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Participants raise banners with a
slogan, "Good bye, nuclear power station", at a rally in Tokyo Saturday May 5, 2012
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TOKYO (AP) — Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol.
Japan was without electricity from nuclear power
for the first time in four decades when the reactor at Tomari nuclear
plant on the northern island of Hokkaido went offline for mandatory
routine maintenance.
After last year's March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor halted for checkups has been restarted amid public worries about the safety of nuclear technology.
"Today
is a historic day," Masashi Ishikawa shouted to a crowd gathered at a
Tokyo park, some holding traditional "koinobori" carp-shaped banners for
Children's Day that have become a symbol of the anti-nuclear movement.
"There are so many nuclear plants, but not a single one will be up and running today, and that's because of our efforts," Ishikawa said.
The
activists said it is fitting that the day Japan stopped nuclear power
coincides with Children's Day because of their concerns about protecting
children from radiation, which Fukushima Dai-ichi is still spewing into the air and water.
The
government has been eager to restart nuclear reactors, warning about
blackouts and rising carbon emissions as Japan is forced to turn to oil
and gas for energy.
Japan now requires reactors to pass new tests to withstand quakes and tsunami and to gain local residents' approval before restarting.
The
response from people living near nuclear plants has been mixed, with
some wanting them back in operation because of jobs, subsidies and other
benefits to the local economy.
The mayor of Tomari city, Hiroomi Makino, is among those who support nuclear power.
"There may be various ways of thinking but it's extremely regrettable," he said of the shutdown.
Major
protests, like the one Saturday, have been generally limited to urban
areas like Tokyo, which had received electricity from faraway nuclear
plants, including Fukushima Dai-ichi.
Before the nuclear crisis, Japan relied on nuclear power for a third of its electricity.
The
crowd at the anti-nuclear rally, estimated at 5,500 by organizers,
shrugged off government warnings about a power shortage. If anything,
they said, with the reactors going offline one by one, it was clear the
nation didn't really need nuclear power.
Whether Japan will suffer a sharp power crunch is still unclear.
Electricity
shortages are expected only at peak periods, such as the middle of the
day in hot weather, and critics of nuclear power say proponents are
exaggerating the consequences to win public approval to restart
reactors.
Hokkaido Electric Power Co. spokesman Hisatoshi Kibayashi said the shutdown was completed late Saturday.
The Hokkaido Tomari plant has
three reactors, but the other two had been halted earlier. Before March
11 last year, the nation had 54 nuclear reactors, but four of the six
reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi are being decommissioned because of the
disaster.
Yoko Kataoka, a
retired baker who was dancing to the music at the rally waving a small
paper carp, said she was happy the reactor was being turned off.
"Let's
leave an Earth where our children and grandchildren can all play
without worries," she said, wearing a shirt that had, "No thank you,
nukes," handwritten on the back.
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