TEN of Tokyo鈥檚 cracked and ageing nuclear power plants could be switched back on this summer to help alleviate an impending power crisis facing the city. But green activists say the Tokyo Electric Power Company is exaggerating the crisis as an excuse to re-commission the damaged nuclear plants.
Last week, TEPCO announced that the last of its vital nuclear reactors had been closed down for repairs, leaving the city in danger of power blackouts this summer.
The company, which runs 17 ageing reactors dotted around this quake-prone archipelago, has been quietly shutting its plants down since last autumn when it was revealed that some of them had falsified safety inspections to cover up poor maintenance.
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Until the scandals and subsequent shutdowns, the capital got 29 per cent of its electric power supply from these plants. But now TEPCO predicts a 15 per cent shortfall in electricity supplies as Tokyoites crank up the air conditioning to combat the city鈥檚 sweltering summers.
TEPCO projects the demand for electricity will hit 64.5 million kilowatts if the heat this summer matches last year鈥檚. But with its reactors off-line, the utility鈥檚 peak output is only 55 million kilowatts. The difference of 9.5 million kilowatts is equivalent to the electrical power needs of about 3 million households.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just too huge a gap to be filled by energy conservation. We must have at least 10 reactors back online to fulfil Tokyo鈥檚 requirements for the summer,鈥� said Tomohisa Kouyama, deputy director at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
TEPCO has appealed for the government to turn the reactors back on after NISA recommended resuming operations at 10 nuclear reactors to avert the power crisis. The agency said the reactors could safely restart without repairs to cracks 鈥� as large as 2.3 metres long 鈥� some of which were concealed from inspectors.
But Greenpeace says that TEPCO is exaggerating the power crisis. It believes the company is simply posturing to get its nuclear programme back on track. 鈥淢aking up the shortage this summer will not be such a tall order,鈥� claims a Greenpeace spokesperson. 鈥淭EPCO could meet demand if it launched a serious energy-saving campaign now.鈥