Land Of The Rising Core Temperature, Part 15

While Japanese officials continue to debate over whether or not Fukushima Daiichi reactor 3 has suffered a containment breach or not, the real problem continues to be long-term damage to Japan's power grid.  With summer coming and power use rising as a result, the loss of the entire Fukushima Daiichi plant means a significant of Japan's total power production is offline for months, if not years.

And that means Japan's rolling blackouts will continue for a long, long time.  The stoic Japanese are already adjusting.

The blackouts have already disrupted production at factories and offices of major Japanese electronics vendors. An expansion could further delay the return of such companies to normal operations.

The amount of electricity available to east Japan is slowly increasing as power stations come back online, but it could be months before some of the power stations recover. The stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was generating 2 GW when the quake hit, is likely to never produce electricity again.

As the weather gets warmer and evenings get longer, demand should fall because less heat and light is needed, but that decline is only expected to continue up to a point. When the summer begins and temperatures start climbing, Tokyoites typically switch on air conditioners.

Demand this summer is expected to be between 55 GW and 60 GW, but TEPCO predicts it will only be able to generate 45 GW of electricity.

The government said Friday it plans to work out a number of measures that would help reduce power demand. They could include increases in the price of electricity, offering longer holidays to workers and the introduction of daylight saving time. Japan last used daylight saving time when it was under U.S. occupation after World War II.

Homes and businesses across Tokyo have already implemented a number of energy-saving measures. Tokyo's famous neon signs and public displays have been switched off, shops are closing early, movie theaters are closed and the frequency of train services has been reduced. Japan's professional baseball league said it would halt night games through April.

Welcome to the "New Nippon Normal".

[UPDATE]  The presumptive reactor #3 breach evidence is pretty bloody scary, folks.