Japan sets new nuke safety standards
The Japanese government approved new safety guidelines for nuclear power plants on Friday in a bid to restart reactors idled after the Fukushima disaster last year.
The move comes as the government gears up to decide whether two reactors in western Japan should be restarted. Only one of the country's 54 reactors remains in operation, raising the possibility of power shortages.
The guidelines, approved by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, include measures to prevent a nuclear accident even if reactors are hit by natural disasters as severe as those that ravaged the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Japan's formerly-trusted nuclear power industry lost public confidence when the earthquake and tsunami of March last year knocked out cooling systems at Fukushima, sending three reactors into meltdown.
Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes and vast swathes of farmland were contaminated in the world's worst nuclear accident for a quarter of a century.
The new safety standards are said to be more extensive than the two-stage stress test mandated for nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima crisis.
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