JAPANESE policy-makers have adopted a report saying the country is entering an era of massive nuclear plant decommissioning.
The Japan Atomic Energy Commission has urged plant operators to plan ahead to lower safety risks and costs requiring decades of work and billions of yen.
Twenty-four commercial reactors – or 40% of Japan’s total – are designated for or are currently being decommissioned.
Among them are four reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant that were severely damaged by the massive 2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck north-eastern Japan.
The annual nuclear white paper, adopted by the commission, urges utilities to learn from US and European examples, especially those of Germany, France and the UK.
ELSEWHERE, a former judo world champion from Iran is afraid to return home after disobeying orders from the government to withdraw from the world championships in Tokyo to avoid a potential bout against an Israeli opponent.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) said Saeid Mollaei was ordered to withdraw from last week’s competition by Iranian deputy sports minister Davar
Zani.
The IJF said Mollaei was then called by Iranian Olympic Committee president Reza Salehi Amiri, who said security services were at his parents’ house.
Mollaei was the defending champion and could have faced Israeli athlete Sagi Muki in the final.
MEANWHILE, high school students in Hong Kong have gone on strike on the first day of classes after the summer break to show their commitment to the city’s anti-government protest movement.
Nearly three months of youth-dominated protests calling for democracy and an independent inquiry into police conduct will be tested once more as classes resume in the former British colony.
Strikers – many of whom wore gas masks, goggles and hard hats – gathered in their hundreds at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and two public spaces in the semi-autonomous city’s central business district.
FINALLY, Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with record 185mph winds ripping off roofs, overturning cars and tearing down power lines.
The storm’s top sustained winds decreased slightly to 170mph as its westward movement slowed, crawling along Grand Bahama island early yesterday at 2mph in what forecasters said would be a day-long assault.
Most people went to shelters as the storm approached, with tourist hotels shutting down and residents boarding up their homes.
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