Working Together to Create a Nuclear-Power-Free Japan
Read the letter to AREVA from Greenpeace Germany, Green Action Japan, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center and others addressing safety concerns about AREVA’s plutonium MOX fuel produced for Japanese utilities
Frédéric Patalagoity, President and Managing Director AREVA Japan Urban Toranomon, Bldg. 5F 1-16-4 Toranomon, Minato-ku Tokyo 105-0001 Japan July 21, 2016 Dear Frédéric Patalagoity, We are writing to you to express our disappointment and concerns over the use of AREVA produced MOX fuel in Japanese nuclear power plants. As you know we wrote to you on January 28th of this year to request details over the quality of plutonium mixed oxide fuel supplied to Japan, specifically Kansai Electric. We have yet to receive a response to this letter (also attached to this letter). As you will be aware the Ikata 3 reactor is due to restart operations shortly. Sixteen assemblies …
Frédéric Patalagoity, President and Managing Director AREVA Japan Urban Toranomon, Bld 5F 1-16-4 Toranomon, Minato-ku Tokyo 105-0001 Japan January 28th 2016 Dear Frédéric Patalagoity, We are writing to you to outline our concerns with the production standards, quality control and, ultimately, safety of AREVA plutonium MOX fuel produced for Japanese utilities. Specifically the planned use of 30 MOX assemblies in the Takahama reactor units 3&4, owned by Kansai Electric. As you will be aware it is fifteen years since the poor quality control and production standards of plutonium MOX fuel was first disclosed in the case of 8 MOX fuel assemblies manufactured by the then British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) …
MOX (mixed plutonium uranium) Fuel Shipment Arrives in Japan with No End-Use Determined For immediate release: 27 June 2013 27 June 2013, Takahama Town, Fukui Prefecture, Japan—-A shipment of MOX (mixed plutonium and uranium oxide) fuel arrived at Kepco’s Takahama nuclear power plant today located in Fukui Prefecture facing the Japan Sea. Today’s shipment violates the Japan Atomic Energy Commission’s determination, issued in 2003, requiring utilities to specify the end-use of MOX fuel before it is imported. Kepco has not been given permission to restart its Takahama nuclear power plant. On top of that, the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has not even established post-Fukushima accident regulatory standards for MOX …
Joint letter signed by U.S., Japanese, and Korean NGOs urging the U.S. to suspend consent for the transport of over 900kg of plutonium through the East Sea/Japan Sea to Kansai Electric’s Takahama nuclear power plant. The shipment is MOX (plutonium uranium) fuel reported to be leaving Cherbourg, France the week of April 14th. Kansai Electric has stated it is as yet undetermined whether the fuel will be used. April 12th 2013 Dear Secretary of State John Kerry: cc: senior State Department staff, Senate Foreign Relations/House Foreign Affairs We are writing to you to express our concern at plans by the United Kingdom, France and Japan to resume shipments of weapons-usable …
Letters sent to countries potentially on the route of the MOX fuel shipment This is a follow-up letter to the letter we sent you on 5 March concerning an imminent plutonium shipment (MOX fuel) from France to Japan that may pass by your country. The Japanese electric utility Kansai Electric announced in a press release yesterday, 21 March, that it plans to ship MOX fuel from France to Japan. They did not disclose the date. This Kansai Electric press release and the French company AREVA’s announcement on 20 March confirm that the shipment is indeed imminent. Our information continues to be that the British flagged transport vessels Pacific Heron and …
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A plutonium fuel shipment from France to Japan is scheduled to depart early April 2013. If it takes place, it would be the first plutonium shipment from Europe to Japan since the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Many nations’ coastal waters could be on the route of the shipment. The route remains secret. Only two reactors are operating in Japan. None of the potential reactors the fuel is destined for have been granted permission to restart operations. Download: Letters sent to countries potentially on the route of the MOX fuel shipment (PDF) Attachments: MOX Fuel Shipment 2009: Issues and Controversies–Presented to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan by Aileen …
30 June 2010 STATEMENT We Protest MOX Fuel Arrival at Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4 To Makoto YAGI, President of Kansai Electric Issued by: Green Action (Kyoto, Japan) and Mihama-no-Kai (Osaka, Japan) For immediate release. Contact: +81-90-3620-9251 (Smith) Today, 30 June, Kansai Electric, ignoring the many voices of protest, brought MOX (mixed oxide) fuel into the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 and Unit 4. Many countries around the world have expressed their concern and protest against the numerous Japanese plutonium shipments from France. However, Kansai Electric, totally ignored these voices of concern, forced through this shipment. We strongly protest this shipment and the arrival of MOX …
Japan’s Troubled Plutonium Program Genkai Nuclear Power Plant Starts MOX Fuel Use 460,000 Citizens Demand Suspension Round-the-Clock Sit-In Begins 5 November 2009 PRESS RELEASE For immediate release Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith—–cell: +81-90-3620-9251 Kyoto, Japan—Japan’s beleaguered “pluthernal” program, MOX (mixed plutonium-uranium oxide) fuel use in commercial power plants, got off to a troubled start at Kyushu Electric’s Genkai Unit 3 Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 in Saga Prefecture today with the use of 16 MOX fuel assemblies. Full-time opera-tion of the reactor is scheduled to begin December 2nd. A round-the-clock sit-in began this morning in front of Kyushu Electric headquarters in Fukuoka City and messages of support are pouring in from …
May 23, 2009 Saga, Japan MOX Fuel Shipment Arrival Protest Genkai Nuclear Power Plant Citizens oppose arrival of Pacific Pintail and Pacific Heron carrying 20 assemblies of MOX fuel from France to Japan Photo Credit: Saga Hyakunen-no-Kai