Mar 13, 2013

Kowtowing to the power companies

The Abe administration's apparent refusal to heed the lessons of the Fukushima nuclear disaster suggests it is just kowtowing to the power industry.

Feb 19, 2013

Living with a nuclear N. Korea

by Ted Galen Carpenter

Just as it is unwise to corner a dangerous animal, it is unwise to alienate a burgeoning nuclear power. We need to try a different approach with North Korea — one that recognizes reality, however unpleasant that reality might be.

Jun 26, 2012

Nuclear laws have serious flaws

The Diet on June 20 enacted a law to establish a nuclear regulatory commission. If the new body is established, it will end the current system, in which the authorities promoting nuclear power generation and the authorities regulating it are virtually integrated in the ...

May 31, 2012

AEC's dubious behavior

It has surfaced that the Cabinet Offices’s Atomic Energy Commission, in the course of its review of Japan’s nuclear fuel cycle policy, has held a series of closed-door study meetings attended by insiders in the nation’s nuclear power establishment. These meetings were separate from ...

May 21, 2012

Planning a new environment policy

The Noda Cabinet has adopted a new environment basic plan, the fourth since the first plan was adopted in 1994. It incorporates the experience of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and says that the idea of safety should serve as the basis of the endeavor ...

May 8, 2012

Ending reliance on nuclear power

The 912,000 kW No. 3 reactor at Hokkaido Electric Power Co.’s Tomari nuclear power plant came to a complete shutdown on early Sunday morning for regular inspection. No nuclear reactors are now operating in Japan — the first such situation in 42 years. Japan ...

Apr 23, 2012

Neglect of nuclear regulation

The Nuclear Regulatory Agency was originally scheduled to be set up on April 1. Although the Noda Cabinet endorsed a bill to establish the agency on Jan. 31 and send it to the Diet that day, the Diet has yet to start deliberating on ...

Apr 22, 2012

Cutting CO₂ without reactors

An Environment Ministry draft report states that Japan can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent without relying on nuclear power. This news is most welcome after the dangers of nuclear power were starkly exposed by the Fukushima nuclear fiasco. The report suggests ...

Mar 31, 2012

Too soon to restart reactors

Nuclear power once accounted for about 30 percent of Japan’s power supply. On March 26, Tokyo Electric Power Co. shut down the last of its 17 reactors — the No. 6 unit at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture — for regular ...

Mar 29, 2012

Nuclear security falls short

The second Nuclear Security Summit was held in Seoul on March 26 and 27, attended by leaders from 53 countries and representatives of four international organizations. The dangers of nuclear terrorism and improvement of nuclear security discussed at the summit are pressing issues Japan ...

Mar 25, 2012

Nuclear safety studies torpedoed

Of all the shocking revelations over the past year about nuclear power plants in Japan, the recent revelation that the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency canceled safety studies in 2006 is one of the most exasperating. The agency responsible for nuclear ...