World’s largest nuclear plant catches on fire –

World’s largest nuclear plant catches on fire ABC News By North Asia correspondent
Mark Willacy 5 March 09

A fire has broken out at the world’s largest nuclear plant in Japan, 200 kilometres north-west of Tokyo.

The operator of the facility says there is no threat of a radiation leak.

The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, says a small fire broke out at the facility but was extinguished after 90 minutes.

It says a worker was taken to hospital with minor facial injuries.

The fire started just weeks after the company was given the green light to re-start one of the seven reactors at the plant, which had been suspended since an earthquake two years ago caused a fire and a small radiation leak.

Japanese Company Accused of Exporting Nuclear Enrichment Parts

By Shigeru Sato and Yuji Okada

March 4 (Bloomberg) — Horkos Corp., a Japanese machinery maker, is accused of violated national security laws for exporting devices that can be used for nuclear fuel enrichment plants to China and South Korea, Japan’s trade ministry said.

Horkos Corp., which was founded in 1940 and is based in Hiroshima, produced and exported the unspecified devices to China and South Korea since 2001 without permission from the ministry, it said in a statement.

Police arrested four Horkos employees………………Investigations, which started in July last year, are continuing, the trade ministry said.

Bloomberg.com: Japan

March 5, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japan – nuclear power woes

Hiccups causing major delays at nuclear plant THE ASAHI SHIMBUN BY EISUKE SASAKI AND HIDENORI TSUBOYA 3 March 09 “……………….technical failures, responsible for yet another delay in two- decade-old efforts to launch the plant, are far from last-minute crinkles.

Not only have they proved frustratingly difficult to iron out, the problems at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, conceived as a major link in Japan’s nuclear fuel recycling program, could shake the program to its foundations.

Plant operator Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL) announced Jan. 30 it would postpone the end of testing from February to August–the 16th time it has delayed completion of the plant, which was originally due to go into full operation more than a decade ago, in 1997.

The technical troubles affecting one of its two glass melting furnaces, built to treat complex, heat-generating radioactive materials so that they can be buried safely in the ground, continue to confound JNFL.

When in operation, the Rokkasho plant will reprocess spent fuel from nuclear power stations in Japan to extract plutonium, which will be burned again to generate electricity. But the latest delay could jeopardize the nation’s nuclear fuel recycling policy.

The last five delays were due to malfunctions that occurred in the furnace in the process of vitrifying the liquid high-level radioactive waste…………………the Rokkasho plant employs technology developed in France,……………………Meanwhile, Japan’s fuel recycling program has come under scrutiny from the international community, which has asked questions about the country’s handling of weapons-grade plutonium. Among non-nuclear nations, Japan is the only country allowed under the international nonproliferation regime to produce plutonium in its reprocessing plant………………………….will leave a vast quantity of weapons-grade plutonium from the 31 tons already possessed by Japan–25 tons of which are in storage in Britain and France, where Japan sent spent fuel to be reprocessed from the 1980s, and 6 tons in Japan…………………the changing international political climate could affect Japan’s plans. Under the new administration of President Barack Obama, the United States will likely shift away from its nuclear fuel recycling policy.

asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：Hiccups causing major delays at nuclear plant – English

March 4, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Earthquake in area nuclear facility in Japan

Strong earthquake hits northern Japan

Canada.com 17 Feb 09 A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook northern Japan early Thursday………………..

Japan endures some 20 per cent of the world’s powerful earthquakes.

The area of the earthquake lies near Rokkasho, the hub of Japan’s nuclear power industry and site of a controversial plant that reprocesses spent fuel.

Officials said they detected no problems in the nuclear power plants, with some shut down manually.

An earthquake last year caused a small leak in the world’s largest nuclear power plant in Niigata prefecture northwest of Tokyo………………………

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/story.html?id=9aae5ae9-fb31-4bb4-a19a-1912849b8ddc

February 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japanese firms played key role in Pakistan’s nuclear programme

Press Trust of India 17 Feb 09

Islamabad/Tokyo, Feb 16 (PTI) In what could come as a major embarrassment to Japan’s strident anti-nuclear stance, Japanese companies have been found to have played a key role in supplying at least 6,000 ring magnets and other materials to rogue Pakistani scientist A Q Khan.
This supply “knowingly or unknowingly” helped Islamabad to acquire nuclear capability and were incorporated in its supply framework, it emerged today.

“Japanese companies played a key role in supplying equipment used for Pakistan’s nuclear development,” Japan’s Kyodo News reported, quoting the outcome of its investigations in Islamabad and Tokyo.

Comments by Khan and former employees of the companies reveal in detail for the first time how leading Japanese manufacturers knowingly and unknowingly helped Pakistan acquire nuclear capability and were incorporated into its supply framework.

Investigations revealed that both Khan and the head of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission visited Japan at least once in the 1980s to shop for their respective programmes.

Khan, dubbed the “father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme,” told Kyodo in a written interview that Khan Research Laboratories acquired a wide range of machines, laboratory equipment and metal products from Japan. PTI

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/3D6D10847AF3A19B6525755F0028053E?OpenDocument

February 17, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Deployment of nuclear warship off the coast of Japan touches a nerve

Deployment of nuclear warship off the coast of Japan touches a nerve- THE CANADIAN PRESS 16 Feb 09 YOKOSUKA, Japan

— As Masahiko Goto sees it, the USS George Washington is not a ship. It’s a floating nuclear disaster waiting to happen near one of the world’s biggest cities.The recent deployment of the huge aircraft carrier to a port just south of Tokyo has been welcomed by brass bands, an open-house crowd of 30,000 and promises of greater security for Japan and northeast Asia.

But to determined opponents here, it all boils down to two nuclear reactors and one big question. Are they safe?”It is unthinkable that we have reactors floating in the bay,” said Goto, a lawyer who is leading an effort to have the USS George Washington banned from Japan. “If there was a problem, it would affect not just our city, but Tokyo and the heart of Japan.”The George Washington is the first and only U.S. nuclear-powered warship with a home port outside the United States, and officials know that Japan – the only country ever attacked by nuclear weapons – has special sensitivities about anything nuclear…………………………..

Two recent incidents have raised concerns, however.

The George Washington’s arrival in September was delayed after a fire broke out in its lower decks on May 22 while it was docked in the United States under repairs. A Navy investigation found it took nearly eight hours to discover the source of the smoke and flames, by which time the fire had burned through eight decks and damaged 80 compartments…………………………a month earlier, it emerged that the submarine USS Houston had leaked radiation during visits to two Japanese ports, provoking headlines and a formal Japanese government protest.

Goto and others, who are pushing a referendum on whether Japan should host nuclear-powered vessels, have raised both incidents, saying they undermine the Navy’s general claim that the George Washington is safe.

The Canadian Press: Deployment of nuclear warship off the coast of Japan touches a nerve

February 16, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Emergency nuke centers ordered to bolster radiation protection

The Japan Times Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 Emergency nuke centers ordered to bolster radiation protectionKyodo NewsThe internal affairs ministry Friday advised seven facilities designated to serve as command centers in the event of a nuclear emergency to bolster their safety systems against radiation exposure.The seven are among 22 command centers across Japan operated by the industry and science ministries. Each was built within 20 km of a nuclear plant so it can expeditiously deal with an emergency.
A recent inspection of 13 centers by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry found that seven would have problems with radioactive contamination in an accident, exposing those inside to the risk of radiation sickness.………………….The centers in question are in Hokkaido, Aomori, Miyagi, Fukushima, Shizuoka, Ishikawa and Ehime prefectures.

Five were found to have ventilation problems, but shielding was found inadequate at all seven facilities.

Emergency nuke centers ordered to bolster radiation protection | The Japan Times Online

February 14, 2009 Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

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Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.