Gas Golden Age Fades as Supply Boom Meets Japan Nuclear Rebirth

The golden age of natural gas lost some of its luster this month. Japan, the world’s biggest buyer of the fuel in liquid form, restarted a nuclear reactor on the island of Kyushu Aug. 11, re-embracing atomic power to shrink energy-import costs.

Japan moves nearer to restarting nuclear reactors after court gives go-ahead

Japan’s plans to return to nuclear power generation more than four years after the triple meltdown at Fukushima received a boost on Wednesday after a court approved the restart of two nuclear reactors.

Japan Wind Lobby Says Environment Assessments Curbing New Work

TOKYO -- Japan’s effort to obtain more power from wind turbines is being held up by requirements for developers to conduct environmental impact assessments, undermining government support for the industry, a lobby group said.

Scientists Urge Environmentalists to Support Nuclear Energy

Four prominent climate scientists are urging environmentalists to support the development of "safer" nuclear energy systems as an alternative to fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.

Centrica defends 23pc leap in British Gas energy profits

Centrica defended a 23pc surge in profits at its British Gas household division, insisting the jump was due to the comparison with a “weak” 2011.

Nuclear industry dreams dashed by current economic reality

The news that nuclear giants RWE and E.ON are dropping plans to build any new UK reactors has sent a toxic cloud not only over Wales, but over the nuclear industry itself.

France to strengthen nuclear security after break-ins: EDF

France will beef up security at its nuclear plants after Greenpeace activists broke into two facilities, the head of energy firm EDF said on Friday, denouncing the stunt as "stupid".

Shareholders Push Tepco to Abandon Nuclear Power

Masafumi Asada bought shares of the Tokyo Electric Power Company almost a decade ago with a single purpose: To vote against the use of nuclear power.

Mr. Asada, a 70-year-old resident of Fukushima prefecture, the epicenter of Japan’s nuclear crisis, will speak on behalf of 402 shareholders on Tuesday at the annual general meeting of the utility known as Tepco, to ask it to stop atomic generation.

Natural gas set to flourish

The world could be entering a 'golden age' of natural gas, according to research by energy policy adviser, the International Energy Agency (IEA), which predicts that gas could provide more than a quarter of global energy by 2035.

Gas is plentiful and widely spread geographically, which helps ease countries' concerns over energy security. The IEA's research shows that global resources exceed 250 years of current production and that each region of the world holds resources of at least 75 years of current consumption. But it has been the success of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (to increase the flow of gas from tightly compressed reservoirs) in recent years that has made it possible to transform these vast resources into usable energy. This technology has transformed the US from the verge of needing to import gas just a few years ago to a substantial exporter of gas.

Now is not the time for energy-starved India to increase nuclear dependency

Japan's nuclear disaster has fuelled fear and uncertainty among all of the world's producers of nuclear power. For India, an energy-starved country with big nuclear plans, much is at stake.

The wider fear over nuclear power has two main causes. Firstly, although it ranks as a "clean" source of energy, it is accompanied by the terrible shadow of nuclear war and Japan's last reckoning with nuclear catastrophe 65 years ago at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Secondly, the secrecy that attends all things nuclear has left people not knowing enough to feel confident.