Is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission too cozy with the industry it regulates?
Nuclear power is so expensive compared with other forms of energy that it has become "really hard" to justify, according to the chief executive of General Electric, one of the world's largest suppliers of atomic equipment.
A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck early Sunday in the western Pacific off Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
A Japanese government report Monday heaped fresh criticism on the operator of the nuclear power plant where a disastrous accident was set off last year by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country.
Anti-nuclear protests in Japan get bigger. CNN's Paula Hancocks reports the government is bringing reactors back online.
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is investigating a report that workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were told to use lead covers in order to hide unsafe radiation levels, an official said.
Tens of thousands of people crowded into a park in central Tokyo on Monday to protest the use of nuclear power in Japan, highlighting the growing opposition to atomic energy in the country since the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
A new Fukushima report blames human error on the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan.
A new report slams Japan's government handling of the Fukishima nuclear disaster. CNN's Ramy Inocencio reports.
They finally called a spade a spade.
The nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan unfolded as a result of willful negligence before the natural disasters of March 11 last year and a flawed response afterward, a report by a Japanese parliamentary panel said Thursday.
Japan is set to restart its first nuclear reactor since the Fukushima meltdown.
Energy-starved Japan will regain nuclear-powered electricity on Sunday, as the first reactor to be switched on since last year's Fukushima disaster comes online.
Victims of Japan's Fukushima disaster struggle to rebuild their lives, as CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant admitted Wednesday that it was not fully prepared for the nuclear disaster spurred by last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Fukushima's nuclear fallout spreads through ordinary life in Japan. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
Japan has given the go-ahead for operations to resume at two nuclear reactors on its western coast, the first to be restarted after the government shut down all reactors following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.
CNN's Kyung Lah profiles a band that says TEPCO destroyed their lives.
The executives of the Japanese utility that owns the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and a number of the country's government officials should go to jail, according to a complaint filed by more than 1,000 local residents on Monday.
A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Japan early Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
French President-elect Francois Hollande wants to reduce the country's reliance on nuclear power.
Beijing has indicated that it will lift its year-long moratorium on new nuclear projects in a move that will breathe life into an industry plagued by uncertainty since the disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi reactor last year.
Talk about a "smart" phone?Japan's latest mobile phone sensation also happens to be a radiation detector.
Japan's latest phone sensation has a Geiger counter to read radiation. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
A 62-year-old evacuee from Fukushima Prefecture made a brief visit to his radiation-contaminated home, walked to his shuttered shop, and then hanged himself in a storage space.
A victim of the Fukushima nuclear disaster narrowly survives a deadly tornado. Kyung Lah reports.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he was overwhelmed and afraid during last year's nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, acknowledging that little has been done since then to ensure that another nuclear disaster will not occur.
Japan's largest utility said Thursday that more radiation than previously thought was released into the atmosphere in March 2011, in the days after the nuclear disaster that followed an earthquake and tsunami.
The earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan on March 11 last year took more than 20,000 lives, caused the evacuation of about 300,000 people, and set off the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. The meltdowns of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors ended Japan's plans to produce half of its electricity through nuclear energy.
Reeling from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has effectively been nationalized after Tokyo approved a request for a 1 trillion yen ($12.5 billion) injection of capital.
As Japan began its workweek Monday morning, the trains ran exactly on time, the elevators in thousands of Tokyo high-rises efficiently moved between floors, and the lights turned on across cities with nary a glitch.
In 2008 Condolezza Rice visited Japan amid furor over the arrest of a US Marine on rape charges.
Affirming strong ties in a time of challenges, President Barack Obama and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday hailed an agreement to move U.S. Marines from Okinawa and expressed solidarity against North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
First came the stuff that floats on the surface and is pushed by wind: Buoys, a soccer ball, flotation devices. And, most notably, a rust-stained unmanned fishing trawler in Alaskan waters.
