Kim Jong Un’s round of summits: the latest with Vladimir Putin
Ingram Pinn’s illustration of the week: Nuclear roundabout – (illustration on original) Kim Jong Un turns to Vladimir Putin, https://www.ft.com/content/fcd74e58-675a-11e9-a79d-04f350474d62 . INGRAM PINN
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received a red-carpet welcome when he arrived by armoured train in Russia’s pacific port of Vladivostok for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After four summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and two with US President Donald Trump, Mr Kim has now turned to Mr Putin. The US-North Korea talks in Hanoi in February broke down in acrimony. Since then, North Korean state media has said they no longer wanted to deal with Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, as a nuclear negotiator and that they wanted to work with someone “more careful and mature in communicating”. Mr Kim was also claimed to have launched a new missile designed to carry a “powerful warhead” and that the test was “of a very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the (Korean) People’s Army”. “Chairman Kim Jong Un himself personally asked us to inform the American side about his position and the questions he has about what’s unfolding on the Korean Peninsula,” Mr Putin told reporters after the summit ended. “[And] of course I will speak tomorrow in Beijing, probably with the leadership of the People’s Republic of China.” INGRAM PINN
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received a red-carpet welcome when he arrived by armoured train in Russia’s pacific port of Vladivostok for his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After four summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and two with US President Donald Trump, Mr Kim has now turned to Mr Putin. The US-North Korea talks in Hanoi in February broke down in acrimony. Since then, North Korean state media has said they no longer wanted to deal with Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, as a nuclear negotiator and that they wanted to work with someone “more careful and mature in communicating”. Mr Kim was also claimed to have launched a new missile designed to carry a “powerful warhead” and that the test was “of a very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the (Korean) People’s Army”. “Chairman Kim Jong Un himself personally asked us to inform the American side about his position and the questions he has about what’s unfolding on the Korean Peninsula,” Mr Putin told reporters after the summit ended. “[And] of course I will speak tomorrow in Beijing, probably with the leadership of the People’s Republic of China.”
Japan’s nuclear regulators not impressed by nuclear facilities’ flimsy excuses about safety
VOX POPULI: Flimsy excuses by nuclear plant operators are unacceptable, Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun., April 26, 2019 …………. three operators of nuclear power plants, seeking an extension of a very different kind of deadline, found the Nuclear Regulation Authority to be quite unforgiving.Kansai Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co. were initially required to install anti-terror facilities against airborne attacks at their nuclear power plants by July 2018.
Having already failed to meet that deadline, the utilities on April 17 asked the government’s nuclear watchdog to extend it by another 12 to 30 months, but the plea was rejected on April 24.
The utilities have insisted in unison that installing facilities to remotely cool nuclear reactors would require the time-consuming work of drilling through mountains.
They probably thought this “excuse” was good enough to sway the government into extending the deadline.
No such luck.
The Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture will likely be shut down as a result, according to the NRA.
The utilities must be underestimating the odds of any of their nuclear power plants being targeted for a terrorist attack.
Have they already forgotten that North Korea was repeatedly test-launching its missiles until recently? And what about the Fukushima disaster of 2011, which occurred because virtually nobody wanted to consider the possibility of a mega-quake triggering a tsunami?
The “deadline” book mentioned above also contains an anecdote about author Akira Yoshimura (1927-2006), a stickler for punctuality who always handed in his manuscripts early, claiming he had a tendency to start panicking as the deadline approached. And he always attached a note to his editor, apologizing, in effect, for jumping the gun.
