Feb. 26. Prices have been elevated for months over tensions with Iran over its nuclear program. But those prices have slowly succumbed to a steady drumbeat of stabilizing supplies, weak demand and an eroding global economy--with this most recent decline being particularly steep.

"I'd always felt that the only thing holding the prices up above $100 was the Iranian tensions," said John Kilduff, founding partner at Again Capital in New York.

The decline should help consumers at the pump. If oil prices stabilize below $100, the average U.S. price of regular conventional gasoline should peak at $3.75 a gallon this summer, down from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's expected monthly average peak of $4.01 a gallon, said Richard Hastings, macroeconomics analyst at Global Hunter Securities.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/05/04/us-crude-oil-tumbles-below-100-on-host-factors/#ixzz1u53nooV1

[Melvin]

I'll never eat another Pacific fish.


Thanks alot a**holes.


EDIT: Especially shellfish.

 

[Meatwad]

I'll never eat another Pacific fish.


Thanks alot a**holes.


EDIT: Especially shellfish.

 

Ill eat your share of it then, im not worried about anything

[Masherbrum]

Ill eat your share of it then, im not worried about anything

Ditto.   

[SmokinLoon]

I've really read in to this entire event of Japan shutting down its reactors.  I've spoken to college professors from different institutions, even spoke with a couple of Japanese college students on the matter.  From all that I have read, all that I have heard from those in the know and those with a personal stake in the matter, I have come to this conclusion:

This is a prime example of someone falling down on a bike and NOT getting back on the bike.  Instead, they chose to blame the bike, leave the bike sit, and go and buy a horse.  Keep in mind they have never ridden a horse, have no clue how to ride a horse, have no clue how to care for a horse, what to feed a horse, or even know how to deal with its manure.  But, the horse is "natural" and they don't have to fall off a bike ever again. 

I think this is a knee-jerk reaction that has not been carefully thought out by the powers to be and it is being done just because it "feels good", like a lot of BS laws, policies, and referendums that are passed all over the globe.   

I wish the Japanese people the best of luck. 

[11Kenzy]

They are saying now that the Fukushima meltdown's radiation will spread to the whole earth.