North Korea fires ballistic missile amid growing nuclear threat
By Thomas Maresca, May 4 (UPI) — North Korea launched a ballistic missile into the sea off of its east coast Wednesday, the militaries of South Korea and Japan said, as concerns rise that a nuclear provocation is on the way.
The South Korean military said it detected the launch of a ballistic missile from the area of Pyongyang’s international airport on Wednesday at around noon. The missile traveled a distance of 292 miles and reached an altitude of 485 miles before splashing down in the sea between Korea and Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message sent to reporters……………….. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2022/05/04/ballistic-missile-launch-nuclear-threat-South-Korea-Japan/1831651646781
Asahi Shimbun – Japan’s nuclear industry needs to be more aware, more careful about terrorism risks.
Utilities urged to look far and wide to tackle nuclear terrorism threat, Asahi Shimbun, May 4, 2022 Despite a contrary assessment by nuclear regulators, a spate of recent security breaches at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant should not be considered endemic to the facility.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority compiled an interim report on its follow-up inspections on the unauthorized use of an employee ID card and disabled intrusion detection equipment at the plant in Niigata Prefecture.
…………………….. the report did not discuss why this was the case with Kashiwazaki-Kariwa alone or how this potentially disastrous situation could have remained overlooked.
It raises fears of a potential breach that could allow terrorists to seize control of the plant.
In our view, the NRA’s examination of the problems was far from comprehensive.
For instance, the interim report reiterated that practically no on-site inspections of the plant’s department that oversees the physical protection of nuclear materials were undertaken by top executives of the plant or TEPCO’s headquarters.
The nature of TEPCO’s overall organization and its management culture still raises many questions.
The report made eight demands of TEPCO. They include: A fundamental review of procedures for the physical protection of nuclear materials; reinforcement of intrusion prevention facilities and their maintenance system; more active use of input from on-site staff; and greater management participation and investment of management resources.
NRA Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa said at a meeting the onus was on TEPCO to prove its equipment and facilities for the physical protection of nuclear materials are fool-proof, even if the company’s corporate culture and attitude are below the line and its employees try to cut corners.
An urgent need exists for a framework to ensure that nuclear materials are protected should human error enter the equation, which obliges TEPCO to rectify its operations.
The company needs to not only meet the NRA’s demands but also go the extra mile to address issues needing attention as a matter of routine.
We also strongly urge the NRA to conduct more rigorous inspections.
Nuclear terrorism would have a catastrophic impact on society. An attack against a nuclear power plant could prove too much for its operator or regulatory authorities to handle alone……….. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14613482
Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida says nuclear power should be reconsidered as energy costs soar
Apr 27, 2022
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country must consider using more nuclear power, as the import-dependent nation grapples with rising fuel prices and a weak yen.
Regulations in place since the Fukushima disaster in 2011 need to be made more efficient to help the process of restarting Japan’s idled reactors, he said, adding new impetus to calls for the energy source to take a bigger role. Only about a third of operable reactors have resumed.
“We must think about nuclear power given rising electricity and gas prices,” Kishida said in a TV Tokyo interview late Tuesday evening. “We won’t compromise on safety, and will get the understanding of the people before proceeding.”
Kishida’s remarks come as Japan contends with an energy crisis that’s sent prices of liquefied natural gas and coal to record highs. The nation imports almost all of its energy needs, and costlier fuel has slashed profits of utility companies and stoked inflationary fears among consumers who are facing higher power bills. A beleaguered yen, which has weakened against the dollar to touch the lowest level in two decades, is adding to the burden for fuel importers.
Lawmakers have been calling for nuclear restarts to accelerate, while public support is growing according to a March survey.
Still, a lengthy restart inspection process, combined with frequent lawsuits filed by nuclear opponents, have hampered efforts to get idled reactors back online. Of 33 operable reactors overseen by the Nuclear Regulation Authority only 10 have restarted under rules imposed since the Fukushima disaster.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/27/national/kishida-nuclear-energy/
Mitsubishi Electric Continues Transformer Performance Fraud through March; Nuclear Plant to Which Transformers Are Shipped Undisclosed.
April 22, 2022
Another problem has come to light at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, which has been the target of a series of fraudulent product inspections and quality issues. This time, the company has been falsifying test data for transformers used in nuclear power plants and thermal power plants for 40 years. Although the top management resigned and emphasized the prevention of recurrence, the fraud continued until March. The time frame for the completion of the investigation is unclear, and the restoration of trust in the company is far from certain.