I guess it’s useless to expect the three utilities to emulate Yoshimura. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904260032.html
Safety and language problems, as Tepco plans to bring in foreign workers for Fukushima clean-up
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Editorial: Safety, language measures needed for foreigners to work at Fukushima plant https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190424/p2a/00m/0na/004000c 24 Apr 19, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is preparing to bring in foreign workers with special technical skills to join decommissioning work on the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
At present, an average of 4,000 employees of TEPCO and cooperating firms work at the facility every day. Laws and regulations stipulate that workers’ radiation exposure must be limited to 50 millisieverts in a single year, and 100 millisieverts over five years. No one is allowed to stay at the plant once they hit one of these caps, so waves of new employees must be brought in to maintain worker numbers. Decommissioning the Daiichi plant, which suffered a triple core meltdown in the wake of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, is expected to take 30 to 40 years. Whether the companies involved can sustain sufficient staffing levels will be one factor that determines the success or failure of the project. When it comes to tapping foreign labor to make up the required numbers, the Justice Ministry — which has jurisdiction over Japan’s immigration system — has already declined to approve sending foreign technical intern trainees to work at the plant. One of the core tenets of the foreign technical trainee program is that the job placements must provide the trainees with skills they can use in their home countries, and working to decommission a devastated nuclear plant did not fit the bill. TEPCO is now turning its eyes to foreign workers with Category 1 work visas, one of the new residency statuses launched on April 1 and aimed at those with certain skills and experience. Technical trainees with three years’ experience in Japan can obtain this visa without a skills exam. However, there is a real risk of radiation exposure at the Daiichi plant, and the terminology used on-site is highly technical, making for a difficult environment. TEPCO and its partners must not treat the new foreign worker system as an employee pool they can simply dip into. The workers’ Japanese level is particularly a cause for worry. To obtain a Category 1 visa, applicants must speak Japanese at only a “daily conversational” level. However, anyone working at the Daiichi site must understand a slew of technical terms related to radiation and other facets of the decommissioning process, meaning a very high level of Japanese is absolutely indispensable. If foreign employees begin working there without having learned the necessary terminology, we believe there is a real risk they could be ordered to do jobs that exposed them to radiation. TEPCO has said it is up to its project partners whether they employ Category 1 foreign workers. In fact, the majority of people at Fukushima Daiichi are employed by one of the firms that make up the layers upon layers of subcontractors working on the decommissioning. Nevertheless, as the company heading the project, TECPO has a responsibility to oversee the conditions of every worker, right down to the bottom of the pyramid. Furthermore, if a foreign worker has been exposed to radiation overseas, that dose must be added to their sievert count at the plant. However, it is up to the worker to report any previous radiation exposure, which can make it difficult to properly track and manage their doses. If a worker develops a radiation-related illness after returning to their home country, will they be able to smoothly apply for workers’ accident compensation? This is also a serious worry. If Japan is to accept foreign workers to help decommission the Fukushima Daiichi plant, it is absolutely essential to create the appropriate environment, including measures to boost their Japanese skills and strengthen radiation exposure management. |
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Russia urges for six-part talks as the practical way to deal with North Korea
 Kremlin: Six-party talks only efficient way to tackle nuclear North Korea https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-russia-kremlin/kremlin-six-party-talks-only-efficient-way-to-tackle-nuclear-north-korea-idUSKCN1S01BNMOSCOW (Reuters) Writing by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Editing by Maria Kiselyova – 24 Apr 19,The Kremlin said on Wednesday that six-party talks, which are currently stalled, were the only efficient way of addressing the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but all other efforts also merited support.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in the Russian city of Vladivostok on Wednesday for a summit he is likely to use to seek support from Russian President Vladimir Putin while Pyongyang’s nuclear talks with Washington are in limbo. “There are no other efficient international mechanisms at the moment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “But, on the other hand, efforts are being made by other countries. Here all efforts merit support as long as they really aim at de-nuclearisation and resolving the problem of the two Koreas,” he told reporters. |
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Japan’s nuclear regular demands safety steps, or reactors must close down
Japan to shut down nuclear plants if counterterror steps not taken in time, Japan Times, KYODO, AFP-JIJI, REUTERS, APR 24, 2019
Japan’s nuclear regulator decided Wednesday not to let power companies operate reactors if they fail to install sufficient counterterrorism measures by specified deadlines.
The decision by the Nuclear Regulation Authority came after three utilities that operate five nuclear plants in western and southwestern Japan requested that their deadlines be extended as they expect delays in completing counterterrorism steps required under stricter regulations introduced in 2013 following the Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Kyushu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Shikoku Electric Power Co. had sought to postpone their five-year deadlines by one to three years, citing reasons such as the need to carry out massive construction work.
The three companies told the NRA that the measures would not be on time at 10 of their reactors, according to documents published on the regulator’s website.
But the regulator has declined their requests for extensions.
The power plant operators are required to build facilities that can keep reactors cool via remote control and prevent the massive release of radioactive materials if the units are the target of a terrorist attack, such as from planes being flown into them.
Nuclear plant operators need to set up such facilities within five years of the nuclear safety watchdog approving detailed construction plans for the plants.
But several firms have warned they will not meet these criteria. The NRA said after a meeting earlier Wednesday it would no longer push back the deadline as it has done in the past.
“There is no need to extend the deadline, and nuclear facilities have to stop operations if the operators fail to meet it,” an NRA official said.
