Japan Is Restarting Its #NuclearPower Program 15 Years After the #Fukushima Disaster

One of the surviving reactors at the #KashiwazakiKariwa plant was loaded with fuel last summer and recently turned back on, to mixed reactions.

By Elizabeth Rayne, Published: Jan 28, 2026

Excerpt: "Despite the benefits [sic] of nuclear energy, not everyone is so sure about this move. The Japanese government’s strategic energy plan previously intended to reduce the use of nuclear power as much as possible, but as far back as 2021, it has been focused on incorporating nuclear back into its bank of power sources as a way to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. Its newest plan addresses the progress that has been made since the Fukushima disaster, admitting that the power plant failed to make improvements because of 'the myth [that] created the impression that meeting the standards and conditions set by the government and industry would eliminate all risks.'

"Some citizens see the return to nuclear power as a dismissal of caution."

Read more:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a70108280/japan-is-restarting-its-nuclear-power-program-15-years-after-the-fukushima-disaster/

#RethinkNotRestart #NoMoreFukushimas #TEPCOLies #KEPCOLies #NoNukes #RenewablesNow #Geothermal #Hotsprings #FukushimaIsntOver #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #Radiation #NuclearWasteIsForever

Unfortunately, the #FukushimaDiary website seems to have been locked down. This was one of the last articles posted by #Mochizuki (on December 7, 2025).

#TEPCO Downgrades Thermometers After 80°C Spike, But Data Suggests a Systemic Issue

"TEPCO recently reported that a thermometer in #FukushimaDaiichi’s Reactor 1 recorded an unexpected 80°C temperature increase following nitrogen injection into the primary containment vessel (#PCV). Initially, this raised concerns about a possible heat source inside the containment vessel .

"However, after an internal review, TEPCO concluded that the reading did not reflect an actual temperature increase, attributing it to instrument malfunction. As a result, they downgraded multiple thermometers to “reference use” and removed them from official monitoring .
Contradictions in TEPCO’s Explanation

"TEPCO’s official report claims that the 80°C spike was a sensor anomaly, yet the data contradicts this conclusion..."

https://web.archive.org/web/20251207175303/https://fukushima-diary.com/2025/03/tepco-downgrades-thermometers-after-80c-spike-but-data-suggests-a-systemic-issue/

#RethinkNotRestart #NoMoreFukushimas #TEPCOLies #KEPCOLies #NoNukes #FukushimaIsntOver #WaterIsLife
#OceansAreLife #Radiation #NuclearWasteIsForever

Imagine that... A #nuclear plant operator that LIES!!!

Japan’s nuclear watchdog halts plant’s reactor safety screening over falsified data

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Updated 8:31 AM EST, January 7, 2026

TOKYO (AP) — "Japan’s #nuclear watchdog said Wednesday it is scrapping the safety screening for two reactors at the #HamaokaNuclearPowerPlant in central Japan, after its operator was found to have fabricated data about #earthquake risks.

"It was a setback to Japan’s attempts to accelerate nuclear reactor restarts. Less than a quarter of commercial nuclear reactors are operational in the wake of the 2011 #FukushimaDaiichi meltdowns, but rising energy costs and pressure to reduce carbon emissions have pushed the government to prioritize nuclear power.

"#ChubuElectricPowerCo. had applied for safety screening to resume operations at the No. 3 and 4 reactors at the Hamaoka plant in 2014 and 2015. Two other reactors at the plant are being decommissioned, and a fifth is idle.

"The plant, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of #Tokyo, is located on a coastal area known for potential risks from so-called #NankaiTrough #megaquakes."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/japan-hamaoka-nuclear-fabrication-data-893d7cf94e790ffb51cb1cf85254d658

#ChudenLies #TEPCOLies #KEPCOLies #RethinkNotRestart #NoMoreFukushimas #NoNukes #FukushimaIsntOver #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #Radiation #NuclearWasteIsForever

Nuclear reactor owned by #Fukushima plant operator #TEPCO to shut down again hours after restart

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Updated 7:05 AM EST, January 22, 2026

TOKYO (AP) — "A reactor at the world’s largest nuclear power plant that restarted for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster is now being shut down again Thursday due to a glitch that occurred hours after the unit’s resumption, its operator said.

