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Bangladesh’s Nuclear Power Play Is a Test for Emerging Economies

By Alex Kimani – Oil Price, Jul 14, 2026,

  • Bangladesh is betting on nuclear power with the $12.65 billion, 2.4-GW Rooppur plant to strengthen energy security and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels and Indian electricity.
  • The Russian-built project has faced years of delays due to the pandemic, sanctions, currency pressures, and global conflicts.
  • While Rooppur will supply up to 15% of Bangladesh’s electricity, the country is already looking to smaller, cheaper SMRs for future nuclear expansion.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… The heavy financial burden and the political controversy are likely to render Rooppur the last large-scale nuclear plant Bangladesh builds. Moving forward, Dhaka is shifting its attention to Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), with the government already in talks with Western and Chinese firms, signaling a quiet realignment away from total reliance on Russian energy partnerships, Bloomberg reports.https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Bangladeshs-Nuclear-Power-Play-Is-a-Test-for-Emerging-Economies.html

July 17, 2026 Posted by | ASIA, business and costs | Leave a comment

2009 quake may have prompted data rigging by central Japan nuclear operator

July 10, 2026 (Mainichi Japan),
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260710/p2g/00m/0bu/008000c

NAGOYA (Kyodo) — Chubu Electric Power Co. may have begun manipulating earthquake resistance data for its nuclear power plant in central Japan after a 2009 earthquake subjected one of its reactors to shaking beyond its design limits, a source familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The latest revelation came after the utility admitted earlier this year that it had, by no later than 2012, begun cherry-picking favorable data to set earthquake-resistance standards for the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which it has been seeking to restart.

The data rigging was initially believed to have begun under tougher safety requirements imposed after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, which was triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. But the source said the practice may have begun even before the disaster, as part of efforts to restart the No. 5 reactor after it was shut down following the 2009 earthquake.

In the magnitude-6.5 earthquake that struck Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, in August 2009, the No. 5 reactor experienced seismic shaking several times stronger than that recorded at the Nos. 1 to 4 reactors, partially exceeding its design limits.

Chubu Electric found that unusual ground conditions had amplified the seismic waves. After the No. 5 reactor automatically shut down in the quake, the company allegedly began generating seismic data and selecting favorable results to avoid being ordered by the government to implement additional earthquake-resistance measures, according to the source.

The company switched to a different contractor around the same time, allowing it to generate seismic wave data more quickly and “creating the perfect circumstances and motive,” the source said.

The nuclear regulator at the time approved the safety of the No. 5 reactor in late 2010, paving the way for its restart in February 2011.

The fresh allegation could mean Chubu Electric engaged in data manipulation involving the Hamaoka plant’s three operable reactors, further undermining confidence in the country’s nuclear safety screening process.

“Details of what happened will be determined through a third-party investigation. We will cooperate sincerely with the inquiry,” Chubu Electric said in a statement.

Located on the Pacific coast in central Japan, the Hamaoka complex sits near the expected epicenter of a potential massive earthquake in the Nankai Trough. It was shut down in May 2011 at the request of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan over safety concerns.

Chubu Electric applied for state safety screenings between 2014 and 2015 to restart the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors, but the review process has been halted amid the scandal.

According to a report compiled by Chubu Electric in March this year on its data misconduct involving the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors, the utility told regulators it had generated 20 sets of seismic motion data under different conditions and selected the one closest to the average — known as the “representative wave” — to establish a benchmark for earthquake-resistant design.

In reality, however, the company had been generating numerous combinations of seismic motion data and representative waves before selecting a set from among them. In 2018, it began deliberately selecting the representative wave and ensuring the other data were consistent with it.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority also recently revealed it had learned from an external source that Chubu Electric continued manipulating data even after the investigation began in May 2025.

July 14, 2026 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

North Korea vows boost to nuclear buildup, military intelligence

 North Korea will strengthen its nuclear force “both in quality and
quantity” and expand the role of its military intelligence agency focused
on South Korea, state media said Friday.

Pyongyang is under widespread
sanctions over its nuclear programme, and the two Koreas remain technically
at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.

The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned South Korean
President Lee Jae Myung’s dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its “most
hostile” enemy and declaring itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.

 Daily Mail 10th July 2026,
https://www.dailymail.com/wires/afp/article-15967405/North-Korea-vows-boost-nuclear-buildup-military-intelligence.html

July 14, 2026 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Ainu land rights in crosshairs as Hokkaido communities debate nuclear waste

Nuclear energy and waste are “a poison,” Kano says, that don’t fit into the philosophy of Ainu people, the Indigenous group which inhabited Hokkaido before it was annexed in 1869 by imperial Japan.

