(LinkAsia: May 4, 2012) Yul Kwon: Over in Japan, power company officials are looking ahead to the summer, and they're already sweating. If this summer is anything like the record one from 2010, they say electricity shortages will be inevitable unless they can restart a number of nuclear reactors that have been shut down for maintenance this past year. NHK explains what's going on.
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NHK World NEWSLINE Airdate: May 1, 2012
Reporter: They are currently 50 nuclear reactors in Japan. Over the last year, those that were still in service were taken offline for inspections one after another. The only one still in operation is Hokkaido Electric's Tomari plant, but it too will be shut down for regular inspection this coming Saturday. Japan's nine power companies have released their estimates for supply and demand this summer. They assume temperatures this year would reach the record highs of 2010. The estimates suggest Hokkaido, Kansai and Kyushu electric power companies will all face shortages. The situation is especially serious for Kansai Electric, which is the most dependent on nuclear power.
Kansai Electric Power Company Official: A summer as hot as in 2010 will generate a power demand of 30.3 kilowatts, but we will be 16.3 percent short.
Reporter: The analysts predicted corporations and consumers would contribute to efforts to save power, including the Cool Biz campaign. Demand could exceed supply if the summer turns out to be hotter than expected, resulting in blackouts. Utilities imposed planned blackouts last year to prevent such a situation. That forced many factories to curb production and had a significant impact on peoples' lives.
Yul Kwon: Now in an effort to produce more energy, Japanese government officials are planning to restart two nuclear reactors at the Ohi plant in central Japan. But ever since last year's nuclear disaster in Fukushima-Daiichi, Japanese consumers have been concerned about nuclear safety, and so are local officials, who are pushing back on the national government's plan to restart the reactors.
Reporter: Kiyoshi Yamada heads Tokyo's crisis management team. He met with Tetsui Yamamoto, a senior representative of the government's nuclear and industrial safety agency. Yamamoto explained that the government is dedicated to putting new safety standards in place following the accident at Fukushima-Daiichi. That explanation wasn't enough for Yamada.
Kiyoshi Yamada, Kyoto Official: Your explanations are inconsistent with our demands.
Reporter: Government officials decided last month that the Ohi reactors need to be restarted to provide sufficient power to the region during the summer. The reactors are now offline for regular checkups.
(LinkAsia: March 2, 2012) Yul Kwon: An independent report slams the Japanese government's handling of the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster. It also concludes that the reactor's owner, Tokyo Electric Power, as well as the agency that's supposed to regulate it, failed in their responsibilities both before and after the accident. Here's NHK with the story.
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NHK World NEWSLINE Airdate: February 29, 2012
Reporter: They spent months studying the response to the Fukushima accident, which happened after last year's March 11th earthquake and tsunami. They tried to interview authorities at Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the plant, but TEPCO turned down their request.
Koichi Kitazawa, Committee Chairman: The direct causes of the nuclear accident were the unpreparedness of Tokyo Electric Power for a serious accident and the government's lack of a sense of responsibility.
Reporter: The report blames the government's response on its failure to anticipate the combined impact of a quake and tsunami. That rendered its crisis management manual useless. The report says the problem was compounded by politicians' lack of basic legal knowledge. The document also points to delays in providing the prime minister's office with accurate information, as well as insufficient support by advisors. It urges immediate debate on improving the situation. The report condemns the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency for failing to give professionals proper safety training. It says the agency could not draw up plans to put the Fukushima plant under control because of a lack of skill and personnel. The report blames TEPCO for initially making things worse at the facility, not better. TEPCO workers did not immediately switch to an alternative cooling system after realizing the emergency condenser was not working. Then, they took too long to start the venting procedure to avert a major crisis. The committee chairman says the investigation has revealed what was going on inside the prime minister's office and elsewhere at the time of the accident. The chairman also says Japan's organizations are ill-prepared to deal with a crisis, a problem that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.