"The No. 6 reactor at the #KashiwazakiKariwa plant in north-central Japan reactivated Wednesday night for the first time in 14 years, as plant workers started removing neutron-absorbing control rods from the core to start stable nuclear fission.

"But the process had to be suspended hours later due to a malfunction related to control rods, which are essential to safely starting up and shutting down reactors, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said.

"TEPCO, which also manages the wrecked Fukushima plant, said there was no safety issue from the glitch."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/japan-nuclear-fukushima-tepco-kashiwazakikariwa-e1a784da67f73aaf616413b543ae539d

#RethinkNotRestart #NoMoreFukushimas #TEPCOLies #KEPCOLies #NoNukes #FukushimaIsntOver #WaterIsLife
#OceansAreLife #Radiation #NoMoreFukushimas #NuclearWasteIsForever

Niigata Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi said Friday that he will allow a partial resumption of the #KashiwazakiKariwa #NuclearPower plant, the world’s largest by output.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/21/japan/niigata-nuclear-plant-resume/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon

#japan #niigata #nuclearenergy #energy #RethinkNotRestart #KashiwazakiKariwaNPP #FukushimaIsntOver #NoNukes

The effect of #ClimateChange on sources of #radionuclides to the #MarineEnvironment

Published: 16 March 2024
Justin P. Gwynn, Vanessa Hatje, Núria Casacuberta, Manmohan Sarin & Iolanda Osvath

Abstract:
"Climate change interacts with the sources and cycling of contaminants, such as radionuclides, in the environment. In this review, we discuss the implications of climate change impacts on existing and potential future sources of radionuclides associated with human activities to the marine environment. The overall effect on operational releases of radionuclides from the nuclear and non-nuclear sectors will likely be increased interference or prevention of normal operations due to weather-related events. For certain #RadioactiveWaste dumped at sea and sunken #NuclearSubmarines, the impact of climate change and ocean #acidification on the release of radionuclides and their subsequent fate in the marine environment should be considered further. Fluxes from secondary sources of radionuclides in the marine and terrestrial environment and cryosphere will change in response to climate change impacts such as sea level rise, warming and changes in precipitation patterns. In addition, climate change impacts may increase the risk of releases of radionuclides from operational and legacy wastes on land to the marine environment. Overall, our synthesis highlights that there is a need to understand and assess climate change impacts on sources of radionuclides to the marine environment to meet environmental and management challenges under future climate scenarios."

Full paper:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01241-w

#NoNukes #NoNuclearWeapons #NoNuclearDumping #ToxicLegacy #LegacyWastes #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearWaste #NuclearWasteStorage #IllegalDumping

#NIRS - The Global #NuclearWaste Crisis

"Clean air and drinking water and healthy food are the very foundation of a just and livable world. They are already more precious than ever due to the climate crisis.

#NuclearPower and #NuclearWeapons are poisoning our water, air, and lands with vast amounts of #RadioactiveWaste. Much of the harm is inflicted on #Black, #Indigenous, #PeopleOfColor and #LowIncome white communities, due to #StructuralRacism and #injustice.

Radioactive waste poses a global #EnvironmentalCrisis, in tandem with #ClimateChange. The sheer amount of nuclear waste is enough to threaten clean drinking water and healthy food for the whole world.

We are on the frontlines of this problem.

- Nearly one-third of the worldwide total of radioactive waste is in the United States.
- Some communities in the US are already losing their drinking water sources to radioactive contamination.
- Just one part of the radioactive waste in the US – irradiated nuclear fuel – contains enough radioactivity to make every drop of drinking water on Earth unsafe to consume.

We must solve the twin global crises of climate change and nuclear waste. Global warming amplifies the dangers of nuclear energy. Increasingly #SevereStorms, #flooding, #SeaLevelRise, #wildfires and other extreme events increase the risks of nuclear disasters and #RadioactiveLeaks and spills. And, in turn, the impacts of nuclear energy magnify the dangers of climate change:

- Poisoning drinking water and agricultural land on top of more frequent and severe droughts and crop failures.
- Compounding hurricane and flooding evacuations with #RadiologicalDisasters.
- And causing people to lose their homes and communities permanently due to radiation.

It’s clear: we can’t afford the dangers of climate change or nuclear waste. And we certainly can’t afford them together.

The solutions to both are at hand. We must act now.

