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If there is a hot summer the situation for electricity supplies in Japan could get a lot worse. After the shutdown of reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan is coping with rolling blackouts, and lower demand from industry, but a hot summer could change things. If there is a hot summer it is estimated that Japan will have enough electricity supplies to meet only three fourth of the demand of the region around Tokyo. Tokyo Electric Company has provided detailed information of the status of all its nuclear plants, including ones undergoing maintenance.

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The resignation of nuclear advisor Toshiso Kosako. He criticized the government of Naoto Kan for a government decision allowing children living near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to receive doses of radiation equal to the international standard for nuclear plant workers. He also criticized the government for an overly high level limit on radiation exposure for workers at the Fukushima plant.

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The extraordinary lengths Japan is going to in the effort to conserve electricity usage. In August 2011 38 of 44 nuclear plants were shut down.

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Public opinion in France is divided about France's dependence on nuclear power. Ifop's survey of Nov. 13, 2011, shows 40% of the French are now "hesitant" about nuclear power, about 33% favor nuclear power and 17% are against it. About two-thirds of the ruling UMP party of Nicholas Sarkozy supports nuclear power, while half of the Socialist party supporters say they are not sure about the path ahead. The issue is becoming important in the election, as the UMP claims the Socialist party's proposal to shut down 24 of the 58 reactors if elected will cost thousands of jobs and solar power cannot take its place overnight. The French are a bit puzzled by the nuclear issue in contrast to Germany where the issue arouses strong emotions, because nuclear energy had become accepted in France till the Fukushima nuclear disaster raised safety issues. EDF which operates the plants plans to increase spending on safety measures and on maintenance after audits by the French nuclear regulator. EDF's share price was down 40% since the nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan....

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Public opposition in the summer of 2012 to the restarting of nuclear plants by prime minister Noda. A huge rally was held in central Tokyo with about 100,000 protesters.

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Ukraine is in a position after the refugee outflow and closure of some industrial operations to send energy to Poland, Romania, Hungary and other countries in the European Union. Ukraine is speeding up synchronizing power lines in Ukraine to that in Poland so that energy can be exported easily. Ukraine could send 1.6 gigawatts of energy a day to EU countries up from 350 megawatts today once the changes are completed to the energy transmission infrastructure. Ukraine energy is cheaper than energy produced in Poland because of nuclear energy plants in Ukraine from the Soviet period. 

Workers are restoring a now defunct power line from a 2 gigawatt nuclear plant in western Ukraine to a nearby Polish city. Projects that would take decades are being done in months with US aid. Energy exports could bring Ukraine $1.6 billion a year. 

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There is deep distrust of the Japanese government on the safety of nuclear reactors and a sense that the regulatory system has failed. In the most recent development, Osaka's mayor Toru Hashimoto, is withholding local approval for starting up 2 nuclear reactors at the Ohi plant, near Osaka. The 2 reactors passed simulated stress tests and were expected to be up and running, but public mistrust of the tests led to Hashimoto holding back on approval. Hashimoto was able to do this because Osaka is the largest shareholder in Kansai Electric Power. Hashimoto says he not against nuclear power, but against the top down regulatory system which works closley with power plant companies to protect their interests, with very little transparency on decisions and methods.

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Data collected by the Aerial Measuring System from American flights over the Fukushima nuclear plant show that radioactive contamination has not spread beyond a 19 mile range from the plant. The system uses a plane and a helicopter flying over the site with equipment taking measurements in the immediate vicinity of the plant.

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South Korea has won a $2.25 billion deal with a Russian state run nuclear energy company to build Egypt's first nuclear plant. South Korea's state run Hydro and Nuclear Power will provide turbine related equipment and construction work  for the nuclear plant to be built 80 miles from Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.

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Areva will take a writedown of 1.46 billion euros on the value of its uranium mining business. It will take an additional writedown of 800 million euros for the nuclear business following the nuclear accident in Japan. Areva expects a 2011 full year operating loss of 1.4-1.6 billion euros. Areva's new CEO, Luc Oursel, says he plans to reduce the company's debt load. About 1.2 billion euros of assets will be put on sale. The French sovereign fund, SFI, says it will buy Areva's 26% stake in mining group Eramet. Areva faces losses on its acquisition for $2 billion of uranium mining company UraMin, which has declined in value by 80% as uranium prices dropped and uranium reserves in African mines turned out to be less than estimated. Areva's new plans show organic growth of 3-6% from 2012 to 2013, increasing to 5-8% in 2015. Areva's shares at 19.20 euros on Dec. 12, 2011, were down 45% since the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. Britain and the Czech Republic in Europe, China and India in Asia, plan to invest in nuclear energy....

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Germany faces the unique challenge of phasing out coal and nuclear energy at the same time. Germany's response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan was for Chancellor Merkel to announce that all plants would be closed over the next decade. By the end of 2022 all 17 nuclear energy facilities will be shut down.

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Entergy is still short of the over half a billion dollars needed to close each of the aging nuclear plants in Vermont and at Indian Point in New York.

