- Tokyo’s government is adding another layer of nuclear regulation. On Friday, Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said a new organization to boost nuclear safety is being considered. This body will include membership from Japan’s nuclear utilities in order to get the industry’s view on energy policy and nuke upgrades. The Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the current nuke watchdog, has no nuclear industry membership. Motegi said it would be wrong to cut the nuclear industry entirely out of the regulatory process. He explained that following the nuclear accident in 2011, Japan has depended on imports for around 90 percent of its energy, which he calls unsustainable. The goal of no-nukes in Japan must be seriously reconsidered. (NHK World)
- Tokyo Electric Co. says their contaminated waste water transfer will end in June. Some of the Fukushima Daiichi underground reservoirs have leaked and Tepco decided to move all 23,000 tons of stored water to above-ground tanks. 7,000 tons have been relocated and 16,000 remain in the cisterns because more tanks need to be installed. The new tank installations will be done in June. Until then, all reservoir leakage is being collected and pumped back into the pools. The waste waters have been stripped of their radioactive Cesium by the station’s improvised filtration system, but 62 radioactive isotopes remain in the filtered waters. Tepco plans remove the rest as soon as the ALPS isotopic elimination system’s testing is complete. Analysis shows that none of the leakage has entered the groundwater system under the station. (NHK World)
- Japan will be part of Turkey’s turn to nuclear power production. Both Japan’s and Turkey’s Prime Ministers agreed to a $22 billion contract between the two countries. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this is “a very important step” and despite some internal criticism of teaming up with Japan following the Fukushima accident, “despite that, we have taken this step. What happened at Fukushima upset all of us. But these things can happen. Life goes on. Successful steps are being taken now with the use of improved technology.” Like Japan, Turkey is prone to earthquakes, making it essential that nuclear plants are designed to resist such events. Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe closed the deal the day after confirming a similar pact with United Arab Emirates. Abe said, “Japan will share its experience and the lessons it has learnt and will contribute to the improvement of nuclear security at the highest level.” Japan will assist French giant AREVA in building four units in Turkey with a total output of 4,800 MWe. Turkey relies heavily on fossil fuel imports from Russia and Iran to meet its current energy-production needs. (Japan Today) It should be noted that the Mainichi Shimbun calls the agreement with Turkey “double-dealing” in a technology with “two faces”. The paper says Japan should extend its post-Fukushima non-nuclear direction to its international business dealings. However, the opposite seems to be the case, “Within Japan, we look upon the Fukushima meltdowns with disgust and are groping our way toward a non-nuclear future. In the Middle East, Japan treats nuclear power as a business, putting profit first. This looks like a case of double-dealing.”
- The self-imposed moratorium on Fukushima rice has ended. Hirono city farmers in Futaba County have planted 5 hectares of rice. Local grower Hisahi Owada says, “I hope we’ll be an example for other farmers to come back to Hirono so that we can preserve farming in Futaba County. We seed the field when the wild cherry blossoms bloom and plant the rice seedlings when the frogs croak. We may be able to see fireflies in summer.” The town lifted self-imposed restrictions on rice farming this spring after almost all rice samples from Hirono tested below the 100 Becquerels per kilogram national limit for radioactive contamination last year. The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives will purchase all the rice that is harvested this season and reserve some for the farmers’ consumption. (Mainichi Shimbun)
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