Japan Times, By Chermaine Lee, Jul 6, 2025

Plucking the resonant strings of a tonkori — a broad, sword-shaped instrument that’s been played by the Indigenous Ainu people for generations — Oki Kano, a Japanese musician of Ainu descent transformed a club in Kyoto into a vibrant tapestry of sound, mixing together rock, Ainu folk and dub music as part of a tour earlier this spring.

Refusing to be labeled an activist, Kano has woven his rebellious spirit and a nod to Indigenous rights into his music, which moved anti-nuclear activists following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Perhaps most notably, he made a speech at a United Nations meeting later that year that clued some people into the issue of using Indigenous land for nuclear plants and waste storage.

Nuclear energy and waste are “a poison,” Kano says, that don’t fit into the philosophy of Ainu people, the Indigenous group which inhabited Hokkaido before it was annexed in 1869 by imperial Japan.

These days, Indigenous land rights have added another layer to the division of opinions in Suttsu and Kamoenai, two wind-blown fishing communities in the prefecture, over whether to host a permanent underground repository for Japan’s nuclear waste. Residents of the two municipalities, with fewer than 4,000 people combined, have expressed conflicting views on the prospect after their respective mayors volunteered for a feasibility study on the prospect in a bid to secure all-important subsidies.

‘An Ainu problem’

Kano’s U.N. speech regarding Hokkaido and Japan’s nuclear energy inspired American scholar ann-elise lewallen, a professor at the University of Victoria in British Colombia, specializing in modern Japan studies and Indigenous and environment rights, to start a yearslong research project into how a potential nuclear waste dumping ground in ancestral Ainu land might violate their rights.

Although there are no current Ainu communities in these two villages, the professor told The Japan Times during her research trip in Hokkaido that any energy decisions in the prefecture are “an Ainu problem” because of land rights issues

Vocal opponents like Kano aside, Ainu people have not raised the issue of nuclear waste en masse, with many more focused on salmon fishing rights. Still, lewallen says their consent is essential under United Nations principles to protect Indigenous rights. Without it, Japan is carrying out what she calls “energy colonialism.”

In 2007, Japan was among the 143 countries that voted in favor of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. The declaration states that governments shall “take effective measures” to “ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of Indigenous people without their free, prior and informed consent.”

But the declaration is nonbinding and Japanese law does not currently recognize the Ainu peoples’ rights to Hokkaido’s land, an issue that is currently a focal point in a high-profile court case over salmon fishing rights.

It was only in March when the absence of Ainu consent on the nuclear waste study was mentioned for the first time during a meeting held by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) with Suttsu residents about the site, anti-nuclear activist and Suttsu resident Kazuyuki Tutiya said………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/07/06/energy/hokkaido-ainu-nuclear-waste-storage/

July 13, 2026 Posted by | indigenous issues, Japan | Leave a comment

The cities most at risk from extreme heat, ranked

 Almost all cities facing the greatest danger from extreme heat are in Asia
and Africa, where searing temperatures collide with poverty and little
means to cope, according to a new Oxford study. The study assesses 205
cities with populations of over one million on three fronts: how hot they
get, how vulnerable their people are, and how well they can cope. It shows
that Al Basrah in Iraq is the city most at risk. The assessment further
reveals that some 95 per cent of the cities at the highest risk are in
South Asia, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. India, Pakistan,
Nigeria, and Ghana host the largest number of cities with high risk scores,
according to the study published in the journal Sustainable Cities and
Society. Major tourist destinations and business hubs feature in the top
50, such as Cairo in Egypt, Bangkok in Thailand, Hanoi in Vietnam, and
Jaipur in India.

 Independent 7th July 2026Africa, https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/extreme-heat-warning-cities-bangkok-ho-chi-minh-cairo-b3010260.html

July 13, 2026 Posted by | ASIA, climate change | Leave a comment

The clear winner of Trump’s war in the Middle East is… China, says new report

By Amy Hawkins | Analysis, Article | July 4, 2026, https://thebulletin.org/2026/07/the-clear-winner-of-trumps-war-in-the-middle-east-is-china-says-new-report/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Winner%20of%20Trump%20s%20war%20in%20the%20Middle%20East%20is%20%20%20China%2C%20says%20new%20report&utm_campaign=20260702%20Thursday%20Newsletter%20%28Copy%29

China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The report by the geopolitical consulting firm Asia Group concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict.