Yul Kwon: The report also details some other failures. For example, bureaucrats never told politicians about a monitoring system that had been set up to predict the spread of radiation after the accident.
(LinkAsia: February 10, 2012) Yul Kwon: We continue our series of Fukushima-related stories this week. NHK says that more than 70 percent of Japanese municipalities that host nuclear power plants are cautious about restarting their reactors. The Japanese broadcaster surveyed 29 municipalities that host nuclear facilities, excluding those in Fukushima Prefecture.
-- NHK World NEWSLINE Airdate: February 7, 2012
Reporter: Fifty-one of Japan's fifty-four nuclear reactors are currently out of operation. Restarting them would require the approval of local municipalities.
Five of them, or 17 percent, said they would give the go-ahead for the reactors to resume operation. But 21 municipalities, or 72 percent, said that they would not or that they could not yet decide.
Municipalities that expressed caution said they cannot be sure whether the reactors are really safe and cited the difficulty of persuading residents while the government has yet to decide on its nuclear policy.
Asked what is needed beside stress tests to restart the reactors, 48 percent said a satisfactory investigation into the accident at Fukushima Daiichi plant and the understanding of local residents. Thirty-eight percent cited new government safety regulations.
The municipalities stressed their concern over reactor safety and demanded more government accountability.
(Russia Today: 0954 PST, April 19, 2011) Protests against a proposed nuclear power plant in western India have turned violent a day after the death of a protester from police gunfire. An angry mob opposing the government plans hurled stones at forces who charged at them with batons. Activists have also blocked the road to the site by dumping burning tyres, bringing traffic to a standstill. Opposition to the plant has grown since Japan's nuclear crisis, as it's in an an area of high seismic activity.
(Euronews: 0615 PST, April 14, 2011) Japanese government scientists are concerned that another massive earthquake could be on the way. Aftershocks are continuing to shake Japan's northeast coast on an almost daily basis; on Thursday morning a tremor measuring 6.1 was registered.
"On March 11 (the day of the original earthquake and tsunami) there was an extremely large magnitude 7.7 aftershock off the coast of Ibaraki prefecture and so that's the the biggest aftershock at the present time," said Keiji Doi, Japan Meteorological Agency's head of earthquake prediction.
(Associated Press: 0430 PST, April 12, 2011) Japan raised the crisis level at its stricken nuclear power plant to 7, the highest on an international scale and on a par with the 1986 accident at Chernobyl.
(Associated Press: 0554 PST, April 11, 2011) A strong new quake and other aftershocks rattled northeastern Japan hours after the country somberly marked one month since a deadly combination of quake and tsunami laid waste to the region.
(Russia Today: 0834 PST, April 7, 2011) A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Japan, triggering a new tsunami warning. Residents of the northeast of the country have been ordered to evacuate to higher ground; the region is still in tatters following the deadly tsunami of last month. Early reports warn of a wave up to 2 meters (6 feet) high. Japanese authorities say the workers trying to bring the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant under control have been evacuated.
Raw Video: Magnitude 7.4 Quake Hits Japan Coast
(Associated Press: 0824 PST, April 7, 2011) Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock and tsunami warning Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast. Warning: This video has no audio.
(Euronews: 0630 PST, March 22, 2011) White smoke and steam can be seen rising from reactor number 2 at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, suggesting the battle to avert a meltdown and stop the spread of radiation is not yet won.
Ivory Coast's Gbagbo Issues Call to Arms
(Euronews: 0230 PST, March 22, 2011) Thousands of young people have lined up to answer a call to arms by former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbabgo. Gbabgo contests the result of November 28 presidential elections that declared his rival Alassane Ouattara as the winner. Ouattara is recognised by the international community as the rightful president of Ivory Coast and who is backed by rebel forces. But Gbagbo's retains a tight grip on the military and has refused to go quietly, rejecting pleas for him to step down.
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