Frappé par la crise, le Japon se tourne vers les énergies renouvelables

Infographie : François Descheemaekere

Crisis-hit Japan mulls shift to renewable energy

[The Asahi Shimbun]

Another long, stupefyingly hot summer is looming for Japan just as it shuts down its last operating nuclear power reactor, worsening a squeeze on electricity and adding urgency to calls for a green energy revolution. On May 5, Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido, the last of the country's 50 usable nuclear reactors, will be switched off, completely idling a power source that once supplied a third of Japan's electricity. At a time when temptation to set the aircon to deep freeze is at its greatest, companies and ordinary Japanese will be obliged to economize amid temperatures that can climb above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Nuclear energy seemed a steady mainstay of Japan's power supply until the March 11, 2011, tsunami crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in the worst atomic accident since the 1986 Chernobyl explosion.
Authorities have since tightened safety standards and refrained from restarting reactors that were shut down, mostly for routine checks.
Lire : ajw.asahi.com