Iran virtually closed the strait, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas flows, after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on February 28, targeting government and military sites and killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The ensuing crisis has sent global energy prices soaring, with Asia particularly exposed.China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The report by the geopolitical consulting firm Asia Group concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict.

Iran virtually closed the strait, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas flows, after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on February 28, targeting government and military sites and killing Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The ensuing crisis has sent global energy prices soaring, with Asia particularly exposed.

The report noted that before the strait’s closure, roughly 80 percent of the oil and nearly 90 percent of the liquefied natural gas transiting the waterway was destined for Asian markets, along with a significant share of other critical commodities.

The report looked at Asia’s largest economies—China, India, Japan and South Korea—as well as emerging markets across south-east Asia. The researchers mapped the economic and political repercussions of the crisis and its impacts across key sectors including manufacturing, energy and agriculture.

They concluded that China was a clear winner from the crisis caused by Donald Trump’s foray into the Middle East.

The country’s large stockpiles of oil and the hugely ambitious rollout of renewable energy mean it has been less exposed to the energy shock than other countries.

China has long maintained strategic reserves of energy, and last year took advantage of cheap prices to build up even bigger stockpiles. Its crude imports grew from 11.1 million barrels a day to 11.6 million in 2025, with over 80 percent of that increase being sent to stockpiles, according to analysis by Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. As of January, China had enough stockpiled to cover 104 days of imports at the 2025 level.

The country has also been building massive amounts of renewable energy infrastructure in recent years. Last year it installed 315 gigawatts of new solar capacity, more than half of the world’s new solar. The year before, it added 277 gigawatts. Beijing is aiming for half of China’s energy to come from non-fossil sources by 2030, with the share from wind and solar reaching 30 percent, up from 22 percent in 2025.

Although China’s energy mix is still largely based on coal, which accounts for more than 50 percent, renewables’ share is increasing rapidly.

The Asia Group’s report said: “With 1.4 terawatts of operating renewable capacity already online and a reported 90-110 days of crude import cover in reserve, China weathered the initial shock better than any regional peer.”

China has also benefited from other countries reacting to the crisis by accelerating its clean energy buildout. Beijing dominates the global supply chain in solar and other clean technology industries and in recent years has been pushing much of this production overseas at low prices, to the chagrin of western leaders worried about their own industries.

China’s electric vehicle exports soared by more than 110 percent in May compared with the previous year, while solar shipments in April increased by 60 percent.

Beijing has called for a ceasefire in the Middle East, and when Trump visited in May and met China’s president, Xi Jinping, he claimed the two countries were united in wanting to find a settlement. But the Asia Group report noted: “The crisis allows Beijing to cast the United States as the destabilizing actor whose Middle East entanglements impose costs on the world.”

There are some risks to China from the instability. Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said: “It’s tempting to see any loss of credibility in the US as a benefit for China, but that’s not necessarily the case for Beijing, which does not want to supplant Washington as a Middle East hegemon or provider of security for the region.”

Wen-Ti Sung, a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, based in Taiwan, said the crisis could also make Beijing think twice about a future military assault on Taiwan because it showed the difficulty of navigating ships through hostile territory.

The Asia Group’s report concluded: “Ultimately Beijing views the pain points not as existential threats, but as challenges to be managed and even opportunities to be exploited.”

July 10, 2026 Posted by | China, ENERGY | Leave a comment

Japan begins 21st release of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated wastewater into ocean

TOKYO, July 6 (Xinhua) Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)– https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0706/c90000-20474742.html

Japan on Monday began a new round of discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the sea, marking the 21st such release since the controversial operation began in 2023.

The discharge started at 11:41 a.m. local time. According to the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO), the latest round, scheduled to continue through July 24, will release about 7,800 tonnes of wastewater into the ocean, containing approximately 1.3 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium.

Struck by a 9-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant suffered core meltdowns that released radiation, resulting in a level-7 nuclear accident, the highest on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.

Despite concerns and opposition from the international community, Japan unilaterally launched the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi plant into the ocean in August 2023. So far,  TEPCO has completed 20 rounds of discharges, and around 157,000 tonnes of wastewater have been released into the sea.

