Kategori : ELECTRICITY ENERGY NEWS, ENERGY AGENDA NEWS, NUCLEAR ENERGY NEWS - Tarih : 23 July 2022
Japan hopes to restart four more nuclear reactors in time to avert any power crunch over the winter, industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said on Friday, a week after the pro-nuclear ruling party won a resounding victory in upper house elections.
“We would like to ensure the operation of a maximum of nine reactors, up from the current five 
operating now, by revising the construction and inspection periods for some of the nuclear power plants,” Hagiuda told a news conference.
Many of Japan’s nuclear reactors remain idled after a massive tsunami triggered a disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been eyeing a return to nuclear power as a stable source of energy for resource-poor Japan.
Public opinion had broadly opposed nuclear restarts following the Fukushima disaster, but the tide has shifted given rising fuel prices and bouts of unseasonable weather that have triggered calls for energy-saving.
Talk of restarting additional reactors came as welcome news for energy companies, with head of the Federation of Electric Power Companies Kazuhiro Ikebe calling them “words of encouragement.”
Still, a nuclear restart requires an extensive approval process overseen by regulators, as well as approval from local communities.
