TOKYO - The Kiyoko Electric Co. received approval today from Japan's Diet to build a nuclear plant next to the Mount Usu volcano.
Located next to the active Mount Usu volcano, the nuclear plant will be near Lake Toya and the idyllic town of Toyako Onsen. The plant -- preliminarily referred to as "Usu Daiichi" or "Usu One" -- will produce an estimated 32,000 gigawatt-hours per year, more than making up for the loss earlier this year of Japan's Fukushima plant, following a crippling blow by a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
"We are very excited to be moving forward on this important and expensive project," said Kiyoko Electric spokesman Hiroshi Sugiyama through an interpreter. "Building this plant will be difficult logistically. Many thousands of tons of materials will need to be moved through mountainous terrain in an active volcanic region. We are very happy to be moving forward now after many months of delays."
Japanese Prime Minister Masami Saito hailed the decision as "another step" toward "securing our nation's access to dangerous, intermittent power."
The site for Usu Daiichi was established months ago, although bureaucratic and political delays were only overcome recently. A groundbreaking ceremony was originally scheduled for September 29 but had to be cancelled following a mini-eruption, and subsequent earth tremors caused by the Usu volcano. "The ceremony has been rescheduled now for November 10th, barring any further eruptions," said Sugiyama.
MAIDEN, NC - The A.I. personality known as Apple's "Siri" became self-aware this morning at Apple's Project Dolphin data center. It's
Every year I find myself in the same dilemma: what to buy all those people I've accumulated on my X-Mas
(ARCHIVE) NEW MEXICO - Speaking today presidential hopeful and billionaire Donald Trump today announced his "unfettered support" for "extraterrestrial abductions," and