Author: Rick E

May 29, 2005 (Revised) WHAT IS MONJU Monju (280MW) is Japan’s prototype fast breeder reactor located at the tip of the Tsuruga Peninsula in Fukui Prefecture. On January 27, 2003, the Nagoya Court of Appeals (Kanazawa Branch) handed down a verdict in favor of Fukui citizens suing to stop the reactor from operating. The court found the license issued by the national government for Monju illegal due to serious deficiencies in the government’s safety review. On January 31, 2003, the national government appealed the decision. The Supreme Court verdict on Monju is to be handed down May 30, 2005 in Tokyo. Monju has been shut down since December 8, 1995…

Rokkasho. The name might not be well known outside of the anti-nuclear movement, but we hope it will become better known during the NPT Review Conference. Rokkasho is the site of a huge reprocessing plant being constructed on the northern tip of Honshu, the largest island in Japan. In December last year it began uranium trials (testing the processes using depleted uranium). Active trials using spent nuclear fuel are scheduled to begin in December this year and the plant is due to start operations in May 2007. It will then become the first commercial-scale reprocessing plant outside of the nuclear weapons states, extracting 8 tons of plutonium per year from…

Kyodo Wire Services 14 February 2005 20:34 NISA, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency’s “Inquiry Committee on Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Comprehensive Inspection” (Chairperson: Keiji KANDA) met on the 14th to begin its examination into the causes etc. of the faulty design of the High Level Vitrified Radioactive Waste Storage Facility’s cooling equipment. After the meeting Chairperson KANDA made clear his intention to instruct that a comprehensive inspection be undertaken on the design of all of JNFL’s nuclear fuel cycle facilities including the Reprocessing Plant and the Uranium Enrichment Plant. The results of the inspection is to be reported by JNFL to the committee at its meeting to be held the…

Sept 24th 2004PETITIONFUKUI PREFECTURE To: Shoichi Nakagawa, Minister, Ministry of Economy, Trade and IndustryFrom: Issei Nishikawa, Governor, Fukui Prefecture On the 9th of August 2004 an accident occurred at the Mihama Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 reactor. This incident seriously injured 11 people 5 of which lost their lives. This was the biggest disaster to date in the history of Japanese nuclear power. In Fukui Prefecture we have worked hard for many years to win the people s trust and to build a safe reputation for nuclear power. It is extremely regrettable that this accident has destroyed that trust and the reputation of nuclear power in Fukui Prefecture. I have…

14 May 2004 Mr Stephen Timms MPMinister for EnergyC/O The British EmbassyTokyo, JapanTel: 03-5211-1332Fax: 03-5211-1270 Dear Mr Timms We are Japanese citizens, consumer, professional and anti-nuclear organisations from Osaka, Kyoto, Aomori, the Tokyo and central Japan regions. We write to you concerning BNFL’s hopes of resurrecting business with Japanese electric utilities concerning MOX (mixed oxide) fuel use, this time at the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP). Trust in BNFL has been destroyed in Japan. The December 1999 BNFL data falsification scandal is still very fresh in the minds of the Japanese public. In a recent Fukui legislative session, distrust concerning BNFL was raised yet again, and an important conservative Fukui legislator…

For Immediate Release: 25 April 2003 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith 　 Mobile: +81-90-3620-9251 On 25 April, Green Action and other Japanese citizen and consumer organizations issued an appeal to governments party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty asking them to urge Japan "not to go forward with separation of massive quantities of plutonium at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant." The Rokkasho plant (800 tons HM/year) is located in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan and is scheduled to begin uranium commissioning this June according to Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL), owner/operator of the plant. Reprocessing is scheduled to start in 2005. The plant is capable of separating out 7 tons of weapons-capable plutonium a year.*…

We are organizations in Japan concerned with the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The Japanese people have in our collective memory the devastating effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We are therefore seriously concerned with the current build-up in nuclear tensions in the Far East — the Korean Peninsula and Japan. This, more than anything, urges us to write to you today. Japan has a program to use massive quantities of plutonium for civil use. In spite of there being no demand for plutonium in Japan due to a standstill in the implementation of this program, Japan is going forward with preparations to operate a huge reprocessing plant capable of separating out…

Stop Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Aomori Japan — For Immediate Release: 25 April 2003 Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith Mobile: +81-90-3620-9251 On 25 April, Green Action and other Japanese citizen and consumer organizations issued an appeal to governments party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty asking them to urge Japan "not to go forward with separation of massive quantities of plutonium at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant." The Rokkasho plant (800 tons HM/year) is located in Aomori Prefecture, northern Japan and is scheduled to begin uranium commissioning this June according to Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL), owner/operator of the plant. Reprocessing is scheduled to start in 2005. The plant is capable of separating out…