1. To start, we must stop the problems from worsening: no more greenhouse gas emissions, and no more nuclear waste.
2. We need to protect people and the water, air, and food we rely on from the dangers that are upon us. The climate is changing, and we need to protect people for extreme weather, drought, sea-level rise, and food supply disruptions. And we must safeguard our water, air, and land by securing and storing nuclear waste and toxic materials as safely as possible.
3. And, we need to repair the damage and make our world healthy and vibrant again: restoring communities that have been dislocated or polluted, and cleaning up the air, land, and water so we can all thrive, for generations to come."

Learn more: (includes https://www.nirs.org/the-global-nuclear-waste-crisis/

#NuclearWaste #NuclearWasteDumping #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNuclearWeapons #NuclearWeapons #WaterIsLife #FoodIsLife #EnvironmentalRacism

2025 #UraniumFilmFestival - To Use a Mountain

USA, 2025, Director Casey Carter, Producers: Colleen Cassingham, Jonna McKone, Documentary, 99 min.

"In 1982, the United States began their search for a landfill site for their most dangerous #NuclearWaste. The Department for Energy at the time preselected six sites across the country. Each of these areas were studied and documented in detail, and their residents consulted. The film, which adopts an observational yet sensitive tone, offers us a topography of these sites and their residents. In #Texas, #Utah, #Mississippi, #Nevada, the communities excavate memories of their confrontations with the administration, as well as the distress and outcry that these caused. The film travels across America goes back in time, reminding us that these lands were originally stolen from their first occupants, as we rediscover the intimate links between nuclear, civil and military powers."

FMI - https://beyondnuclear.org/to-use-a-mountain-yucca-nts-doc-film/

#YuccaMountain #NuclearWaste #NoNukes #NoNuclearWeapons #Shoshone #Paiute #WesternShoshone #RethinkNotRestart #NuclearColonialism #WIPP #NuclearWasteRepository #Hanford #Pantex #InternationalUraniumFilmFestival

From my friend in Japan...

Two years after the release of treated water at the #FukushimaDaiichi #nuclear power plant began, more than a hundred thousand tons were washed into the sea, but new #contaminated water is occurring every day

August 24, 2025 at 06:00

"It has been two years since the ocean release of treated water accumulated at the #TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began. The radioactive substance #tritium remains in the water even after the purification process. In June, China, which completely stopped importing Japanese seafood, resumed production in 37 prefectures, but Fukushima and other ten prefectures are still not eligible. There is no end to the ocean release, and the impact of the nuclear accident on the fishing industry continues.

"Tank treated water and contaminated water have been reduced by only fifty-six thousand tons.

"The ocean release was first released on August 24th, and the 14th time was launched on August 7th this month. Up to the 13th time, a total of one hundred and eighty-seven tons of treated water were released.

"The treated water and contaminated water stored in a tank on the site of the nuclear power plant before it was released into the ocean. So far, it has decreased to about fifty-six thousand tons, and it has not decreased by much the amount of release. The reason is that the contaminated water is generated about seventy tons every day, and the number of groundwater and rainwater increases due to the contact of molten nuclear fuel (debris) in the reactor building. Without the absence of contaminated water, we cannot stop releasing it into the ocean.

"As of July 30th, TEPCO paid about JPY790 billion in compensation in response to the slump in fish prices associated with ocean release. There is a possibility that some of China's resumption of imports will also change the price of fish, but Fukushima Prefecture continues to be stopped.

"37 Export application procedures for fishery products produced in Hokkaido Prefecture have begun. A person in charge of the processing and distribution section of the Fisheries Agency said, 'There are many applications, and the desire to resume is strong. We will continue to work with China to reopen the ten prefectures.' Riki Arai)

"The place where the 'sludge' due to the treatment of contaminated water is about to be full.

"Two years have passed since the release of treated water into the ocean due to the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The treated water stored in the nuclear power plant is gradually reduced by ocean release, while the storage and disposal of sludge contaminated with high concentrations that continue to occur in the process of treatment of contaminated water is becoming an issue.

"In the process of removing radioactive substances from contaminated water, sludge is produced by precipitating impurities with chemicals. Liquids and solids are mixed... " [Unfortunately, the rest is behind paywall]

Source:
https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/430612

#FukushimaIsntOver #TEPCOLied #TEPCOLies #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #WaterContamination #Radiation #Bioaccumulation #NoRadioactiveDumping #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoMoreFukushimas #NuclearWasteIsForever