Pack Up: Japan plans to scrap nuclear plants

TOKYO: Japan says it will soon require atomic reactors to be shut down after 40 years of use to improve safety following the nuclear crisis set off by last year’s tsunami, according to Associated Press. Concern about aging reactors has been growing because the three units at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that went into meltdown following the tsunami in March were built starting in 1967. Many more of the 54 reactors in Japan will reach the 40-year mark in the near future, though some were built only a few years ago. The government said Friday that it plans to introduce legislation in the coming months to require reactors to stop running after 40 years. The Asahi newspaper reported Saturday Japan is likely to face a power shortage if it carries out the 40-year rule, which barring loopholes would force 18 more reactors to shut down by 2020, and another 18 by 2030.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2012.