nuclear-news

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant the world’s most dangerous complex

Making Hamaoka a special concern to its opponents is the presence of plutonium. Chubu is the only utility in Japan to have signed a contract to process mixed oxide fuel containing plutonium and uranium with the Sellafield plant in the UK.

The industry’s clout, its collusion with government watchdogs and a largely compliant media have helped smother concerns about this potentially explosive collision of state-of-the-art atomic power with primordial seismic instability

‘We all said disaster would strike here, not Fukushima’, The Independent, 3 May 11, After a 40-year campaign, warnings about the vast nuclear power station on Japan’s earthquake faultline are finally being heard. By David McNeill in Omaezeki and Nanako Otani, Norihiko Watanabe is pointing to his home, 600m from what he calls the most dangerous nuclear power complex on the planet. “There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world,” he says, eyes widening. “If it blows up, we’re all finished.”

For years, Mr Watanabe’s unofficial tour of Omaezeki, a small city of about 30,000 people, has included a stop at the exhibition centre in the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant. The centre, complete with cartoon figures for children, says the energy it generates is safe, cheap and clean: one section explains how seawater discharged from the plant’s cooling system is used to incubate shellfish

Today about 3,000 people work at the plant. Even its opponents acknowledge it has brought in more than $700m (£420m) in subsidies since the 1970s. In return, the locals were asked to ignore the fact it is a catastrophe waiting to happen, says veteran anti-nuclear activist Eichi Nagano. “All of us thought that this would be where disaster strikes, not Fukushima. This could be next.”

Mr Nagano carries around in his pocket samples of local rock which he crumbles in his hand. “The company was in a rush to build and they didn’t pay enough attention to these foundations,” he says. “They should never have come here.”

Hamaoka’s first two reactors were already online before modern seismology developed an accurate study of earthquake activity in the area, which sits almost on the boundary of two restless tectonic plates: the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea.

The studies forced the authorities to accept that an 8-magnitude earthquake could strike the region at any time – government studies 30 years ago calculated there was an 87 per cent chance of a powerful tremor in the area. The possible consequences for Tokyo, 180km away, are chilling: a Fukushima-scale accident would force 30 million people in the country’s political and economic heart to evacuate, “signalling the collapse of Japan as we know it” seismologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko said recently…….

Hamaoka’s oldest reactors, No 1 and No 2, are permanently closed after Chubu decided upgrading them for a stronger quake would be too costly. The company is inspecting Unit 3 with a view to restarting it in the sweltering summer. Pro tem just reactors 4 and 5 are operating. Reactor 5 was restarted this year after being shut down for 18 months by a 6.5 earthquake in August 2009. “We take every safety precaution,” says company spokesman Nikio Inamata. He claims he has never heard Mr Nagano’s allegations that Hamaoka is built on crumbly rock…..

Making Hamaoka a special concern to its opponents is the presence of plutonium. Chubu is the only utility in Japan to have signed a contract to process mixed oxide fuel containing plutonium and uranium with the Sellafield plant in the UK.

The industry’s clout, its collusion with government watchdogs and a largely compliant media have helped smother concerns about this potentially explosive collision of state-of-the-art atomic power with primordial seismic instability, say its opponents. For decades they have tried and failed in court to shut down any of the country’s 55 reactors. “We have never won because we’re not only dealing with the power companies or the reactor manufacturers, but with a national project,” explains Yoshika Shiratori, who has instigated a lawsuit against Hamaoka.

“The higher up the judicial system you go up the more conservative the judges become, so it’s almost impossible to win,” he says. Shiratori’s suit is now being aired in the Tokyo high court after being dismissed by the local Shizuoka District Court in 2007. “We don’t expect to win, even now. My intention is to spread the word through the courts because that forces the media to cover them. Eventually public opinion will turn.”

One of the consequences of the Fukushima disaster is that some of the more liberal media companies have begun asking tough questions. ……. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/we-all-said-disaster-would-strike-here-not-fukushima-2278067.html

May 3, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, reprocessing, secrets,lies and civil liberties