nuclear-news

Japan’s government ignoring nuclear phaseout policy, and public opinion

Energy report skips nuclear phase-out Japan Times, KYODO JUN 15, 2013 Japan’s annual energy report released Friday barely refers to the fact that the previous government upheld a goal to phase out nuclear powerin the 2030s, reflecting the pro-nuclear stance of the current government.

The latest Energy White Paper covers a period between last August and around March, during which the previous government led by the Democratic Party of Japan compiled a new energy strategy in light of
the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The most controversial part in the strategy was a pledge to “devote all policy resources to enable zero nuclear power plant operation in the 2030s,” but the white paper does not use the phrase in explaining
the strategy…….
The zero-nuclear goal shows up in the white paper once, but only as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s quoted statement, which criticizes the energy strategy for stirring concerns and distrust among the local
governments hosting nuclear plants and businesses.

The goal, if maintained, would have marked a massive shift in Japan’s
decades-long promotion of nuclear power……
The white paper also touches on a poll conducted by the previous
government seeking to gauge public opinion on energy policy, but does
not mention that the government at that time concluded that at least a
majority of the people are hoping for a society that does not rely on
nuclear power.

Of the 50 commercial reactors, only two, in western Japan, are online.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/15/business/energy-report-skips-nuclear-phase-out/#.UbzfVudwo6I

June 15, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Japan’s corrupt ‘nuclear village’ still ruling policy?

The Fukushima plant looks to be a bottomless pit, with the tab set to grow as decontamination and decommissioning will take decades. And, how much will it cost to deal with all the radioactive waste accumulated at Japan’s 50 other reactors and where will that be stored?

Is it safe? Ruling party pushes nuclear village agenda BY JEFF KINGSTON  JAPAN TIMES, 26 May 13,  “……This April, the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) began assessing whether the two Oi reactors meet new safety standards slated to go into effect in July. There are three active fault lines near the Oi plant on the Sea of Japan coast, but it will not have a remote command center ready until 2015 and its raised sea wall will not be completed until March 2014. The new safety guidelines also require that utilities equip reactors with filtered venting systems to reduce radioactive releases in the event of an emergency, but they are granted a five-year grace period before these must be in place.

Consequently, the reactors are now operating based on the hope that these countermeasures will prove unnecessary; Fukushima demonstrates the folly of wishing risk away. The findings of three major investigations into the Fukushima accident were released in 2012, detailing the absence of a culture of safety in the nuclear industry in Japan and cozy, collusive relations between regulators and the utilities that compromised safety……
In fact, tsunami risks should have come as no surprise to Tepco, as the Tohoku coastline has been battered by major ones in 1611, 1677, 1793, 1896 and 1933. Indeed, there are tsunami stones dotting the Tohoku coastline warning future generations to heed the perils. Tepco’s own researchers warned about the tsunami risk in Fukushima, and clearly the one triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, was no black swan, once in a 1,000-year event. But the utilities and the government ignored the risks and sited reactors in tsunami-risk zones.

The Diet investigation concludes that what’s termed “regulatory capture” — regulators regulating in favor of the regulated — was at the heart of the nuclear accident, and it blasts the absence of a culture of safety. Moreover, it outlines an institutionalized culture of collusion, complacency and deceit involving regulators and utilities that explains why Fukushima in particular, and the nuclear industry in general, settled for inadequate safeguards…….. Continue reading →

May 27, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Japan’s Prime Minister Abe willing to take a chance on nuclear safety

 Abe to pledge resumption of Japan nuclear plants By MarketWatch, May 26, 2013, TOKYO—Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will clarify his government’s plan to resume operation of idled nuclear power plants in a growth strategy to be compiled in mid-June, Kyodo News quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying Saturday.

The draft energy policy to be included in the growth strategy states that steps will be taken to restart reactors judged safe for operation by the nuclear regulatory authorities, they said.

The government will pledge that it will make utmost efforts to ensure plant safety to gain support from municipalities hosting nuclear plants, the sources said.

The energy policy laid out in the growth strategy will be the government’s official endorsement of Abe’s plan to rely on nuclear power until the nation’s final policy is made on nuclear energy use…. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/abe-to-pledge-resumption-of-japan-nuclear-plants-2013-05-26

May 27, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics | Leave a comment