July 8, 2026 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, wastes | Leave a comment

Radioactive cesium from 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster spread over wide area: study

June 26, 2026 (Mainichi Japan), https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20260626/p2a/00m/0na/004000c

TOKYO — A research team including members of the University of Tsukuba and National Taiwan University has clarified the dispersal routes of highly radioactive “cesium-rich microparticles” (CsMPs) released in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

In the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO)’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, radioactive materials mainly contaminated areas to the plant’s northwest, but CsMPs were carried across a wide area of Fukushima Prefecture. The team also found that they were generated in large quantities four days after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake that year.

Actual extent of dispersal had remained unclear

CsMPs are spherical microparticles several micrometers in diameter. In the Fukushima Daiichi accident, they were formed when high-temperature nuclear fuel melted through to the floor and components of the melted concrete turned glasslike, encasing radioactive materials. The microparticles do not dissolve easily in water, and there are concerns that if inhaled they can remain lodged in the lungs, but the reality of how they spread had not been well understood.

The research team developed a method to examine the number of CsMPs contained in soil and analyzed soil samples taken from 100 locations in Fukushima Prefecture immediately after the accident. As a result, large numbers of CsMPs were found to the northwest and southwest of the plant, with as many as 52 particles per gram of soil. At some locations, 60% of the radioactivity in the soil was due to CsMPs.

The team then examined the dispersal process together with simulations of radioactive plumes, or air flows, and found that large-scale releases had begun in the early hours of March 15, 2011. A radioactive plume containing as many as 4,700 CsMPs per cubic meter was carried clockwise over a wide area of the prefecture, starting at the plant and moving from south to southwest and then northwest. It also reached Tokyo, the team said.

On the other hand, radioactive plumes released from 12 a.m. on March 16 onward contained no CsMPs. Instead, they are believed to have contained cesium in a form that easily dissolves in water.

‘Highly significant’ for future responses

Satoshi Utsunomiya, a National Taiwan University professor of environmental science on the team, said, “It is highly significant that we have clarified the process of when CsMPs were generated inside the plant and when their formation ceased.” The findings are expected to lead to decontamination efforts that better reflect actual conditions and to guidelines for responding to nuclear disasters.

Shinya Yamasaki, an associate professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Tsukuba, commented, “It has been shown that radiation maps and the distribution of CsMPs are different.”

The findings were published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

(Japanese original by Yurika Tarumi, Lifestyle, Science & Environment News Department)

June 30, 2026 Posted by | Fukushima continuing, Japan, radiation | Leave a comment

Reactor reboot at world’s largest nuclear plant highlights flaws in Japan’s radioactive waste plans

With a lot of spent fuel accumulating at nuclear power plants across the country, a final disposal of radioactive waste is a crucial challenge that must be resolved,”

Finding a community willing to host a highly radioactive dump site has been difficult, even with a raft of financial enticements.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS, 11 June 2026,
https://www.dailymail.com/wires/ap/article-15890689/Reactor-reboot-worlds-largest-nuclear-plant-highlights-flaws-Japans-radioactive-waste-plans.html

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AP) – Japan has resumed operations at the world´s largest nuclear power plant to help the country meet huge electricity demands during a global oil crisis, but the reboot highlights a big problem: Japan is running out of space for spent nuclear fuel and has no viable plans for permanent disposal of the radioactive waste.

The restart of No. 6 reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station earlier this year was meant to spur a movement to bring more nuclear reactors online. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is one of three plants whose cooling pools will be full in five years, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

“Without solid (fuel management) plans, our power generation will stall sooner or later,” Kashiwazaki-Kariwa General Manager Takeyuki Inagaki said.

After decades of seeking permanent storage for highly radioactive spent fuel, the government is considering Minamitorishima, a remote Pacific island south of Tokyo. But the selection has faced skepticism and criticism stemming from Japan’s arbitrary actions on spent fuel and radioactive waste management.

Only 15 of Japan´s 54 reactors have restarted since the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a 9.0 earthquake off Japan´s northeastern coast and a subsequent tsunami caused meltdowns at three reactors operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO. About 160,000 people fled from Fukushima and some areas remain unlivable.

Kashiazaki-Kariwa, also run by TEPCO, was shut down after the Fukushima disaster as part of a nationwide nuclear power stoppage.

The spent fuel in a cooling pool at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No. 6 reactor, which is 88% filled, can be seen from a top-floor observation area. TEPCO has installed filtered venting systems and devices to prevent hydrogen explosions among additional safety measures based on lessons from Fukushima.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing to bring more nuclear plants online, resulting in more spent fuel. Without a viable permanent storage plan, there are worries that reactors will have to close when storage space runs out.

There are two options for dealing with spent nuclear fuel: direct disposal as waste or recycling to extract plutonium and uranium for reuse.

Japan insists on recycling, saying it will help the resource-poor nation’s energy needs while reducing the toxicity and volume of radioactive waste. But a reactor designed for plutonium reuse, a key part of the recycling, has failed. Reprocessing also won´t be able to handle all the spent fuel, adding to a plutonium stockpile that already is large enough to arm thousands of atomic bombs.

Experts say Japan should also consider the direct disposal option.

As of December 2025, cooling pools at 17 Japanese nuclear power plants held more than 17,000 tons (15,422 metric tons) of spent fuel, using nearly 80% of total storage capacity, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Beyond the large amount of radioactive waste from normal reactors, Japan also “has to deal with massive and largely unknown high-level nuclear waste from the Fukushima disaster,” said Lila Okamura, a Senshu University professor and expert on environmental politics and nuclear waste management.

Choosing a final disposal site for spent fuel and building a facility would require 100 years and tens of thousands of years to monitor the storage deep underground. For a generations-long project, Japan should plan carefully and not rush the current plan that is full of uncertainties, Okamura said.

Weeks after Kashiwazaki-Kariwa’s No. 6 reactor came back online for the first time in 14 years since the Fukushima disaster, Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa approached Ogasawara village to request a feasibility study for a high-level radioactive waste site on Minamitorishima, an island administered by Ogasawara, which is part of Tokyo.

“With a lot of spent fuel accumulating at nuclear power plants across the country, a final disposal of radioactive waste is a crucial challenge that must be resolved,” Akazawa said in a letter to Ogasawara Mayor Masaaki Shibuya.

The government-owned Minamitorishima, about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) south of Tokyo, has no permanent residents. The Japanese army is constructing a firing range for long-range, surface-to-ship missiles as a deterrent to China. The island also has deep sea deposits rich with rare earth minerals.

“The move seems political,” said Satoshi Takano, a member of a government panel looking at final disposal of spent fuel. “There will be little opposition from a government-owned remote island.”

Some experts say the island, which sits on a geologically stable tectonic plate, could be suitable. Many residents on Ogasawara and two nearby islands raised concerns about safety and tourism.

“I was baffled when I heard about the plan,” Ogasawara assembly member Yusuke Hirano told an assembly meeting. “I think nuclear waste is incompatible with islands that are a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site.”

Finding a community willing to host a highly radioactive dump site has been difficult, even with a raft of financial enticements. Minamitorishima is the fourth location to have a feasibility study since the government started looking in the early 2000s.

The whole review process will take about two decades. Municipalities participating in the first stage can receive up to 2 billion yen ($12.8 million) in government subsidies. The next stage would bring up to 7 billion yen ($44.7 million). Funding details for a final study haven’t been disclosed.

The world´s first final disposal site for spent nuclear fuel is set to open in Finland later this year. Britain, Germany and the United States have abandoned reprocessing largely because of high costs and technical challenges, while several other countries are discussing plans for direct disposal sites.

Inagaki, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa general manager, said TEPCO is transferring spent fuel from No. 6 reactor to other reactors at the plant with more space, but the utility hopes to resume shipments to a dry cask storage in northern Japan as a near-term solution. Other utilities with nearly full pools have announced plans to build dry-cask storage at their plants.

Many residents worry about Japan’s growing stockpile because high-density storage of spent fuel could also increase overheating risks.

Mie Kuwabara, a civil activist in Niigata, wondered “where will it go next?”

“It’s irresponsible to accelerate restarts and produce more spent fuel without deciding its final destination,” said Kuwabara, who also is skeptical about using Minamitorishima.

“It’s like saying that it’s OK to put a facility there because nobody is around to complain if there is a problem,” Kuwabara said. “It’s scary.”

June 15, 2026 Posted by | Japan, wastes | Leave a comment

Rolls-Royce strikes nuclear deal with Japan, likely to be tax-payer funded

potential support that could eventually include
taxpayer-backed loans, debt financing or direct investments from the
National Wealth Fund.

Sir Keir Starmer and Sanae Takaichi set to sign agreement to develop advanced modular reactors

Matt Oliver, Industry Editor

 Britain will join forces with Japan to build mini nuclear reactors capable
of powering factories, data centres and military bases. Sanae Takaichi,
Japan’s prime minister, and Sir Keir Starmer will sign an agreement at a
ceremony in Downing Street on Sunday, as part of a push to strengthen
energy cooperation between Tokyo and London.