The transformers in question are large and are used in nuclear power plants, thermal power stations, railroad substations, and other facilities. Some of the transformers were falsely labeled with temperatures that exceeded specifications during pre-shipment tests. Although this is an irregularity in important equipment related to the supply of electric power, no press conference has been held, and the supplier has not been disclosed. The company claims that “no immediate malfunctions or accidents will occur” with regard to the safety of its products, but this is difficult to verify from the outside. Some of the transformers are large and expensive, and replacing them could be time-consuming and costly.
In response to the revelation of irregularities at its Nagasaki Works last June, Mitsubishi Electric set up an investigative committee consisting of outside lawyers in July of last year. Since then, irregularities have been uncovered every month.
Management was held accountable, and then-President Takeshi Sugiyama resigned in July, and then-Chairman Masaki Kenzan resigned in October. The new president, Kei Urushima, had stated that he would take thorough measures to prevent recurrence and hasten reform of the organizational climate.
However, the Investigation Committee pointed out that the current…
https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ4P7KG4Q4PULFA03D.html?fbclid=IwAR33KXcEK15wfqT4TOcFX-E4c1kpRBXT1uGEjLu2-mpG9s8AeveUAso0XvY
Japan prepares to dump water ignoring nuclear safety fears
China Daily April, 2022 The Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun construction work to prepare for the discharge of contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean next spring, Japanese media reports say.
The Japanese government and TEPCO are advancing this plan made by the Japanese government on April 13 last year, in spite of strong opposition at home and abroad.
Given that the water was used to cool the fused reactors at the nuclear plant after the Fukushima region was devastated by a tsunami in March 2011, and contains radioactive material, its potential to cause harm to the marine ecological environment, food safety and human health cannot be underestimated……………………
Japan should earnestly respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community, and reverse its decision to discharge the contaminated water into the ocean, thus fulfilling its international obligations. http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202204/29/WS626b2624a310fd2b29e5a056.html
Pakistan, India reel under intense heat wave
Market Screener, By Jibran Ahmad and Sumit Khanna, 29 Apr 22,
PESHAWAR, Pakistan/AHMEDABAD,India (Reuters) -Pakistan issued a heat warning after the hottest March in 61 years while in parts of neighbouring India schools were shut and streets deserted as an intense heave wave on Friday showed no signs of abating.
Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, urged the federal and provincial governments to take precautionary measures to manage the intense heat wave, which touched highs of 47 degrees Celsius (116.6 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country.
“South Asia, particularly India and Pakistan are faced with what has been a record-breaking heatwave. It started in early April and continues to leave the people gasping in whatever shade they find,” Rehman said in a statement.
Temperatures were predicted to rise by 6 to 8 degrees Celsius above average temperatures after the hottest March on record since 1961, she said.
More than a billion people are at risk of heat-related impacts in the region, scientists have warned, linking the early onset of an intense summer to climate change. For the first time in decades, Pakistan had gone from winter to summer without the spring season, Rehman said.
The government has also told provincial disaster management authorities to prepare urgently for the risk of flash-flooding in northern mountainous provinces due to rapid glacial melting, Rehman said.
Glaciers in the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karkoram mountain ranges have melted rapidly, creating thousand of glacial lakes in northern Pakistan, around 30 of which were at risk of sudden hazardous flooding, the climate change ministry said, adding around 7 million people were vulnerable.
A senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department said https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1519938880824176641?s=20&t=NgygE8RS-D4wfM-OJxp9Ew on Friday heat conditions would persist for at least the next three days, but that temperatures would fall after the arrival of monsoons, expected in some parts by May.
The health problems triggered by the heatwave were posing a bigger worry than the expected fourth wave of COVID-19, doctors in India said.
“We are getting many patients who have suffered heatstroke or other heat-related problems,” said Mona Desai, former president of Ahmedabad Medical Association in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
She said that 60-70% of the patients were school-aged complaining of vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal colic, weakness and other symptoms.
Roads were deserted in Bhubaneshwar, in India’s eastern state of Odisha, where schools have been shut, while neighbouring West Bengal advanced the school summer break by a few days.