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With domestic oil consumption growing at 10% a year, and the Arab Spring leading to increased subsidies and social spending, the Saudis are looking at nuclear power to generate some of the supply of electricity. Saudi Arabia expects to have no reserve margin of supplies by 2020 at current levels of domestic consumption. In 2011 the Saudi government setup the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, or KA-CARE, for coming up with nuclear energy policies. KA-CARE has an agreement with French supplier AREVA.

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As Spain's nuclear, combined, and hydroelectric energy dropped to 23% in 2025 from 31% in 2024 the grid became unstable.  As solar energy took a larger and larger share it increased instability of supply in the system leading to the collapse of the grid in April 2025. Spain hoped to close all nuclear plants. The risks increased and Spain came to a halt- everything from traffic, trains, industry all shut down across the country.

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Prime Minister Naoto Kan says Japan needs to reverse its policy on nuclear power and gradually phase out nuclear power. He told a televised news conference: " We should aim to have a society that does not rely on nuclear power. In the future, we should have a society that can carry on without nuclear reactors." Nuclear energy provides about 30% of Japan's energy supply. Saying that the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster has changed his thinking about nuclear power, he added: "I have come to realize that this is a technology that cannot be controlled by previous safety measures."

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The defeat of the anti-nuclear candidate Hosokawa supported by former prime ministers Koizumi and Kan in the Tokyo governor's election of 2014. There was low voter turnout due to bad weather and voters showed interest in local issues about elder care and the plans for the Olympics.

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An email by a Tokyo Elecric Power Company employee working at one of the Fukushima nuclear power plants shows in stark detail the struggles of workers at the plant. She writes: " My parents were washed away by the tsunami and I still don't know where they are. Normally I would rush to their house as soon as I could. But I can't even enter the area because it is under an evacuation order." She works for the plant manager of the Fukushima Daini plant. She says that where her parents lived the whole town was washed away by the tsunami. Describing her work location she says: "The scene is completely like a war zone," and that people are "working without sleep or rest." The email continues- "everyone has lost everything- their home, their job, their school, their friends, their families."

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With the 15% mandated cuts to energy use in the European Union countries and the shutoff of Russian gas supplies, three remaining German nuclear plants can be run for an extended period to take off some of the strain on the German economy. Sentiment for nuclear power is changing in Germany. A Spiegel opinion poll is cited in this WSJ editorial that shows 78% of Germans favor keeping the three remaining nuclear plants operating till summer 2023, and 67% say it is a good idea to keep them running for 5 years.  The issues of nuclear vs solar, or coal and gas vs solar is not a yes or no proposition anymore as shown in the negotiated measures to allow some coal and gas operations in the US in the Biden Climate Change bill that passed the US Senate on August 7, 2022. This is not merely a concession to a fossil fuel dependent state (West Virginia) and Senator Manchin, this is a realization that the transition can be better managed economically and the same results for renewable energy and climate change emissions goals can be met with a carefully planned  strategy that allows for LNG exports to Europe, and fossil fuel production flexibility in the face of the embargo on Russian fossil fuel supplies. ...

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TEPCO is releasing three million gallons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. (April 4, 2011) This is being done to prevent the release of the more toxic water collecting around the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant. This will have a serious impact on the local fishing industry.

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First sign of success in controlling the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Some power is restored at the plant and fire trucks use giant hoses to fill the reactor with water.

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It might not all make sense that the Pakistan/China mediated ceasefire conditions (including US and Israeli condition of no nuclear weapons development and ballistic missile development) are really not known even in the media today, only known to the Iranian government and the US government. In these conditions Iran's government gets to show that it had achieved its goals, even with enormous reconstruction costs of the damage done during the war. DJT had pointed to a sort of regime change in Iran after most of the earlier leadership has been removed, and new leaders in place who are keen on setting up conditions for their own administration replacing the old one.  Over the period 2027-2030 the prospect is real that China, India and Japan may shift their oil supplies sources to other regions, increase conservation per unit of GDP, and increase supplies of renewable energy, steps already taken by Germany over the last decade. Most media looks only what happens today and in 2026. This may be the last of the Middle East Wars before Europe and the US, and India, China, Japan shift away from the Middle East to get supplies of fossil fuels, and it may bring new renewables technologies that reduce the dependence on fossil fuels to the point of making a true transition to renewable energy. It may also be the last of the Middle East Wars in the sense that people of European nations and the US insist on no involvement in MIddle East as a sort of quagmire for squandering American, European and Asian vital resources of people and capital, ample example being given over the last 40 years. Considering the costs of the war and the moral cost of destroying infrastructure such as power plants that hurt the local population more than the regime in power, China, Japan, the US, and EU, India may find it is easier to race each other in coming up with alternative supplies and shifting to renewable energy faster than planned, making Middle Eastern oil supplies  and volatility in prices redundant, which would be a good thing after the hugely negative and costly experience of the last 50 years of dependence.     ...