The tie-up will lead to
British engineering giant Rolls-Royce working with the National Nuclear
Laboratory and its Japanese counterpart to develop advanced modular
reactors (AMRs) and the fuel needed to power them, The Telegraph can
disclose.

Japan has been testing a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor for
decades, but the technology remains unproven commercially. Under the
partnership, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency will share its extensive safety
data with Rolls-Royce to help the company build a demonstrator AMR in the
UK by the mid-2030s.

Rolls is understood to have held discussions with the
Government about potential support that could eventually include
taxpayer-backed loans, debt financing or direct investments from the
National Wealth Fund.

Under the agreement, Rolls-Royce, the UK and Japanese
national laboratories have also agreed to explore options for supplying the
novel kind of fuel the AMRs will use. Known as tri-structural isotropic
particle fuel (TRISO), it is seen by scientists as inherently safer than
more conventional nuclear fuel because it can be left to cool on its own.
TRISO fuel is made by taking poppy seed-sized pieces of uranium and
wrapping them in layers of ceramic material that are almost as tough as
diamond. These pellets are then compacted into hexagonal blocks or billiard
ball-sized “pebbles”, which can be loaded into a nuclear reactor. The
Government has already announced a £300m programme with Urenco, a nuclear
fuel company, to build a UK enrichment facility capable of providing the
uranium needed to make TRISO pellets.

 Telegraph 14th June 2026, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/14/rolls-royce-strikes-nuclear-deal-with-japan/

June 14, 2026 Posted by | business and costs, Japan, UK | Leave a comment

  International People’s Tribunal (IPT) invites representatives of the United States Government and the Government of the Republic of Korea to participate in Proceedings on Korean Victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombings

10 June 2026, https://abombtribunal.campaignus.me/34/?q=YToxOntzOjEyOiJrZXl3b3JkX3R5cGUiO3M6MzoiYWxsIjt9&bmode=view&idx=171742128&t=board

The International Organizing Committee of the International People’s Tribunal (IPT) today formally invited representatives of the United States Government and the Government of the Republic of Korea to participate in this Peoples’ Tribunal, which is being convened to highlight the experiences and claims of Korean victims of the 1945 atomic bombings. This group of atomic bomb survivors has too often been overlooked and now seeks recognition, acknowledgment, and redress through international legal accountability. 

Letters of invitation were respectfully provided to these two governments in the hope that they will send representatives to the Tribunal, which will be held at the Graduate School of Theology, Hanshin University, in Seoul, South Korea, on November 13–15, 2026. 

The formal invitations are attached to this release. The invitations were jointly signed by the three Co-Chairs of the International Organizing Committee: Bishop Emeritus Kang U-il of Jeju, Archbishop John Charles Wester of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, and Takashi Hiraoka, former Mayor of Hiroshima City. 

The Tribunal is organized with the participation of lawyers, scholars, activists, and relevant experts from Korea and abroad. Korean atomic bomb victims will participate as claimants in the proceedings, which will address issues of international legal responsibility arising from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, as well as the future use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. 

The IPT is being organized in recognition of the fact that the experiences of Korean atomic bomb victims—who were victims both of Japanese imperial aggression and colonial rule, and of the atomic bombings carried out by the  United States—have not been sufficiently brought to light before the international community.

The IPT also seeks to contribute to international legal discussions concerning the restoration of victims’ human rights, including official apologies, compensation, guarantees of non-repetition, and the prohibition of the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as to broader efforts toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the realization of a world free of nuclear weapons.

CONTACT: 

Brad Wolf
U.S. Organizing Committee Contact
Email: bradwolf1310@gmail.com 

Kihoon Lee
SPARK (Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea)
Email: abombtribunal@gmail.com 

June 14, 2026 Posted by | politics international, South Korea | Leave a comment

North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons, says Kim Jong-un’s sister

The sister of Kim Jong-un has insisted that North Korea will never give up
its nuclear weapons, setting back hopes of progress towards
denuclearisation during Monday’s visit to Pyongyang by President Xi of
China. Kim Yo-jong, a senior figure in the leadership who sometimes serves
as spokeswoman for her brother, said North Korea’s “status as a nuclear
weapons state is the line of no retreat and it is a stark reality whether
anyone recognises it or not”.

