Tag - nuclear-energy

 
 

NUCLEAR ENERGY

The top lid of a tank at the "J9" area is removed at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2025
Tepco takes on challenge of making space for Fukushima nuclear debris
Workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have started dismantling water storage tanks to free up space for tons of nuclear debris.
A Ukrainian serviceman watches an inspection of damage to the radiation containment shield of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant following a Russian drone strike in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 15, 2025
Russian drone attack 'damaged Chernobyl plant's confinement structure'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the International Atomic Energy Agency had earlier reported that radiation levels remained normal at the plant.
The structure that covers the remains of the damaged reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is seen damaged on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 14, 2025
Russian drone 'struck' Chernobyl cover, but no radiation increase detected: Zelenskyy
Ukraine said Russia launched more than 100 drones across the country overnight targeting northern regions of the country where the Chernobyl power plant lies.
The treated water storage tanks planned for dismantling, shown to members of the press at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Thursday
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025
High wind halts dismantling of Fukushima nuclear plant's water tanks
The dismantling had been seen as a milestone in Tepco's decades-long project to decommission the stricken plant, which went into meltdown after it was hit by a tsunami in 2011.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power station in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2025
Kansai Electric proposes doubling Fukui-France nuclear waste shipments
It remains to be seen whether the prefectural government will support the revised plans. Fukui has long called for spent nuclear fuel to be taken out of the prefecture.
Plastic bags containing radiated soil are seen inside the exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2020.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2025
Japan to pick final disposal sites for Fukushima soil around 2030
As of the end of December, about 14 million cubic meters of such soil had been transported to an interim storage facility.
The Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2025
Kansai Electric to ship more spent nuclear fuel to France
The move comes as Fukui Prefecture, home to several nuclear plants, urges Kansai Electric to address shrinking storage capacity for spent nuclear fuel, the sources said.
Tanks containing water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant at the facility in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2023
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025
Fukushima plant operator to dismantle treated water tanks next week
The step is a milestone of a sort as Tokyo Electric Power Company moves ahead with a decades-long project to dismantle the entire plant.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2025
IAEA chief to visit Japan nuclear power plants this month
Rafael Grossi will visit Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 power plant and an interim storage facility for soil from radiation decontamination work.
A Chinese flag atop a nuclear fusion reactor in Hefei, Anhui province, China, in November 2018
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 28, 2025
Images show China building huge fusion research facility, analysts say
China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations say.
Solar panels and a coal-fired power station in Fukushima Prefecture. Japan has not set a clear path for phasing out coal and its new draft energy plan foresees an important role for fossil fuels, especially gas, and nuclear power in its future energy mix.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2025
Japan’s energy plans endanger real climate solutions
The government's draft energy plans were not subject to open debate and their outcome shows an insufficient commitment to making the changes needed to tackle climate change.
Japan aims for nuclear power to make up 20% of its energy mix by 2040. However, the restart of the country's reactors is complicated by issues such as local opposition, as is the case for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2025
Robust new nuclear target for Japan is shrouded in uncertainty
A new plan envisions nuclear power making up 20% of Japan's energy mix by 2040. But hurdles to reactor restarts and rising electricity demand cast a shadow on such ambitions.
Solar panels, which typically last 20 to 30 years, will begin to reach the end of their service life in the next decade.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025
Disposal of used solar panels emerging as challenge in Japan
The annual amount of solar panels discarded as waste is seen peaking at some 500,000 tons in the early 2040s, putting a major strain on industrial waste treatment facilities.
Nuclear fuel debris recovered from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant No. 2 reactor
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024
Uranium detected in extracted Fukushima nuclear fuel debris
The debris was extracted from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 2 reactor.
Greenpeace activists protest nuclear power in Berlin in April 2023, just as Germany was shutting down its three remaining nuclear power plants. 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2024
It's time for Germany to admit its mistake on nuclear energy
The main thing standing in the way of Germany rebuilding its nuclear sector is a stubborn insistence that it can’t be done.
Japan wants renewable energy to account for around 40% to 50% of its electricity mix by fiscal year 2040 with nuclear power taking up another 20%, according to a new energy plan released Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 17, 2024
Japan aims to expand nuclear power in break from Fukushima era
The nation set out a proposed new energy strategy which urges both nuclear and renewables to be utilized to maintain growth and help curb emissions.
Yoon Suk-Yeol speaks to the nation at the Presidential Office on Dec. 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 17, 2024
Martial law fiasco casts doubt over South Korea's nuclear power push
Stocks related to the nuclear sector have already suffered losses due to souring investor sentiment since the political crisis began.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. A government cost estimate shows that nuclear power is likely to be the cheapest baseload electricity source in Japan in 2040.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 16, 2024
Japan sees nuclear as cheapest baseload power source in 2040
A previous study published in 2021 saw LNG-fired power plants as the cheapest power source in 2030.
Industry ministry officials hold a briefing session for residents over the planned restart of reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2024
Government seeks local understanding for nuclear plant restart
Officials from the industry ministry are explaining plans to allow the restart of reactors whose safety has been confirmed.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visits the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Ishiba makes first visit as PM to crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant
The trip was apparently intended to demonstrate his administration's focus on revitalizing the disaster-hit Tohoku region.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan