Japan PM vows swift decision on release of Fukushima radioactive water
October 21, 2020
Jakarta – Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday the government will swiftly decide what to do with treated radioactive water at the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant following reports of a plan to release the water into the sea.
“We cannot postpone the issue forever. We would like to make a decision responsibly as soon as possible,” Suga told a press conference in Jakarta as he wrapped up his first foreign trip since taking office in mid-September. The premier visited Indonesia and Vietnam.
Photo taken Aug. 26, 2020, at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, shows tanks for storing treated water from which most of the radioactive contamination has been removed.
“There has been no decision on when or how to deal with the water,” Suga said. The government plans to deepen discussions on the matter and work on measures to prevent reputational damage linked to radiation, he added.
Local fishermen have expressed worries while China and South Korea have cast a wary eye on the issue after it was reported that an official decision on the discharge of water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, crippled by the 2011 devastating earthquake and tsunami, may be made by the end of this month.
The Fukushima plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has been generating massive amounts of radiation-tainted water since the accident as it needs water to cool the reactors, which suffered core meltdowns.
The water has been treated using an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS, to remove most contaminants other than the relatively less toxic tritium. It is stored in tanks on the facility’s premises.
But space is expected to run out by the summer of 2022, with contaminated water increasing by about 170 tons per day. As of September this year, the stored water totaled 1.23 million tons and continues to grow.
Seoul mulls response to Fukushima water release
Demonstrators protest the Japanese government’s plan to discharge contaminated water into the ocean in front of the old Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Monday.
October 20, 2020
Seoul authorities are mulling how to respond to Japan’s impending decision on discharging radioactive water from the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, which could heighten concerns on public safety and environment here.
Tokyo is set to formally decide on Oct. 27 as to what to do with the more than 1 million tons of contaminated water it has collected since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Japanese media outlets said Tokyo has already made up its mind to dispose of the treated water that has been filtered to reduce radioactivity into the ocean, as the most “realistic option.”
As of Tuesday, the South Korean Foreign Ministry had not decided how to respond if its neighbor to the east presses ahead with the discharge. The government is handling the issue at a vice-ministerial meeting of related agencies to monitor Tokyo’s activities and come up with measures.
“The government has continued to call for Japan to share transparent information in regards to the disposal of the contaminated water of the Fukushima nuclear plant and has stressed the need to communicate with the international community,” Lee Jae-woong, the ministry’s deputy spokesman, said during a regular press briefing. “The government, with the foremost priority placed on the protection of our citizens’ health and safety, will devise measures in cooperation with the international community.”
The main concern for Korea is that the water, which has been filtered but is still slightly radioactive, could reach South Korea and threaten the safety of the waters and environment here, as well as of other neighboring nations that share the Pacific Ocean. Environmental activists have expressed strong opposition to the discharge, while fishermen and farmers in Japan have voiced concerns that consumers would shun seafood and produce from the region.
For years Japan has been debating how to dispose of the contaminated water, which has been stored in thousands of tanks inside the plant. But Tokyo Electric Power, the state-run operator of the plant, said the storage space is expected to run out in the summer of 2022.
Earlier this year, a panel of experts advising the Japanese government said that disposing of the water in the sea or vaporizing and releasing it into the air are the most “realistic options.” The International Atomic Energy Agency said that both of Japan’s options are technically feasible and have been used by other nuclear power plants around the world.
If Japan decides to discharge it, the water could be dumped as early as 2022, given the time needed for preparations.
The discharging of the water, regardless of what impact it will have on the environment and health, could further deal a blow to bilateral ties between Seoul and Tokyo, which is already frayed over issues of wartime history and trade.
Jeju Island Gov. Won Hee-ryong on Tuesday warned that his government will lodge a lawsuit against Japan both domestically and at the international court should Tokyo decide to discharge the water into the ocean. Research says the wastewater could reach the coastal areas of the southern resort island before any other location outside of Japan.
He also called Japan to disclose all information transparently regarding the contaminated water, and to discuss the issue with other neighboring countries.
By Ahn Sung-mi
Half of Japanese against releasing radioactive water from Fukushima plant; Seoul, Beijing also concerned
October 20, 2020
A recent survey conducted by the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun shows about 50 percent of citizens in Japan are against their government’s plan to discharge radioactive water from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.
The survey was conducted on over one-thousand eligible voters from across Japan.
Media reports say the fishing industry in Fukushima Prefecture is also opposed to the idea.
The governor of South Korea’s southern island of Jeju, Won Hee-ryong held a press conference on Tuesday, saying he will bring the case to both local and international courts if Japan goes ahead with its plan.
Seoul’s foreign ministry has also repeatedly voiced its concerns over the planned discharge.
“The South Korean government has been constantly emphasizing transparent information sharing and communication with the international community on the issue. We will prioritize our people’s health and safety, and continue efforts based on international cooperation.”
Beijing has also called on Tokyo to make a decision carefully after negotiating with its neighbors.
It pointed out that radioactive material from the 2011 tsunami and earthquake has already been discharged, posing a grave threat to the marine environment and human health.
The Japanese government is likely to officially announce its discharge plan early next week.
“We would like to deepen the discussion within the government and want to make a decision responsibly at an appropriate time.”
Experts warn of the danger from a radioactive substance called tritium, which will not be completely eliminated despite a purifying process.
But some say there aren’t many realistic measures to prevent Japan from discharging the contaminated water.
Sources say the South Korean government is currently focused on pressuring Japan to discharge it transparently and safely so the international community can, at the least, feel less concerned.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.
Jeju Governor Vows to Take Legal Action against Japan’s Fukushima Water Release
October 20, 2020
Jeju Province Governor Won Hee-ryong says he will launch both domestic and international lawsuits against Japan should it release radioactive water from its disabled Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Won urged Tokyo to halt preparations for the release, be transparent in providing all relevant information and data and begin consultations on the water disposal.
Stressing that he, as Jeju governor, has the duty to protect the safety of South Korean waters and people, Won said he will work with all those affected to mobilize all means in countering the move.
The governor added that the Japanese people, especially those living in coastal regions, are opposed to the water release as well.
Won suggested forming a group representing coastal area residents in both South Korea and Japan to take the Japanese government to criminal and civil courts in both countries, as well as to an international tribunal.
Tokyo is set to make a final decision on the water release on October 27.
S. Korean demonstrators ramp up protests against Japan’s plans to dump radioactive water into the ocean
October 19, 2020
On Oct. 16, Japanese media outlets reported that the Japanese government will decide on whether or not to dump radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. On Oct. 19, demonstrators organized in front of the former Japanese Embassy in Seoul to voice their vehement opposition to the ocean release. The demonstrators held up placards reading “Is the ocean a dump site for radioactive waste?” and “Complete opposition to the ocean release of radioactive water from Fukushima!” and demanded that the Japanese government withdraw its plans for getting rid of its radioactive water. They also demanded that the South Korean government move to proactively oppose and prevent the ocean release.
Demonstrators protest the Japanese government’s plan to dump radioactive water into the ocean in front of the old Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Oct. 16.
Demonstrators demand that the Japanese government withdraw its plans for the ocean release.
A demonstrator mocks Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
By Kim Hye-yun, staff photographer (all photos by Kim Hye-yun)
http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/966364.html
World worries about release of Fukushima nuclear water
Neighboring countries oppose ‘irresponsible’ plan
A security guard stands on an empty main street at dusk in Namie, north of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan on March 9, 2016.
October 18, 2020
The world public, especially those in Japan’s neighbors such as China and South Korea, have expressed deep concerns over environmental pollution and human health, and opposition to the Japanese government’s plan to dump radioactive water from the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.
Analysts said that Japan should think twice before making the decision as the move would have disastrous consequences for the marine environment and human health, which could lead to criticism by related international organizations, countermeasures by affected countries including cessation of imports of Japanese seafood, and harm to the country’s image.
Japanese media said that the country’s government will hold a related cabinet meeting as early as this month to make the final decision on the plan to release more than 1 million tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean after reducing the level of radioactivity.
The plan has not gotten much rolling coverage in Japan, but there are still many Japanese netizens expressing their disagreement. According to a poll on Yahoo Japan, 41.5 percent of the 31,035 respondents disagreed with the plan.
Local fishermen in Fukushima publicly announced their opposition, saying the plan will undo years of work rebuilding their industry’s reputation since the plant was wrecked by a huge tsunami in March 2011.
The public of South Korea has repeatedly voiced concern, claiming that discharging the water represents a “grave threat” to the marine environment.
A South Korean Foreign Ministry official told reporters that a meeting of related ministries regarding this issue was elevated to vice-ministerial status last month to step up the response to Japan’s move, reported South Korea’s KBS News on Friday. The official said the government will continue to closely monitor Tokyo’s activities and take measures based on cooperation with the international community.
Japan’s plan also sparked outrage among Chinese netizens, many of whom criticized Japan’s practice, saying it is throwing its responsibility onto the world to share.
Sun Yuliang, a nuclear expert at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday that whether to dump the waste water should depend on an authoritative scientific assessment to determine whether the processed radioactive water meets international standards for release.
Sun called on the Japanese government to invite professional teams from related international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct a complete field investigation.
