But how long will the knowledge base in Japan last given this post-Fukushima earthquake decision?
Japanese utility Hokkaido Electric Power Co began shutting the country's last active nuclear reactor on Saturday, leaving the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since 1970.
Remember that a civilian nuclear program is a great cover for getting the expertise needed to become a nuclear weapons program. If Japan has no nuclear reactors, where will the scientists and technicians with knowledge of nuclear energy come from?
I assume the Chinese are rejoicing. And Russia isn't likely to feel more pressure to return the Kurile Islands seized from Japan at the end of World War II.
