Booming business for Japan’s nuclear companies, as taxpayers foot the radioactive cleanup bill
Report From Japanese Nuclear Industry Insiders: Business is Booming, Rocket News 24, February 10, 2012 A lingering topic of the Fukushima incident has been how to go forward. Should nuclear plants in Japan be improved or discontinued.
What have been revealed to reporter Hirotoshi Ito by industry insiders are the massive business deals being prepared behind this important social issue.
According to Ito, what we don’t see occurring is what he calls “backspin business” which is profit made off of situations that undo
previous progress. Key players that once had the now-dubious honor of building a strong, clean, and safe nuclear power infrastructure are making preparations to profit from its damage.
For example, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has long struggled with the task of disposing of nuclear waste. Local residents of all TEPCO’s desired locations have been understandably hesitant to accept tons of radioactive material into their neighborhoods.Luckily for TEPCO the wasteland of the likely to be decommissioned Fukushima Daini (Number 2) Reactor is now the perfect place for them to set-up a decontamination factory….
General contractors are also in line to rake in money. Thanks to their friends at the JAEA, three companies, Kashima, Obayashigumi, and Taiseikensetsu were responsible for building 45 of Japan’s nuclear plants. Now they are looking to JAEA for work decontaminating 12 cities in Fukushima Prefecture. The Japanese government has entrusted JAEA with management of clean-up efforts in the area. If you recall, one of JAEA’s previous incarnations, the PNC, was responsible for the Monju Nuclear Plant accident and cover-up. JAEA has since been bogged down in an expensive effort to restart and maintain that plant for over a decade.
One benefit to regular citizens is the trickle-down revenue local business can make from clean-up crews. Beyond that, the largest
investors in this massive project, the Japanese taxpayers, are taking all the risk and getting no dividends. Meanwhile in the words of one TEPCO employee “after the closing and decontamination, [these companies] will be able to put food on the table for decades.”..
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/02/10/report-from-japanese-nuclear-industry-insiders-business-is-booming/
Japanese nuclear corporations clean up financially from radiation clean-up
Even more disturbing to critics of the decontamination program is the fact that the government awarded the first contracts to three giant construction companies — corporations that have no more expertise in radiation cleanup than anyone else does, but that profited hugely from Japan’s previous embrace of nuclear power.
Japan Starts Nuclear Cleanup, With Little Idea of How By HIROKO TABUCHI, NYT February 10, 2012 IITATE, Japan — As 500 workers in hazmat suits and respirator masks fanned out to decontaminate this village 20 miles from the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, their confusion was apparent. “Dig five centimeters or 10 centimeters deep here?” a site supervisor asked his colleagues, pointing to a patch of radioactive topsoil to be removed. He then gestured across the village square toward the community center. “Isn’t that going to be demolished? Shall we decontaminate it or not?”
A day laborer wiping down windows at an abandoned school nearby shrugged at the work crew’s haphazard approach. “We are all amateurs,” he said. “Nobody really knows how to clean up radiation.” Read more »
Fukushima nuclear disaster is an ongoing emeergency
Harvey Wasserman, 10 Feb 12, … the biggest shock waves this week were caused by Tama University Professor Hiroshi Tasaka, a key advisor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan during the Fukushima disaster.
Warning that Fukushima is “far from over,” Tasaka said official assurances of the complex’s alleged safety were based on “groundless
optimism.” Tasaka cited more than 1500 fuel rods dangerously exposed to the open atmosphere at Unit Four alone. The waste problem has gone nationwide, he said in a newly published book, as “the storage capacities of the spent fuel pools at the nation’s nuclear power
plants are reaching their limits,”
Tasaka’s statements came as a new temperature spike unexpectedly stuck Fukushina Unit Two. For reasons not yet clear, heat releases in excess of 158 degrees Farenheit spewed from the core, prompting Tokyo Electric to pump in more water and boric acid meant to damp down an apparently on-going chain reaction. Prof. Tasaka and others warn that this in turn will contribute to spreading still more radiation into the water table and oceans.
With bitter debate raging in Japan, the US and elsewhere over the killing power of Fukushima’s emissions, the certification of a new US
reactor design may someday be remembered as a bizarre epitaph for the 20th century’s most expensive failed technology.
Without state ratepayers and federal taxpayers being forced to foot the bill, new reactor construction in the US is going nowhere.
And without a final resolution to the on-going horrors at Fukushima, the entire planet, from Tokyo to Alaska to Georgia and beyond, remains at serious radioactive risk.
