December 8, 2014

Dec 8, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tokyo will have Fukushima’s rural contaminated material stored the facility’s land is purchased. Government sources say that companies owning land in Okuma and Futaba have agreed to let the wastes be moved to their plots. Environment Ministry officials say the materials will be transported to two industrial complexes straddling the two towns in advance of purchase agreement closure. It seems the storage will be “rent free” until all financial negotiations are complete. It is expected to take a month to prepare the storage facilities before materials can be shipped, therefore the goal of beginning the transportation process in January may be optimistic. Privately-owned lands are another issue. Owners are scattered throughout the island nation and some have been difficult to contact. In addition, other owners have been hard to identify because of confused inheritance procedures. Meanwhile, local communities currently holding the millions of tons of rural wastes continue to call for the government to remove the packaged debris as soon as possible. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001771695
  • A new thermal decomposition complex will handle contaminated waste and debris. The new facility is in the Shimokawauchi District of Futaba County, and is the second in Fukushima Prefecture; the other is in Iitate village. The facility disposes of waste and debris from wrecked structures caused by the 3/11/11 quake and tsunami. It is located on a 7,400 square meter tract owned by the government and has an incinerator, ash-discharging room and ash storage facility. Waste and debris are crushed and subjected to a temperature greater than 800oC for complete destruction. Exhaust gas is released through a two-stage process for the removal of radioactive Cesium. Other facilities are planned to start in Minamisoma, Tomioka, and Katsurao between March and April. Two units are under construction in Namie and the Warbidaira District of Iitate. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=439
  • Tokyo’s knee-jerk effort to promote unbridled development of renewables hits another snag. Two utilities, Kyushu and Tohoku Electric Companies, report they can only accommodate about 47% of the available renewable-generated electricity. Their reasons have to do with the existing transmission systems. Under the current “feed-in” tariff, renewable energy developers are literally guaranteed that their power will be bought by the utilities at inflated rates, which promise an immediate profit for the sellers. However, the amount of electricity that can now be produced by new, inherently-intermittent solar facilities poses serious risks in frequency and voltage disruptions that could cause power outages. Currently, Kyushu and Tohoku say that if they accept more than ~50% of the available solar-generated electricity, system reliability cannot be guaranteed. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001773622
  • Another lawsuit is filed to try and stop nuke Fukui restarts. Nine plaintiffs from Fukui Prefecture, Osaka, and Kyoto say that the two units at Takahama station and two at Oi station are getting close to restarting, thus there is an “actual and looming risk” of a nuclear accident. They want the four units barred from operation. This comes on the heels of Shiga District Court’s rejection of another court’s ruling that the Oi units would be barred from restart since allegedly insufficient measures had been taken to cover all disaster contingencies. The Shiga court said it is unlikely that Japan’s nuclear regulator (NRA) would make hasty restart decisions. This new suit appears to be yet another attempt by the vocal minority to keep Fukui Prefecture’s nukes from ever operating. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/05/national/fresh-suit-filed-in-fukui-over-plan-to-restart-kepco-reactors/#.VIGvJ6N0wdU — http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2014/12/325786.html
  • Two roof panels of the unit #1 enclosure have been replaced. The two were removed over the past month to see if any detectible radioactive dust would be released to the atmosphere. Since nothing had been detected, Tepco had the panels put back on. The company will wait until March to remove the entire roof and surrounding structure in order to clear away the debris caused by the March 12, 2011 hydrogen explosion. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141204_22.html