The Failures of Japan’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Program, 1956 – 2007

Secret Plutonium Shipment Exposes Failure of Non Proliferation and Security Policy in Advance of Nuclear Security Summit and the Threat from Japanese Stockpiling Program Armed British transport ships expected to arrive Tokai port Sunday March 18th 2016  Tokyo…A shipment of weapons-grade plutonium scheduled to depart the port of Tokai, Ibaraki prefecture this coming weekend highlights the failure, but also the proliferation risks, of the current Japanese nuclear policy, a coalition of five non-governmental organizations warned today. A cargo of 331kg of plutonium will be loaded on to the Pacific Egret, an armed British nuclear transport ship, prior to departure under armed escort to the United States. It will be the largest…

For further information contact: Aileen Mioko Smith, Cell: +81-90-3620-9251, Email: amsmith@gol.com Secret preparations are underway in Britain and France for shipping 1.8 tons of plutonium, the largest quantity of plutonium every shipped by sea. The plutonium is contained in 65 assemblies of MOX (mixed plutonium and uranium oxide) fuel and is being shipped to Japan for use in the nuclear power plants of three Japanese electric utilities. No details have been revealed, but it is reported that the fuel will be transported by two British-flagged vessels, escorting each other. The vessels are to depart Europe anytime on or after March 1st. Neither the hour of departure nor the maritime route…

[Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith Tel: +81 90 3620 9251] 24 January 2006 (Kyoto, Japan)—The Japan Atomic Energy Commission headed by Shunsuke Kondo today approved Japanese utilities’ Plutonium Utilization Plan released earlier this month. Japanese NGOs lambasted as “fiction” the utilities’ fiscal 2005 and 2006 plans which say 1.6 tons of plutonium will be consumed in Japanese nuclear reactors as MOX (mixed plutonium uranium oxide) fuel. None of the nuclear power plants specified under the Plan has approval from local authorities to use the plutonium. Tokyo Electric which heads the Federation of Electric Power Companies could not name which plants would use the plutonium, yet says it will consume it. Nuclear…

Suspicions of Corrosion of Transport Cask and Transport Vessel It was reported in 29 June Fukui Newspaper that 8 MOX fuel assemblies with falsified quality control data could leave Takahama, Fukui Prefecture as early as 4 July 2002. However, there are suspicions about corrosion of the transport cask and corrosion of the steel plate tank tops of the transport vessel. An investigation by Tokyo Electric and Kansai Electric showed that metal corrosion led to the rising of the heat radiation fins on TN model transport casks currently stored in France. On 27 June, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport issued an official notification instructing the companies to refrain use…

Japan’s Two Operating Reactors won’t meet New Post-Fukushima Standards Will the Nuclear Regulation Authority Still Allow Them to Operate? For immediate release: 19 June 2013 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith Kyoto, Japan—-The Nuclear Regulation Authority today approved new post-Fukushima regulatory standards. The standards will now be sent to the Cabinet for approval. They are scheduled to take effect on 8 July. Will the NRA ignore compliance with its new standards from day one by allowing the two currently operating nuclear reactors in Japan, Ohi Units 3 and 4 to continue to operate, thus setting the precedent for further non-compliance? At issue is whether Japan has learned the lessons of the Fukushima…