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First nuclear reactor restarts as Japan resumes nuclear program

The event was greeted with protests by hundreds of people, including Naoto Kan, the prime minister at the time of the Fukushima disaster and now a high-profile anti-nuclear activist.

Power Magazine marks the restart of the 890-MW Sendai-1 as a milestone for Japan’s nuclear sector. Kyushu Electric Power Co. says the 31-year-old reactor should begin producing electricity by the end of the week, after reaching full capacity. But the reactor will not go online until it passes performance tests performed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) in September. Only then can the reactor begin commercial service.

The Sendai plant’s second reactor is expected to go online later this year. The national broadcaster NHK filmed employees in the control room of reactor No. 1 as they turned the switches, restarting the reactor. Tomomitsu Sakata, a spokesman for Kyushu Electric Power, said the reactor was put back online without any problems, according to MyKawartha.com.

The Wall Street Journal, says Japan has 43 operable nuclear power plants, and all of them have been shut down since September 2013. There have been efforts to restart a number of them, but much stricter regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster have thwarted many operators, causing delays as companies try to comply with the new safety rules.

Before the 2011 earthquake and Tsunami that caused the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan depended on nuclear power for 30 percent of the country’s electricity. Since then, Japan has depended on coal, liquefied natural gas and oil for 90 percent of their power needs.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his government have said they want Japan’s reactors back online to cut the country’s dependence on fossil fuels. In July, the country’s energy ministry said they wanted nuclear power to account for 22 percent of Japan’s electricity by 2030. According to this program, 24 percent of electricity will be from clean-energy resources. Mr. Abe also said the new safety standards were “at the highest level in the world.”

Polls in Japan show the majority of citizens oppose the restart of the nuclear power plants, and the whole issue of nuclear power has caused a big drop in Abe’s approval ratings. Critics are citing the environmental risks in a country prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as the trouble in cleaning up the contamination from the Fukushima disaster, a problem that will be around for decades.

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We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend Karen Graham, who served as Editor-at-Large at Digital Journal. She was 78 years old. Karen's view of what is happening in our world was colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in humankind's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, "Journalism is merely history's first draft." Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.

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