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Japan eyes building nuclear reactors in S Africa to reduce emissions

TOKYO —

Japan is considering building 12 nuclear reactors in South Africa to cover the power shortage there and in surrounding countries and to curb greenhouse gas emissions, government sources said Wednesday.

The plan is aimed at demonstrating Japanese leadership in fighting global warming and assisting development in Africa, which was among the key agenda items at the three-day Group of Eight summit held through Wednesday in Hokkaido, the sources said.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

5 Comments

  • Hughgarse at 12:21 PM JST - 10th July

    Lets just hope they`re not subjected to Japanese safety standards..

  • RepublicofTexas at 12:24 PM JST - 10th July

    Japan's nuclear program has had fewer programs than a lot of other countries, and no major incidents.

  • RepublicofTexas at 12:25 PM JST - 10th July

    problems not programs sorry

  • Zen_Builder at 12:36 PM JST - 10th July

    I still think the country with the least nuclear reactor problems is Austria.

    Goverment build one than held a referendum on starting it. Got shot down as there were no plans for the nuclear waste storage.

    Yeah, they wanted to convert salt-mines like 10yrs AFTER the reactor was started. Lucky we didn't send waste to france as we know what happened with the waste they accepted from other countries.

    Anyway, the reactor was safe(triple the requirements) sold it to russia in the end. Actually the guys that build it also helped stabilize the chernobyl one.

    Still nuclear free today(besides a few test reactors at research facilities), yet most reactors in europe are high-yield ones. This means that the waste is weapon-grade plutonium and don't need to be refined to make a bomb. The US objects to all high-yield reactors outside the EU zone.

    I say let them have it, plenty of space in S.Africa where they cannot harm anyone if things go ooopsy.

  • wilbur at 09:19 PM JST - 10th July

    texas: depends on your definition of 'problems', and 'major'. And, of course, if you're naive enough to believe the japanese authorities.

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