Liu Junhong, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, urged Japan to further communicate with the international community and share information transparently.
Liu said that the Japanese government should give priority to safeguarding public health and safety and the environment, rather than the cost of the rehabilitation work after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Liu noted that the seas in Asia are mostly connected and many of them are semi-closed, so that the contaminants from the Fukushima water could subside and then rise, which would severely affect the local marine and coastal environment and the health of people nearby.
Therefore, Japan’s neighboring countries including China and South Korea would be the first to react to the plan, Liu said.
He noted that if the Japanese government releases the water, these countries are likely to stop imports of seafood from Japan, and foreigners could be reluctant to visit the country and enjoy its food, which would harm Japan’s economy.
Other analysts noted that the plan goes against Japan’s long-established image of being friendly to the marine environment.
Another expert on nuclear safety, who requested anonymity, said that the issues is not only one of Japan’s own business but also relates to the interests of the global community, so countries and related organizations in the international community should cooperate and assist Japan to deal with the contamination.
The Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima went into meltdown and released radioactive material in the aftermath of a tsunami in March 2011.
The disaster cast doubts over the safety of nuclear power worldwide, leading China to launch a campaign to review and upgrade the safety systems of all its nuclear power stations.
S. Korea reiterates priority on citizens’ health in handling Fukushima water issue
Where are all the other countries governments protesting against the radioactive contamination by Japan of our Pacific ocean?
I can only hear South Korean government’s voice, where are all the others? Their absence of any protest is equivalent to consent!!!
October 16, 2020
South Korea’s foreign ministry reiterated its “foremost priority” to protect its citizens’ health and safety Friday in dealing with Japan’s potential discharge of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
The ministry also said the government has been handling the issue under a vice-ministerial inter-agency dialogue platform, amid public safety concerns over Japanese media reports that Tokyo has decided to release it into the sea with an official announcement likely to come as early as this month.
“Our government has continued to stress that the Japanese side should share information transparently and maintain communication with the international community regarding the disposal of the Fukushima nuclear plant water,” the ministry said in a statement.
“With the foremost priority placed on the protection of our citizens’ health and safety, the government will continue to pay keen attention to Japan’s activities related to the disposal of the contaminated water and will seek to craft measures in cooperation with the international community,” it added.
The ministry also pointed out that it understands Tokyo has yet to finalize how it will dispose of the tritium-laced water.
Japan has been exploring various options, including evaporating the water and putting it deep underground. Observers said that discharging the treated water into the ocean might be the cheapest, and thus tempting, disposal method. (Yonhap)
Fukushima ‘blank spaces’ in limbo, left out of decontamination plan
A September 2009 photo shows the home of Takashi Asano in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture. The house is now a wreck with a damaged roof and is accessible to wild animals.
Oct 16, 2020
It was back in the autumn of 2011. Wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean was cutting through the golden rice fields.
Takashi Asano, 67, who had evacuated from the town of Okuma in Fukushima Prefecture following the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster, had returned temporarily to his home.
When Asano was gazing at the paddy fields behind his former home from afar, it looked like the field was full of rice ready to be harvested.
“Why would that be when I haven’t planted rice,” wondered Asano, who had evacuated to Aizuwakamatsu in the prefecture after the disaster.
When he went closer, he noticed the plants had yellow tips belonging to Canadian goldenrods, an invasive foreign plant. In his absence, the plants had already begun to take over the fields.
The area where his home is located had been designated a no-go zone. It was excluded from the area designated by the government where it plans to decontaminate and either rebuild it for future use or make it a storage facility for radioactive waste such as soil by the spring of 2023.
Therefore, local residents call the area the “blank-space district,” in reference to the uncolored space on the government map for reconstruction. With no decontamination projects in the pipeline, locals can’t make any plans for the future.
At Asano’s home, rain has seeped through damaged roof, and there are signs that wild boars have found their way inside. He returns once a year to pay respects at family graves but each time it is difficult to see what remains of his home.
“I don’t want to see it. When I leave, I tell myself not to look back,” he said.
Nearly 10 years have elapsed since Asano was forced to evacuate. Nothing seems to represent the passage of time more than the deteriorating fields and homes.
Before the disaster, Asano had been growing rice and vegetables while working at a chemical factory. He had his two-story home constructed in 1986, with a garage and a shed for farming tools.
Construction fees had been paid off and retirement was just around the corner. After he retired, Asano intended to continue as a contract worker, but plans of a comfortable retirement were shattered by the disaster in 2011.
Two years ago, he considered tearing his house down. When he contacted the municipal government, they referred him to a contractor for the work, only to be turned down.
“We can’t work on projects in the blank-space district,” the contractor said.
Demolition and decontamination efforts were underway in other parts of the town the government has designated areas for reconstruction. However, in the blank-space district contractors are turning down requests for demolition since the government’s plans are still unclear.
“The house is no longer livable,” Asano said. “Buildings are being torn down in other parts of the town, so I don’t understand why I can’t have mine torn down, too.”
The central government announced it would secure about ¥1.6 trillion for a five-year recovery plan from fiscal 2021. About ¥1.1 trillion of that will be allocated for Fukushima Prefecture, separately from which ¥100 billion will be funneled into efforts targeting no-go zones located outside of the designated recovery zones. But specific details on what to do with those places have yet to be mapped out.
Entry restrictions have been loosened in parts of the recovery zones in Okuma, allowing some residents to begin rebuilding their homes.
In those areas, residents have the right to decide whether to return or live elsewhere. But Asano and others living in the surrounding area don’t yet have the freedom to choose their future.
“The government hasn’t made it clear what it plans to do over the next 20 or 30 years,” Asano said. “People who want to return and people who have given up — everybody is stuck.”
The disjointed dismantling of restrictions within and near recovery zones continues to invite frustration.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/10/16/national/fukushima-blank-spaces-decontamination-limbo/
Japan to release 1m tonnes of contaminated Fukushima water into the sea – reports
Local media say release could begin in 2022 and would take decades to complete, but local fishermen say move will destroy their industry
Reactor buildings and storage tanks for contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
October 16, 2020
Japan’s government has reportedly decided to release more than 1m tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea, setting it on a collision course with local fishermen who say the move will destroy their industry.
Media reports said work to release the water, which is being stored in more than 1,000 tanks, would begin in 2022 at the earliest and would take decades to complete.
An official decision could come by the end of the month, the Kyodo news agency said, ending years of debate over what to do with the water, with other options including evaporation or the construction of more storage tanks at other sites.
The government, however, has long indicated it prefers the option of releasing it into the nearby Pacific, despite opposition from local fishermen who say it will undo years of work rebuilding their industry’s reputation since the plant was wrecked by a huge tsunami in March 2011.
In response, the government has said it will promote Fukushima produce and address concerns among fishermen that consumers will shun their seafood once the water is released.
Environmental groups also oppose the move, while neighbouring South Korea, which still bans seafood imports from the region, has repeatedly voiced concern, claiming that discharging the water represented a ”grave threat” to the marine environment.
Pressure to decide the water’s fate has been building as storage space on the nuclear plant site runs out, with the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), estimating all of the available tanks will be full by the summer of 2022.
As of last month, 1.23m tonnes of water, which becomes contaminated when it mixes with water used to prevent the three damaged reactor cores from melting, were being stored in 1,044 tanks, with the amount of waste water increasing by 170 tonnes a day.
Tepco’s Advanced Liquid Processing System removes highly radioactive substances from the water but the system is unable to filter out tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that nuclear power plants routinely dilute and dump along with water into the ocean.
A panel of experts advising the government said earlier this year that releasing the water was among the most “realistic options”.
Experts say tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is only harmful to humans in very large doses, while the International Atomic Energy Agency says it is possible to dilute filtered waste water with seawater before it is released into the ocean.
The water at Fukushima Daiichi will be diluted inside the plant before it is released so that it is 40 times less concentrated, with the whole process taking 30 years, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Hiroshi Kishi, president of a nationwide federation of fisheries cooperatives, voiced opposition to the move in a meeting with the chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, this week.
Kato told reporters that a decision on the water “should be made quickly” to avoid further delays in decommissioning the plant – a costly, complex operation that is expected to take around 40 years.
Japan intend to release Fukushim Daiichi’s radioactive water into sea
We knew it all along that they always intended to finally dump it all into the sea, which is the cheapest expedient solution. Giving us repeatedly various B.S. reasons:
That they were running out of space on location to build new tanks to store the additional radioactive water, produced daily by their need to cool those undergoing meltdown reactors.
That it is just harmless tritiated water, that the radioactive water has been filtered by two filtering systems which have removed all the 64 types of radionuclides to the exception of only tritium.
Which is total B.S. as Tritium is not harmless despite them pretending it to be. Various scientific studies have proven the dangerosity of tritium on life, all forms of life. Plus as later Tepco itself has admitted that their two filtering systems were failing to remove completely the 64 types of radionuclides present in that accumulated radioactive water, it is not “tainted water”, nor “tritiated water”, nor “contaminated water” as their propaganda spin doctors name it, but real radioactive water still containing various harmful radioactive fission products.
Japan to release Fukushima’s contaminated water into sea: reports
Oct 16, 2020
TOKYO (Reuters) – Nearly a decade after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan’s government has decided to release over one million tonnes of contaminated water into the sea, media reports said on Friday, with a formal announcement expected to be made later this month.
The decision is expected to rankle neighbouring countries like South Korea, which has already stepped up radiation tests of food from Japan, and further devastate the fishing industry in Fukushima that has battled against such a move for years.
The disposal of contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has been a longstanding problem for Japan as it proceeds with an decades-long decommissioning project. Nearly 1.2 million tonnes of contaminated water are currently stored in huge tanks at the facility.
The plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (9501.T), suffered multiple nuclear meltdowns after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
On Friday, Japan’s industry minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said no decision had been made on the disposal of the water yet, but the government aims to make one quickly.
“To prevent any delays in the decommissioning process, we need to make a decision quickly,” he told a news conference.
He did not give any further details, including a time-frame.
The Asahi newspaper reported that any such release is expected to take at around two years to prepare, as the site’s irradiated water first needs to pass through a filtration process before it can be further diluted with seawater and finally released into the ocean.
In 2018, Tokyo Electric apologised after admitting its filtration systems had not removed all dangerous material from the water, collected from the cooling pipes used to keep fuel cores from melting when the plant was crippled.
It has said it plans to remove all radioactive particles from the water except tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate and is considered to be relatively harmless.
It is common practice for nuclear plants around the world to release water that contain traces of tritium into the ocean.
In April, a team sent by the International Atomic Energy Agency to review contaminated water issues at the Fukushima site said the options for water disposal outlined by an advisory committee in Japan – vapour release and discharges to the sea – were both technically feasible. The IAEA said both options were used by operating nuclear plants.
Last week, Japanese fish industry representatives urged the government to not allow the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima plant into the sea, saying it would undo years of work to restore their reputation.
South Korea has retained a ban on imports of seafood from the Fukushima region that was imposed after the nuclear disaster and summoned a senior Japanese embassy official last year to explain how Tokyo planned to deal with the Fukushima water problem.
During Tokyo’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2013, then-prime minister Shinzo Abe told members of the International Olympic Committee that the Fukushima facility was “under control”.
The Games have been delayed to 2021 because of the pandemic and some events are due to be held as close as 60 km (35 miles) from the wrecked plant.
Japan reportedly decides to release treated Fukushima water into the sea
Japan will release more than a million tons of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in a decades-long operation, reports said Friday, despite strong opposition from environmentalists, local fishermen and farmers. The release of the water, which has been filtered to reduce radioactivity, is likely to start in 2022 at the earliest, said national dailies the Nikkei, the Yomiuri, and other local media.
The decision ends years of debate over how to dispose of the liquid that includes water used to cool the power station after it was hit by a massive tsunami in 2011.
A government panel said earlier this year that releasing the water into the sea or evaporating it were both “realistic options.”
“We can’t postpone a decision on the plan to deal with the… processed water, to prevent delays in the decommission work of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Friday, without commenting directly on the plan or its timing.
There are around 1.23 million tons of waste water stored in tanks at the facility, according to plant operator TEPCO, which also declined to comment on the reports.
Environmental activists have expressed strong opposition to the proposals, and fishermen and farmers have voiced fear that consumers will shun seafood and produce from the region.
South Korea, which bans imports of seafood from the area, has also repeatedly voiced concern about the environmental impact.
A decision has been getting increasingly urgent as space to store the water — which also includes groundwater and rain that seeps daily into the plant — is running out.
Most of the radioactive isotopes have been removed by an extensive filtration process — but one remains, tritium. It can’t be removed with existing technology.
The expert panel advised in January that discarding the water into the sea was a viable option because the method is also used at working nuclear reactors.
Tritium is only harmful to humans in very large doses, experts say. The International Atomic Energy Agency argues that properly filtered water could be diluted with seawater and then safely released into the ocean.
The Yomiuri reported that the water would be diluted inside the facility before its release, with the whole process taking 30 years.
The treated water is currently kept in a thousand huge tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi site, where reactors went into meltdown nearly a decade ago after the earthquake-triggered tsunami.
Plant operator TEPCO is building more tanks, but all will be full by mid-2022.
Restart of Japan’s tsunami-hit Onagawa nuclear reactor to be OK’d
October 14, 2020
Sendai – A nuclear reactor in northeastern Japan damaged by the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster is all but certain to resume operations as the governor of the prefecture hosting the facility has decided to give consent, local officials said Wednesday.
For the No. 2 unit of the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture to restart, winning consent from local government leaders is the last remaining step needed after it cleared a national safety screening in February.
Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s Onagawa nuclear plant, as pictured in August 2020
Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai will formally announce his consent by the end of the year, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
By doing so, he would be the first governor of a disaster-hit prefecture to give the green light to the restart of a nuclear reactor.
The other heads of local governments whose consent is essential are the mayors of the city of Ishinomaki and the town of Onagawa where the plant operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co. straddles.
Of them, Ishinomaki Mayor Hiroshi Kameyama has already expressed his willingness to give the nod, and such a move is backed by the two municipalities’ assemblies.
After the quake triggered one of the world’s worst nuclear crises in neighboring Fukushima Prefecture and caused all of Japan’s 54 reactors to halt at one point, nine units at five plants in the country have restarted following regulatory and local approval.
Murai has come to believe residents will support his stance after the prefectural assembly adopted a plea seeking his consent at a panel meeting Tuesday and is set to approve it at a plenary session next week, the officials said.
“When the plenary session shows its stance, I will make a decision upon hearing the opinions of mayors of cities, towns and villages within the prefecture,” Murai said.
The 825,000-kilowatt reactor won the approval of the Nuclear Regulation Authority in February, becoming the second disaster-damaged reactor to pass stricter safety standards after the Fukushima nuclear disaster — the worst since the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
At the Onagawa complex, all three reactors — the same boiling water reactors as in Fukushima — shut down when a massive quake and a 13-meter tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, flooding the underground floors of the No. 2 unit.
However, the plant’s emergency cooling system did not fail and there was no meltdown of the type that occurred at three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.
Tohoku Electric Power Co. aims to restart the Onagawa No. 2 reactor in 2022 at the earliest, after completing anti-disaster work such as the construction of an 800-meter-long seawall at the plant. It has already decided to scrap the No. 1 unit.
Other boiling water reactors at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture and the Tokai No. 2 plant of Japan Atomic Power Co. in Ibaraki Prefecture have also won the regulator’s approval to resume operations but have yet to obtain local consent.
Mansion without a toilet: Towns in Japan seek to house, store nuclear waste out of necessity
Oct 12, 2020
Two remote towns in northern Japan struggling with rapidly graying and shrinking populations signed up Friday to possibly host a high-level radioactive waste storage site as a means of economic survival.
Japanese utilities have about 16,000 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel rods stored in cooling pools or other interim sites, and there is no final repository for them in Japan — a situation called “a mansion without a toilet.”
Japan is in a dire situation following the virtual failure of an ambitious nuclear fuel recycling plan, in which plutonium extracted from spent fuel was to be used in still-unbuilt fast breeder reactors. The problem of accumulating nuclear waste came to the fore after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Finding a community willing to host a radioactive dump site is difficult, even with a raft of financial enticements.
On Friday, Haruo Kataoka, the mayor of Suttsu town on the northwestern coast of Hokkaido, applied in Tokyo for preliminary government research on whether its land would be suitable for highly radioactive waste storage for thousands of years.
Later Friday in Kamoenai just north of Kamoenai, village chief Masayuki Takahashi announced his decision to also apply for an initial feasibility study.
Suttsu, with a population of 2,900, and Kamoenai, with about 800 people, have received annual government subsidies as hosts of the Tomari nuclear power plant. But they are struggling financially because of a declining fishing industry and their aging and shrinking populations.
The preliminary research is the first of three steps in selecting a permanent disposal site, with the whole process estimated to take about two decades. Municipalities can receive up to 2 billion yen ($19 million) in government subsidies for two years by participating in the first stage. Moving on to the next stage would bring in more subsidies.
“I have tried to tackle the problems of declining population, low birth rates and social welfare, but hardly made progress,” Takahashi told reporters. “I hope that accepting research (into the waste storage) can help the village’s development.”
It is unknown whether either place will qualify as a disposal site. Opposition from people across Hokkaido could also hinder the process. A gasoline bomb was thrown into the Suttsu mayor’s home early Thursday, possibly by an opponent of the plan, causing slight damage.
Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki and local fisheries groups are opposed to hosting such a facility.
One mayor in southwestern Japan expressed interest in 2007, but faced massive opposition and the plan was spiked.
High-level radioactive waste must be stored in thick concrete structures at least 300 meters (yards) underground so it won’t affect humans and the environment.
A 2017 land survey map released by the government indicated parts of Suttsu and Kamoenai could be suitable for a final repository.
So far, Finland and Sweden are the only countries that have selected final disposal sites
Agency: Fukushima plant workers should be heard
Oct. 11, 2020
A government agency overseeing the decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is urging the plant’s operator to take into account the views of workers in removing radioactive debris, set to start next year.
Each year, the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation compiles its technical policy for the plant’s decommissioning. This year’s plan was recently announced.
It refers to the removal of fuel debris from the plant’s No.2 reactor starting next year. It warns that the work will take place in conditions where there is little information about the interior environment and a high level of radiation.
The agency proposes that Tokyo Electric Power Company seriously take into account the views and concerns of on-site workers, such as the operators of machinery used to remove fuel debris.
It calls for the information obtained from workers to be reflected in the design of equipment used to scrap the reactor.
The agency’s proposals will be reflected in TEPCO’s mid- and long-term schedules for decommissioning the plant.
Japan diver reflects on unsung workers exposed to radiation as Fukushima 10th anniv. Looms
Hisashi Okazaki is seen doing diving work at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 3 reactor in May 2006, in this image provided by Okazaki.
October 11, 2020
Have you ever heard of atomic divers? Hisashi Okazaki, 58, who has worked at nuclear power plants as a diver while being exposed to radiation, wants people to know that professional divers like himself work in dangerous conditions for nuclear reactors to run, as the 10-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster approaches.
Among the places he has worked in his 33-year career as a professional diver is the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which would later go on to enter a meltdown following the Great East Japan Earthquake and resultant tsunami in March 2011.
Hisashi Okazaki is seen in Ehime Prefecture on Sept. 18, 2020.
After graduating high school, Okazaki, a resident of Seiyo in the western Japan prefecture of Ehime, entered the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Four years later he left, and got his professional diving license. Since then, he has worked primarily as a self-employed diver taking on jobs both at home and abroad, fulfilling tasks including laying oil pipelines and tetrapod sea defenses, as well as fixing sea walls damaged after the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake. He keeps illustrations of his dives as a record of what he’s done, and in all he has amassed more than 3,670 so far.
In 2006, a diver Okazaki knew invited him to work nuclear jobs. It was his first time working inside nuclear power facilities and being exposed to radiation, but he agreed to do it. Looking back, he said he did it because “I thought I wanted to experience anything I could. I had no fears.” His daily pay was 47,000 yen, almost twice the regular pay of around 25,000 yen for a day’s normal diving work.
Ahead of the job, 20 divers came together to train at a facility belonging to a heavy machinery maker situated in Kanagawa Prefecture south of Tokyo. They had on special heavy helmets weighing around 15 kilograms, and wore dry suits altered to stop water from entering them. They were hooked up to six cables, including for an air hose, photography, and radiation measurements. Both of their arms and legs as well as their chests were fitted with dosimeter equipment. After a week of training, the divers were dispersed to a number of nuclear plants across the country. Okazaki was dispatched to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 3 reactor.
There, he dived into the plant’s suppression chamber, which cools the reactor containment vessel in the event that the release of steam causes its pressure to rise. The chamber is a doughnut-shaped facility in the lower part of the vessel, with water about 3 meters deep in it. The maintenance work Okazaki undertook had to be done while it was filled and he did the work with another diver to exchange equipment in the facility.
An illustration of a diver replacing equipment underwater is seen in this image provided by Hisashi Okazaki.
The area where they worked had high doses of radiation, and in a single day’s diving they could work for about two hours. When they approached an area with a particularly high dosage, they would be instructed via a voice cable not to proceed further. The divers stayed in Fukushima Prefecture for about a month. Legal occupational exposure limits to radiation for a worker are set at 50 millisieverts per year, but in just the 12 days Okazaki worked at the plant, he was exposed to a total of 7.34 millisieverts. At the end of the job, the contaminated equipment they’d used was all put into a drum and disposed of.
“I couldn’t feel satisfied doing a job that leaves no trace of it behind,” Okazaki said. On his way back from Fukushima to Tokyo, Okazaki asked himself while in a car the purpose of his work that exposed him to radiation, and the younger diver who worked with him on the job said, “We did this for that view (of the city) at night, didn’t we?” Okazaki felt a little bit relieved by what they’d said, and after that he went on to do underwater cleaning work at the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station in northeast Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture.
Then, in March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. Okazaki watched images of the hydrogen explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station’s No. 3 reactor from a TV on a work barge in the sea off the Muroto Misaki cape in Kochi Prefecture, western Japan. “I’d never imagined the power would be lost and it would explode,” he said.
The use of divers for the decommissioning of the crippled nuclear reactor, such as in removal work and other tasks, is being considered. Even now, around 4,000 people are working at the Fukushima Daiichi plant each day. The decommissioning work, which is expected to take decades from now to finish, is employing robots to complete some tasks, but still the role of radiation-exposed human workers is vital. Okazaki said, “Even at the reactors that use the most technologically advanced equipment, there are sections which only human hands can deal with, and divers are part of the group of workers who take up such jobs.”
