In the immediate aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, Japan idled all 54 of its nuclear plants. Now, though, five of them are back online while many more may be on the way. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is pro-business and who realizes that without carbon-free nuclear power the country won’t meet its climate objectives, has said that reactors deemed safe by regulators would be restarted. To that end, the Japanese media is reporting that the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) — the state-run utility that operated the Fukushima plant — is expected to get approval to rev up two units that resemble the design of the reactors that succumbed to the natural disaster in March 2011.
Forbes 8th Sept 2017 read more »
Japan should discuss hosting nuclear weapons on its territory, a former defence minister said in a sign that the North Korean threat is changing the military balance in the region. In what would once have been a shocking breach of taboo in the only country to have suffered the ravages of atomic bombs, Shigeru Ishiba said that Japan should debate the abolition of what are known as the “three non-nuclear principles” — not producing or possessing nuclear weapons or allowing them on Japanese soil.
Times 7th Sept 2017 read more »
