Kan Asks Chubu Electric to Shut All Hamaoka Plant Reactors

Japan recommended closing a nuclear power station that was undamaged by the March earthquake and tsunami, boosting precautions to address safety concerns in a step that risks worsening the nation’s power shortages.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has asked Chubu Electric Power Co., the country’s third-biggest utility, to shut all reactors at its Hamaoka plant southwest of Tokyo. The government has estimated there is an 87 percent chance of an 8-magnitude earthquake in the area near the plant within the next 30 years, he said at an evening press conference today.