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The white papers issued by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) and the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission (JNSC) highlight the difficult situation faced by Japan's nuclear power industry. The JAEC's 2008 white paper says that facility utilization rates at Japan's nuclear power plants dropped to a mere 60.7 percent in fiscal 2007 - in a sharp contrast to an increase of the rates in the last 10 years in the United States, Russia and France. If Japan's utilization rates had been higher, they would have reduced the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Japan is required to cut its emissions in the 2008-2012 period by 6 percent from the 1990 level. But its emissions in fiscal 2007 were 8.7 percent higher than the 1990 level.

"The Pacific Sandpiper, a specially built cargo ship with safety features far in excess of those found on conventional vessels, left Britain's Barrow port bound for Japan the other day. The security surrounding its departure on Jan. 21 indicates that something out of the ordinary is aboard. The Pacific Sandpiper and several sister ships make no port calls on their voyages between Europe and Japan because they carry potentially lethal nuclear material. In the Pacific Sandpiper's hold on this journey to Japan via the Panama Canal is only one item of cargo - a giant cylinder weighing more than 100 tons."

"In 2008, after the opening of 8 brand new nuclear plants in Japan (2 on the Island of Hokkaidō, 3 on Honshū, and 1 each on Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Tanagashima, the last of which hosts the Japanese Aerospace Agency headquarters and uses roughly 2% of all Japan's energy despite only about 21,714 inhabitants) Japan became the second largest nuclear power user in the world with 63 nuclear reactor Nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate.The most significant use of nuclear reactors is as an energy source for the generation of electrical power and for the power in some ships... s. These provide 34.5% of Japan's electricity. Since 1973 nuclear energy has been a national strategic priority because Japan is heavily dependent on imported fuel, with fuel imports accounting for 61% of energy production."

"Japan, the third-biggest nuclear power generator, restarted an experimental fast-breeder reactor that had been shut since 1995 after an accident and a cover-up. State-controlled Japan Atomic Energy Agency removed control rods to resume operation at 10:36 a.m. local time at the Monju reactor in Tsuruga City in central Japan after getting safety clearances from the government, Tokyo-based spokesman Shinichi Suga said by telephone. A leak of liquid sodium, used for cooling, and a fire forced a halt on Dec. 8, 1995. While no radiation leaked to the environment, operators admitted editing videotape to conceal the extent of the damage, stoking the public's safety concerns. The development of a fast-breeder reactor, which uses spent nuclear fuel from other plants, is a pillar of Japan's energy policy. "

"After it was revealed that Tepco had falsified inspection reports at three of its nuclear power plants for years (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 573.5436, "Japan: whistleblowing turns into tornado"), other utilities began to investigate if they too had failed to mention defects in reports. Soon, two utilities, Chubu Electric and Tokohu Electric, reported that they too had left out details of faults in their inspection records. Chubu Chubu is Japan's third largest power company, and halted all its reactors after admitting it had failed to report signs of cracking in water pipes of reactors 1 and 3 at its Hamaoka plant to the authorities. The largest of these, in Hamaoka-3, was 60 millimeters long and 3 millimeters deep, in a pipe around 40 millimeters thick. The failure of Chubu to notify the authorities of the crack indications in water pipes is all the more worrying because of recent incidents involving pipes at Hamaoka. Last year, a water pipe at Hamaoka-1 exploded, releasing radioactive steam into the containment building (see WISE News Communique 558.5339, "Japan: a 'grave situation' at Hamaoka BWR"). This year, sixteen workers were irradiated after a water pipe leak at Hamaoka-2 (see WISE/NIRS Nuclear Monitor 569.5411, "Japan: More problems at Hamaoka")."

US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama plan to issue a joint statement calling for a world without nuclear weapons when they hold talks Friday, reports said. In the statement, tentatively entitled the US-Japan joint initiative for a nuclear-free world, they would welcome rising international momentum toward arms reduction and non-proliferation, the Yomiuri said Thursday. In their joint effort, the United States would seek to raise the global momentum, while Japan would push the message from its perspective as the only country to have been hit with atomic bombs. The statement would be based on the UN resolution adopted in September at a Security Council summit hosted by Obama, Jiji Press said.

US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama plan to issue a joint statement calling for a world without nuclear weapons when they hold talks Friday, reports said. In the statement, tentatively entitled the US-Japan joint initiative for a nuclear-free world, they would welcome rising international momentum toward arms reduction and non-proliferation, the Yomiuri said Thursday. In their joint effort, the United States would seek to raise the global momentum, while Japan would push the message from its perspective as the only country to have been hit with atomic bombs. The statement would be based on the UN resolution adopted in September at a Security Council summit hosted by Obama, Jiji Press said.