Times 7th June 2026, https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/kim-jong-un-sister-north-korea-nuclear-deal-president-xi-zs7qbkt5c

June 11, 2026 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Kim Jong Un vows to build nuclear-armed navy with ‘secret underwater weapons’ as he tours warship with his daughter

Kim Jong Un has vowed to bolster North Korea‘s defences with a nuclear-powered navy and a new generation of ‘secret underwater weapons’. 

The North Korean leader made the announcement on Thursday while inspecting a new warship, alongside his teenage daughter, believed to be named Jin Ju Ae, ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

State media reported Kim called for the rapid development of naval forces capable of playing a central role in the country’s nuclear deterrent. He said the navy must be able to deliver ‘a deadly blow at the enemy any moment under the water or on the water’. ………………………….

Daily Mail 6th June 2026, https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15879219/Kim-Jong-nuclear-navy-underwater-weapons-warship-daughter.html

June 10, 2026 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Another deadly explosion casts shadow over Hanwha Aerospace’s cutting-edge image.

 2026-06-02, HANKYOREH, By Choi Ye-rin, staff reporter; Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter; Kim Joong-gon, staff reporter; and Kwon Hyo-jung, staff reporter

Five were killed and two injured at an explosion at the defense contractor’s Daejeon plant.

Another explosion at defense contractor Hanwha Aerospace’s plant in Daejeon, the country’s No. 5 city, killed five people Monday, bringing the total death toll from explosions at the site to 13, including five fatalities in 2018 and three in 2019.

Hanwha Aerospace has recently emerged as a leader in the country’s cutting-edge defense industry. Yet behind the scenes, its plant has seen a series of workplace disasters that are at odds with the standards expected of a world-class manufacturer.

The site of Monday’s explosion was the plant’s tool cleaning area of Building 56. Hanwha Aerospace said this facility, which washes explosive materials from tools used to make rocket propellant, is separated from other buildings.

The company added that a management supervisor and six production staff were cleaning tools using water mixed with detergent when a sudden explosion caused a fire. Five workers died and one suffered second-degree burns over his entire body, with one manager who was outside the facility sustaining minor injuries.

The workers apparently had no time to escape as the explosion caused flames to instantly engulf them. Police plan to request DNA analysis from the National Forensic Service to identify the victims……………………………………..

 Ga Jae-woong, a Hanwha Aerospace senior vice president and manager of the plant, declined to disclose details such as what sort of explosive material was involved, only saying that all processes at the workplace are “confidential.”

Hanwha Aerospace’s failure to pinpoint the cause of the blast has sparked fierce criticism considering the growing death toll at the plant. All three explosions are known to have been related to solid propellant used to transport weapons.

In 2018, an explosion occurred during the process of loading fuel into a rocket propellant container. The next year, another happened during the removal of a propellant core.  

Workers at the plant bear inherent risk because of the highly explosive properties of the propellant used in rocket boosters. But Monday’s catastrophe demonstrates the company’s failure to take effective measures to prevent such explosions even after similar incidents in 2018 and 2019.

Immediately after the 2018 blast that killed nine, a Ministry of Employment and Labor inspection uncovered as many as 486 violations of workplace safety regulations.

An annual report by Hanwha Aerospace also said it had been fined 2 million won (US$1,300) by fire authorities in Daejeon in January 2025 for failure to comply with regulations for hazardous material prevention, as well as 1.6 million won that June for inadequate maintenance and management of fire safety facilities.

“Defense contractors often classify their production processes as confidential, so there are cases where they never take proper follow-up measures even after explosions resulting in casualties occur,” said Yeom Gun-woong, a professor of police and fire administration at U1 University. “Three similar accidents have occurred at the same workplace, so a fact-finding investigation and comprehensive inspection are necessary.”

The company’s union demanded a thorough investigation into the incident and identification of those responsible, slamming Hanwha Aerospace’s “slogans of eradicating industrial accidents and creating a safe workplace” as “nothing but empty words.”
 
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country’s major umbrella unions, also criticized the company in a statement.  

“Hanwha Aerospace has made it abundantly clear that it not only neglects the safety and lives of its workers, but has also made no safety improvements since the last two accidents,” it wrote. ………………………………….https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1261569.html

June 9, 2026 Posted by | incidents, South Korea | Leave a comment

The U.S. ally getting nuclear submarines with no AUKUS deal

How South Korea’s plan for nuclear-powered submarines compares to AUKUS

ABC News, By Doug Dingwall, 6 June 26

The South Korean city of Gyeongju is famous for its uncanny, grass-covered burial mounds bearing the tombs of ancient kings.

