{"id":7919,"date":"2026-06-26T10:08:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/?p=7919"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:10:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:10:03","slug":"meti-and-iaea-strengthen-cooperation-on-smrs-and-capacity-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/news\/7919","title":{"rendered":"METI and IAEA Strengthen Cooperation on SMRs and Capacity Building"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Under the MoC, METI and the IAEA will work together to support countries considering the introduction of nuclear power by promoting infrastructure development, human resource development, and other capacity-building initiatives related to SMRs and other advanced nuclear technologies.<\/p>\n<p>At the meeting, Minister Akazawa referred to Director General Grossi&#8217;s visit to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station last year, noting that the plant&#8217;s restart in April 2026 has contributed to improving electricity supply stability and strengthening power capacity in eastern Japan. He reiterated Japan&#8217;s policy of prioritizing safety while maximizing the use of existing reactors, advancing the development of next-generation advanced reactors, and steadily implementing backend measures.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Akazawa stressed the importance of continuing to ensure safety and provide transparent information, including on the discharge of ALPS-treated water into the sea. He expressed appreciation for the IAEA&#8217;s ongoing support and cooperation, recalling Director General Grossi&#8217;s statement during his July 2023 visit to Fukushima that the Agency would &#8220;remain on the ground until the last drop of ALPS-treated water is safely discharged.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Akazawa also referred to efforts toward the completion of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant and expressed Japan&#8217;s intention to continue working closely with the IAEA to strengthen safeguards and maintain international confidence in its nuclear fuel cycle program.<\/p>\n<p>Director General Grossi described the partnership with Japan as &#8220;extremely important and strategically significant.&#8221; He said the newly signed MoC reflects a shared vision for the future of nuclear energy and mutual trust between the two sides, adding that the cooperation will contribute not only to Japan&#8217;s nuclear sector but also to the development of the global nuclear industry.<\/p>\n<p>Grossi also praised Japan&#8217;s cooperation with the IAEA on the Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning project and the discharge of ALPS-treated water. He said the efforts by the Japanese government, METI, and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) to ensure transparency &#8220;serve as an international model.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under the MoC, METI and the IAEA will work together to support countries considering the introduction of nuclear power by promoting infrastructure development, human resource development, and other capacity-building initiatives related to SMRs and other advanced nuclear technologies. At the meeting, Minister Akazawa referred to Director General Grossi&#8217;s visit to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,8],"tags":[920,1542,1543,598,42,1544,32,961,663,552],"class_list":["post-7919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-policies","tag-alps-treated-water","tag-capacity-building","tag-fukushima-daiichi-decommissioning-project","tag-human-resource-development","tag-iaea","tag-kashiwazaki-kariwa-nuclear-power-station","tag-meti","tag-moc","tag-rokkasho-reprocessing-plant","tag-smr"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7922,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7919\/revisions\/7922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jaif.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}