(Japanese original by Shunsuke Sekiya, City News Department)
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201009/p2a/00m/0na/020000c
National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations’ head opposes releasing Fukushima Daiichi radioactive water into sea
Hiroshi Kishi, the head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, speaks at a government hearing in Tokyo on Thursday.
Fishing industry chief opposes releasing Fukushima No. 1 water into sea
Oct 9, 2020
The head of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, or Zengyoren, has voiced strong opposition against releasing treated water containing radioactive tritium from the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into the sea.
“We are absolutely against ocean release” as a way to dispose of tainted water at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture, Hiroshi Kishi, head of Zengyoren, said Thursday at a government hearing in Tokyo.
Kishi said that fishermen who are operating along the coast of Fukushima have been suffering from problems caused by the radioactive fallout from the 2011 meltdowns at the plant, such as fishing restrictions, as well as malicious rumors about the safety of farm and marine products there.
If the government chooses to release radioactive water into the sea, a leading option to get rid of accumulating low-level radioactive water at the plant, it will trash all efforts fishermen have so far made to sweep away such rumors and consequently “will have a devastating impact on the future of Japan’s fishing industry,” Kishi stressed.
Toshihito Ono, head of the prefecture’s fishery product processors association, who joined the hearing via a video call, warned that Fukushima’s processed marine products, including products that use ingredients from other prefectures, will become targets of harmful rumors.
In a report released in February, a government panel pointed out that a realistic option would be releasing the tainted water into the ocean after dilution or into the air through evaporation.
Many people fear that both methods will add to the reputational damage suffered by Fukushima products. But treated water storage at the power plant is expected to reach full capacity as early as autumn 2022.
After the hearing, state industry minister Kiyoshi Ejima told reporters, “We find it unadvisable to put off a decision on how to dispose of the water because not much room is left at the plant for tanks containing the water.”
This was probably the last hearing on the water issue, people familiar with the matter said.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/10/09/national/zengyoren-fukushima-water-sea/
Hiroshi Kishi, chairman of Japan’s national federation of fisheries cooperatives, JF Zengyoren, expresses his opposition to the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the sea, in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Oct. 8, 2020.
Japan’s fishing industry firmly opposes release of tainted Fukushima water at sea
October 9, 2020
TOKYO — Japanese fishing industry representatives on Oct. 8 expressed their resolute opposition to the planned release of radioactively contaminated water that has built up following the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the sea, saying it would create damaging rumors and could negatively affect the industry into the future.
The comments came in a government hearing with Japan’s national federation of fisheries cooperatives, JF Zengyoren, and other representatives over the handling of the contaminated water and whether to dump it into the sea.
“Damaging rumors would inevitably occur, and the consensus of those in the fishing industry is that we are absolutely opposed to releasing it at sea,” JF Zengyoren Chairman Hiroshi Kishi stated at the meeting.
The hearing is expected to be the last scheduled gathering in a series of meetings that have been held since April. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has stated that he wants to decide on a policy for dealing with the contaminated water as soon as possible, and the government is set to reach a decision based on opinions heard to date.
At the meeting, Kishi warned that if the contaminated water from the nuclear plant were released into the sea “all the efforts of fishing industry workers to date would come to nothing.” He added, “It would be a setback and letdown for those in the fishing industry and could have a devastating impact into the future.” He said that he had heard from the government about measures to prevent damaging rumors, but stated, “Not releasing it (contaminated water) into the sea is simply the best approach.”
A seafood processing federation from Fukushima Prefecture was among the bodies represented at the meeting. Federation head Toshihito Ono commented, “I’ve worked on the front lines with regard to damage from rumors following the nuclear plant accident for nine years. Even when the fish are caught outside the prefecture, if the processing firm is in Fukushima then they’ll be stigmatized.”
After the meeting, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kiyoshi Ejima commented, “We’ve heard opinions from 43 people to date. We’d like to sort them out as soon as possible and reach a conclusion with governmental responsibility.”
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations and the national consumers federation Shodanren earlier expressed opposition to the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima plant at sea. The association of inns and hotels of Fukushima Prefecture, meanwhile, has expressed understanding of the move, as has the Central Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry.
The Fukushima Prefectural Government has taken the position that the issue should be given careful consideration, while the head of the Fukushima Federation of Societies of Commerce and Industry said the water should be dealt with quickly and rumors dispelled, and that the central government should process the water responsibly.
(Japanese original by Suzuko Araki, Science & Environment News Department)
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201009/p2a/00m/0na/039000c
1 This Month
of the week – Shut Down Drone Warfare!
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Petition to revoke the licensing of the Near Surface Nuclear Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7247
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