Japan revises down emissions due to renewable use and nuclear restarts
Japan revised lower its latest greenhouse gas emissions figures, which it had already reported as the least since records began in 1990. Emissions fell 3.9 percent from a year earlier, data Tuesday from the environment ministry showed, a bigger drop than the 3.6 percent estimate ...
A closer look at Kansai Electric and its gift-giving scandal
Earlier this month, Kansai Electric Power Co. concluded that scores of its employees had received cash and gifts worth hundreds of millions of yen from an influential politician in a Fukui Prefecture town where the utility operates a nuclear power plant. The revelations by ...
No. 2 reactor at Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi, halted by 2011 tsunami, passes safety screening
A nuclear reactor in Miyagi Prefecture damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster formally cleared screening by a national nuclear watchdog on Wednesday, paving the way for it to restart after anti-disaster measures are completed by the end of March next year. The No. ...
Shikoku Electric won't appeal injunction over Ikata nuclear plant, for now
Shikoku Electric Power Co. said it won't appeal a high court injunction against operating the No. 3 reactor at its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture, at least for the time being. "It is not the right time to appeal the injunction," Shikoku Electric ...
Japan begins second removal of spent MOX fuel from nuclear reactor
Operations have begun to remove a rare type of spent fuel made of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide from a nuclear reactor in central Japan, operator Kansai Electric Power Co. said Monday. The removal of MOX fuel rods from the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama nuclear ...
The government needs to make an honest assessment of the situation surrounding nuclear power in this country and think again whether its nuclear energy plan is feasible.
Kyushu Electric to halt two reactors next year due to delay in implementing anti-terrorism measures
Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Thursday it will halt two reactors next year due to a delay in implementing anti-terrorism measures required by regulators, in the first such suspension under stricter rules set after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis. The power company said it will ...
Is there a future for nuclear power in Japan?
This is the third in a series of reports on Japan's energy policy. Nuclear power has been considered quite beneficial in every aspect of the so-called 3E's (energy security, economy and environment) of energy policy. But the damage from nuclear accidents can be catastrophic, in addition ...
NRA safety license for Sendai reactors legal, Fukuoka court finds, dismissing volcano risk lawsuit
The district court says it found nothing illegal with a safety clearance granted to two reactors in Kyushu that were restarted after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Power companies must redouble the efforts to fulfill the commitments that they made to revamp the safety of their nuclear power plants when they sought to restart them.
The government needs to flesh out its goal of turning renewables into a primary source of power supply with concrete steps to make that happen.
Restarting the Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant will be a test case for whether reactor operators can build up enough goodwill to obtain consent from not only the host municipalities but those in the surrounding area.
