- Tepco has reported that all outer walls of F. Daiichi unit #4 have been examined and more than one is “tilted”…bowed out as a result of the hydrogen explosion of 3/15/11, actually. The most extreme is outside the third floor, two stories below the destroyed refueling deck, which moved 4.6 centimeters. None of the walls exceed legal specifications. It must be stressed that these discoveries are for the building’s outer walls, but in no way affect the integrity of the robust inner containment building of which the spent fuel pool is a part. Regardless, the press report says that” more than 1500 nuclear fuel rods” are “stockpiled” in the un-affected pool. The use of the term “stockpiled” evokes visions of nuclear weapons and is a clear example of the Hiroshima Syndrome at work. (NHK World)
- The Oi restart issue has been blown out of proportion by the Associated Press, calling it a “new crisis” in Japan. The AP says that restarting Oi units #3&4 could lead to meltdowns which will potentially contaminate lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater source. Further, it alleged that safe evacuations from the 30km radius are not possible given the existing roads in the area. The AP purports that there is no contingency plan for Lake Biwa and an alternative route for evacuation is “barely on the drawing board”. Then, AP expands their scare-mongering to all of Japan, saying all communities around the nukes do not comply with the expanded 30km evacuation standard and its contingency planning. The AP carefully selects who they quote to support their position. “If another crisis hits now, we can’t do anything but flee. We feel so insecure.” said Kaoru Tsuchiya, a crisis management official in Shiga Prefecture. Shiga Gov. Yukuko Kada accuses Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of emphasizing plant site safety to the exclusion of any discussion of safety procedures in the communities surrounding the plants. “They still ignore the residents, and that’s what angers me most. I’m horrified by the thought that another Fukushima-class crisis could instantly make the lake water undrinkable,” Kada lamented. For “balance, the AP quotes NISA disaster management official Hisatoshi Nakazaki, “In an emergency, they have to use the old evacuation plans, think quickly and use discretion.” Kyoto, some 100 kilometers from Oi, is also up in arms. City disaster manager Fulio Yoshida, says, “Until Fukushima, we never imagined radiation reaching our city, or the need for crisis plans” Ehime Prefecture lies roughly 300 kilometers from Oi, but even they have issues with the restart. Prefectural official Noriyuki Onishi, says, “We need a manual. We have to consider a much larger area than before. We have to get started. We can’t just wait and worry.” (Associated Press)
- Two Japanese seismologists with a history of anti-nuclear posturing have denounced the restart of Oi units 3&4. Katsuhiko Ishibashi, a seismologist at Kobe University, told reporters, “The stress tests and new safety guidelines for restarting nuclear power plants both allow for accidents at plants to occur. Instead of making standards more strict, they both represent a severe setback in safety standards.” Mitsuhisa Watanabe, a tectonic professor at Tokyo University, said the seismic threat to nukes has been underestimated, “The expertise and neutrality of experts advising Japan’s Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency are highly questionable.” Both say the 3/11/11 quake makes future super-quakes more likely than before. Neither presented any scientific data to support this claim. (Asia One, Reuters)
- A group of ~120 citizens have filed suit against the restart of Shika Nuclear Power Station in Ishikawa Prefecture. The plaintiffs come from Ishikawa as well as neighboring Toyama Prefecture. The suit claims the F. Daiichi accident shows the government and utilities had been wrong in securing the safety of reactors. (Kyodo News) The group says, “The present quake-resistance guidelines for the nuclear power plant have serious flaws.” They claim that earthquake design considerations were based on a single fault being the trigger, but F. Daiichi proved multiple fault earthquakes are possible and could not have been considered in building the Shiga plants. The group says the plants were built to withstand a quake of 6.8 on the Richter scale, but a multiple fault quake could be 7.3 on the Richter scale. (Mainichi Shimbun) The plaintiffs conclude that a large quake would seriously damage the Shika plant, threatening the safety of nearby residents. They say the disaster occurred at Fukushima even though the plant was considered safe by government guidelines and those guidelines have lost credibility, so the Shika plant can no longer be considered safe. In 2006, the Kanazawa District Court accepted similar demands from residents around the Shika plant and ordered the utility to halt its Number 2 reactor. But that ruling was overturned by the Nagoya High Court and the Supreme Court. (NHK World)
- Anti-nuclear attempts to stop atomic power generation at nine utility company stockholder’s meetings have all failed. (Asahi Shimbun) The Tepco shareholder’s meeting in Tokyo literally turned into a media circus. Outside the venue held in a gymnasium, civic groups and individual citizens demanded Tepco adopt a nuclear-free energy policy. Prominent among the shareholders was a contingent from Germany’s anti-nuclear Ethecon Foundation [for] Ethics & Economics, including its chairman Axel Koehler-Schnura. They presented Tepco with a “black planet award” trophy (a filthy-looking globe), saying Tepco was last year’s worst company in the world with respect to protecting the environment. “TEPCO caused unrecoverable damage to the global environment and the human rights of people throughout the world,” the chairman said. A minority of the Japanese shareholders called for a phase-out of nuclear plants, while most supported continued nuclear energy operations for the good of the nation’s economy. Mikio Nakayama, 72, who served as a member of the Nerima Ward Assembly and the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, said, “Ideally, we should reduce nuclear power in stages, but when I think of people’s livelihood in the immediate future, I would support the reactivation of nuclear reactors.” (Mainichi Shimbun) Osaka-based Kansai Electric (Kepco) shareholders have summarily rejected the city’s proposal to scrap all of the company’s nukes. While protestors chanted outside the meeting, Kepco shareowners agreed that nuclear plants are crucial for a stable energy supply. The cities of Kobe and Kyoto made proposals similar to Osaka, but the shareholders voted them down as well. (NHK World)
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