Japanese officials ask KEPCO to break away from nuclear energy via Enformable

Throughout the past year, international government and state utility officials have said what happened in Fukushima, Japan, could never occur at any other nuclear power station in the world.  In Osaka Japan, a joint prefectural committee has recommended that the city issue a demand to Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) to shut down its nuclear facilities, and rely on renewable energy resources, a move which could prompt other shareholders to follow suit.

The proposal came after the mayors of Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe asked KEPCO for a clear timetable for when it would begin to break away from nuclear power, and had been told that KEPCO had no plans to keep such an “important energy resource”.  Kansai Electric wants to restart at least two of its 11 reactors, now all offline, after the nuclear watchdog this month said the units “passed” stress tests – computer simulations evaluating reactions to severe events.  Kansai Electric Power is expected to forecast a net loss of more than 200 billion yen for the current business year to the end of March 2012, marking the utility’s biggest annual loss ever, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.

Continue reading at Japanese officials ask KEPCO to break away from nuclear energy