This weekend, Japan re-entered the nuclear age. A reactor at the Ohi nuclear power plant was reactivated on Sunday, the first power plant to go back online since the nation closed all its reactors in the wake of the Fukushima crisis over a year ago.
The reactivation didn’t pass without controversy, or — unusual in an infamously orderly nation — without protest. According to the Associated Press, tens of thousands of people clamored outside Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s home last Friday, chanting “No to nuclear restarts.” Noda, who ordered the Ohi reactor be switched on, said that it was needed to sustain Japan’s energy supplies. Before the tsunami, nuclear energy powered approximately 30% of Japan’s power.
Continue reading at Japan Restarts First Nuclear Reactor Since Fukushima Crisis
