Japan to continue use of nuclear power despite Fukushima nuke crisis

Japan will maintain nuclear power despite the ongoing nuclear crisis caused by radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled after a powerful earthquake and tsunami in March this year, a top government official said on Sunday.

“Our energy policy is to stick to nuclear power,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said on a weekly talk show on public broadcaster NHK.

Sengoku said the government had no plans to halt nuclear reactors except three at the Hamaoka power plant in central Japan over safety concerns.

Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said the Japanese authorities have decided to shut down the three active reactors of the Hamaoka plant due to the risk of a massive earthquake on the Pacific side of central Japan.

The Japanese government has been reviewing the safety of the country’s 54 nuclear reactors since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant in the north, causing radiation leaks.

The disaster has left more than 25,000 people dead or missing in northeast Japan and caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti)

 

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