Japanese monks store radioactive waste near their temple
Abe said he and the other monks are storing the soil on a hill behind the temple as neither the government nor the nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) are helping with the clean-up.
“No-one else would take the soil. If there’s nobody to take care of it, the decontamination can’t get going because there’s nowhere to get rid of it,” Abe said.
Japan priest fights invisible demon: radiation Feb 10 (Reuters) – On the snowy fringes of Japan’s 
Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.
But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less
harrowing — to search out radioactive “hot spots” and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds….
Radiation, carried on winds and by snow, spread far beyond the 20 km (12 miles) evacuation zone around the plant, nestling in hot spots across the region and contaminating the ground in what remains a largely agricultural region. Read more »
5 million signed anti nuclear petition – enough for referenda in 2 Japanese cities
Japanese Anti-Nuclear Campaign Says It Has 5 Million Petition Signatures, VOA, 08 February 2012 Steve Herman | Tokyo A citizen’s group in Japan says it has collectedfive million signatures – halfway to its goal – on a petition calling on the government to permanently shut down all nuclear power plants in the country.
But amid traditional apathy among Japanese toward political movements and longstanding strong ties between power companies and lawmakers in a resource-poor country, anti-nuclear
campaigners are acknowledging an uphill struggle….
Petitioners in Tokyo and Osaka separately say they have collected enough signatures
for referenda in Japan’s two largest cities. But it is unclear if those campaigns will clear all the legal hurdles to get on the ballot. Read more »
13.5 tons of water hourly in effort to cool Fukushima nuclear reactor No. 2
Boric acid to prevent recriticality, Japan Times,8 Feb 12, Reactor No. 2 heats up, gets more water Kyodo Workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant increased the amount of water injected into reactor 2 on Tuesday to the highest level since the plant achieved cold shutdown in December as concerns grew over rising temperatures at the bottom of the pressure vessel….
Tepco said it increased the amount of injected water, some of which contained boric acid, at 4:24 a.m. Tuesday. Reactor 2 is now being cooled with 13.5 tons of water per hour, up from 10.5 tons. The boric acid is being used to prevent a sustained nuclear chain reaction, or recriticality.
Nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono told reporters that Tepco is
making every effort to lower the temperature…. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120207x1.html
It’s getting hotter in Fukushima’s supposedly “cold shutdown” nuclear plant
Rising temperatures trigger concern at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant Telegraph UK 7 Feb 12, Water temperatures at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant have risen more than 20 degrees Celsius over the past week. By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo 07 Feb 2012 Concerns are growing in relation to conditions at the plant, in northeast Japan, which was declared in a state of cold shutdown in December last year. Read more »
Conflict of interest pro nuclear councillor’s nuclear investments
Pro-nuclear energy town councillor’s firm had 700 million yen in nuke plant contracts, Mainichi Daily News, February 7, 2012 TAKAHAMA, Fukui -- A town assembly member here calling for the continuation of nuclear power is also president of a company that has received at least 700 million yen in nuclear-related construction contracts, it has been learned.
Akio Awano, 62, is vice-speaker of the municipal assembly of Takahama, which hosts a Kansai Electric Power Co. nuclear plant. He is also part of a local organization promoting nuclear power plants.
According to the Fukui Prefectural Government and other sources, Awano’s firm, a metal processing company, has around 15 employees and earned about 200 million yen in fiscal 2010. It has an office in the Takahama nuclear plant and has expanded its business on a diet of nuclear plant-related construction. ……. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120207p2a00m0na023000c.html
TEPCO and Japan’s nuclear lobby under siege from Tokyo’s mayor
Anti-Nuclear Tokyo Mayor Challenges Big Utilities, WSJ, By George Nishiyama, 6 Feb 12, Tokyo’s Setagaya ward is over 260 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a long way from the evacuation area imposed bythe Japanese government after last year’s March 11 disasters….
But Setagaya’s mayor is determined to turn this city ward of 840,000 people, the largest in Tokyo, into the front-runner of a movement that will put an end to Japan’s reliance on atomic power and accelerate the use of renewable energy. Read more »
Birds and radiation fallout
not sure of the reliability of this one
Bird life badly hit by nuclear fallout in Japan The Irish Times – February 3, 2012, DAVID McNEILL in Tokyo RESEARCHERS WORKING in the irradiated zone around the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life. Read more »
A rather murderous nuclear weapons cult – Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo In Pursuit Of Nuclear Weapons – Analysis, Eurasia Review by: Muhammad Jawad Hashmi February 2, 2012 Aum Shinrikyo has an apocalyptic belief structure where the world is divided into two opposing forces, good and evil. Shoko Asahara, who is leader of the cult, firmly believes that they will prevail after the apocalypse and are motivated to trigger the apocalypse because their own salvation depends upon fighting the final fight and eliminating the enemy. The prospect of nuclear war shaped Shoko Asahara’s concerns to preach that Aum followers would be the only survivors of a coming Armageddon.
