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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Japan accepts IAEA nuclear checks |
| 2007-07-24 |
| Japan will work with United Nations inspectors to check the world’s biggest nuclear power plant after a powerful earthquake last week caused radiation leaks, but a fundamental shift in its nuclear energy policy is unlikely despite renewed fears about nuclear safety. Japan had told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it did not need help for now, but on Monday it said it would allow inspectors into the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant after it came under pressure from local authorities to do so. Japan’s nuclear industry - which supplies about one-third of the country’s electricity needs and is central to its efforts to battle global warming - has been tarnished by cover-ups of accidents and fudged safety records. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said joint studies on nuclear safety would help other quake-prone countries as well as Japan. “It will be important for Japan and the IAEA to work together and to analyse the results carefully”, he told a news conference. “We will cooperate with the IAEA and will probably be making the inspections together.” An nuclear safety official said no date for the IAEA checks had been set, but the Nikkei business daily reported that four IAEA inspectors would visit site as soon as early August. Fears about the safety of Japan’s nuclear industry have been revived by leaks of water with low-level radiation from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO) plant in the northwestern city of Kashiwazaki, hard hit by the 6.8 magnitude quake. The plant was shut down automatically in the quake and will remain closed indefinitely for safety checks, and the government has ordered other nuclear plant operators to make strict safety checks. Hiroki Shibata, a Standard & Poor’s analyst in charge of Japanese utilities firms, said a drastic policy change in Japan’s energy policy, such as abandoning nuclear power, was unlikely. “I don’t think that can be done easily, given the issue of environmental protection and amid high crude oil prices,” he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |