2023

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese nuclear safety regulators lifted an operational ban Wednesday imposed on Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, the operator behind the Fukushima plant that ended in disaster, allowing the company to resume preparations for restarting a separate plant after more than 10 years.

At its weekly meeting, the Nuclear Regulation Authority formally lifted the more than two-year ban imposed on the TEPCO over its lax safety measures, saying a series of inspections and meetings with company officials has shown sufficient improvement. The decision removes an order that prohibited TEPCO from transporting new fuel into the plant or placing it into reactors, a necessary step for restarting Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s reactors.

The plant on Japan’s northern coast of Niigata is TEPCO’s only workable nuclear power plant since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami put its Fukushima Daiichi plant out of operation. Now the company is burdened with the growing cost of decommissioning the Fukushima plant and compensating disaster-hit residents.

The NRA slapped an unprecedented ban on the operator in April 2021 after revelations of a series of sloppy anti-terrorism measures at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the world’s largest nuclear power complex housing seven reactors.

The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant was partially damaged in a 2007 earthquake, causing distrust among local municipalities. The March 2011 disaster caused stoppages of all 54 reactors Japan used to have before the Fukushima disaster, and prompted utility operators to decommission many of them due to additional safety costs, bringing the number of usable reactors to 33 today. Twelve reactors have been restarted under tougher safety standards, and the government wants to bring more than 20 others back online.

TEPCO was making final preparations to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant’s No. 6 and No. 7 reactors after regulators granted safety approvals for them in 2017. But in 2018, regulators gave the plant’s nuclear security a “red” rating, the lowest given to any operator, resulting in the operational ban.

The case raised questions about whether TEPCO learned any lessons from the 2011 Fukushima crisis, which was largely attributed to the utility’s lack of concern about safety.

NRA Chair Shinsuke Yamanaka told Wednesday’s meeting that the lifting of the restrictions is just the beginning, and TEPCO is still required to keep improving its safety precautions.

Before TEPCO can restart the reactors, it needs the consent of nearby residents. Prior to the NRA decision Wednesday, Niigata Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi told reporters that the will of the voters he represents must be taken into consideration.

The Japanese government recently began a push to restart as many reactors as possible to maximize nuclear energy and meet decarbonization targets. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government has reversed Japan’s nuclear energy phaseout plan, instead looking to use atomic power as key energy supply accounting to more than one-fifth of the country’s energy supply.

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BERLIN (Reuters) – Wolfgang Schaeuble, who served as a member of the German parliament for over half a century, has died aged 81, ending one of Germany’s longest political careers in which he helped secure his country’s place at the heart of Europe.

Schaeuble, who spent much of his career devoted to re-unifying his country and later served as former chancellor Angela Merkel’s finance minister during the eurozone debt crisis, died peacefully late Tuesday, said a spokesperson for the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) on Wednesday.

Schaeuble had been a member of the CDU since 1965 and a member of parliament since 1972.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz mourned Schaeuble’s death in a social media post on X: “Germany has lost a sharp thinker, passionate politician and pugnacious democrat.”

CDU leader Friedrich Merz expressed his deep grief at Schaeuble’s death on X. “In Wolfgang Schaeuble, I lose the dearest friend and adviser I’ve ever had in politics,” Merz said.

Tributes also came in from France, where Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire expressed his “profound sadness” on X.

“He was a friend, a loyal and reliable partner, and a tireless craftsman of the friendship between Germany and France,” Le Maire wrote.

Once Merkel’s boss before their roles were reversed, Schaeuble pulled the strings of Germany’s policy response to the euro zone crisis, securing support on the right of their conservative bloc for three Greek bailouts.

In November 2015, soon after Merkel opened Germany’s borders to hundreds of thousands of migrants, he said the country risked “an avalanche” of refugees triggered by “careless” actions.

He subsequently defended Merkel’s open-door migrant policy, however, when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) waded into the debate, accusing the far-right party of fuelling xenophobia.

Over the final years of his career, the AfD grew into a more formidable opponent of the CDU, with critics accusing the centre-right party of adopting its rhetoric on migration under Merz.

Schaeuble used a wheelchair since 1990 after being shot three times at an election campaign event a few days after German reunification.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer and Rachel More; Editing by Miranda Murray and Christina Fincher)

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia told South Korea on Wednesday not to be surprised if Moscow retaliates against Seoul for expanding the list of goods which cannot be exported from the East Asian nation to Russia without special permission.

Seoul said this week it would add over 600 types of goods which could potentially be used for military purposes to its export control list for Russia.

The list includes heavy construction equipment, rechargeable batteries, aeronautical components, and some cars.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Wednesday:

“This is an unfriendly move taken at Washington’s behest. It will damage South Korea’s own economy and industry.

“We reserve the right to take measures in response, and not necessarily symmetrical ones. They (the South Koreans) should not be surprised (if and when we do).”

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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