Japan

Kansai Electric expects its highest-ever group net loss of US$3.09 billion for fiscal 2011 ending next month due to expanding fossil fuel purchases.

Japan's safety inspections on nuclear plants were labeled by an independent fact-finding panel as mere formality.

Canadian Solar Inc currently in negotiations with local governments in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures to build a factory in Japan.

The Japanese government will seek the resignation of Tepco's board of directors in return for injecting $13 billion of public funds.

Japan said on Friday it plans to strengthen security at nuclear power plants following recommendations from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a month before a nuclear security summit in neighbouring South Korea. Japan is home to 54 commercial nuclear reactors, all but two of which are now out of operation. Public concern has kept those under maintenance from restarting following an earthquake and tsunami last March which triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. From March, operators of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities will have to prepare batteries and other devices to prevent power loss of equipment monitoring nuclear fuel in the event of a terrorist attack, said Trade Minister Yukio Edano and an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. They will have to install more metal and nuclear material detectors at exits and build new fences surrounding facilities to improve security and prevent theft of nuclear materials, the official said. Japan, based on existing IAEA recommendations, has already taken some steps but its nuclear security is still considered relatively lax. In a survey by the Nuclear Threat Initiative that assessed atomic security in 32 countries with vulnerable nuclear materials, Japan came in at 23 -- lower than the United States at 13 but higher than China at 27. Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the quake-crippled Fukushima plant, drew criticism over its loose security after it was unable to get in touch with workers hired to contain radiation during last year's crisis. The Fukushima disaster highlighted the vulnerability of nuclear plants and the scale of damage in the event of a terrorist attack. In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama hosted the first global nuclear security summit in Washington. The second summit is to take place in Seoul from March 26-27.

The government should play a bigger part in managing Japan's nuclear power industry , its role currently being questioned following the Fukushima radiation crisis, Environment Minister Goshi Hosono said on Thursday. Japan, currently facing a power crunch with only two of its 54 nuclear reactors currently in operation since the March Fukushima disaster, should also make safety a top priority and operate only the minimum number of atomic reactors necessary, Hosono told a group of reporters. "The first step towards more government involvement in the nuclear industry is turning steps required towards handling severe nuclear accidents into law and requiring utilities to adhere to them," Hosono said. How Japan's power utilities operated nuclear reactors has been questioned heavily after a powerful tsunami and earthquake last March devastated the Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo and triggered the worst radiation crisis since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the utility operating the Fukushima Daiichi plant, has been swamped with huge clean-up, compensation and decommissioning costs, leaving it in need of a massive public fund injection. Japan is currently prodding Tepco to accept more government involvement in the firm in return for the cash bailout. But Hosono said nationalisation of nuclear power would not automatically make conditions safe. "Nationalisation is not a shortcut towards safety. No matter how much we tighten regulation, safety won't be attained unless the people on the ground remain innovative and persistently strive to maintain standards," Hosono said. Hosono, who will also be overseeing Japan's new nuclear watchdog that begins operations in spring, said the government was also likely to deepen its involvement in other nuclear issues such as the processing of plutonium and enriched uranium. POWER CRUNCH Japan faces a potential power crunch in the summer, when demand for electricity traditionally soars, as public concern after Fukushima has prevented the quick restart of nuclear reactors shut down for routine maintenance. All of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors will be offline by April unless some are restarted . The government is applying what it views as stringent stress tests on its nuclear plants which must be passed before a plant can resume output. Keen to avoid an economically disruptive power crunch, the government has been conducting the tests to prove their safety, although local governments hosting the plants have demanded further tests that take into consideration data from the Fukushima disaster. Hosono said like many other countries Japan was still in a development stage towards reinforcing the way it managed risk, steps that included the stress tests. "When considering this, the most powerful argument likely to convince local governments is that severe accidents will not occur even if a disaster equalling Fukushima was to strike," he said. "We are already attempting to explain, but it appears that we have not been able to fully convince the local governments so far." After the first round of stress tests Japan's reactors still need to undergo a second-stage test to satisfy a broader set of criteria. "I think Japan will not, and should not, sacrifice the safety of nuclear power to ensure a stable source of electricity," Hosono said. "Our stance needs to be that we will only allow the minimum amount of nuclear reactors to operate under the extremely strict guidelines." The minister added that Japan would be able to adopt renewable energy efficiently and within a short span of time when society realised the need for such sources of power.

A town assembly member who runs a real estate company has received unusually high rent from a subsidiary of Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), apparently in return for promoting the utility's nuclear power plant in the town, it has been learned. Tomio Yamamoto, 53, a member of the Takahama Town Assembly in Fukui Prefecture and president of OHC Fukui, a real estate company in the town, received over 100 million yen from a subsidiary of KEPCO for renting an unused factory over four years until fiscal 2010. The subsidiary firm used the factory as storage. The town of Takahama is home to KEPCO's Takahama Nuclear Power Plant, which has four nuclear reactors. According to the revelations, senior officials of the Takahama Municipal Government solicited KEPCO to make the property contract with OHC Fukui, in which the rent was set at almost twice the standard in the area, according to realtor sources. In September last year, Yamamoto cooperated with the town assembly's proposal for an opinion statement seeking the reactivation of the nuclear power plant -- setting another example of local assembly members receiving "nuclear money" for promoting nuclear energy projects. The opinion statement was proposed by Akio Awano, 62, vice speaker of the town assembly, and was endorsed by Yamamoto and two other town assembly members before it was submitted to the assembly. The proposal eventually passed the assembly in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March last year. According to the town hall and other insider sources, Yamamoto established a company to produce new material from used tires in 2004, for which he built a factory on the approximately 5,910-square-meter land lot he purchased from the town for 88.65 million yen. However, the project failed and the factory became out of use. Although it has not been clear how much money was paid in rent to the real estate company in fiscal 2007, 50 million yen was paid to the firm annually by the KEPCO subsidiary from fiscal 2008 to 2010, according to the sources. here

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed the first three rules to address safety issues raised by Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster.

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Japan's steel makers, feeling the effects of a strong yen, urged the early restart of nuclear power plants.

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With practically all its nuclear reactors offline, Japan faces a serious power crisis this summer.

Kokusai Kogyo and Orix Corp will each build a 2MW solar power plant in western Japan.

A scare over temperatures rising near danger level in a reactor at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could be a false alarm.