Japan yesterday restarted a second nuclear reactor after a shutdown triggered by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis, as Tokyo pushes to return to a cheaper energy source, despite widespread public opposition.
Kyushu Electric Power said it restarted the No. 2 reactor at Sendai, about 1,000km southwest of Tokyo at 10:30am.
The same power plant’s No. 1 reactor was restarted in August, ending a two-year nuclear power hiatus. Engineers will now spend several days bringing the newly restarted reactor up to operational level before running it commercially from next month.
The restart comes more than four years after a quake-sparked tsunami swamped cooling systems and triggered reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, prompting the shutdown of Japan’s 50 reactors and starting a pitched battle over the future use of atomic power.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for a restart, saying that atomic energy is necessary to power the world’s third-biggest economy.
However, the public is largely opposed to atomic energy after the Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis sent radiation over a wide area and forced tens of thousands from their homes — many of whom will likely never return — in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
The government will continue to restart reactors that are deemed safe under the nation’s standards, upgraded since the accident in 2011, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
“There is no change to this policy of the government,” Suga told a press conference.
About 70 people gathered in front of the Sendai plant to protest the latest reactor restart, according to public broadcaster NHK.
“Many people are still concerned about the restart of nuclear power plants,” Ryoko Torihara, head of the citizen group against the Sendai nuclear plant, told NHK.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace criticized “the Abe government’s disregard for public safety,” and said that Japan has demonstrated that it does not need nuclear power.
“Nuclear energy will not make any significant contribution to Japan’s energy mix — not now or in the foreseeable future,” Greenpeace Japan energy campaigner Mamoru Sekiguchi said.
“Rather than risking the safety of Japanese citizens for a dangerous and outdated energy source, the Japanese government should be creating policies that support the transition to safe, clean renewable energy,” he said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS