Japan faces dilemma over plan to shut down nuclear reactors

Tokyo

THE plan to scrap at least five of Japan's ageing nuclear reactors highlights the challenge Shinzo Abe's government faces as it debates how to replace lost electricity generation with power sources that are cheap, clean and safe.

The decision announced by the reactors' operators last month to decommission the plants - all dating from the 1970s - will eliminate output equivalent to about 65 per cent of the power produced by all the solar panels currently installed in Japan. That's even after solar use has surged, making Japan the second-biggest solar market in the world for two years running.