He added that several other reactors were also at risk of being shut down……… https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/24/business/corporate-business/japan-halt-nuclear-plants-operations-anti-terrorism-steps-not-taken-time/#.XMDXGDAzbGg
Narendra Modi using threat of nuclear bombing Pakistan, as an election campaign tactic
Dear Mr. Modi, A Nuclear Bomb Is Not A Campaign Prop, https://www.newsclick.in/narendra-modi-nuclear-bomb-diwali-pakistan In a campaign speech in Rajasthan on April 22, prime minister Narendra Modi casually threatened Pakistan with the use of nuclear bombs, saying India’s nuclear arsenal has not been saved for Diwali. Newsclick Team, 24 Apr 2019
Russia’s attitude to North Korea’s nuclear weapons
What Russia thinks about North Korea’s nuclear weapons, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, By Anastasia Barannikova, April 24, 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia today for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin….. Despite Russia’s past vote in favor of sanctions on Kim’s regime, Moscow has many reasons not to lean too hard on Kim over nuclear disarmament…………
Russia wants a stable North more than a non-nuclear North. Although, Russia continues to officially oppose North Korea’s nuclear status on the basis of its strict interpretation of the NPT, experts already speak about “nuclear emancipation” for the North, meaning recognition of its status as a lesser nuclear state. These ideas coincide with an idea some Chinese scholars have developed whereby North Korea would reduce its nuclear arsenal but keep some weapons as a deterrent. From Russia’s perspective, nuclear weapons now guarantee the security of the North Korean regime. The weapons can prevent attempts at violent regime change by external force. Through them, North Korean leadership has the independence to make changes within its borders. That’s good for Russia.
Many Russian analysts consider North Korea’s nuclear program to be defensive. Looking at the North’s nuclear doctrine, it seems likely the country wouldn’t use its nuclear weapons against a country that isn’t planning an attack. While little is known about Russia’s military planning beyond its publicly available doctrines, the specifics of the bilateral relations it holds with the North may guarantee that Russia has no plans to attack its neighbor.
……….The security of Kim’s regime, in turn, guarantees stability near Russia’s eastern borders. For Russia, a stable North Korean regime guarantees the absence of refugees flows, a normal feature of conflict zones, but also prevents US troops from deploying in a potentially disintegrating North. And with its nuclear weapons as diplomatic leverage, North Korea can maintain some independence from China. Thus, Moscow views Kim’s stability as providing something of a buffer between Russia and China.
Do North Korean nuclear weapons pose a threat to Russia? From Moscow’s perspective, the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia are relatively stable and don’t pose any immediate threats to security. Relations between Russia and North Korea are neutral, if not friendly. North Korean leadership appreciates Russia’s cautious, slow approach to the relationship, in contrast to China’s activist take on issues on the Korean Peninsula. Russia’s emphasis on the need to respect state sovereignty as a fundamental principle of international relations further lubricates the bilateral relationship: Russia avoids any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the North, so Pyongyang does not consider Russia as an external threat.
Many Russian analysts consider North Korea’s nuclear program to be defensive. Looking at the North’s nuclear doctrine, it seems likely the country wouldn’t use its nuclear weapons against a country that isn’t planning an attack. While little is known about Russia’s military planning beyond its publicly available doctrines, the specifics of the bilateral relations it holds with the North may guarantee that Russia has no plans to attack its neighbor.
But there is one scenario whereby North Korea’s nuclear weapons could threaten Russia. If Kim launches missiles against the United States, experts say they’ll fly over Russian territory. A US anti-missile response could, thus, risk a war between Russia and the United States. But Russian experts don’t believe that North Korea would ever attack the United States; they consider Kim Jong Un too rational for that. ………https://thebulletin.org/2019/04/what-russia-thinks-about-north-koreas-nuclear-weapons/
Despite World Trade Association ruling, Japan still asks S. Korea to lift ban on Fukushima seafood
Japan asks S. Korea to lift Fukushima seafood ban despite WTO ruling April 23, 2019 (Mainichi Japan) TOKYO(Kyodo) — Japan on Tuesday urged South Korea to lift import restrictions on Japanese seafood introduced in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, even after the World Trade Organization ruled in favor of Seoul over the issue……
Seoul imposed a ban on some types of seafood products from eight prefectures, including Aomori, Fukushima, and Chiba, in the wake of the 2011 reactor core meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant triggered by a powerful earthquake and tsunami.
It expanded the ban in September 2013 to include all seafood products from the eight prefectures, and added a requirement that Japanese companies attach safety certificates when any traces of radiation are found in seafood from other regions.
In August 2015, Tokyo filed a complaint with the WTO against the restrictions, which it considers unfair discrimination, and an initial ruling by a dispute settlement panel sided with Japan. South Korea appealed the decision, however, and the WTO’s appellate body, the highest judicial entity of its dispute ettlement mechanism, ultimately ruled in Seoul’s favor on April 11…….. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190423/p2g/00m/0na/059000c
India’s irresponsible behaviour in its pursuit of nuclear weapons supremacy
Indian Irresponsible Behavior as Nuclear Power, Modern Diplomacy, 23 Apr 19, South Asia is termed as one of the volatile regions of the world, where nuclear brinkmanship is probable because of the longstanding historical animosity between India and Pakistan. The onus of instability and volatility in the region rests with India’s inspiration for regional hegemon, which seeks domination through coercion and use of power. Its ambitions to join global cartels such as Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) without meeting the criteria is self-explanatory of its coercive yet illegitimate policies.
Japan Atomic Power considers launching unit that specializes in scrapping nuclear plants
In Ratnagiri’s Jaitapur, Fishermen Vehemently Oppose Nuclear Plant.
In Ratnagiri’s Jaitapur, Fishermen Vehemently Oppose Nuclear Plant. The Wire, 22 Apr 19
In Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri, the Sadak se Sansad team finds out why farmers are opposing the world’s largest nuclear power plant. In this special story from the Ratnagiri Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra, we speak to fishermen who have been protesting against the Jaitapur nuclear power project for over a decade. They say that the project will adversely affect their ecology and threaten their livelihoods. If completed, the plant will be the largest nuclear power generating station in the world. https://thewire.in/video/watch-in-ratnagiris-jaitapur-fishermen-vehemently-oppose-nuclear-plant
PM Narendra Mo di , at election rallies, repeatedly boasts of India’s nuclear weapons
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At Indian General Election Rallies, Modi Beats the Nuclear Drums
The Indian prime minister touts New Delhi’s nuclear capabilities. The Diplomat |
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Problems and many outages at India’s Kudankulam nuclear power plant
Frequent outages at Kudankulam plant unusual, trying to fix it: Dept of Atomic Energy
This is the first acknowledgement from a government authority and comes months after the issue of frequent power outages was flagged by Poovulagin Nanbargal. The NEWS Minute, TNM Staff
Japan Atomic Power looks to big business cleaning up dead nuclear plants
Japan Atomic Power considers launching unit that specializes in scrapping nuclear plants https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/16/national/japan-atomic-power-considers-launching-unit-specializes-scrapping-nuclear-plants/#.XLzjyDAzbGg KYODO, APR 16, 2019
Japan Atomic Power Co. is considering setting up a subsidiary specializing in the scrapping of retired nuclear reactors at domestic power plants, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
Japan Atomic Power, a wholesaler of electricity generated at its nuclear plants, is planning to have U.S. nuclear waste firm EnergySolutions Inc. invest in the reactor decommissioning service unit, which would be the first of its kind in Japan, the sources said.
The Tokyo-based electricity wholesaler, whose shareholders are major domestic power companies, will make a final decision by the end of this year, they said.
The plan is to support power companies’ scrapping of retired reactors using Japan Atomic Power’s expertise in decontaminating and dismantling work, in which it has been engaged in since before the 2011 nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 complex, according to the sources.
The plan comes as a series of nuclear reactor decommissioning is expected at power companies in the country. Since stringent safety rules were introduced after the Fukushima disaster, 11 reactors, excluding those at the two Fukushima plants of Tepco, are slated to be scrapped.
Nuclear reactors are allowed to run for 40 years in Japan. Their operation can be extended for 20 years, but operators will need costly safety enhancement measures to clear the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s screening.
Decommissioning a reactor with an output capacity of 1 million kilowatts is said to take about 30 years and cost around ¥50 billion. Typically, some 500,000 tons of waste result from scrapping such a reactor, and 2 percent of the waste is radioactive.
Japan Atomic Power first engaged in decommissioning a commercial reactor in 2001 at its Tokai plant in eastern Japan. It has been conducting decommissioning work at its Tsuruga nuclear power plant in western Japan since 2017.
It is also providing support to Tepco for the decommissioning of reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
EnergySolutions, founded in 2006, has engaged in scrapping five reactors in the United States.
Japan Atomic Energy and EnergySolutions have had previous business ties, and the Japanese company has sent some employees to the Zion nuclear station in Illinois, where the U.S. partner has been conducting decommissioning work since 2010.
Dangerous electioneering: India’s Modi ramps up the nuclear weapons rhetoric
Express Tribune 19th April 2019 During an election rally on April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed
that he had called Pakistan’s nuclear “bluff” by carrying out air
strikes within Pakistan. In his exact words, Modi boasted, “Pakistan has
threatened us with nuclear, nuclear, nuclear” and then he asked
rhetorically, “Did we deflate their nuclear threat or not?”
Of course, Modi’s supporters raised chants in an expression of their approval.
Perhaps this was merely a case of aggressive electioneering in which Modi
has focused on national security as the main theme. But such claims have
also been made by several Indian policymakers and defence analysts after
the recent Pulwama crisis which demonstrates that there is a wider
acceptance for such views. In reality this is a dangerous delusion.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1953964/6-indias-dangerous-delusions/
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