Problem of nuclear regulator in bed with nuclear industry
Nuclear regulatory reform must weed out entrenched interests, Mainichi Daily News, 2 Feb 12, Bills relating to a shift in the nation’s nuclear power policy were approved by the Cabinet on Jan. 31. In addition to the establishment of a new nuclear regulatory agency under the Environment Ministry, the government is aiming to legislate the lifespan of nuclear reactors, and require plant operators to outline specific measures against severe nuclear accidents.
Significant harm has been done by allowing the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), an administrative body tasked to regulate nuclear power safety, to exist under the umbrella of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), a major promoter of nuclear power.
Divorcing nuclear regulation from nuclear promotion and centralizing regulatory duties into one agency stands to reason.Changing the agency’s name from the originally proposed “nuclear power safety agency” to “nuclear power regulatory agency” is likewise pertinent, considering the new agency’s nature. Read more »
End of the line for Japan’s dangerous, super expensive fast breeder nuclear reactor
Japanese parliamentarian and a critic of nuclear power Taro Kono said: ”We spend billions of yen every year just to maintain Monju. It’s crazy. We spend so much money just to keep things not running.”…
critics and nuclear watchdog groups call Monju Japan’s most dangerous reactor, because it uses plutonium fuel and cools its reactor with sodium, which can explode if it comes into contact with water.
Fast-breeder reactor faces closure, The Age, February 2, 2012 TSURUGA: Japan’s long and expensive pursuit of a super-efficient nuclear reactor is on the brink of failure amid new government concerns about its runaway costs.
The four-decade project to develop a so-called fast-breeder reactor has consumed more than $13 billion in funding, so far producing onlyaccidents, controversies and a single hour of electricity. Read more »
Radioactivity poses risk in Japan’s tsunami debris
citizens say they are worried about radioactivity or even say that we should refuse to import this debris. ”They worry about their children, they are afraid that radiation levels are too high.”
Radiation experts agree that children are at greatest risk from cancers and genetic defects because they are still growing, are more prone to thyroid cancers, and because they will have more time to develop health defects…..
Radiation fears slow tsunami clear-up, News 24, 1 Feb 12, Tokyo – Giant piles of debris from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami scar the country’s once picturesque northeast coast – and the clear-up is hamstrung by fears the rubbish may be contaminated by radiation. Read more »
Japan’s government put use by date on nuclear reactors
Japan Cabinet OKs bill to cap nuke reactor life, Macon.com By MARI YAMAGUCHI – Associated PressTOKYO, 1 Feb -12 -- Japan’s Cabinet approved bills Tuesday aimed at bolstering nuclear safety regulations following last year’s Fukushima disaster, including one that would put a 40-year cap on the operational life of nuclear reactors.
The approval came as International Atomic Energy Agency experts generally endorsed “stress test” results at two idled reactors in western Japan, bolstering the Tokyo government’s efforts to restart the facility, though the IAEA team said some safety measures needed clarification.
Japan currently has no legal limit on the operational lifespan of its 54 reactors, many of which will reach the 40-year mark in coming years. One reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had been in use 40 years when the tsunami struck last March.
The legislation, which still needs parliamentary approval to take effect, does allow for an extension of up to 20 years.
Critics have blasted that exception as a loophole,…… Critics, ….. say the tests are meaningless because they have no clear criteria, and view the IAEA as biased toward the nuclear industry.
1 THIS MONTH
Uranium mining in Namibia http://namibian.me/group/canwin2?commentId=4103091%3AComment%3A47391&xg_source=msg_com_group
Nuclear industry is moribund, despite 2 new reactors licensed in USA http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3428147.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3413882.htm Is the world facing a groundwater crisis?
of the week http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/
and another WEBSITE : - New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution http://www.necnp.org/
EVENT
February 18 Hindsdale, Chicago American Association of University Women - nuclear disaster preparedness H.OB.aauw.reservations@gmail.com.
March 2012 is “March Against Nuclear Madness” and Beyond Nuclear has created a new March Against Nuclear Madness Facebook page.
