By Akira OIKAWA / via asia.nikkei.com / September 14, 2015 / The Sendai No.1 reactor, Japan’s first active reactor in about two years, has resumed full-scale commercial operations. As safety screening progresses, other suspended reactors are expected to follow, but mostly in the western part of Japan. All 43 reactors in Japan are light-water models. “Light water” simply means normal water. Light-water reactors are further categorized into boiling-water and pressurized-water … Continue reading →
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via news.yahoo.com / August 21, 2015 / Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power has halted the ramp-up of power output from its Sendai No. 1 nuclear reactor due to a problem with a pump in the plant’s secondary cooling system, a spokesman said on Friday. Kyushu Electric last week began the restart of the Sendai plant, the first of Japan’s reactors to begin operation under new safety standards introduced in the wake … Continue reading →
Continue readingAugust 15, 2015 via TheGuardian.co.uk Japan’s weather agency on Saturday told thousands of residents near a southern city to prepare for a possible evacuation as it upgraded a volcanic eruption warning. Officials raised their alert to its second-highest level after picking up increasing seismic activity around the volcano Sakurajima, which sits just off the coast of Kagoshima, a city of more than 600,000 people. Activity has spiked since Saturday morning, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / August 11, 2015 / Protesters rallied outside Japan’s Sendai nuclear plant and its company’s headquarters to demonstrate against the planned restarting of operations, over four years after the Fukushima disaster that left the entire world horrified. One major concern about the resumption is that no evacuation plans – in case of a Fukushima-style catastrophe – have been disclosed to locals. “There are schools and hospitals near the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Truth Out / August 11, 2015 / Japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor to generate power since 2013. And that’s really bad news. Remember what happened in 2011? Why Japan closed all of its reactors abruptly and why we’re still tracing the spread of radioactive material across our Pacific Coast and into the atmosphere? First there was an earthquake that did significant damage to that island country – … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Phys.org / August 11, 2015 / Japan on Tuesday ended a two-year nuclear shutdown in the energy-hungry country, sparked by public fears following the 2011 Fukushima crisis, the worst atomic disaster in a generation. Utility Kyushu Electric Power turned on a reactor at Sendai, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) southwest of Tokyo, at 10:30 am (0130 GMT). The 31-year-old reactor—operating under tougher post-Fukushima safety rules—was expected to reach full … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ZeroHedge.com / August 8, 2015 When the words “mothballed”, “nuclear”, and “never been done before” are seen together with Japan in a sentence, the world should be paying attention… As TEPCO officials face criminal charges over the lack of preparedness with regard Fukushima, and The IAEA Report assigns considerable blame to the Japanese culture of “over-confidence & complacency,” Bloomberg reports, Japan is about to do something that’s never been … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia news.yahoo.com / June 1, 2015 / Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power said on Tuesday it has delayed the restart of its Sendai nuclear plant in southwestern Japan, the first to be brought back into service under new rules introduced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The delay to mid-August from the previous target of late July follows a warning by Japan’s nuclear regulator in April that the utility’s schedule for a … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia tcetoday.com / May 29, 2015 / The Sendai nuclear power plant (pictured) has been given final regulatory approval to restart its reactors and moved one step closer to being the first in Japan to come online since the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Plant operator Kyushu Electric Power Company first made its application to the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in mid-2013. It has finally gained the regulator’s third and final … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Reuters / May 20, 2015 / Japan’s nuclear regulator signed off on the basic safety of a reactor at a third nuclear plant on Wednesday, as the country inches toward rebooting its atomic industry more than four years after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The decision will be a boost for operator Shikoku Electric Power Co, which relied on its sole Ikata nuclear power station (pictured) in southwestern Japan for … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia digitaljournal.com / April 15, 2015 / Pro-nuclear proponents suffered a serious setback today after Fukui District Court’s three-judge panel handed down a ruling forbidding the restart of two of the 13 nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture. Fukui Prefecture has a total of 13 commercial nuclear reactors clustered in a line along the region’s short coastline. The prefecture has earned the rather notorious nickname “Genpatsu Ginza,” or Nuclear Alley, not … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / February 3, 2014 / Japan’s nuclear regulator is set to compile next week its final assessment on 2 reactors at the Takahama power plant (pictured) in Fukui Prefecture, central Japan. The final document will certify that the reactors have passed the regulator’s scrutiny, which is a prerequisite for their restarts. The final assessment follows the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s approval of its draft in December. The draft … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia SBS.com.au / November 8, 2014 / The green light from the assembly and governor of Kagoshima prefecture, in the south of the country, marks a victory for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe which has faced significant public opposition to its drive to re-fire nuclear power. “I want to inform the economy, trade and industry minister about my understanding of the government’s policy to push for restarting nuclear … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Justin McCurry / theguardian.com / October 28, 2014 / Japan has moved closer to a return to nuclear power, more than three years after the Fukushima disaster, after a town in the country’s south-west voted to approve two reactors coming back online. Nineteen of 26 assembly members in Satsumasendai, located 600 miles south-west of Tokyo, voted in favour of restarting the Sendai nuclear power plant. Four voted against and … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia theguardian.com / September 10, 2014 / Japan’s nuclear watchdog has given the green light for two reactors to restart but the operator still has to persuade local communities they are safe. Widespread anti-nuclear sentiment has simmered in Japan ever since an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 caused meltdowns at the Fukushima power plant, sparking the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl. The country’s nuclear reactors were switched off after … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia reuters / August 6, 2014 / The long-awaited restart of Japan‘s nuclear power plants is facing yet another setback and may be delayed until 2015, Japanese media said on Wednesday, piling pressure on struggling utilities to push for fresh price hikes. Kyushu Electric Power’s two-reactor Sendai plant (pictured), located about 1,000 km (600 miles) southwest of Tokyo, is likely to be the first nuclear plant to be allowed to … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Channel News Asia / July 29, 2014 / Japanese officials are handing out radiation-blocking iodine tablets to people living in the shadow of two nuclear reactors slated to restart this year, underscoring concerns about atomic power after the Fukushima crisis. The move to distribute the pills — which help to reduce radiation buildup in the body — started Sunday (July 27) for those living within a five-kilometre radius of … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Jeff Kingston / Japan Times / June 28, 2014 /Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s (pictured) nuclear renaissance involves downplaying risks, restarting reactors, building new ones, and exporting reactor technology and equipment. A number of hurdles remain before he can rev up the reactors, but the summer of 2014 will probably be Japan’s last nuclear-free one for decades to come. On April 11, 2014, Abe’s Cabinet approved a new national energy … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Asahi Shimbun / June 25, 2014 / Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s delayed application for safety screenings of two reactors means Japan will be without nuclear energy this summer for the first time since the Fukushima nuclear accident started in March 2011. The utility on June 24 submitted additional documents to the Nuclear Regulation Authority for its application to restart the idled reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant … Continue reading →
Continue readingfrom Channel News Asia / May 21, 2014 / A Japanese court ruled Wednesday against the restarting of two reactors at a nuclear power plant, acknowledging residents’ safety fears and dealing a blow to the government’s plan to revive nuclear power. It was the first court ruling in Japan against the restarting of reactors since a massive earthquake and tsunami sparked meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Enformable.com / May 5, 2014 /Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Francois Hollande met during a summit meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday and agreed that the two countries will work to promote the research and development of fast breeder reactors. According to Japanese sources with knowledge of the agreement, Japan will provide technical assistance on France’s fast breeder reactor development projects. France has … Continue reading →
Continue readingfrom The Corbett Report: The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency is currently considering applications from 8 different utilities companies to restart 17 of the nation’s 54 nuclear reactors, which have been taken offline in the wake of the Fukushima crisis. Today we talk to Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan about the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and their efforts to stop the reactor restarts from happening.
Continue readingby Jeff Kingston / Japan Times / April 5, 2014 / Kyle Cleveland, my colleague at Temple University Japan, recently published a report in the online Asia-Pacific Journal, “Mobilizing Nuclear Bias: The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Politics of Uncertainty” that has drawn widespread media attention. Based on numerous interviews with government officials, military officers and nuclear energy experts, along with documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests to U.S. … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Enformable.com / February 19, 2014 / The controversy in Japan swirling around the topic of restarting idled nuclear reactors is showing no signs of simmering down; instead uncertainty and frustration appear to be increasing. In July, 2013, the Nuclear Regulation Authority began processing restart applications for ten reactors from eight utilities under tougher post-Fukushima guidelines. At that time the process was only expected to take six months, but has … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia NHK World / February 14, 2014 / Chubu Electric Power Company has applied for a safety screening for a nuclear reactor in central Japan. Such screenings are required for restarting reactors. Executive Vice President Masatoshi Sakaguchi filed the application on Friday with the Nuclear Regulation Authority for the No.4 reactor at the Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture. The plant has five reactors, two of which are shut down for … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Miya Tanaka / via Japan Times / February 10, 2014 / The defeat of two anti-nuclear candidates, including former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, in Sunday’s Tokyo gubernatorial election has given the central government a boost of confidence as it prepares to move forward with an energy policy supporting the use of atomic power. “We plan to compile a feasible and balanced Basic Energy Plan (for medium- to long-term energy … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Asahi Shimbun / February 10, 2014 / Hundreds of technicians and engineers are camped out in Tokyo hotels trying to revive Japan’s nuclear industry, shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster almost three years ago. It’s proving a hard slog. A new, more independent regulator is in place, asking difficult questions and seeking to impose tougher safety rules on powerful utilities that were largely their own masters … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Masaaki Kameda / via The Japan Times / February 2, 2014 / Whether the powers that be liked it or not, nuclear power took center stage in a debate involving four major candidates for the Tokyo gubernatorial election that was streamed live on the Internet Saturday. Three of the candidates came out firmly against atomic power. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has done its best to keep the issue … Continue reading →
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