Kyushu Electric Power Company has halted the No.1

Kyushu Electric Power Company has halted the No.1 reactor at the Genkai nuclear power plant in southwestern Japan. This means more than 80 percent of the nation's reactors are now offline. It remains unclear when or if any of them will be restarted.Shortly before noon on Thursday, workers at the Genkai plant began suppressing nuclear fission to reduce output at the reactor. The unit stopped operations at around 8:30 PM.As a result, the No.4 reactor at the Genkai plant is the only one active in the Kyushu region.Kyushu Electric plans to ask households and firms in its service area to use around 5 percent less electricity from December 26th, when the No.4 reactor is scheduled to be halted.In mid-month Kansai Electric Power Company also plans to suspend the No.2 reactor at the Ohi plant and the No.2 reactor at the Mihama plant, both in Fukui Prefecture. These moves will leave the Kansai region with only one reactor online.Kansai Electric plans to urge people to use around 10 percent less electricity from December 19th.Of the country's 54 reactors, the Genkai No.1 reactor is the 45th to go offline. There are no prospects for restarting the idle reactors as none of them has yet to meet the requirements for resuming operations.These preconditions include passing the state's safety stress tests and getting approval from local governments hosting the nuclear plants.