It will also go down in history as the place where the United States finally agreed to South Korea’s long-held aspirations to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting last year.

Months later, South Korea’s government has announced its plan to build the submarines by the mid-2030s, but it did not reveal how many, nor the expected cost.

As with the AUKUS agreement, the United States will help a close ally gain a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

But beyond that, South Korea and Australia are taking different paths to building their new vessels, and they’re acquiring them for different reasons.

So what is Seoul’s plan, and how does it compare to Australia’s AUKUS submarine endeavour?

Unknown unknowns

South Korea’s ambitions for nuclear-powered submarines go back 20 years, but it had been unable to secure approval from the US, which was concerned about nuclear proliferation.

However, US President Donald Trump broke with previous administrations and in October agreed to South Korea having nuclear-powered submarines, framing it as a win for American industry.

“South Korea will be building its Nuclear Powered Submarine in the Philadelphia Shipyards, right here in the good ol’ USA,” he posted on Truth Social.

Plans have changed since then, with South Korea’s Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back announcing the submarines will be developed and built by his country.

The submarines would use low-enriched uranium fuel and the first would be launched in about a decade, he said.

Other than that, experts say the details are scant, maybe intentionally so.

“Most importantly, they haven’t put a dollar figure on it,” said Euan Graham, senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

In contrast, the AUKUS submarine program comes with a $368 billion price tag, one that Dr Graham expects won’t reflect the final cost.

“That ambiguity [in the South Korean plan] is, in a funny way, more honest because they don’t know what they don’t know,”

he said.

Observers agree the cost is one of the major risks in Seoul’s plan to build nuclear-powered submarines.

The vessels are expensive, not only to build, but also to operate, maintain and support over their entire life cycle, said Jihoon Yu, research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

“South Korea will need to balance this program with other defence priorities, including air and missile defence, conventional submarines, unmanned systems, cyber capabilities, and space-based surveillance,” Dr Yu said.

Why nuclear-powered submarines?

Unlike AUKUS, South Korea’s plan is not about replacing a fleet of aging submarines.

Dr Yu said it was already modernising its diesel-electric submarines, including the KSS-II and KSS-III class, which were expected to remain operational for decades.

Instead, South Korea wants nuclear-powered submarines because it believes they are better suited for deterring the changing threat posed by North Korea.

That’s because nuclear-powered submarines can stay underwater longer, experts said.

“North Korea has invested heavily in submarine-launched ballistic missile capabilities, and tracking those platforms requires prolonged underwater endurance and sustained speed,” said Seong-Hyon Lee, associate in research at Harvard University’s Asia Center………………………..

Dr Yu said nuclear-powered submarines could also cover vast distances, and this would let South Korea contribute more to security beyond its immediate coastal waters.

“Nuclear-powered submarines could contribute to sea lane protection, regional maritime stability and broader allied deterrence missions,” he said.

That might appeal to the Trump administration, which wants US allies to take on more responsibility for their defence and security, including in the Asia-Pacific region.

Will South Korea’s plan rely less on the US?

Australia’s pathway to nuclear-powered submarines relies deeply on the US and the United Kingdom for technology and training.

“AUKUS is not just a submarine acquisition program; it is also a long-term strategic, industrial and technological integration project among three countries,” Dr Yu said.

“South Korea would likely seek a more domestically driven model, although it would still need close cooperation with the United States, especially on nuclear fuel,, safeguards, regulatory arrangements and political approval.”…………………………………………………………………….

 know-how in building diesel-electric submarines, and in civilian nuclear technology, will only take South Korea so far.

It would have to solve questions such as reactor miniaturisation, acoustic quieting, shock resistance and integrating complex propulsion systems, Dr Lee said.

“These are highly demanding technical areas where even established naval powers have faced considerable hurdles.”

Mr Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed last year the US would work with Seoul on the project, including on “avenues to source fuel”.

“The most important unresolved issue concerns the nuclear-fuel framework under which any future submarine program would operate,” Dr Lee said.

South Korea has an agreement with the US that restricts its uranium enrichment.

“More broadly, the political, legal and technical details of any US-South Korea cooperation in this area have yet to be fully defined,” Dr Lee said.

Different plan, different problems

Experts say there’s a risk that South Korea’s nuclear-powered submarines program could be misunderstood in the region………………………………. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-06/how-south-korea-submarine-plan-compares-to-aukus/106764594

June 7, 2026 Posted by | South Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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