Restart of Japan's largest nuclear plant still in doubt

If Tepco has banked a profit, then they should lower our rates back down again.

With oil cheaper the pressure to fire up the nukes is a little bit less....

JapanGal: "If Tepco has banked a profit, then they should lower our rates back down again."

They should first pay all the compensation payments they owe and demanded bailouts for on threat of default. But, nope... profit is #1.

I have doubts about restarting a nuclear plant in an earthquake prone country too!As for atoning for the nuclear disaster ? Is it really possible to 'atone' for a disaster that has and continues to release untold amounts of radiation into the environment every second of the day!

Is it?

With oil cheaper the pressure to fire up the nukes is a little bit less

Temporary condition, it will be back up in a year or so.

@kurisupisu

Is it really possible to 'atone' for a disaster that has and continues to release untold amounts of radiation into the environment every second of the day!

No, it's not "untold" amounts of radiation, it's knowable and measurable. The amount is low and has been for years.

light em up, get them back into operation. Doubtful that the cost of electricity will go down, if it does a surcharge fee of some kind will make up the difference anyway, Candle anyone?

@Pandabelle

What dimension did you enter earth from?

So as I understand it an energy entity who flagrantly dodged all the international rules causing a huge disaster is able to raise the cost of energy and lobby for us to restart more potential disasters with out any cause for concern? I don't think I'm a drone but who the hell would want a proven failure more than once a second chance. Why are there no court cases? It's because the system is corrupt and TEPCO and the LDP are corrupt. nepotism at its finest.

Pandabelle,

The amount is low and has been for years.

Are you kidding ? Gov’t Report: Fukushima released up to 181 Quadrillion Bq of cesium, Chernobyl was 105 Quadrillion — Radioactive material to flow from Japan “for years to come” What is high for you ? Can we stop to have whitewashing of every single bad event happening in Japan please ?

http://enenews.com/govt-report-fukushima-already-released-181-quadrillion-bq-cesium-chernobyl-estimated-105-quadrillion-radioactive-material-continue-flowing-ocean-years-fukushima-radionuclides-spread-north-pac

Starting will only give them a bigger profit. Shame on them. With people still displaced and with land that will still be contaminated for 1000's of years it is outrageous. I applaud the Governor for his stand. With talk of the big Tokyo quake being reality how could anybody guarantee a reactors integrity ever again.

I don't like how the mayor is playing this game. The issue is the safety of restarting the world's biggest reactor, not how TEPCO has handled the Fukushima disaster. He is virtually saying, if TEPCO cleans up Fukushima he will ok the restart. He should be focussing on how TEPCO is ensuring his prefecture won't suffer the same fate as Fukushima. However, building the world's largest nuclear power plant on one of the world's most earthquake, tsunami and volcanic eruption prone countries is just absolutely daft!

No GREEN thoughts around of here. Only powerplay as spells ABE, so power we can: but the test of time we will come.

“TEPCO has not been proactive in investigating the cause of the Fukushima accident,” Izumida told TEPCO president Naomi Hirose during their first meeting in almost a year.

Izumida-san,

Thank you, thank, THANK YOU! For telling it like it IS!

Isn't nuclear power generation inherently extremely dangerous, and hasn't the Fukushima fiasco been a total nightmare for Japan?

Izumida also pressed TEPCO to disclose testimonies of its former and current executives given to investigators after the disaster. Hirose said the company could not force people to disclose testimony.

The government has released interviews with some officials and with the late manager of the plant, who told investigators he had doubts about the safety of large nuclear facilities like Kashiwazaki Kariwa even before the disaster.

Three cheers for Izumida for wanting to pull the curtain back on the ugly underbelly of J-Inc. There is testimony, and likely supporting documents, that if made public, would blow the lid off of TEPCO and its capabilities to safely manage nuclear plants. But the Chairman says he cannot force people to disclose it -- BS. If he had any real moral character, as opposed to just sworn, blind allegiance to TEPCO and J-Inc. he would voluntarily release the testimony to give people the assurances they need that TEPCO, and the goverment, are not hiding anything. But, instead, he makes a bunch of insulting excuses.

It is the plant at Sendai which worries me. It is too near a volcano now starting to act up.

For the sake of the people and the environment don't restart any of them!

I'll probably get a lot of thumbs-down for this, but it wasn't TEPCO, or any human being for that matter, that caused the Fukushima disaster. It was Mother Nature - a huge earthquake and tsunami did it.

And while I believe TEPCO and its executives are guilty of mismanagement of the plants, and possibly the sidestepping of international norms for the safe operation of said plants, AND should have their feet put to the fire for their pointless pontifications and delays in reimbursing those who have been displaced, I would also add that the national government is equally responsible for looking after those people who are living in virtual poverty and substandard housing.

That government is also responsible for keeping people like me, with construction management skills from volunteering to help fix the mess. I still can't get over how difficult it is to stay for a year and build new homes for those displaced people. THAT'S a bigger disgrace, to this J-lover.

Are you kidding ? Gov’t Report: Fukushima released up to 181 Quadrillion Bq of cesium, Chernobyl was 105 Quadrillion — Radioactive material to flow from Japan “for years to come” What is high for you ? Can we stop to have whitewashing of every single bad event happening in Japan please ?

According to Enenews the government report claims it has released more than Chernobyl. Yet according to the actual report:

Estimates of the total release range widely, but the accident is generally recognized as the second largest accidental release of radioactivity in history, after only the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Enenews is a joke.