- Two Ukrainian nuclear experts say all Fukushima evacuees should be able to return home, unlike the situation with Chernobyl. Ukrainian government officials Oleg Nasvit and Dmytro Bobro made this startling revelation to the Associated Press. They urge that any decision on whether to allow residents to return should be based on radiation dose levels rather than distance from the plant. “If people like to return and they will have a dose of less than 20 millisieverts per year, according to international standards this is possible,” Nasvit said, “This is not about this circle of 20 kilometers but it is about the radiological situation. If this is from the radiological point of view permissible, why not return part of this territory to people?” Japan has set guidelines that allow residents to return to areas with contamination levels below 20 millisieverts per year – about three CAT-scans – which it says is safe, although a further reduction is planned by Tokyo. Nasvit and Bobro further said a crucial lesson from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster is that the government needs to tell people the truth so that they can make informed decisions about their future. “Residents can understand the consequences and make realistic decisions only based on accurate information,” Bobro said. (Mainichi Shimbun)
- NISA has announced a new proposal to boost nuclear plant safety. The proposal being considered by the Cabinet includes installation of various back-up power generators, water-proofing all reactor cooling facilities to prevent tsunami inundation, automatic activation of all emergency cooling systems, and secure communication systems like TV teleconferencing for nuclear accidents. If approved by the Cabinet’s expert panel, the 30-point proposal will be used to establish new mandatory safety requirements. If all goes as planned, the new safety regulations could be drafted by the end of March. (NHK World)
- Tokyo’s government says the Fukushima accident proves safety matters cannot be entrusted to the utilities themselves. Such matters as operating lifetime, nuclear safety upgrades, and back-fitting existing safety systems to address rare accident scenarios, are too important to leave to corporate cost-benefit analyses. Included in the official planning is improvement of communications to expedite appropriate public protective measures once an accident occurs. University of Tokyo Prof. Hideaki Shiroyama said: “The current law that regulates nuclear reactors centers primarily on preventing a nuclear crisis. So establishing new laws that incorporate measures to ensure public safety from radiation on the assumption that a nuclear accident occurs has great significance.” The new safety push is supported by the ruling political party in the government, the Democratic Party of Japan. Many other political parties are opposed to the new safety considerations because the future nuclear regulatory agency will still be attached to the cabinet through the Ministry of the Environment. They feel the new safety watchdog should be completely independent of Cabinet ties, but have full legal authority to enforce. “Your Party” Secretary General Kenji Eda says the planned regulatory agency should be “an administrative commission that is independent from the Cabinet, takes a fair and neutral position and can exercise strong authority over ministries and agencies.” (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Another frozen pipe leak has been found at Fukushima Daiichi. This one is attached to Spent Fuel Pool #4, which is open to the cold winter air because of its hydrogen explosion on March 15. More than 8 tons of mildly contaminated water leaked into the surrounding structure before the pipe’s isolation valve was closed and the leak ended. Constant decontamination of the pool’s water since last October has reduced the concentration of Cesium to around 100 Becquerels per cubic centimeter. None of the leaked water left the building. (Kyodo News)
- A record cold wave has swept across Japan the past two weeks. Yesterday, record low temperatures were recorded in 16 prefectures spanning the length of the island nation. While these unprecedented temperatures have caused numerous small piping leaks at Fukushima Daiichi, another thermal (fossil-fueled) power station has suffered a much worse fate. High pressure fuel-supply pipes at Kyushu Electric’s three liquefied natural gas-fired electric generators at Oita froze and knocked all of them off the grid. Kyushu Electric scrambled to replace the 2,300 megawatts of power lost by the emergency shutdowns. 30 of the 46 power companies contracted to supply emergency power to Oita Power Station sent a combined total of about 1,300 megawatts, while the others were too short of electricity to help. (Mainichi Shimbun) The power shortage in Japan is getting critical. Now, if the ready-to-go nukes were allowed to restart…
- A new “shut them down forever” lawsuit has been filed against Kyushu Electric Company. The suit, filed in Saga District Court, includes 1,704 plaintiffs from 29 of the 47 prefectures in Japan. The lawsuit says the operation of Saga Prefecture’s nuclear plants make the plaintiffs feel insecure because they believe them to be inordinately dangerous. “We want the judges to agree that the safety dogma regarding nuclear reactors has collapsed during the trial,” said Akira Hasegawa, the plaintiffs’ leader and former president of Saga University. Another suit was filed by the same group last month, but had only 300 plaintiffs from the prefecture itself and the suit floundered. By opening it up to radiophobes across Japan, they got the much higher number of signatories in the hope the court will take their plea seriously. (Japan Times)
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