March 8th & 9th – Cape Town, South Africa - The Global Conference: Nuclear Power For Africa? http://koebergalert.org/npfree/
May 31 USA - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
Nuclear power and water – theme for February 2012
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT and WATER – present state
That nuclear core is in direct contact with tons of water. And that containment, while not leaking down, is leaking out the sides. That contaminated water is going into every other building on site. And there is literally thousands and thousands of tons of water in other buildings. That water contains radioactive cesium, radioactive strontium, and it also contains nuclear fuel. There will be uranium in that water and plutonium in that water as well. We know for sure that that water is leaking into the ground water and into the Pacific Ocean. So while it is important to know that we are not going to release the nuclear core directly into the center of the earth, the problem is not over. And as a matter of fact, the problem will last for tens, perhaps even as long as 30 years because this contaminated water is in the basements of all the buildings on site. And not only does it contain cesium (that hangs around for 300 years), strontium (hangs around for 300 years), but it also contains plutonium and uranium and they have half lives of tens of thousands of years.
So the problem is, what do we do with all that water that is contaminated? It is already leaking into the groundwater. It is already leaking into the ocean. TEPCO is frantically catching it and putting it into tanks. But just today, TEPCO announced that they are running out of tank space on site, and eventually they are going to have to release those tanks into the Pacific Ocean. Now they will try to clean up some of the isotopes like cesium. But they have been unable to capture all the strontium. Strontium is a bone seeker that causes leukemia… http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-could-it-have-china-syndrome
NUCLEAR REACTORS - WATER USE : Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.”- Dep of Parliamentary Services research note, 4 December 2006, no. 12, 2006–07, ISSN 1449-8456 Water consumption figures:
Nuclear: 2.3 L/ kWh
Solar (PV): 0.110 L/ kWh
Wind: 0.004 L/ kWh
(American Wind Energy Association estimate & US DOE)
A typical 1000-megawatt pressurized-water reactor (with a cooling tower) takes in 20,000 gallons of river, lake or ocean water per minute for cooling, circulates it through a 50-mile maze of pipes, returns 5,000 gallons per minute to the same body of water, and releases the remainder to the atmosphere as vapor. A 1000-megawatt reactor without a cooling tower takes in even more water–as much as one-half million gallons per minute. The discharge water is contaminated with radioactive elements in amounts that are not precisely known or knowable, but are biologically active.
Some radioactive fission gases, stripped from the reactor cooling water, are contained in decay tanks for days before being released into the atmosphere through filtered rooftop vents. Some gases leak into the power plant buildings’ interiors and are released during periodic “purges” and “ventings.” These airborne gases contaminate not only the air, but also soil and water. http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/routineradioactivereleases.htm
NUCLEAR REACTORS -IONISING RADIATION to GROUNDWATER In USA the nuclear industry has contaminated groundwater with radioactive tritium at nuclear power plant sites all across the country. Nuclear plants that have admitted leaking tritium into the groundwater include:
- Braidwood, Byron, Dresden and Quad Cities in Illinois;
- Indian Point and Fitzpatrick in New York;
- Yankee Rowe and Pilgrim in Massachusetts;
- Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania;
- Callaway in Missouri
- Catawba in South Carolina
- Oyster Creek in New Jersey
- Hatch in Georgia
- Palo Verde In Arizona
- Perry in Ohio
- Palisades in Michigan
- Point Beach in Wisconsin
- Salem in Delaware
- San Onofre in California
- Seabrook in New Hampshire
- Shearon Harris in North Carolina
- Watts Bar in Tennessee
- Wolf Creek in Kansas
- Connecticut Yankee in Connecticut
- Vermont Yankee in Vermont
URANIUM MINING – OPEN CUT or UNDERGROUND It is very difficult to find figures on the amounts of water used. All mining is water intensive, but uranium mining is the greatest guzzler Water is extensively used to suppress airborne dust levels, to try to reduce the radioactive clouds that would otherwise emanate constantly from the uranium tailings.IN SITU LEACHING – Uranium Mining Process in-situ leaching uses a hydrogen peroxide mixture to strip the uranium from the rock, which kills tissue and destroys cells in human and animal life. The addition of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate called oxygenates causes uranium and other radioactive substances and trace metals to be liberated from the rock into the groundwater.
.. judges have too often taken the stance that they are judges who know nothing of the mining industry and accept the data of corporations, claiming the corporations are in the know.
..the water taken from the extremely pristine Westwater Canyon Aquifer near Crownpoint for uranium mining and used for flushing out chemicals would not be replaced in our lifetimes.
It takes hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, to transform aquifer water back into a drinkable condition. Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Scientists Back Navajos’ Uranium Mining Fight: Tribe fears contamination of drinking water
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