Fifty-seven percent of citizens nationwide are against restarting nuclear power plants, nearly double the 29 percent who want reactors brought back online, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.

The results of the telephone survey conducted on Oct. 15 and 16 show that more than half of the public has remained opposed to the resumption of nuclear plant operations since an Asahi Shimbun survey in June 2013, when 58 percent expressed opposition.

In an Asahi survey in February this year, 54 percent of respondents disagreed with plans to fire up the reactors.

The support rate for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fell to 48 percent from 52 percent in the previous survey conducted in September. The nonsupport rate was 32 percent, up from 29 percent.

The Abe administration has been pushing for the resumption of nuclear plant operations. Currently, only two of Japan’s dozens of reactors are online under…

Wind and solar may be currently leading the way in Australia’s renewable energy race, but there’s another contender lurking in the nation’s oceans.
Australia arguably possesses the world’s largest wave energy resource, around 1,800 terawatt hours. Most of this is concentrated in the southern half of the continent, between Geraldton and Brisbane. To put this in context, Australia used 248 terawatt hours of electricity in 2013-14.
Waves aren’t the only renewable power source in our oceans. The daily movements of the tides shift vast amounts of water around the Australian coast, and technology for conversion of tidal energy to electricity is more mature than any wave converters.
Ocean renewable energy also spans ocean thermal energy conversion, and energy captured from our large ocean currents (such as the East Australian Current). These represent less mature technologies with less opportunity in Australia.
Australia has abundant energy resources – both renewables and fossil…

Japanese anti-nuclear candidate wins election at site of world’s biggest atomic power station

Ryuichi Yoneyama, the newly elected governor of Niigata, says he will not restart Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station shut down after Fukushima

An anti-nuclear candidate has been elected in a region of Japan that houses the world’s biggest atomic power station, striking a blow to Tokyo Electric Power’s attempts to restart the plant in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Ryuichi Yoneyama, a doctor-lawyer who has never held office and is backed mostly by leftwing parties, won the race for governor of Niigata, north of Tokyo, Japanese media projected on Sunday. Shares in Tokyo Electric Power fell 8% on Monday after the news broke.

The vote was dominated by concerns about the future of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station and nuclear safety more than five years after the Fukushima catastrophe. The result represents a challenge to the government’s energy policy.

Japan’s public is not ready to restart nuclear power generation.

Ryuichi Yoneyama, a doctor-lawyer who has never previously held office, won the race for governor of Niigata on Sunday. He ran on the platform that he would not allow the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO (9501.Japan), to restart operations.

Yoneyama had more than 500,000 votes versus rival candidate’s 430,000 votes with 93% of the votes counted.

TEPCO was put under government control the year after the traumatic Fukushima catastrophe in March 2011 and is vital to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe‘s energy policy. Abe hopes to revive nuclear power generation to provide for 30% of Japan’s energy needs.

TEPCO tumbled 6.7% in Tokyo.

http://blogs.barrons.com/asiastocks/2016/10/16/tepco-tumbles-7-after-anti-nuclear-candidates-surprise-governor-election-win/