Japan

Chubu Electric Power will construct a 16 kilometer long, 18 meter high tsunami defence wall around its Hamaoka nuclear plant in Tokyo at an estimated cost of around JPY100 billion or $1.3 billion.

Kyocera’s latest solar innovation, the Eco-Shell, is being launched in Japan.

Kansai Electric Power Co will close the 870MW No. 4 reactor at its Takahama station in Japan.

Kyodo Electric Power restarted its 350MW gas and oil-fired Unit 4 at its thermal power plant in eastern Japan.

Joban Kyodo Electric Power restarted the 600MW no 8 unit at its coal-fired Nakoso plant in Tokyo, Japan shut down after the March 11 earthquake.

Japan's Mitsui plans to construct large scale solar plants with a total capacity of 100MW in the quake hit regions of Tohoku, Japan.

Japan will conduct stress tests on all its nuclear reactors.

Japan began restricting electricity consumption in the Tokyo and Tohoku regions, more than three months after a  meltdown of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

TEPCO has restarted the 600MW unit No 1 at its Hirono thermal-power plant in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, which was idled for maintenance after the 11 March 2011 earthquake.

Hydropower Potential in Asia Hydropower constitutes 21% of the world’s electricity generating capacity. The theoretical potential of worldwide hydropower is 2,800 GW, about four times greater than the amount that has been tapped. Yet, the actual amount of electricity that will ever be generated by hydropower will be much lower than the theoretical potential, due to environmental concerns and economic constraints.

Once on the cusp of a renaissance, the nuclear industry now risks being sent back to the dark ages. This is the impression that emerges from much of the commentary in the months since the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

Before the Deluge “One customer, one product, one general price for 20 years”. You can book it. While it may be nostalgic to think of power in days past, the reality is that we are in the midst of a significant shift in our industry as starkly illustrated in the aftermath of the Japan Crisis (earthquake/tsunami/nuclear). Already, the clouds had been gathering even beforehand – despite the global economic downturn, fuel commodity prices such as for coal and oil were high and resilient and an economic turnaround would have likely resulted in even a greater price surge.

Japan said the Fukushima nuclear incident will not hamper its ongoing negotiations for a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan believes Japan's energy policy will be the biggest point of contention in the next general election. There is speculation that he may want to dissolve the Lower House over energy policy. Many Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers, now suspect that Kan may be trying to remain in power as long as possible, and that he could dissolve the Lower House for a snap election to appeal to voters who have started calling for use of non-nuclear power in the face of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant. But Kan, under strong pressure to quit soon, indicated at the same time that he has no plans to dissolve the House of Representatives for a general election while he is in power. ''How to guide our country's energy policy will probably become the biggest issue in the next national election,'' Kan told a meeting of all lawmakers from his Democratic Party of Japan. Japan's prime minister on Monday created two Cabinet posts to oversee the nuclear crisis and tsunami reconstruction efforts as he hopes to shore up his administration against criticism of its handling of the crises. Prime Minister Naoto Kan named Ryu Matsumoto as reconstruction minister and made Goshi Hosono his minister in charge of handling the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. He also gave special advisory positions to two other senior politicians. The moves are seen as an attempt by Kan to strengthen his hand against a growing number of critics who perceive a lack of leadership following the March 11 disaster. Sixty percent of Japanese voters want Prime Minister Naoto Kan to resign by the end of August, a survey showed, the latest sign of mounting pressure on the unpopular leader to keep a pledge to quit as Japan struggles with reconstruction and a nuclear crisis. A political stalemate over Kan's departure risks slowing efforts to recover from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the consequent radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima nuclear plant, and could delay steps to tackle structural problems including massive public debt.  

The mayor of Genkai, Saga Prefecture, announced that he will agree to allow Kyushu Electric Power Co. to restart the Genkai nuclear power plant's No. 2 and 3 reactors.

A leak at the storage tank to cool the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant has now been fixed.