The company that runs the nuclear power plant severely damaged by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in northwestern Japan said yesterday it was still estimating damage 10 days after the temblor and did not know when it could reopen.
The Mainichi Shimbun reported yesterday that a delay in resuming operations at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture -- the world's largest nuclear power facility -- could result in ?200 billion (US$1.66 billion) losses for the fiscal year ending in March next year.
The losses at Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the plant, would arise because it might be forced to restart oil and gas plants, which are less cost-efficient than nuclear power plants, the report said.
TEPCO was still assessing the damage from the July 16 quake and did not yet know how much the shutdown would cost, company spokesman Jun Oshima said yesterday.
The company has also not yet decided when the plant, which has been shuttered since the deadly quake, will resume operations, Oshima said, adding that it was considering restarting its oil and gas plants.
News reports on Wednesday cited the head of a government-appointed panel investigating quake damage at the plant as saying it could take at least a year before the plant will reopen.
The earthquake July 16 struck off the coast of Niigata, about 19km from the epicenter. It killed 11 people and injured more than 1,000.
TEPCO has came under fire for being too slow in notifying the public about quake damage at the plant, including radioactive water sloshing out of a tank and into the sea, and radioactive material venting into the air.
TEPCO has also said that parts of a 6m crane inside the reactor building at one of the facility's seven reactors had been mangled -- the first damage to be found so close to a reactor.
Oshima said officials would conduct more detailed inspections at three of the six other reactor buildings yesterday.
Work to repair the plant will not likely begin before the arrival of officials from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, who are expected to inspect the plant in the next few weeks.
In order to make up for a power shortage caused by the shutdown, six other power companies have agreed to provide emergency electricity on TEPCO's request.
Also yesterday, Greenpeace said its own inspections on Friday confirmed the level of radiation near the reactors did not surpass the normal level.
The environmental group urged the government to thoroughly investigate the plant.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese