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Agencies

The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant cleared a major regulatory hurdle Wednesday to restart two reactors in Japan, its first since the 2011 tsunami sparked the worst atomic accident in decades.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority gave Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) preliminary approval to restart the two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, one of the world’s biggest and the largest in Japan.
The plant, in the central Japan prefecture of Niigata, has been idle since the disaster as have been many other nuclear power plants in Japan.
Triggered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake in March 2011, a massive tsunami overwhelmed reactor cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan.
It caused reactor meltdowns, releasing radiation in the most dangerous nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
On Wednesday, Tepco won safety approval as the authority judged the two reactors meet the stricter safety standards introduced after the disaster.
The decision is expected to be formalised after a month of public hearings but Tepco still needs to get local consent to bring the reactors online, which could take years.
Niigata Governor Ryuichi Yoneyama, who won the local election in 2016 for a four-year term, is known to be cautious about restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa.
The Japanese public is also opposed to restarts and a majority favours an exit from nuclear power, according to opinion polls.
Nuclear power is one of key issues at the October 22 general election in Japan, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe favouring gradual restarts while his main opponent and currently Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike, campaigning to cease nuclear power by 2030.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters


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Fukushima nuclear disaster and water release

Fukushima operator Tepco gets first safety approval to run reactors after 2011 nuclear disaster

TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture. Two reactors of the plant cleared government safety standards, becoming the first of the utility's idled units to pass tightened screening since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Photo: Kyodo

Fukushima nuclear reactor’s giant ‘ice wall is almost finished

Workers pouring coolant to freeze the underground ice wall around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture. Photo: AFP

Workers open valves as they pour coolant to freeze the underground ice wall around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture on August 22, 2017. The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant on August 22 put the final touches on a 320 million USD underground ice wall it hopes will block groundwater from flowing into the complex and contaminating the Pacific Ocean. / AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / JAPAN POOL / Japan OUT

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. begins work on Aug. 22, 2017, to circulate coolant for the remaining section of a 1.5-kilometer-long, 30-meter-deep wall around the four damaged reactor buildings of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. The work will extend an underground ice wall to prevent contaminated water increasing within the facilities. (Pool photo)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Unexploded second world war bomb found at Japan Fukushima nuclear plant

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan. Photo: Kyodo

Part of a roof cover is placed on top of the No. 3 reactor building of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Aug. 2, 2017. The arch-shaped roof cover, which will be made up of 16 parts and is planned to be 18 meters in height, 23 meters in length and 57 meters in width when completed, will help prevent radioactive materials from being spattered during an operation which could start in 2018 to remove spent nuclear fuel from the reactor damaged in the 2011 tsunami. (Pool photo)(Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Robot finds possible melted fuel inside Fukushima reactor

Reactors of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant stand in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture. Photo: AP

This image captured by an underwater robot provided by International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning shows a part of a control rod drive of Unit 3 at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Okuma town, northeastern Japan Wednesday, July 19, 2017. The underwater robot has captured images and other data inside Japan's crippled nuclear plant on its first day of work. The robot is on a mission to study damage and find fuel that experts say has melted and mostly fallen to the bottom of a chamber and has been submerged by highly radioactive water. (International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning via AP)

This handout video grab taken with an underwater robot and provided by Japan's International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) on July 21, 2017 shows a part of the pedestal wall inside reactor No. 3 at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture. The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said on July 21 it is using an underwater robot in a renewed attempt to inspect damage suffered in a tsunami-induced meltdown. A massive undersea earthquake on March 11, 2011 sent a huge wave barrelling into Japan's northeast coast, killing more than 18,500 people, and sending three reactors into meltdown at the plant in the worst such accident since Chernobyl in 1986. / AFP PHOTO / IRID / Handout / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / IRID" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Japan court rules government liable for Fukushima disaster

Reactor buildings stand at Tokyo Electric Power Co‘s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima. Photo: EPA

TOPSHOT - Balloons in the shape of doves are released into the air during a memorial service for victims of the 2011 quake-tsunami disaster in Natori, Miyagi prefecture on March 11, 2017. Japan is marking on March 11 the sixth anniversary of the magnitude 9.0 quake which struck under the Pacific Ocean and the ensuing tsunami which left about 18,500 people dead or missing. The massive flow of water overwhelmed cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing meltdowns in three of its six reactors in what was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. / AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI

Fukushima operator Tepco gets first safety approval to run reactors after 2011 nuclear disaster

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Restart may be years away due to lack of local government approval

Restart may be years away due to lack of local government approval