Japan

Sign to stop nuclear exports from Japan to India

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:22:36 +0000

We stand in complete opposition to the India-Japan nuclear cooperation agreement that is currently under intense negotiation. The governments of both countries must refrain from promoting nuclear commerce, jeopardising the health and safety of their people and environments.

The Fukushima accident in Japan should provide an eye-opener to the Indian government and it must realise that cooperation in/supply of nuclear technology comes with insurmountable safety risks. Nuclear accidents result in totally unacceptable damages to people and the environment. Even more than two years after the accident in Fukushima the reactors are far from being under control and massive radioactive releases have contaminated the ground, air and water, contaminations that coming generations will have to endure even after it has taken its toll on the current generation. The criminal nexus of the nuclear Industry and policy makers now stands exposed.

For the poor villagers in India, this would mean more displacement, land-grabbing, radiation and loss of livelihood. They are already under siege from their own government at the Koodankulam and Jaitapur nuclear sites.

Support the people of India and Japan by signing the petition today!

Lingering death for fast reactor as Monju suspended

admin — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:05:03 +0000

"Japan’s nuclear watchdog will indefinitely suspend the use of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor over the operator’s disregard for safety that continued even after the Fukushima nuclear crisis raised concerns across the nation," writes Hideki Muroya in the Asahi Shimbun. "The Nuclear Regulation Authority's order will deal a further blow to Japan’s nuclear fuel recycling program, which has long been plagued by technical problems and scandals.

"In the latest case, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, operator of Monju, was found to have skipped inspections of nearly 10,000 pieces of equipment since 2010, including crucial devices in the safety and emergency systems at the plant, based in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.

"The company also violated its own safety regulations, according to the NRA.

"'Even when the reactor is offline, things stand in such a state,' an NRA official said after an on-site inspection of the reactor in February. “We cannot possibly approve a restart.” Read more. (Picture shows a still from video footage inside Monju during the 1995 sodium fire).

Japan should pull the plug on reprocessing: editorial

admin — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:05:52 +0000

Now that the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) - Japan's equivalent to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission - has put a hold on starting up the Rokkasho reprocessing plant (pictured), the Asahi Shimbun, a leading Japan daily newspaper, has called in an editorial for a cancellation of the project. The NRA will not allow pre-operational tests at the plant until new safety standards are in place. The Asahi Shimbun wisely opines: "We need to face the fact that the government’s program to establish a nuclear fuel recycling system is as good as dead. If the plant starts operating, the plutonium it churns out will pile up with no definite plan to use it. The situation could spark concerns within the international community that Japan’s nuclear power generation might contribute to nuclear proliferation."

An additional reason to abandon the reprocessing plan is that "the project to develop fast breeder reactors, which are supposed to play a central role in the recycling system, has been stalled for years due to a series of problems at the Monju fast breeder prototype reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture. There is little prospect for commercialization of the technology."

Groups like Green Action have been fighting for years to prevent the start-up of Rokkasho. Victory now looks a step closer.

Japanese court rejects case demanding evacuation of children

admin — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:37:57 +0000

A court in Sendai, Japan, has ruled that the city of Koriyama has no legal obligation to evacuate its children even though it acknowledged that radiation levels in the Fukushima prefecture city exceed levels deemed safe prior to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor meltdowns. The decision leaves families burdened with the expense of self-evacuating. A lawyer for the Koriyma parents and activists who brought the suit declared the decision unfairly victimizes children who had "absolutely no responsibility" for the nuclear disaster. Children who should be enjoying carefree childhoods are now instead subjected to the fears and realities of radiation exposure and the possibility of cancer manifesting later in life (see picture). The ruling can be appealed. Koriyama is located about 40 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power reactors. Read more.

A plea for the evacuation of Fukushima's children

admin — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:58:09 +0000

"Fukushima tank springs major leak: 120 tons of radioactive water escape from underground facility"

admin — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:14:14 +0000

Where did it go?: Workers examine an underground tank Saturday that leaked 120 tons of highly radioactive water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in the town of Okuma. | KYODOAs reported by Kyodo in the Japan Times, a water storage tank holding more than 13,000 tons of highly radioactively contaminated water was leaked 120 tons into the ground, and may leak another 47 tons before the remainder can be transferred to other tanks nearby. The amount of radioactivity already leaked is estimated to contain 710 billion becquerels of radioactivity.

