July 6, 2015

Jul 6, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • The lifting of Nahara’s evacuation order is delayed three weeks. Nahara was one of the Fukushima communities entirely evacuated by government order in 2011. It was scheduled to be the first entire municipality to have its restrictions lifted in mid-August. It is now scheduled to occur on September 5th. However, town officials say many residents are not yet ready to return, and asked for Tokyo to delay the date when full repopulation will be allowed. Some citizens said they are concerned about the low levels of contamination that might remain, while others said they are not sure there is enough access to medical services and “other” needs. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2015/07/362244.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150706p2g00m0dm077000c.html
  • Sendai unit #1 is scheduled to begin fuel loading in Tuesday. It appears the unit will be the first to return to full, unrestricted operation since the Tokyo-mandated moratorium on nukes was invoked after the F. Daiichi accident. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has completed its pre-operational examinations and has given Kyushu Electric Company the green light to place fuel inside the reactor vessel. The fuel bundles will be moved individually from the adjacent fuel handling and storage building and into the reactor. In all, 157 fuel bundles will be installed over a four day period. The entire process is done under water. After all fuel is loaded, plant operators will test emergency coolant injection systems and operation of control rod drive mechanisms. A nuclear emergency drill will also take place before the unit start-up begins in mid-August. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201507040027 — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150703_36.html
  • Fukushima Prefecture refuses to meet Tokyo on the high level nuclear waste issue. The Industry and Environment Ministry is holding briefings across Japan to explain plans for the disposal of highly radioactive wastes. The meetings have been held with 39 prefectures, but a significant minority of local officials refuse to attend for fear that constituents will take their presence as agreement to host the final repository. Fukushima Prefecture is now officially among the dissenters. Although the meetings only address the process of identifying appropriate candidate sites and waste handling options, Fukushima argues that they already have more than enough of a burden dealing with F. Daiichi decommissioning and temporary storage of rural decontamination materials. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • A ministry-appointed panel criticizes making the high level waste briefings “closed door”. The panel called for full information disclosure, but their request has not been honored. They said that closed door meetings could have a negative impact on the issue with respect to the public. Considering that after 13 years of wide-spread public aversion to the siting of a high level waste repository, it is unknown how holding the briefings behind closed doors could make it any worse. The Industry Ministry said the closed door decision was made to allow local officials to speak freely. Press reports do not identify which ministry the panel reports to. Panel head Hiroya Masuda said Tokyo must convince local officials that attendance does not mean candidacy for their prefecture(s). http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150703_31.html