The sinking of a fishing trawler in Alaskan waters ends its voyage a year after a tsunami swept it off the Japan coast.
Twenty-six years after Chernobyl, one organization works with people who are still living with after effects.
Twenty-six years ago this week, a botched reactor safety test in a corner of what was then the Soviet Union set off the worst nuclear accident in history.
Anyone who uses a smartphone, puts away money in a 401(k), or wants to keep their grocery bill from skyrocketing needs to be aware of a new dynamic in the world economy.
A large Southern California nuclear plant is out of commission indefinitely, and will remain so until there is an understanding of what caused problems at two of its generators and an effective plan to address the issues, the nation's top nuclear regulator said Friday.
Japan's largest utility asked the government for 1 trillion yen ($12 billion) in fresh capital Thursday to stay solvent as it faces enormous compensation costs for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook eastern Japan Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but no tsunami threat is expected.
It may not be on the official agenda, but North Korea's ears will be burning during the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
South Korea prepares for a high-profile summit on nuclear issues, attended by President Obama and others.
An author tracks the lives of the Fukushima nuclear workers. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
When Pieter Franken visited Hong Kong one of the first things he did was measure the level of radiation in his hotel room.
The massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan one year ago understandably raised questions about the safety of America's nuclear energy facilities. Americans should know that all U.S. nuclear energy plant safety systems have been verified by the companies operating them as well as deemed safe by the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook northeastern Japan on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook northeastern Japan on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
CNN's Kyung Lah visits a roadside shrine to honor those lost in last year's quake and tsunami.
Since last year's Tohoku earthquake, the scenes of devastation and Daiichi nuclear disaster immediately come to mind when people hear "Fukushima."
Scores of Japanese citizens filed a lawsuit Monday in an effort to block the restarting of a nuclear power facility as tensions remain over atomic energy in the country a year after the Fukushima Daichi disaster.
It's been a year since one of the worst natural disasters ever devastated the northeast coast of Japan.
Japan gathered Sunday amid tears, prayers and a moment of silence to mark one year since an earthquake and tsunami killed thousands, and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century.
Japan remembers
updated: Sun Mar 11 2012 18:16:00
Japan marks one year since the devastating earthquake and tsunami. CNN's John Vause and Kyung Lah report.
From uncertainty to courage, distrust to control, and despair to hope.
One year ago, a series of events began with an earthquake off the cost of Japan that culminated in the largest accidental release of radioactivity into the ocean in history.
One year after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan, killing nearly 16,000 people and sparking the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, the country will pause Sunday to remember the exact moment the earth shook.
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster a year ago, the attitude toward food safety has become a matter of personal preference for many Tokyo residents.
In the empty towns surrounding the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant, piles of radioactive dirt serve as monuments to the difficulty of cleaning up the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
One year later, risky working conditions still plague the recovery effort at the site of Japan's nuclear disaster.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday ordered U.S. nuclear power plants to begin implementing safety recommendations made in an effort to prevent a crisis from occurring as it did in Japan after last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Editor's note: Kathleen Koch is author of the best-selling book, "Rising from Katrina," which explores how citizens recover from disasters. She was a CNN correspondent for 18 years.
A look at the day of destruction caused by an earthquake and tsunami off the Japanese coast.
One year ago, the world watched as a massive tsunami engulfed entire communities in northern Japan.
A year after Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, CNN's Anna Coren reports on Sendai's reconstruction boom.
Convertibles are selling well at the Mercedes Benz dealership in Sendai in North Japan.
March 11 marks the one-year anniversary of the largest Japanese catastrophe since World War II. The unforgettable triple disaster was triggered by the 9.0-magnitude Great East Japan earthquake, resulting in a devastating tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the effects of which are still being felt today.
Response to last year's tsunami among Japanese youth has led to a social shift that bucks the country's traditional ways.
