October 16, 2014

Oct 16, 2014 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • As of 10/14/14, the staff at Fukushima Daiichi has safely moved 1298 (85%) of unit #4’s 1533 stored fuel bundles to the ground-level common storage facility without incident. Only 55 (4%) of the original 1331 used (irradiated) bundles remain to be transferred. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision/index-e.html
  • As of 10/10/14, Tepco has paid-out $43.5 billion (USD) in personal and property compensation to Fukushima evacuees. A full $40 billion has been disbursed to the roughly 75,000 that were ordered to evacuate by Tokyo. $3.5 billion has gone to voluntary evacuees from outside the exclusion zone. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/comp/images/jisseki-e.pdf
  • Japan’s Cabinet Office has created a nuclear accident preparation team. The office will assist local authorities in drawing up emergency plans based on the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident in 2011. Previously, the Cabinet has been an advisor to Japan’s affected municipalities with no-one assigned to the job full time. This has brought harsh criticism from minority politicians in the Diet and most of Japan’s Press. The issue has come to a head with the impending restart of the two-unit Sendai station. As a result, the Cabinet created the new group and drafted about fifty full time persons from the Nuclear Regulation Authority and other relevant government agencies. While the initial focus will be on Sendai, all municipalities needing planning support will be assisted. Support will necessarily vary to meet the specific needs of each municipality. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Tepco has a reason for the recent upsurge in groundwater radioactivity. In April of 2011, a steady stream of contaminated water was found flowing into one of the equipment tunnels coming out of the unit #2 turbine basement. It was several days before Fukushima staff could stanch the outflow. A considerable amount of contamination must have seeped into the soil above the underground water table, and remained there. Officials say the heavy rainfall from Typhoon Phanfone likely caused radioactive substances in the soil to move down into the groundwater. The typhoon moved off-shore on October 6th. Over the next three days, activity levels increased in several observation wells between the turbine basement and the barricaded shoreline. One of the wells has shown its highest Cesium activity to date. Tepco will increase the frequency of sampling and testing at three of the wells, from twice weekly to daily. It is not known how far from the tunnel the contamination was spread. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Debris removal for unit #1 might be delayed. Before removal of debris can begin, the massive steel and polyethylene cover around the unit must be at least partially dismantled. But, because debris removal from unit #3 in August, 2013, resulted in detectible rice paddy contamination many kilometers from F. Daiichi, considerable Press and political pressure has occurred to prevent a repeat with unit #1 clean-up. The debris inside the unit enclosure must be removed before stored fuel bundles can be removed. Tepco says they will drill about 50 holes in the enclosure and spray resins inside to keep dust from becoming airborne. Work to remove the debris is scheduled for next March, which marks a several month delay with respect to the initial time-frame. Debris removal is now hoped to begin in 2016. The time-table for fuel removal is still for the spring of 2017, but a change in that schedule is now likely. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201410160049
  • A Japanese nuclear expert recommends using the Fukushima Daini as a fast reactor research facility. Nobuo Tanaka, professor at Tokyo University and former executive director of the IAEA, says Japan should definitely restart its reactors to reduce the nation’s reliance on Middle Eastern oil and gas. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Tanaka on their Japan Real Time website. Concerning restarts, Tanaka says, “Japan has almost no natural energy resources. Giving up on nuclear power would put the country’s energy security at risk.” Tanaka also said he is a proponent of fast reactors because they are less prone to meltdowns than the current nuclear fleet, “[Fast reactors] are not necessarily prone to meltdowns, depending on their design. They also burn almost all problematic radioactive materials. What is leftover only needs keeping for 300 years or so. As they don’t need uranium enrichment, they also present less of a proliferation risk…I am suggesting that Tokyo proceed with the development of fast reactors using the Fukushima Daini plant.” He added that F. Daiichi could be decommissioning research facility. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/10/15/japan-could-use-fukushima-to-develop-safer-nuclear-technology/
  • Tokyo is having trouble finding all owners of the land intended for temporary rural decontamination debris storage. Of 2,356 plots within the proposed site, the government has only found 1,269 owners. The environment Ministry has had their staff searching for the property owners, but a significant fraction cannot be found. The ministry says that if the owners are not found, or do not come forward, it will consider using family courts to appoint property administrators. Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki said they will send out officials when land owners come forward. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201410150056
  • The governor of Niigata Prefecture says the cause of the Fukushima accident is not fully understood. Governor Hirohiko Izumida is not convinced by conclusions about the accident reported by Tepco and Tokyo. Also, he charges the NRA with a lack of attention to emergency planning. Thus, Izumida says he cannot support the restarts of the two Sendai units in Kagoshima Prefecture, and will not approve any possible resumption of operation of units at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in his prefecture. He added that because Tepco was responsible for the Fukushima accident, it has no qualifications for operating a nuclear plant in his region. Politicking in Tokyo, Izumida told reporters, “Protecting the residents’ lives and safety is the most important task for me as governor. I don’t even want to discuss a restart.” http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/16/national/niigata-governor-says-soon-reactor-restarts/#.VD-2yKN0wdU