instead, kan made a decision to ask chubu electricity directly. it's hard to imagine private company saying no to the leader of the country. opposition lawmakers and even ruling party members have criticized kan for this, saying he wanted to put on the political performance. he has been unpopular because of major policies such as tax hike and so-called weak need diplomacy toward china and russia. also criticized for tardy measures after the quake including radiation leaks. he's now under pressure to resi resign. lawmakers critical of kan insist he's only trying to regain public support by suspending operations at hamaoka. >> thanks. that was our political commentator. >>> australia is preparing to submit documents to the international court of justice is support its case against japan's research whaling. the australian government issued a statement monday saying it would turn over material to the court in the hague. seeking suspension of japan's whaling operations in the antarctic ocean. the submission remains confidential until next march. the au

the chubu power company decided on monday to comply with prime minister naoto kan's request to suspend operation of all of the reactors in the plant. >> translator: we're taking the request from the prime minister very seriously. we need to prioritize safety. the very base of nuclear power. >> translator: i am very relieved that they accepted the request. the government will support companies so that there is no lack of electricity, and will deal with any power shortage problems. >>> the company says that the decision will force it to stop supplying power to eastern japan, which it started doing when the tokyo electric power company couldn't meet the need because of the trouble at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the company estimates it will lose about 12% of its power supply after the hamaoka shutdown. the firm will ask another power company, its counterpart in western japan, to supplement power supplies during the period. but tepco is also seeking supplies from others to fill a gap of 100 kilowatts of power created by chubu electric's decision. >>> a u.n. climate panel say

chubu electric power company said operations of the number four reactor was fully stopped at around 2:00 p.m. friday. it inserted control rods into the reactor to stop nuclear fission earlier in the day and halted power generation. the utility firm will start procedures to shut down the number five reactor, the only remaining reactor, on saturday. after two reactors are shut down, all five reactors at the hamaoka plant will be out of operation. the number one and two reactors have already been shut down for decommissioning and the number three reactor has been stopped for regular inspection. the plant complex is located directly above the projected focus of a magnitude 8 class earthquake that experts have long warned about. >>> the halting of the operations at the number two reactor at the hamaoka plant means by the end of this month, 35 of japan's 54 nuclear reactors will be shut down. 14 reactors, including those at the crippled fukushima daiichi plant, will have suspended operations since the march 11th earthquake. 19 other reactors are or will be undergoing regular inspections by

chubu electric power companies expected to halt two reactors in central japan as early as this weekendthe move follows a government request to shut them down due to the risk of a major earthquake. six other reactors in the country are scheduled to undergo routine inspections by the summer. power companies and local governments whether to resume operations are likely to have a significant impact on the nation's power supply this summer that. wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. stay with us.

the survey also asked about chubu electric power company's decision to comply with the request from naota kan to shut down the reactors at the hamaoka plant. 71% approve of kan's actions. kan said he won't ask for other nuclear plants to be shut down. 28% approve of his decision. 21% disapprove. and 46% are undecided. the approval rating of prime minister kan's cabinet stood at 28%, up 1 point. >>> earlier we spoke with our political commentator masayo nakajima. >> the japanese opinion of the power plant seems to be divided. what do you think is the reason behind this? >> considering what happened, many people developed doubts about safety of nuclear power plants. at the same time a lot of people understand the country needs to depend on nuclear power because it has few natural resources. right now the japanese people are trying to save electricity in order to avoid power shortages caused by the disaster at fukushima daiichi and suspension of operations at hamaoka. ahead of expected power shortages in the coming month, the japanese government set its summer energy saving target at 15% for