Kyushu Electric Power Company plans to apply to regulators for the final 'applied safety inspection' of Sendai 1 on 3 August. This check is expected to take one week, making 10 August a potential start-up date.

Nuclear power generation will play a role in helping Japan meet its post-2020 greenhouse gas emissions targets. The country has announced its intended contribution towards a possible global climate agreement later this year.

Laser technology for the removal of fuel debris from the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could be developed through a joint research agreement signed between three Japanese organizations.

Japan's nuclear regulator has given Shikoku Electric Power Company permission to make changes to the reactor installation of unit 3 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture. It marks the first of three regulatory approvals required for restarting the unit.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today completed an assessment of operational safety at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan.

Russia's Atomproekt has completed the draft design and working documents for a demonstration unit to separate tritium from contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Construction of the facility is expected to start early next year.

Nuclear fuel will be loaded at Sendai 1 tomorrow, marking a significant step on its road to becoming the first Japanese reactor to restart, later this year.

A small robot has been developed to investigate the inside of the primary containment vessel of unit 2 of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

CORRECTED Chubu Electric Power Company has requested a safety review by Japan's nuclear regulator of unit 3 at its Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka prefecture. Such a review, a prerequisite for restarting, has already been requested for unit 4 of the plant.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Yukiya Amano highlighted a major report on the Fukushima nuclear accident and agreements paving the way for a low-enriched uranium (LEU) 'fuel bank' in his introductory statement to the IAEA's Board of Governors yesterday.

Japan expects to start the retrieval of fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2021, the executive director of the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation said yesterday. Three of the plant's six reactors suffered core meltdowns in the March 2011 accident, leaving melted nuclear fuel debris on the floor of their containment vessels.

A plan setting a share of 20% to 22% for nuclear power in Japan's energy mix by 2030 has been approved by a consultative committee. While scaling back fossil fuel use, the plan also calls for an expansion of renewable energy sources.