Delhi sweltering under extreme heat, electricity shortage
| India is facing the worst electricity shortage in more than six years as Delhi saw its hottest April in 12 years on Thursday at a maximum of 43.5C. The temperatures in the national capital are predicted to linger around 44C with peak summer heat still to come before the cool monsoon rains in June. The extreme heat parching across large swathes of south Asia this week has also prompted health officials in the western state of Gujarat to take measures, as they braced for a potential spike in patients. Meanwhile, the leap in power demand has left India scrambling for coal, with inventories running lowest pre-summer levels in at least nine years. Several states including Rajasthan and Haryana in the north and Andhra Pradesh in the south observed the worst power cuts in over six years as the government struggled to manage surging power demands. Independent 29th April 2022 https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/india-heatwave-2022-delhi-latest-b2068112.html |
Severe Indian heatwave will bake a billion people and damage crops.
Severe Indian heatwave will bake a billion people and damage crops. An
unusual heatwave forecast across much of India will see temperatures in the
mid-to-high 40s°C. More than a billion people are facing a severe heatwave
across India this week, which will have wide-ranging consequences for the
health of the most vulnerable and will damage wheat harvests. Temperatures
in the mid-to-high 40s°C are forecast for much of the country in the
coming days, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing
heatwave warnings for several states. The UK Met Office says that
temperatures are currently above average in India and that this will
probably continue into the coming week. India is entering a season ahead of
the monsoon’s arrival when heatwaves are common, the Met Office says, but
this year it follows a period of unusually early sweltering conditions in
India.
New Scientist 26th April 2022
Scientists: Japan’s Plan To Dump Nuclear Waste Into The Pacific Ocean May Not Be Safe
CIVIL BEAT, By Thomas Heaton , 25 Apr 22,
A panel of scientists has identified critical gaps in the data supporting the safe discharge of wastewater into the Pacific.
Independent scientists are questioning Japan’s plans to dump just over 1 million tons of nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, following a review of the available evidence.
The panel of multi-disciplinary scientists, hired by the intergovernmental Pacific Islands Forum, has not found conclusive evidence that the discharge would be entirely safe, and one marine biologist fears contamination could affect the food system.
Last year Japan announced that wastewater from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, destroyed in March 2011 following the Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami, would be dropped into the Pacific in 2023.
The announcement triggered immediate concern from nations and territories in the Asia-Pacific region and led the Pacific Islands Forum to hire a panel of five independent experts to review the plan.
Previously, it was broadly believed that dropping the wastewater into the ocean would be safe, given it had been treated with “advanced liquid processing system” technology, which removes radioactive materials from contaminated water.
But panel scientist Robert Richmond, director of the University of Hawaii Kewalo Marine Laboratory, says the panel unanimously believes that critical gaps in information remain.
Previous discussions over the safety of Japan’s plans emphasized the chemistry of the discharge, but not how it could interact with marine life, he said.
“If the ocean were a sterile glass vessel, that would be one thing,” Richmond said. “But it’s not, you know, there’s lots of biology involved.”
Richmond has been particularly concerned about the potential for tritium – a key compound of concern – being absorbed into the food system because the radioactive isotope can bind to phytoplankton.
Through phytoplankton, Richmond says, the radioactive element could then find its way into the greater food system as the microscopic plants are consumed by mollusks and small fish, which are later consumed by other fish and eventually humans.
“Things like mercury in fish are now of an international concern. Radionuclides will be the same,” Richmond said.
The situation is dynamic too, as climate change affects the temperature of waters and weather patterns change.
“As temperatures go up, many chemicals become more interactive, they become a little bit different in terms of break down,” he said. “So these are all the things we need to consider.”
……………………………………. the information seen by the panel showed less than 1% of the tanks of wastewater had been treated and less than 20% had been adequately sampled, Richmond says.
Based on those numbers alone, we’re uncomfortable in making predictions of where things are going to end up,” Richmond said.
The Pacific Perspective
Community groups and environmental organizations were quick to respond to the news last year, raising concerns about the longterm effects to their region, with its legacy of nuclear testing and the fallout. And coastal communities and fishermen in Japan have also raised concerns.
The U.S. expressed its support for the plan in April last year, which has since been criticized by U.S. territories and affiliated states.
Rep. Sheila Babauta of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands introduced a resolution to CNMI’s House of Representatives opposing any nuclear testing, storage or waste disposal in the Pacific.
It was passed in December, months after the U.S. stated its position and after other Pacific groups and governments condemned the move.
“I’m really disappointed in the lack of engagement, the lack of information and the lack of free, prior and informed consent,” Babauta, who chairs the Natural Resources Committee, said.
The mistrust that is harbored by many in the Pacific stems back to U.S nuclear testing in the Republic of Marshall Islands following World War II, British testing in Kiribati and the French in French Polynesia, which had flow-on effects to the environment and long term health of Pacific people. And in 1979, Japan provoked backlash when it revealed plans to dump 10,000 drums of nuclear waste in the Marianas Trench.
Babauta says she introduced the resolution as a show of solidarity for the rest of the Pacific.
“The ocean is our oldest ancestor. The ocean is our legacy,” Babauta said. “It’s what we’re going to leave for our children.” https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/04/scientists-japans-plan-to-dump-nuclear-waste-into-the-pacific-ocean-may-not-be-safe/
Hibakusha renews call for nuclear abolition
Hibakusha renews call for nuclear abolition, https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20220425_01/
Concerns about the possibility of nuclear warfare are growing as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on.
A Japanese hibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor, shared her experiences in a virtual event organized by a group of university students in Tokyo on Sunday.
Wada Masako was one year old when an atomic bomb was detonated by the US Army over Nagasaki in 1945.
She was too young to remember that day, but her mother often told her what it was like to walk through the city in the bombing’s aftermath.
Wada said, “my mother told me people were stumbling around, their hair caked with blood. She said their clothes were in tatters, and one couldn’t tell whether they were men or women.”
She has been involved in the nuclear abolition movement for much of her life. She participated in rallies in New York City to support the adoption of the UN nuclear ban treaty.
Wada says she was shocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin’s recent threats to use nuclear weapons.
She said, “I’m worried there may soon be new hibakusha. I want everyone to know that what we have right now is a crisis. I want to tell them what happens when nuclear weapons are used.”
Wada said she hopes for real progress toward abolition at the first meeting of the parties to the nuclear ban treaty this June. She believes the advocacy of young people from Japan and around the world will only strengthen the movement.
She also urged the Japanese government to participate in the conference, and take an active role in the abolition movement. Japan has refused to join the ban treaty as it is under the US nuclear umbrella.
No more nuclear power plants, no more war! 〜4.16 “Sayonara Nuke Plant Metropolitan Area Rally” was held.
On April 16, at 1:30 p.m., a “Sayonara Nuclear Power Plant Metropolitan Area Rally” was held at Kameido Chuo Park in Tokyo. Eleven years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, and the decommissioning of the plant, a gigantic accident unparalleled in the world, is still not in sight. The government and TEPCO are forcing the release of ALPUS contaminated water into the ocean. They are trying to pollute the sea of Fukushima again. Without taking into account the lessons learned from the accident, the government has formulated a new basic energy plan that calls for nuclear power plants to account for 20 to 22% of the nation’s power supply by 2030. This is based on the premise that 30 nuclear reactors will be restarted. Furthermore, the government is aggressively trying to extend the life of the broken nuclear fuel cycle. The Fukushima nuclear accident has ushered in an era of nuclear decommissioning, and public opinion strongly demands it. Now is the time to raise the voice of “good-bye nuclear power plant” and create a swell for nuclear power plant phase-out! (Report by Toshikazu Miyagawa)
Organized by Citizens’ Circle for 10 Million Signatures for “Sayonara Nuclear Power Plant
Music】13:00 Nisshikawa meets Folk
Opening】13:30
Organizer’s Greeting: Toshi Kamada (Reportage writer)
The current situation is that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is openly taking place, but cannot be stopped. Biden calls it a holocaust, but speaking of holocaust, we have experienced enormous damage from air raids and the dropping of nuclear power plants. With the invasion of Ukraine, the conservative Liberal Democrats, like fish out of water, talk about possessing nuclear weapons and attacking enemy bases. The Russians are digging trenches and exposing themselves to massive radiation in an attempt to overrun the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Nuclear power plants are playing the same role as nuclear bombs; a ceasefire and an end to the war must be put in place as soon as possible. This is the first gathering in a long time to spread the peace movement. Let’s work hard until there are no more nuclear power plants, until there are no more wars!
Solidarity speech】】 ◆ “From Fukushima
◆”About the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Criminal Complaint Trial” by Ms. Akiko Uno from Fukushima
I am happy to be able to speak in front of so many of you. Those who were evicted and evacuated due to the nuclear accident left everything behind. Some of them lost their lives. There are still more than 60,000 people in Fukushima. There are 293 children with thyroid cancer in Fukushima alone, more than one in 10,000. We must stop the discharge of contaminated water into the sea. The government has abandoned what it learned from the nuclear accident. We will seek a fair trial and work hard until the end.
◆”Japan Power Supply obstructs the postponement of the judgment on Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant” by Mr. Kiyohiko Yamada
I will run for Rokkasho village mayor on June 12. I have been vocal about the seriousness of the nuclear fuel cycle. I will do my best with the pledge “because I am afraid.
◆”About the Tokai No.2 Nuclear Power Plant Operation Injunction Trial” by Mr. Mitsunobu Oishi
The fight has moved to the Tokyo High Court. Last year, Mito District Court ruled that Tokai No.2 Nuclear Power Plant should not be operated. I believe this is in response to the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant accident. 1 year has passed and it has not started. Evacuation must be effective. The Tokyo High Court tries to overturn this. Eleven years of struggle since the nuclear accident has revealed the truth. It was the trial that revealed the truth over the past decade. We will do our best until the Supreme Court in a struggle that is etched in history.
◆Hideyuki Bamba on Russian invasion and occupation of nuclear power plants
The unexpected Russian invasion of Ukraine, from the control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to the exposure of Russian soldiers to radiation at nuclear facilities. The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the best in Europe, was also temporarily overrun. Nuclear power plants are always in danger of being targeted. In Japan, an attack on a nuclear power plant would be a disaster. We must accept the danger and work hard to end nuclear power generation in Japan.
◆Assistance to Ukraine Mr. Tsutomu Taguchi (YMCA)
The YMCA in Russia and Ukraine has been promoting friendship activities from the standpoint of citizens. Individual income in Ukraine is 1/5 of that in Japan, and it is not possible for individuals to travel to Ukraine for evacuation. Individuals cannot evacuate to Japan due to difficulties with administrative procedures. The main evacuees to Japan are women. In Ukraine, 90% of women go to university, work after marriage, and have no sense of being housewives; everyone has a desire to work. In Japan, securing a place to work is also an issue.
Closing remarks】 【Closing remarks
◆Mr. Keiko Ochiai
I saw the trees and thought again that spring has come to a country with nuclear power plants, although it is natural. What kind of words will be used to describe Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? The fact that people are living in a country with nuclear power plants. We must not cease. There are 15 nuclear reactors in Ukraine. Japan is the same. How much suffering did we suffer 11 years ago in the spring? We have not been able to reduce even one of those sufferings. We should not endure it. Our only pride is that we have fought. We can fight against power, it is our treasure. We do not want to be victims. We do not want to look back on the sorrow of Fukushima. We do not want to be perpetrators against anyone. That is our pride. The environment may not change in the future. But, since it won’t change, it is not cowardly not to do it. Let’s do our best to make peace properly.
March】14:45
■Venue→Kinshicho Station area
http://www.labornetjp.org/news/2022/0416hokoku?fbclid=IwAR1F6zxaj7UIxTNik40gJrSloPwbR7_jUV7VrEIDwcxUc-lIh2Enbvpbj6A
Greenpeace chief urges Yoon to reevaluate nuclear-focused decarbonization plan
Greenpeace chief urges Yoon to reevaluate nuclear-focused decarbonization plan https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220422004700315
All News 11:20 April 22, 2022 SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) — The leader of Greenpeace urged President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday to “reevaluate” his nuclear-focused decarbonization plan in a letter sent to him on the occasion of Earth Day.
Yoon’s transition team is pushing to modify the country’s carbon neutrality plans that the outgoing Moon Jae-in administration declared with a goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent from the 2018 levels by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050.
The overhaul will likely include reversal of Moon’s nuclear phase-out policy and changes in energy mix.
“We urge you to reevaluate whether nuclear energy could be safe, fast, and affordable enough to achieve the 1.5 degree C temperature goal,” Greenpeace International Executive Director Norma Torres said in the letter.
She said, “Korea already has the highest nuclear power plant density in the world … we wonder whether further nuclear expansion will be acceptable by the public.”
Torres also said, “The unsolved nuclear waste problem is also a major issue you need to consider in your nuclear focused decarbonization plan.”
South Korea, instead, needs a new, ambitious energy transition strategy to employ more renewable energy coupled with an ambitious fossil fuel and nuclear phase-out plan, according to her.
“Needless to say, your term from 2022 to 2027 is a critical time to decide whether Korea will pull its weight and therefore contribute to the global mission to prevent disastrous climate change in time or not,” she said.
Magnitude 5.3 earthquake shakes Fukushima and Ibaraki
Magnitude 5.3 earthquake shakes Fukushima and Ibaraki https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/04/19/national/quake-fukushima/ 19 Apr 22,
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 struck Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures as well as other parts of Japan on Tuesday morning, the Meteorological Agency said.
The 8:16 a.m. quake registered a lower 5 on japan’s seismic intensity scale of 7 in northern Ibaraki, while parts of Ibaraki, Fukushima, Tochigi and Saitama prefectures registered a 4. No tsunami warning was issued.
The temblor originated in an inland part of Fukushima at a depth of about 90 kilometers.
More information:
- Detailed information about this earthquake from the Yahoo! Japan Weather & Disaster website
- Detailed information about this earthquake from the Japan Meteorological Agency website
- The Japan Meterological Agency website
- An explanation of shindo, Japan’s earthquake intensity scale.
- A guide to what to do before, during and after an earthquake.
- Our portal for disaster-related information
North Korea tests new weapon bolstering nuclear capability
North Korea says it has successfully test-launched a newly developed tactical guided weapon
- By HYUNG-JIN KIM – Associated Press
- Apr 17, 2022
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon designed to boost its nuclear fighting capability, state media reported Sunday, a day before its chief rivals the United States and South Korea begin annual drills that the North views as an invasion rehearsal.
The 13th weapons test this year came amid concerns that North Korea may soon conduct an even larger provocation. That may include a nuclear test in an effort to expand the country’s arsenal and increase pressure on Washington and Seoul while denuclearization talks remain stalled………………………….. https://www.news-gazette.com/coronavirus/north-korea-tests-new-weapon-bolstering-nuclear-capability/article_0413e1d9-3fb7-5c42-a63c-e1ea66b3e084.htm
Tons of Japanese nuclear waste may be destined for overseas disposal
April 17, 2022
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan’s nuclear power plants have over 57,000 tons of large equipment that have, or will in time, become radioactive industrial waste and may be destined to be disposed of overseas, a tally of electric power company data showed Saturday.
The scale of the would-be hazardous waste underscores the ongoing move within the government to reexamine a rule banning the exports of radioactive waste at a time when few municipalities are willing to accept such waste.
Creating an exception to the rule under the foreign exchange law would allow power companies to commission contractors overseas to dispose of certain types of large equipment on the condition they are recycled in the destination countries.
But critics say radioactive waste created in Japan should not be forced on other countries and that such waste should be recycled domestically by improving related disposal technology.
The tally showed nuclear power plants in the country had 57,230 tons of the large equipment, including those still in use, at the end of March.
The equipment in question comes in three types. Steam generators create steam used to generate electricity, while feedwater heaters heat the water that goes back into a reactor and casings are used to store or transport spent nuclear fuel.
For example, there are 37 used steam generators, weighing a total of 12,000 tons, according to the tally. Twenty-two generators, or 7,500 tons, remain at reactors to be decommissioned, while another 51 units, or 15,300 tons, are still in use.
The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has 3,360 tons of spent nuclear fuel casings. But the industry ministry says it sees no scenario in which waste emerging from the plant’s decommissioning process would be disposed of overseas.
The tally did not include data on the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. plant. Tohoku Electric Power Co. declined to provide data.
Decommissioning of nuclear reactors is expected to speed up from the mid-2020s in Japan, with an attendant increase in radioactive waste. Already, 24 commercial reactors are due to be decommissioned.
Radioactive waste is expected to be buried underground, depending on its pollution levels. But few disposal sites have been picked, leaving the handling of large reactor equipment, in particular, in limbo.
A steam generator is a large cylindrical metal object that is 20 meters long and weighs 300 tons. Because of its size, it cannot be easily cut up, encased in drums and buried.
Kansai Electric Power Co. has 21 generators stored away on its premises. “We are concerned about having little room left on our premises (at power plants) going forward as it would impact decommissioning work,” a company source said.
“It is virtually impossible to dispose of the waste domestically. The regulatory reconsideration is a gleam of hope for the waste issue that is at a dead-end,” the source added, expressing hope for overseas disposal.
One company the Japanese side is talking with about possible waste export is EnergySolutions Inc., a U.S. nuclear service company and a major player in the reactor decommissioning business.
The Utah-based company has processed over 60,000 tons of waste produced in reactor decommissioning in and outside of the United States.
A company official expressed confidence that it can process not just the three types of large reactor equipment under consideration for export, but other waste, such as metals from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Tatsujiro Suzuki, a Nagasaki University professor, who served as an acting head of the government’s Atomic Energy Commission, is critical of the envisioned disposal of radioactive waste overseas.
“This is what you get when the state has failed to seriously discuss what to do with waste,” Suzuki said, warning that it is a slippery slope and could lead to an export of waste from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
“It is sheer irresponsibility when looked at from the principle that disposal must be done in one’s own country.”
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
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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