January 5, 2014

Jan 5, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Five older Japanese nukes could be decommissioned. Four utilities plan to speak with local governments affected by the proposal this month so they can decide on the fate of the units by the end of March. All five units will reach the end of their 40 year licensing period by July of 2016. Twenty year extensions are possible under post-Fukushima guidelines, but the cost of upgrades to meet the new requirements must be weighed against foreseeable profits from prolonged operations. Actually, seven of Japan’s nukes will reach the 40 year threshold by July 2016, but two will probably seek the 20 year allowance. The five units at-risk are Mihama #1&2, Shimane #1, Genkai #1, and Tsuruga #1. Takahama units #1&2 are the other two plants that will reach the licensing limit, but work has already begun to qualify for extensions. Estimates concerning the cost of qualifying for extension run in the $1 billion range. The cost of decommissioning is projected to be about $210 million. The five at-risk units are relatively small with power outputs ranging from 320 to 560 MWe. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150103p2a00m0na004000c.html
  • All Fukushima harvested rice passed radiation tests in 2014. This was the first time that all bags tested below the national limit of 100 Becquerels per kilogram, set in 2012. Nearly 11 million sacks were analyzed during the year. There were about 10 million bags checked each year in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, 71 failed the analysis, and in 2013, 38 were above the limit. (Aside -For comparison, America’s Food and Drug Administration has a limit of 1,200 Bq/kg. The European Union limit is 600 Bq/kg.) Fukushima Prefecture says the testing program will continue. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201501030034
  • NRA chief Shunichi Tanaka says nuke restarts will bring greater responsibility to the watchdog. Since the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s inception, the agency’s task has been insuring new regulations are being followed by utilities applying for restarts. With the impending resumption of electric generation at Sendai station, inspections will shift to insuring safe operations. The NRA is currently examining applications for the restarts of 21 units at 14 locations. All of the first wave of reviews are for Pressurized Water Reactor systems. Screenings of Boiling Water Reactor plants may begin later this year. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Local social and political opposition is stalling rural radioactive waste storage and disposal. Twelve prefectures now have temporary storage sites for the material. Tokyo would like to move all of it to designated locations in five prefectures: Miyagi, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba. Four sites in Tochigi and Miyagi have been specifically designated, but local activists blocked access to them to stop preliminary work. The mayor of a Tochigi town near the proposed, government-owned site, submitted a petition with 17,000 signatures demanding the material not be stored in their prefecture. Mayor Kazuhisa Mikata says the contamination came from Fukushima Prefecture, so it should be dumped there. Sites in Miyagi Prefecture have run into similar socio-political roadblocks. An Environment Ministry official said, “As the waste can’t be left indefinitely in temporary storage facilities, we hope to create facilities as early as possible in order to ensure safety.” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/05/national/permanent-radioactive-waste-disposal-facing-significant-hurdles/#.VKp18qMcQdU
  • Many British scientists believe nukes are the best option. In a forthcoming open letter in the journal Conservation Biology, 65 biologists say nukes are the best choice for a global strategy to protect the environment. They call for activist groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to drop opposition to building new nukes. The letter is signed by several leading British academics including Lord May of Oxford, a theoretical biologist at Oxford University and former chief scientific adviser; Professor Andrew Balmford, a conservation biologist at Cambridge; and Professor Tim Blackburn, an expert in biodiversity at University College London. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nuclear-power-is-the-greenest-option-say-top-scientists-9955997.html