Japanese nuclear reactor suspended

On January 25th a power plant operator shut down a nuclear reactor in Niigata prefecture, central Japan, for regular checkups, which leaves only four of the nation's 54 reactors in service. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) suspended reactor 5 of its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant Wednesday, leaving only one out of a total of 17 reactors run by the utility in operation, it said.
All 17 reactors will go offline by the end of March, when reactor 6 at the plant is halted for checkups, the utility said. As Japanese utilities have shut down their reactors for regular inspection, accidents or maintenance, they have been unable to reactivate them amid growing public concerns about atomic power following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, also run by TEPCO. All 54 reactors in Japan are scheduled to be suspended for servicing by the end of April 2012. Unless a utility restarts one, none will be left running after that.