February 5, 2015

Feb 5, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tepco identifies and resolves labor safety issues. Last month, two contractor employees lost their lives in separate mishaps at Fukushima Daiichi and F. Daini. As a result, all labor projects were stopped at the two nuke stations, as well as Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. Work resumed at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa January 26 and F. Daini on the 28th. Labor restarted at F. Daiichi on Tuesday. Tepco Chairman addressed the issue saying, “While industrial accidents may be difficult to entirely eradicate, the loss of life is completely unacceptable.” Tepco searched for possible causes of the tragedy and posted their findings along with the safety improvements made throughout the company’s nuclear group. Issues include pressure on workers to comply with a planned schedule, inadequate accident prevention activity, restricted inspection measures, lack of a clear chain of command, poor communication of labor safety problems encountered in the past, and, Tepco supervisors spending too much time away from the work areas and not fully aware of procedures specific to the job tasks. Tepco has implemented a three-pronged program to minimize these issues in the future and improve overall safety conditions for contractor employees. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1247952_6844.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150202_01-e.pdf
  • Work has begun on the temporary rural waste storage facility. The activity is taking place at two locations, one each in Okuma and Futaba Towns adjacent to F. Daiichi. Both are within one kilometer of the nuke station. The two storage sites will cover about 20,000 square meters in two industrial parks. The land is part of 60,000 m2 that has been acquired from companies that owned the properties. One official from a company in Okuma said, “We doubt products we make here will sell anyway, even if we can someday resume operations. We are afraid that (radiation-related) fears about products and produce from this area will linger.” The plan is to have these locations ready to receive low-level radioactive material by the middle of March. The wastes are currently being held at thousands of places in Fukushima Prefecture. The two new facilities will only be able to hold a small fraction of the accumulated trash and soil. The remaining area of the proposed 16 km2 site remains in limbo because negotiations with landowners have been very slow. One senior Environmental Ministry official said “It will takes a very long time.” Minister Yoshio Mochiduki asked Fukushima residents to put up with leaving wastes at their current sites for an extended period. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2015020300152 — http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201502040078
  • Hotspot landowners in Minamisoma will be getting more money. Hotspots are localized areas outside the exclusion zone where high radiation levels existed. Ten homes in Minamisoma were found to be hotspots and the residents were asked to leave. The evacuees filed for more than $4 million in property damages, and Tepco has agreed to pay it. It was not all of the money the residents asked for, but attorneys call it a large portion. One of the filing families voluntarily evacuated from a location outside the hotspot, and Tepco says they will not be included in the pay-out. In a show of solidarity, the other hotspot evacuees say they will not accept any of the money until the outlier family is included in the compensation. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150203p2a00m0na008000c.html
  • The Sendai station restart date is delayed again. Plant owner, Kyushu Electric Company, needs approval from the Nuclear Regulation Authority on final detail design documents being prepared by the company. They hoped to submit in December, but Kyushu now says it will take until the end of February for additional data and explanations the NRA wants with respect to unit #1. In addition, further design information concerning facilities shared between units #1&2 will not be ready until the end of March. The time needed for the NRA to review the added submittals and make final on-site inspections will move the prospective restart back until May, at the earliest, and might not happen until the summer. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150205_29.html