Two Reasons Why Shut Down Of Japan's Nuclear Power Reactors Could Cause Trouble

Japan will shut down the last of its 54 nuclear power reactors this weekend, a little over a year after the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima that left 16,000 dead and 3,000 missing, Reuters reports.
But the move, which leaves Japan without nuclear power for the first time since 1970, could signal economic, energy, and environmental problems for the country.

It could increase public spending on oil and gas and cause electricity shortages over the summer

Nuclear power used to provide for about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity needs before the Fukushima disaster. The government even had plans to increase that dependence to over 50 percent by 2030.
But public concern meant the plants not only had to be shut for maintenance, but the government is also loath to reopen them, according to Reuters. As a result, Japan is having to spend billions more on oil and gas imports, leading to its first deficit in more than three decades in 2011.

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