December 21, 2012

Dec 21, 2012 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • The current focus of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority is earthquake possibilities concerning nuclear plants, and the issue has become foggy. This week, the NRA concluded that the geology near the Higashidori station in Aomori Prefecture has a seismically active fault. The new issue is a fault line near the Higashidori reactor buildings, with cracks radiating to as close as 200 meters. There are no existing guidelines on nuclear stations that are near, but not atop geologic seams that might be seismic. Assessing potential impacts of a seismic seam near a nuclear facility must be examined by the NRA and regulations proposed accordingly. “There are no established methods to adequately evaluate (the effect of) active faults (running near nuclear plants),” said NRA Commissioner Kunihiko Shimazaki. Hiroyuki Fujiwara, a chief researcher at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), said, “The method to evaluate active faults only 1 to 2 kilometers away (from nuclear facilities) has not been established. It would be difficult to improve evaluation methods in a short period of time.” In other words, no methods exist for making impact projections of this sort and it could be a long time before it happens. Shimazaki responded that while no methods presently exist, it doesn’t mean nothing can be done. If the Higashidori seams are proven to be seismic and methods of projecting impacts are created, it may mean the nuclear station will have to upgrade existing quake mitigation before any of the units would be allowed to restart. This is the third time the NRA has found that geologic seams under or near existing nuclear facilities might be seismic. The seam running under the Tsuruga station has been judged as possibly seismic and the one under the Oi facility has resulted in a disagreement among the investigators. (Mainichi Shimbun; Japan Times; Japan Today)
  • The mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, has been hit with a no-confidence vote by the town assembly over his refusal to take part in discussions over a temporary low level decontamination waste storage facility. Back in November, the Fukushima governor held a meeting for all town and village mayors in Futaba County concerning environmental studies for low-level waste facilities, and all in attendance agreed to siting surveys. Only Futaba Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa refused to take part in it because he felt the government was less than convincing about the issue. The town assembly was angered and tried to get Idogawa to reconsider. Idogawa remained firm, so on December 12th the assembly filed a formal request for the mayor’s resignation. But the mayor refused by saying, “I can’t resign while I’m tasked with such serious missions as the rezoning of evacuation zones and handling the temporary storage facility.” A full assembly meeting was held on Thursday and the group unanimously passed the no-confidence vote. This means the mayor must either resign or dissolve the assembly within ten days under the Local Autonomy Law. If he dissolves the assembly, a new election must be held within 40 days to replace it. If the new assembly agrees with the no-confidence vote, the mayor is legally required to step down. At this point, Idogawa is hedging on what he will do, “I will make a decision early next week.” He added, “I have worked hard to relay the requests of the townspeople to the central and prefectural governments. Those who criticize me are also responsible.” Futaba assembly member Hisato Iwamoto who proposed the no-confidence motion earlier this month, said, “The mayor has caused confusion among town residents. The issue [of temporary storage facilities] concerns the whole prefecture, not just Futaba. I hope the mayor will take the unanimous vote seriously.” All Tokyo wants to do is run preliminary siting surveys at two locations in Futaba, but Idogawa has gone on record as being totally distrustful of anything Tokyo says. He fears a temporary facility will eventually be designated as permanent, and he feels a permanent repository would keep people from repopulating Futaba. The town assembly wants to hear what Tokyo is formally proposing, but they are handcuffed by their mayor’s stubborn refusal to participate. The town assembly has repeatedly criticized the mayor over his response to the Great East Japan Earthquake of 3/11/11 for about a year and a half. (Mainichi Shimbun; Yomiuri Shimbun)
  • The Environment ministry has announced they will delay environmental surveys for temporary storage facilities in Futaba County. Previously, it was hoped that work could begin in March, but it seems this was overly optimistic. The ministry says they will begin to accept applications from contractors as of today, but the selection process could take until February. When the actual construction of the site (or sites) will begin is literally anybody’s guess. Fukushima Prefecture and the affected municipal governments have agreed to the siting surveys, but some local political and public opposition continues which could add even more delays to the process. (NHK World)
  • The Hamaoka nuclear station, which was the first nuke ordered shuttered by Tokyo after 3/11/11, will have a 67 ft. high anti-tsunami seawall built. The new height was chosen to exceed the new worst-case tsunami estimate of a 58-foot wave. The existing seawall is 55 feet high. “We’ve decided to increase the height of the seawall to prepare for largest-class tsunami,” company President Akihisa Mizuno said. He estimated the cost of increasing the wall height would be billions of yen. However, plant owner Chubu Electric Co. says it will not change their existing plans for completing all tsunami-protection upgrades by next December. (Mainichi Shimbun)