  Efforts to Restart Oi Reactors  Ignoring calls from his own
party and overwhelming public anti-nuclear sentiment, Prime
Minister Yoshihiko Noda addressed the nation this weekend,
saying that he plans to go ahead with restarting two nuclear
reactors at Kansai Electric’s Oi power plant in Fukui
Prefecture. He stressed that the restarts would be permanent,
dismissing requests from local government officials to bring the
reactors online for three months only, in order to avoid a
potential power shortage this summer. Noda insists that the
reactors are safe, in spite of the fact that the plant has no
earthquake-proof headquarters from which it could conduct
operations in the case of a nuclear disaster. The plant is built
directly over significant active fault lines.  Upgrades to the
plant will not be completed until at least 2016. As Noda was
giving his address, over 4,000 protesters, including staff of
Greenpeace Japan, gathered outside of his residence. One
protestor noted, “He pressed the people to reopen the