"The sun has only just risen in Iwaki-Yumoto when groups of men in white T-shirts and light blue cargo pants emerge blinking into the sunlight, swapping the comfort of their air-conditioned rooms for the fierce humidity of a Japanese summer. Four months on from the start of the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, this hot-spring resort in north-east Japan has been transformed into a dormitory for 2,000 men who have travelled from across the country to take part in the clean-up effort 30 miles away at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. Iwaki-Yumoto has come to resemble corporate Japan in microcosm. Among its newest residents are technicians and engineers with years of experience and, underpinning them all, hundreds of labourers lured from across Japan by the prospect of higher wages. They include Ariyoshi Rune, a tall, wiry 47-year-old truck driver whose slicked-back hair and sideburns are inspired by his idol, Joe Strummer. For five days a week, Rune is in thrall to the drudgery of life as a "nuclear gypsy", the name writer Kunio Horie gave to contract workers who have traditionally performed the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs for Japan's power utilities."

Enough highly enriched U.S. uranium to make about 20 nuclear weapons was sneaked back to the United States from Japan over a 12-year period until last summer in a secret operation aimed at keeping it out of terrorists' hands, a senior U.S. official and Japanese specialists recently revealed. The uranium, which was provided to Japan by the United States to build five nuclear nuclear research reactors, totaled more than 500 kg.

A three-part exhibit titled "Against Nuclear Arms" opened Monday at the United Nations as testament to the victims of the atomic bombings in Japan and 40 years of nuclear tests carried out in Kazakhstan. The exhibit is being presented by the Japan and Kazakhstan missions as part of ongoing efforts for nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. It will be on display until Sept. 30.

A difference in interpretation of a diplomatic document in 1959 apparently led to a secret pact allowing Washington to bring nuclear weapons into Japan--and decades of denials from Tokyo, former officials said. The revision of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960 introduced a "prior consultation" system between the two nations about nuclear wea-pons. At that time, Japanese officials believed prior consultation would be conducted when U.S. ships and aircraft carrying nuclear weapons anchored or landed in Japan or even passed through Japanese waters or airspace. However, U.S. officials thought that the 1959 document meant that such acts would not require prior consultation.

A federation of Japanese power companies last week reportedly asked member companies to "rethink plans" to power the country's nuclear plants with mixed oxide (MOX) fuel because many plants are unlikely to launch plutonium generation within the next three years, as expected. The Japan Atomic Energy Commission also called for a reexamination of the plan, The Japan Times reported on Friday. The move, initiated by the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan (FEPC), could affect the nation's future nuclear plans, the newspaper said. Today, 53 reactors provide some 30% of Japan's electricity.

Japan's Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, built to extract plutonium from the spent fuel produced in Japan's nuclear reactors, continues to be plagued by technical difficulties that have pushed its start-up date for commercial operations to August this year. The plant in Rokkasho in northern Japan was out of action for six months from the end of 2008 due to problems in one of its vitrification facilities, a furnace that mixes high active liquid waste with molten glass to seal radioactive waste in steel canisters that can safely be buried in the ground. Attempts to restart the plant failed last November as problems with the glass melting process persisted. Then in January, 150 liters of high-level liquid radioactive waste leaked from pipes in the vitrification cell, forcing Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. to postpone operations until August. The problems at Rokkasho, especially with extracting plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, are a blow to Japan's nuclear fuel-cycle program, whose goal is to reprocess and re-use recoverable resources from spent nuclear fuel to produce fuel for its power plants. In fact the commitment to a domestic program to increase energy and reduce nuclear waste by reprocessing spent fuel led to the creation of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.

Russia and Japan will sign an agreement on peaceful uses of nuclear energy on May 12 during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Tokyo. Putin and his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso will also discuss North Korea and their territorial dispute, though Russia isn't prepared to cede four Kuril Islands claimed by Japan, Yury Ushakov, Putin's deputy chief of staff, told reporters in Moscow today. "We're not ceding anything, but we may be ready to some degree to discuss hypothetical situations," Ushakov said. "That's all. We're not ready to give the islands away." Russia favors a "calm, constructive" dialogue on the Kurils without "inflated expectations and disappointments," he said.

