Now proponents of nuclear power are commenting on the higher costs of not using it, whereas just a couple of months ago, the issue was a power shortage that turned out to be fiction. The CEO of G.E. says natural gas and wind will be cheaper than nuclear.
http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Immelt-can-t
-justify-nuclear-power-3747910.php Is he wrong?

I have ethical concerns about a form of energy that leaves to the future material that will stay dangerous longer than the sum of human history so far. But if fossil fuels are causing global warming, and I think they are, then they also leave a harmful legacy. If I understand correctly, most of Japan's loss of nuclear has been made up by natural gas, not coal or oil.
Setting aside CO2, does natural gas produce pollution more harmful to health than that of nuclear?

If I accept that the long term risks of nuclear and fossil fuel balance each other out, I think that nuclear power might be relatively safe in sparsely populated nations. But I wonder if best global practices are good enough for a densely populated country that experiences 20% of the world's earthquakes above magnitude 6 and has nuclear plants are sitting on faults. Clouds of volcanic ash from a Mt. Fuji eruption could endanger air-cooled machinery and electronic devices in the Kanto region. Eruptions could continue for years. Are nuclear plants vulnerable to airborne particles? Has anybody in Japan's power industry or bureaucracy considered what that might do to Hamaoka or possibly Tokai? I hope I'm wrong, but I'd be willing to bet the next round of drinks that they haven't.

The DPJ started backpedalling on campaign promises almost as soon as it formed its first cabinet. And the zero nuclear power pledge was more ephemeral than most.
The government also said it would continue building nuclear plants that would produce nuclear power decades beyond the zero deadline it had just announced. And now the cabinet seems to be pretending the promise never occurred.
http://www.jiji.com/jc/eqa?g=eqa&k=2012091900267

Japan's nuclear village is so powerful it can force a government to renege on a desperate election promise even before the election, almost immediately after it is uttered, so I have strong doubts about whether it is
capable of prioritizing safety.

Greg Johnson