Nihon university, Private university in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo, June 24 The aging Mihima nuclear plant in Fukui prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast is back online, marking the first reactor to be operational beyond the government's mandated 40-year limit, put in place after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, local media reported on Thursday.Kansai Electric Power Co., the operator of the controversial No. 3 nuclear reactor at the Mihama plant, said the unit was put back into operation on Wednesday after being offline for about 10 years, reports Xinhua news agency.During this time the reactor, which was first put into operation 44 years ago, underwent safety work and inspections, the plant's operator said.As was the case with all of Japan's active nuclear reactions, the unit was taken offline in the wake of the devastating earthquake-triggered tsunami which sparked the world's worst nuclear disaster at the Fukushima plant in March 2011 since the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986.According to the plant's operators, once the aged reactor, the first to be brought back online among Japan's units aged 40 years old after the Fukushima disaster, its engineers started removing control rods inside the unit.The government-mandated 40-year limit on nuclear reactors operating was put in place after the 2011 crisis, but if a reactor passes a safety screening by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), a reactor can have its operational life extended to sixty years.Such approval was granted for the Mihama No. 3 unit by the NRA in 2016, much to the consternation of the local community, Japan's closest neighbours and the broader international community.The concerns come as the Fukushima crisis has yet to be brought under control, with the Daiichi plant facing a shortage of space to store contaminated water.The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings, Inc., along with the government is, once again, planning to release radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, despite protests and ardent opposition from local fisherman and the international community amid environmental concerns.Such is the opposition to the Mihama plant being restarted amid ongoing safety concerns abut the Fukushima plant and the fact that lessons from the crisis are seemingly yet to be fully learned, local civic groups have protested against the unit's restart.They held up placards and banners with antinuclear slogans, with some of them containing demands such as "Don't allow the restart of the reactor".In Fukui and the neighbouring prefectures of Kyoto and Shiga, a lawsuit was filed earlier this week with the Osaka District Court, insisting on the suspension of the Mihama No. 3 reactor.According to the plaintiffs, old reactors like the No. 3 unit at the Mihama plant are more likely to malfunction should a large earthquake occur in the vicinity.They argued that the 40-year operational limit, originally mandated by the government, should be, without exception, adhered to as Japan, the world's most seismically active country, is prone to devastating natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Nihon UniversityFOLLOW

Nihon university, Latest News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a Zen Garden and Kaizen Academy at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) in Ahmedabad via video conference and elaborated on his vision of creating a 'Mini-Japan' in Gujarat. ...

New Delhi, June 27 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pointed towards the strengthening of special strategic and ... ...

Japan will donate one million COVID-19 vaccine doses each to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand starting from next Thursday, said Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on Friday. ...

Enjoying hot sand bath is a unique experience in Japan. Ibusuki city in Kagoshima prefecture is ideal for such an experience as many volcanic landforms are found here. ...

Yokohama is the second most populous city in Japan with a population of some 3.7 million people. ...

Equity benchmark indices drifted higher on Thursday due to heavy buying in IT stocks along with support from banking and metal stocks. ...

Tokyo, June 24 Five Japanese doctors were found liable for causing the death of a two-year-old toddler due ... ...

Tokyo, June 24 The aging Mihima nuclear plant in Fukui prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast is ... ...