On Saturday May 5, 2012, Japan shut down the Tomari Nuclear Plant, the last one standing of Japan's over 50 Nuclear plants, for maintenance. The Tomari plant is managed by the Japanese utility company, Hokkaido Electric Power Co, whose employees were reported to have carried out the closing down of the Tomari plant. Japan is reported to be the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy and have had nuclear energy has part of its energy mix since 1970. Nuclear Energy accounted for 30% of Japan Energy prior to the 2011 Fukushima accident.

Even though, the plant operator, Hokkaido Electric Power Co stated that the Tomari plant was shut down on Saturday for routine maintenance, observers suggest that the it might be difficult for the Japanese authorities to bring the plant back again. Since the earthquake/tsunami induced nuclear accident in March 2011, all the nuclear plants that were taken down in Japan for routine maintenance never come back up. Authorities have faced severe opposition from citizens and environmental groups who insist that nuclear energy should be completely eradicated in Japan in view of the dangers to lives and properties suffered during the Fukushima accident.

As the situation stands now, the Japanese authorities would have to do a lot of works to persuade the anti-nuclear energy movement if Tomari plant or any other Japan's over 50 nuclear plants will come up again.

Jubilations erupted in certain cities of Japan following the news of the shut down of the Tomari Plant. Many see this as a new era of Nuclear-free Japan. The authorities are still warning that there are possibilities of power shortages if the nuclear facilities are not brought back up.

Nuclear Energy, though a very dependable source of energy and a source that has the potential of reducing greenhouse generation very drastically, has a lot of challenges that has caused serious concerns to millions worldwide. Some of the challenges are human and environmental safety; waste management and a host of others.

Other Sites:

• Japan shut down the last nuclear reactor - CNN
• Japan Nuclear Power Free After Shutdown of Last Reactor - Bloomberg News
• World Nuclear Association - Chernobyl Disaster
• Nuclear Energy
• Japan's Nuclear Crisis Raised to INES Scale 7.0, same scale as Chernobyl
• Chernobyl Nuclear Accident - April 26, 1986
• International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. Other links: INES HTML - (IAEA Website) or INES pdf - (IAEA Website)