The article reports: '“It is the largest amount of radioactive substances that has been leaked” since the crippled facility’s cold shutdown was declared in December 2011, Tepco official Masayuki Ono said.'

Blackout at Fukushima - continued peril at stricken nuclear plant

admin — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:25:07 +0000

The Associated Press reports: "The operator of Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear plant says a power failure has left three fuel storage pools without fresh cooling water for hours. Tokyo Electric Power Co. says the blackout Monday night at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was brief at its command centre but continued for hours at three of the seven fuel storage pools and a few other facilities. TEPCO says the reactors were unaffected, and it plans to restore power to the pool cooling systems as soon as it determines the cause. It says the nuclear fuel stored in the pools will remain safe for at least four days without fresh cooling water. The March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant's power and cooling systems, causing three reactor cores to melt and fuel storage pools to overheat. The plant is now using makeshift systems."

Weekly protest rallies continue despite new pro-nuclear government

admin — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:35:12 +0000

The weekly antinuclear power rallies are still being staged outside the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo, as evidenced by a gathering of some 3,000 people one recent cold February evening, but the crowds are getting smaller.

Part of this decline may be because two years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear disaster started. Another factor may be that the Liberal Democratic Party — the very promoter of nuclear energy over the past half-century — returned to power at the end of last year.

The demonstrations, organized by the Metropolitan Coalition Against Nukes, a body made up of 13 groups as well as individual members, have been held every Friday in Nagata-cho since late last March, when the Democratic Party of Japan was in power and seemed receptive to calls to end nuclear power.

The movement that originally attracted 300 people grew drastically to draw some 200,000 participants of all ages within three months as the DPJ-led government moved toward restarting two reactors at the Oi nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, coalition members said. A tent city, a makeshift gathering place set up by activists just outside the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, was set up on Sept. 11, 2011.

When the tent city was launched, about 1,000 people, many in their 20s and 30s, gathered daily from around the country to express their objections to METI’s efforts to restart nuclear plants without thorough investigations into why Fukushima No. 1 occurred. Some waged 10-day hunger strikes.

“The movement served as a catalyst for young people to take action back home,” said Takehiko Yagi, a spokesman for Tent Square.

Some of the original participants staged sit-ins at the Oi plant last July to try to prevent the reactor restarts. Others continue to confront other issues, including the disposal of radiation-contaminated debris that is being carried out in various parts of Japan.

New Greenpeace report shows Fukushima suffering continuing

admin — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 20:10:00 +0000

The fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster continues for hundreds of thousands of victims in Japan still denied fair compensation from a regulatory system that allows the nuclear industry to evade its responsibilities and forces the public to pay for its disasters. A new Greenpeace International report, Fukushima Fallout: Nuclear business makes people pay and suffer, details how the serious flaws in nuclear regulations worldwide leave the public, not nuclear plant operators or suppliers of key equipment, to pay for the vast majority of the costs in the event of a nuclear accident.

Where will the Japanese radioactive waste end up?

admin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:07:33 +0000

The Japanese government has unveiled plans to review the way it selects final disposal sites for radioactive waste.

It earlier decided that contaminated mud and incinerator ash from the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima would be disposed of in the prefectures where it was generated.

The Environment Ministry plans to bury the radioactive materials in final disposal sites to be built in 5 prefectures.

The Ministry earlier selected state-owned forests in Yaita, in Tochigi Prefecture, and Takahagi, in Ibaraki Prefecture, as possible sites.

But construction has yet to proceed there due to opposition from the host cities and surrounding areas.
Senior Vice Minister Shinji Inoue on Monday announced that the ministry would meet with local governments during the decision-making process. He said the previous government had failed to fully explain to local municipalities why they had been chosen as candidate sites.

He also disclosed a ministry plan to seek recommendations from a new panel of experts, and added that drilling surveys will be carried out to narrow down the choices for the final disposal sites.