Has fast breeder Monju been good for Japan’s energy?

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…

23 January 2011 Statement by Minamata Victims and Supporter Groups Addressing the Government of Japan’s Proposal to Call the Mercury Treaty the “Minamata Convention” ta disease is an ongoing tragedy. As the global community negotiates the mercury treaty, the Japanese government must first confront the Minamata disease issue at home. After fifty-five years of struggling with the disaster, we are opposed to naming the mercury treaty the “Minamata Convention” until the tragedy is faced head on and a road map created for its genuine resolution. The Government of Japan must make clear what was learned from Minamata, implement the lessons learned and, before the diplomatic conference in 2013, reexamine its…

Aileen Mioko Smith, Director Green Action, Kyoto, Japan Download PDF (4.3 MB) A 23-page Green Action presentation prepared for the anti-GNEP (Global Nuclear Energy Partnership) tour organized by Public Citizen in Washington, D.C. (May 2007)

Dangerous shipment of Japanese High Level Radioactive Waste Passing through the Caribbean and Panama 22 January 2010 (Kyoto, Japan) For immediate release: A shipment of 28 canisters of Japanese vitrified high level radioactive waste departed Sellafield, UK on 20 January aboard the Pacific Sandpiper bound for Japan. Japan Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (JNFL) reported today that the route of the 6-week voyage will be through the Panama Canal. The high level waste (HLW) has been produced by the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel from Japanese electric utilities. The Pacific Sandpiper is still operating despite having been built to the same design and construction standards as predecessor vessels decommissioned or scrapped following…

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…

Dangerous shipment of Japanese High-Level Radioactive Nuclear Waste Crossing Pacific Ocean on Defective Vessel 08 February 2010 (Kyoto, Japan) For more information contact: +81-90-3620-9251 (Smith) For immediate release: A shipment of 28 canisters of highly toxic Japanese vitrified high level radioactive waste departed Sellafield, UK on 20 January aboard the Pacific Sandpiper bound for Japan. The cargo is today passing through the Panama Canal and will be entering the Pacific Ocean momentarily. The high level waste (HLW) has been produced by the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel from Japanese electric utilities. It is the first of this kind of shipment from the UK. A press release issued 25 January by…