Search Results for: MOX

Citizen organizations from Aomori, Fukushima, Niigata, Fukui, Tokyo region, Kansai region, and Kyushu region submit petition to stop Cogema fuel and technology from entering Japan For immediate release: 13 February 2001 Contact persons:Aileen Mioko Smith (+ 81 90 3620 9251) / Stephen Ready Kyoto, Japan—-On 12 February, citizens from prefectures with Tokyo Electric nuclear power plants slated to use MOX (mixed plutonium uranium oxide) fuel under Japan’s plutonium program submitted a petition to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry seeking government rejection of MOX fuel currently being fabricated at Cogema’s Melox facility for Tokyo Electric’s Fukushima Unit I-3 reactor. They were joined in the petition by Green Action, …

Continue reading “Immediate release: Japanese Citizens Challenge Quality of Cogema MOX Fuel, Oppose Japanese Pluthermal Program,Meet with Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI)”

21 June 2018 Dear Director General Yukiya Amano, We are writing to you in advance of a submission by the Government of Japan on its plutonium stockpiling program. It is our understanding that the IAEA will receive by the end of this month an explanation from the Abe administration on how Japan intends to respond to growing international criticism of its plutonium stocks, which in 2016 stood at 46,900 kilograms. As with its earlier commitment to maintain its plutonium stockpile to the minimum level made by the Abe administration at the Hague Summit in 2014, we predict the same meaningless rhetorical commitments in June 2018. The information to be submitted …

Continue reading “Open Letter to the Director General Yukiya Amano, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 21 June 2018”

Plutonium Shipment to Depart Japan for United States – Exposes Failure Of Global Reprocessing Programs March 22nd 2016, Tokyo…The shipment of weapons-grade plutonium at the port of Tokai, Ibaraki prefecture departing later today, exposes the failure of global plutonium reprocessing programs and the threat from current Japanese nuclear policy, five non-governmental organizations charged today.(1) The cargo of 331kg of plutonium was loaded on to the Pacific Egret, an armed British nuclear transport ship, after it arrived at Tokai at 08.00 March 21st. Armed Japanese coastguard vessels, including the Shikishima, are outside the port and are expected to escort the plutonium shipment while inside Japanese coastal waters. The shipment is being …

Continue reading “Plutonium Shipment to Depart Japan for United States – Exposes Failure Of Global Reprocessing Programs”

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 …

Continue reading “Imminent Plutonium Shipment Exposes Failure of Non Proliferation, Threat of Plutonium Stockpiling”

Lessons of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Have Not Been Learned We Strongly Oppose the Restart of the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 Located in the Seismically Active Wakasa Bay Region of Japan 29 January 2016 Kyoto, Japan For immediate release. Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith +81-90-3620-9251 (amsmith@greenaction-japan.org) There are fifteen nuclear reactors located in the Wakasa Bay region of Fukui prefecture, one of the most seismically active areas among nuclear power plant sites in this earthquakeridden archipelago of Japan. Takahama Unit 3 is being allowed to restart by Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) even though it does not meet NRA stardards for evaluating seismic motion, whereby the variations from …

Continue reading “Lessons of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Have Not Been Learned”

Kansai Electric’s Takahama Units 3 and 4 Restart Review Enters Public Comment Period First Use of Plutonium (MOX) Fuel Since Fukushima Accident Moves Ahead Without NRA Review of its Severe Accident Implications For immediate release: 17 December 2014 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith +81-90-3620-9251 Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) today approved the first stage of the review for restart of Kansai Electric’s Takahama Units 3 and 4 located in Fukui Prefecture. If restart is approved, it will be the first reactors to use plutonium (uranium and plutonium mIxed oxide fuel: MOX fuel) since the Fukushima accident. The Nuclear Regulatory Agency stated today that the approval process for MOX fuel at Takahama …

Continue reading “Kansai Electric’s Takahama Units 3 and 4 Restart Review Enters Public Comment Period”

To Delegates to the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference Restart of Japan’s Monju Fast Breeder Reactor – Implications for Nuclear Proliferation, Nuclear Safety and Energy Supply On May 6, Japan’s Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor(1) was restarted, after being shut down for over 14 years due to an accident involving a sodium leak and a fire. It is a great irony that a plutonium-fueled fast breeder reactor was restarted at a time when unprecedented international attention is being given to nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and security. We wish to draw your attention to some of the implications of the Monju restart, in particular in relation to nuclear proliferation, nuclear safety …

Continue reading “Letter to NPT Review Conference Delegates Concerning Restart of Japan’s Monju Fast Breeder Reactor”

EMERGENCY OPEN LETTER: QUESTIONS AND PETITION TO THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT’S NUCLEAR REGULATORY AUTHORITY We Ask that You Contact the Foreign Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authorities Concerning the Safety and Quality Assurance of the MOX Fuel Fabricated at the French company Areva’s Melox plant On 30 September, Kyushu Electric made public that it will be loading MOX fuel into its Genkai Unit 3 nuclear power plant as early as 3 October. In the meantime, a serious safety and quality assurance problem has emerged concerning the MOX fuel fabricated at the French company Areva’s Melox plant. Kansai Electric has found that some 350,000 pellets of the MOX fuel fabricated for its Takahama Nuclear …

Continue reading “EMERGENCY OPEN LETTER: QUESTIONS AND PETITION TO THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT’S NUCLEAR REGULATORY AUTHORITY”

Press Release on Joint Appeal issued by Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (Tokyo), Green Action (Kyoto), and Greenpeace Japan Download PDF (500KB) Joint Appeal issued by Citizens’Nuclear Information Center (Tokyo),Green Action (Kyoto), and Greenpeace Japan NGOs in Japan Call for Japanese Government and Utilities to Terminate Plutonium Fuel (MOX) Shipments from Europe to Japan, Call for En Route Countries to Join in Ending Shipments Contact: Green Action (Aileen Mioko Smith) +81-90-3620-9251, CNIC (Philip White) +81-3-3357-3800 The appeal can be downloaded at:http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress0/index.php?p=64 For immediate release. 5 March 2009, Tokyo/Kyoto, Japan—- Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Green Action, and Greenpeace Japan appealed to the Japanese Government to stop the world’s largest ever shipment of …

Continue reading “Press Release on Joint Appeal issued by Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (Tokyo), Green Action (Kyoto), and Greenpeace Japan”

Letter sent by Greenpeace, Green Action, and Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center concerning the plutonium of Japanese MOX fuel shipment Download PDF (80KB) Open Letter to Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei International Atomic Energy Agency 2 March 2009 Dear Dr. ElBaradei, We are writing to warn you that the French state nuclear company, Areva, is actively denying the proliferation risks posed by reactor-grade plutonium contained in Mixed Oxide Fuel. The matter is an urgent one, as on March 6th 2009 a shipment of approximately 1.8 metric tons of plutonium contained in 65 assemblies of MOX fuel is scheduled to depart the port of Cherbourg bound for Japan.1 Our specific concerns are …

Continue reading “Open Letter to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei 2 March 2009”