A survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima has again called for the total abolition of nuclear weapons.
Setsuko Thurlow, who lives in Canada, made the appeal in a video message on Saturday at an event sponsored by the Japanese NGO, Peace Boat.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force has carried out a drill to deploy ground-based PAC-3 interceptor missiles near a nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture.
The exercise was conducted on Monday along the coast in the town of Ohi, where Kansai Electric Power Company's Ohi nuclear power plant is located. It was the first time a drill involving the PAC-3 system was carried out in a municipality hosting a nuclear power plant.
Japan's industry ministry has come out with a draft action plan that would mark a clear departure from the nuclear power policy the government has taken since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
The ministry presented the plan in an online meeting of an advisory panel on Monday.
Japan's industry ministry has compiled a draft outline on the development of the next-generation nuclear power system which will see the updating of existing reactors.
The government indicated in August that it would present a draft by the end of the year. It had previously said it was not expecting to build new reactors.
People campaigning in Hiroshima have started collecting signatures to urge the Japanese government to sign and ratify the UN treaty banning nuclear arms. The treaty will come into force in January.
A group of about 30 people appealed for support near Peace Memorial Park in the western city on Saturday. Visitors were seen responding to their calls.
The governor of Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan has approved the restart of the No.2 reactor at Tohoku Electric Power Company's Onagawa nuclear plant. The reactor is the first in the region affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to win local consent for restart.
The assemblies of Onagawa Town and Ishinomaki City, which host the plant, as well as the Miyagi prefectural assembly had earlier agreed to allow the reactor to go back online.
Protesters in Nagasaki held a monthly sit-in protest, calling on Japan to ratify the UN nuclear ban treaty.
About 90 people, including survivors of the US nuclear bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, gathered at the city's Peace Park on Monday.
The operator of a storage facility in northern Japan is making arrangements with power companies to resume accepting shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste from spent fuel reprocessed in Britain.
NHK has learned that Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited has started talks with utility companies to accept the nuclear waste again in the business year that begins next April.
Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have expressed hopes that US president-elect Joe Biden will promote nuclear disarmament.
Speaking to NHK on Sunday, the acting leader of the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, Mimaki Toshiyuki, offered congratulations on Biden's projected win.
Japan's nuclear regulator has decided that problems at a terrorism-response facility for a reactor must not be made public in principle until they are resolved. The regulator regards the decision as part of anti-terrorism measures.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority discussed on Wednesday its policy of disclosing possible problems at the back-up facilities. The agency also decided when information is released after resolution, details should not be included. The regulator also says it will swiftly disclose serious problems that may lead to a halt of a reactor while withholding their details.
Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has ruled out new nuclear plants or new reactors for Japan at this point, as the country aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.
Suga was answering questions from Constitutional Democratic Party leader Edano Yukio in the Lower House Budget Committee on Wednesday.
Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and peace groups are launching a signature campaign to urge the Japanese government to ratify a UN treaty banning nuclear weapons.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will enter into force in January after reaching the necessary 50 ratifications earlier this month. But Japan is among the countries that have not signed the treaty. Nuclear powers, including the United States, Russia and China, have not joined the pact.
The atomic-bombed city of Nagasaki has set up a countdown board to mark the number of days until next year's UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons goes into effect.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons reached the necessary 50 ratifications on Saturday.
The mayor of Hiroshima City says the enactment of the UN treaty will be a major milestone on the road to abolishing nuclear weapons.
Mayor Matsui Kazumi noted that nuclear powers and countries under the nuclear umbrella remain opposed to signing and ratifying the treaty. He said making the treaty more effective will be the next challenge.