The UN nuclear watchdog chief yesterday visited Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, a day after Tokyo approved an energy plan that marks a return to nuclear power.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is monitoring Japan’s efforts to decommission the Fukushima plant after a 2011 earthquake-triggered tsunami killed 18,000 people and set off the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
As IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi arrived in Japan on Tuesday, the Cabinet adopted a plan to increase reliance on nuclear power to help meet growing energy demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and microchip factories.
Photo: AFP
“At a moment where Japan is embarking on a gradual return to nuclear energy in its national energy mix, it is important that this is also done in complete safety and with the confidence of the society,” Grossi said after meeting Japan’s foreign minister.
Japan had previously vowed to “reduce reliance on nuclear power as much as possible.”
However, the pledge was dropped from the latest Strategic Energy Plan — which includes an intention to make renewables the country’s top power source by 2040.
Photo: AFP
Under the plan, nuclear power would account for about 20 percent of Japan’s energy supply by 2040, up from 5.6 percent in 2022.
The shift back to nuclear power comes as Japan contends with how to remove about 880 tonnes of radioactive debris from the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors.
So far, only one tiny sample has been retrieved by a robotic claw.
Grossi, making his fifth visit to Fukushima, viewed the vast “interim” contaminated soil storage facilities near the plant for the first time.
About 13 million cubic meters of soil — enough to fill 10 stadiums — was scraped from the region to remove radiation.
About 300,000m3 of ash from incinerated organic material is also being stored.
Reporters yesterday saw trucks and construction vehicles going back and forth between several spots where hundreds of large soil-filled black bags were stacked.
Japan plans to recycle about 75 percent of the soil — the portion with low radioactivity — for building projects such as road and railway embankments.
The remaining material would be disposed of outside the Fukushima region ahead of a 2045 deadline.
“In terms of the timing, which has been, of course, set by law for 2045, we believe that it is not unrealistic. It can be done,” Grossi told reporters yesterday.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS