January 13, 2012

Jan 13, 2012 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • The municipal governments near Fukushima Daiichi are meeting to discuss the Tokyo plans for a waste storage facility in Futaba. The first rounds of talks were on Thursday. The only government not in attendance was Futaba, which expressed displeasure with Tokyo’s proposal in December. After the meeting, a few representatives said they need Tokyo to explain the full picture of waste disposal before they make a decision. It seems all representatives agree that future meetings need Futaba’s presence because total community cooperation is essential. (JAIF)
  • The latest parametric posting for Fukushima Daiichi shows all temperatures and pressures are holding or continuing to lessen very slowly. It should be noted that before this weekend is over the total volume of waste water that has been decontaminated will surpass 100, 000 tons. The volume of contaminated water in the turbine building basements remains at ~80,000 tons. (JAIF) The slowly decreasing RPV temperatures and pressures seem to be following the slowly decreasing decay heat production in the remaining fuel and/or corium.
  • Another Japanese nuke will be idled today, Shikoku Electric Power Company’s Ikata #2. This will bring the number of nukes not operating in Japan to 49, leaving 5 currently producing power. At least ten of the idled nukes are ready to restart and ease Japan’s ever-growing power shortage, but the nation’s de-facto moratorium on nuclear operations will not allow what obviously needs to be done. By early spring, all nukes will be idled. Local officials near the Ikata #2 nuclear plant say they are undecided on the restart issue, but implied that they might be more amenable once new nuclear safety regulations reflecting the Fukushima accident are in effect. (JAIF)
  • TEPCO says they have considered Tokyo’s suggestion to nationalize the company and will take the proposal seriously. TEPCO’s initial reaction was negative, but after looking at their financial situation more closely they feel the possibility must be seriously addressed. What they seek at this point is more details on what the possible takeover includes, I’d also like to discuss a capital increase (by the government) in a comprehensive special project plan (to be drawn up by TEPCO in March),” said TEPCO Vice President Takashi Fujimoto. The utility has begun soliciting financial institutions that can serve as advisors in receiving public money. Some officials in the utility say they “want to retain management rights even after accepting public assistance.” (Mainichi Shimbun)
  • Japan’s Consumer’s Cooperative Union is checking household meals for cesium isotopes. The investigation began quietly on December 15th and will run through April. Initially, 250 households in 18 prefectures took part in the study looking at as many as 2,500 food items. No results have been released, at this point. (Japan Times)
  • Fukushima Prefecture will provide free breast milk tests for radioactive Cesium. It is anticipated that the program will be available to as many as 10,000 women per year, which is the average number of breast-feeding mothers in the prefecture annually. The details have yet to be worked out, including how and when each test will be administered. The prefecture expects to secure ~560 million yen per year to pay for the program. (Japan Times)
  • The American nuclear industry is trying to go pro-active on making post-Fukushima safety improvements. It appears that the industry is tiring of Washington’s laboriously slow process of regulatory change and wants to take matters into their own hands. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Robert Jaczko says it might take until 2016 for post-Fukushima regulations to be in place. The industry feels this is way too long to wait and can make the improvements on their own by 2015. The industry’s Nuclear Energy Institute says America’s 104 operating nukes are prepared to invest in additional safety equipment, including portable pumps and electrical generators, to prevent a Fukushima-type power outage from happening here. Before the industry rolls up its sleeves and gets to work, it wants assurance from the NRC that their pro-active efforts will be given credit with respect to future regulations. “This is just something that we believe we should be doing,” said Adrian Heymer, who is in charge of the Institute’s Fukushima regulatory response team, “But we want to get some credit for it.” NEI will formally present the industry proposal to Washington today. (NASDAQ)