One year later, tsunami survivors in Rikuzentaktata, Japan fight to rebuild their town. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
Futoshi Toba's wife was killed by last year's tsunami but as a father of two and mayor of Rikuzentakata in Japan's Iwate Prefecture he has little time to grieve.
When the Japanese business community talks about the incredible bounce back of Japan's supply chain, the name Renesas Electronics is usually on the tip of their tongues.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports on the effort it took to rebuild factories in Japan that supply industries around the world.
The Japanese prime minister issued a sobering and reflective assessment of his country's recovery as it prepares to mark the one year anniversary of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown.
It's the small details in the before-and-after photographs from tsunami-hit Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan that are the most telling. A year later, there's not one power pole, wall-mounted gas meter or roadside curb that hasn't been meticulously attended to.
You wouldn't know the punk band was Japanese, a culture self-programmed for propriety.
CNN gets its first tour inside the Fukushima nuclear plant. CNN's Kyung Lah reports from the meltdown zone.
Twisted metal beams still jut from the top of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi stricken reactors, almost one year after a massive tsunami triggered nuclear meltdown.
Survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan shared their stories with CNN last year.
Physicist Michio Kaku says the 'debris field from this Japanese tragedy is the size of the state of California.'
Japanese scientists believes the chances of a mega-quake hitting Tokyo have risen. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
Fish and plankton collected from the Pacific Ocean near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contain elevated levels of radioactive materials, but below levels that pose a threat to public health, researchers reported Tuesday.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released Tuesday about 3,000 pages of transcripts of conversations recorded in its operations center after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, conversations that underscore the difficulty the agency had in responding to the nuclear crisis that was unfolding halfway around the world.
[Updated 2:45 p.m. Monday, February 20] An ostrich walks down a street in Japan's exclusion zone, 10 months after the accident at the Fukushima power plant.
Japan posts its first trade deficit since 1980. CNN's Kyung Lah puts it in perspective from Tokyo.
Japan -- battered by a strong yen, slowing global demand and increased oil and gas imports due to last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster -- posted a record trade deficit of $18.7 billion in January, according to official figures released Monday.
Critics worry about aging U.S. nuclear plants amid what happened in Japan. CNN's Amber Lyon reports.
As the United States prepares to build its first new nuclear power reactors in three decades, concerns about an early generation of plants have resurfaced since last year's disaster in Japan.
Japan's government has threatened to withhold a Y1tn ($12.9bn) financial rescue of Tokyo Electric Power , owner of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, unless the struggling utility allows itself to be nationalised.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved licenses to build two new nuclear reactors Thursday, the first authorized in over 30 years.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is set to approve licenses to build two new nuclear reactors Thursday, the first approvals in over 30 years.
A movement to restart two nuclear reactors in Japan is causing a stir. Kyung Lah reports.
U.N. nuclear experts gave a thumbs-up to Japan's planned "stress tests" for its remaining nuclear power plants Tuesday but left Japanese authorities to decide whether the plants themselves are safe.
Tokyo faces the possibility of being hit by a massive earthquake within the next four years, according to Japanese researchers.
Debris from an earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan is making its way across the Pacific Ocean.
Strays and livestock still roam the exclusion zone of Fukushima. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
In the shadow of the Fukushima nuclear plant, one man's quiet defiance echoes through the contaminated, empty streets of Tomioka, Japan.
Three years after the Obama administration killed controversial plans to store the nation's nuclear waste permanently at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a presidential commission said Thursday that the nation needs to adopt a "consent-based approach" to position disposal facilities, gaining the approval of any community before moving forward with future sites.
When you stand in the center of Japan's exclusion zone, there is absolute silence. The exclusion zone is the 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, an area of high radiation contamination.
As we travel down the road toward the 20-kilometer (12-mile) exclusion zone, the entryway is blocked by half a dozen police officers and a large sign flashing red lights. The sign reads: "Keep out. Don't enter."
Workers placed an endoscope into a nuclear reactor at Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Thursday, marking the first glimpse inside one of the crippled reactors.
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