Twenty three workers were exposed to low levels of radiation after a leak at Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear plant in central Japan, the company said on Wednesday. The amount of radiation from the leak of tainted water at the No 3 reactor was minimal and not enough to harm the workers' health, the company said. Operations at the plant, in the Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, have not been affected. The cause of the leak, which saw 53 liters of water contaminated by more than 300 times radiation the amount permitted, is being investigated.

Twenty three workers were exposed to low levels of radiation after a leak at Chubu Electric Power Co.'s Hamaoka nuclear plant in central Japan, the company said on Wednesday. The amount of radiation from the leak of tainted water at the No 3 reactor was minimal and not enough to harm the workers' health, the company said. Operations at the plant, in the Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, have not been affected. The cause of the leak, which saw 53 liters of water contaminated by more than 300 times radiation the amount permitted, is being investigated.

"Japan's fast-breeder nuclear reactor got the go-ahead to resume tests on Wednesday, 14 years after it was closed due to a fire caused by leaking coolant. Here are some questions and answers about the project to develop the reactor, called Monju. WHY HAS Japan DEVELOPED MONJU? Unlike conventional thermal nuclear reactors, fast-breeders produce more fuel than they consume. In Japan, which has virtually no natural energy resources, they are seen as a big step towards energy self-sufficiency, and successive governments have keenly supported their development. About 900 billion yen ($9.67 billion) has been poured into the programme. The operator, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), says it expects to spend around 23 billion yen per year on Monju in the coming years."

Japan is racing to gain control of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plan. Where does the most detailed data come from? Updated daily The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami last week has seen Japan struggle as it battles to control the nuclear meltdown of power plants in the north-east of the country. Fukushima nuclear power plant in particular has been closely scrutinised as reports flow in on the progress of the plant - Japan's nuclear board raised the nuclear alert level from four to five last week and the latest update this afternoon warns of products such as dairy and spinach being restricted for shipping. Explosions and reports of nuclear fuel rods melting at the power plant have meant progress on the situation has been closely followed.

The release of two types of radioactive particles in the first 3-4 days of Japan's nuclear crisis is estimated to have reached 20-50 percent of the amounts from Chernobyl in 10 days, an Austrian expert said on Wednesday. The calculations published by Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics may add to growing concern in Japan and elsewhere over the contamination of food products such as milk and vegetables in areas near the Japanese reactor site. On Tuesday, France's IRSN radiation protection and nuclear safety institute estimated that leaks of radiation from the Fukushima plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami represented about 10 percent of those from Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear disaster, in 1986. Astrid Liland, of the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, said there was a peak in radiation in Japan a couple of days ago and levels had since decreased.

The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant follows decades of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk in Japan's atomic power industry. The destruction caused by last week's 9.0 earthquake and tsunami comes less than four years after a 6.8 quake shut the world's biggest atomic plant, also run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. In 2002 and 2007, revelations the utility had faked repair records forced the resignation of the company's chairman and president, and a three-week shutdown of all 17 of its reactors. With almost no oil or gas reserves of its own, nuclear power has been a national priority for Japan since the end of World War II, a conflict the country fought partly to secure oil supplies. Japan has 54 operating nuclear reactors -- more than any other country except the U.S. and France -- to power its industries, pitting economic demands against safety concerns in the world's most earthquake-prone country.

"To control the "harmful rumor",Foreign Ministry is inviting SNS (SM) gurus to Japan. Learning from the revolution in the middle east asia,Foreign Ministry is trying to media control by using Facebook and Twitter. Though they force us to decontaminate the kindergarten on our own expense,they are going to invest 1500 million yen into media control. They are trying to make the gurus say Japan is safe,Japanese food is safe,Japanese products are not contaminated ignoring the fact that the low dose symptoms take time to appear."

There are 14 potentially active fault lines in areas near the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and other nuclear-related facilities, the Japanese government has announced. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced the results of research undertaken by power utilities following the Great East Japan Earthquake. The 14 faults discovered to be potentially active were previously considered unlikely to cause earthquakes. According to the research, a magnitude-7.6 earthquake could occur on the potentially active Hatakawa fault line in Fukushima Prefecture, the largest magnitude earthquake estimated. The agency said the intensity of any quakes from the fault lines would not exceed the level the facilities were designed to withstand. It also said there were no problems with the facilities' quake resistance. Five of the 14 fault lines are near Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants. The other nine are near Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tokai No. 2 power plant and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Tokai reprocessing plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.