Press Release

August 11, 2010

Beware of Investing in New US Nukes
Visiting Expert Warns Japanese Government

Tuesday, August 11 (Tokyo): US nuclear expert Kevin Kamps, who is currently visiting Japan, today sent a letter to the Japanese Government warning them to carefully consider the very serious financial risks of investing in new atomic reactors in the United States. The letter, which was endorsed by over 70 US NGOs, was addressed to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Minister of Finance Yoshihiko Noda and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima.

Kamps is a member of US NGO Beyond Nuclear. He campaigns on a wide range of nuclear issues, including radioactive waste and US Government funding for new nuclear reactors.

Japanese government and industry hope to export nuclear reactors to countries in Asia, including Vietnam, and to countries in the Middle East, but their first priority is to participate in the construction of proposed new reactors in the United States. However, Kamps points out that the long-awaited US nuclear renaissance might not materialize.

The last order for a new reactor to actually be built was placed in October 1973. To rescue the moribund nuclear industry, the US government is offering various incentives, including loan guarantees, which shift the risk from investors to taxpayers. This means that if companies which receive loan guarantees default on their payments, the government will pick up the tab. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has predicted that over half of new reactor project will default, based upon the past history of the nuclear power industry.

So far, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received applications to build 26 new nuclear reactors, all of which are so-called third generation designs, although the new designs are not significantly innovative compared to currently operating reactors. But, as Kamps points out, None of these applications has been approved by the NRC yet. Until they receive a Construction and Operating License (COL) they cannot receive a loan guarantee.

In February this year, President Obama announced the first loan guarantee for two proposed reactors (AP1000 – AP stands for Advanced Passive) at Southern Company’s Vogtle nuclear power station in Georgia. However, the Westinghouse (owned by Toshiba) AP1000 design being considered has not even received a final NRC design certification. NRC cannot approve a COL until the design is certified, so the loan guarantee cannot be finalized.

Kamps says, The fact that loan guarantees are being announced before designs are approved and licenses issued shows that the whole program is in a state of confusion.

Most of the proposed reactors have Japanese involvement, but the most direct involvement is in two proposed ABWRs (General Electric-Hitachi Advanced Boiling Water Reactors) at the South Texas Project nuclear power station. Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power Company have both invested in Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA), which plans to build the reactors.

NINA hopes that the involvement of Japanese companies will enable it to win support from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). However the project is in deep trouble due to escalating costs and delays in the announcement of loan guarantees. NINA’s owners, NRG Energy and Toshiba, recently announced that they are paring back spending on the proposed plant expansion because of uncertainty surrounding a federal loan guarantee for the project. (See notes attached to the NGO letter for more information about this and other projects.)

U.S. federal taxpayer loan guarantees would cover up to 80% of project costs. New reactor proponents could seek the remaining 20% of financing from Japanese government agencies.

The Japanese Government’s New Growth Strategy proposes an expansion in the range of NEXI’s export and investment insurance to cover the risk of policy changes by the government of the importing country and in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun the Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima proposed using pension funds as a source of long-term investment finance for nuclear export projects (Asahi Globe, August 2, 2010).

However, when Kamps visited JBIC and NEXI on August 4, he warned them, It is dangerous to view nuclear projects in the United States as less risky than in developing countries. If you want to invest, it would be wiser to invest in highly competitive renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Contacts in Japan
Philip White, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Tel: 03-3357-3800
Aileen Mioko Smith, Green Action, Tel: 075-701-7223
Noriko Shimizu, FoE Japan, Tel: 03-6907-7217

Contact in the US
Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, Tel: 301-270-2209

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 fuel at Takahama.

The MOX fuel that was fabricated at the AREVA Melox plant is of inferior quality, containing impurity levels that would not even pass safety standards for uranium fuel. Burning plutonium in this way at nuclear power reactors that are designed to burn uranium fuel will only further increase the probability of an accident.

Moreover, the spent MOX fuel waste that will be produced as a result of Kansai Electric burning this fuel will be nuclear waste that will have nowhere to go. This ultra-hazardous nuclear waste will remain indefinitely, over an extremely long period of time, at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant spent fuel pools.

The Japanese government has stated that policy measures deciding on how this fuel will be managed will be deliberated from “sometime around 2010.” However, commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, a prerequisite for this deliberation, is not moving forward. Active tests at Rokkasho are at a complete standstill due to intractable problems at its vitrification facility. Another prerequisite for deliberation of policy measures for spent MOX fuel is operation of Monju. Although Monju was restarted after being shut down for over 14 years due to a sodium leak and fire accident in 1995, repeated problems occurred immediately after this May’s restart. The prerequisites for starting deliberations on spent MOX fuel are now even further out of reach. If Kansai Electric’s pluthermal program (MOX fuel use program) goes ahead in full force under these circumstances, the town of Takahama is destined to become a nuclear waste dump.

The pluthermal program producing spent nuclear fuel which has no where to go is, in the first place, in violation of the national government’s nuclear regulatory law.

Moreover, indefinite long term safe storage of spent MOX fuel in spent fuel pools is not guaranteed. In the USA, at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in 2005, and the Salem nuclear power plant in 2002, the environment around the plants were radioactively contaminated due to leakage from spent nuclear fuel pools at these plants. Small quantities leaked from the pools over a long period of time, as much as 5 years, contaminating the underground and groundwater. Levels of radioactive tritium reached as much as 126 times the federally allowed safety levels, becoming a serious social issue.

Kansai Electric’s monitoring of its spent fuel pools basically is only concerned with maintaining water levels within the pools, and there is danger that small quantities leaking from the pools could lead to underground contamination and contamination of the surrounding sea. In fact, in Japan, leaks have been detected from spent fuel pools at the Ikata nuclear power plant Unit 3 in Ehime prefecture, and at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture.

Extremely long-term storage of spent MOX fuel in the spent fuel pools of Fukui nuclear power plants will not only make these local areas de facto nuclear dumps, there is danger that leakage from these spent fuel pools could lead to the environment of the Wakasa region of Fukui prefecture being contaminated with radioactive materials. It will damage citizens hopes of leaving this rich and beautiful environment for generations to come.

　We are opposed to the loading of MOX fuel at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 during the October outage. We will continue to stengthen the links between Fukui and Kansai citizens and work to stop implementation of the pluthermal (MOX fuel utilization) program at Takahama Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3.

“Has fast breeder Monju been good for Japan’s energy?”
Fast breeder’s electricity is expensive.

Download PDF version (266 KB)

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 and energy supply.

Implications for Nuclear Proliferation
The key nuclear proliferation issue associated with fast breeder reactors is the use and production of plutonium, which can be used to build nuclear weapons. Japan’s fast reactor program uses plutonium as fuel and plans to “breed” more plutonium than it consumes.(2)

Although Japan’s nuclear power facilities are under IAEA safeguards, the bulk-handling facilities needed to support the operation of fast reactors like Monju (reprocessing plants and plutonium fuel fabrication plants) cannot be effectively safeguarded against diversion. Moreover, the IAEA cannot meet its inspection goals at such facilities through the use of material accountancy alone. In fact, the plant used to fabricate Monju’s initial core, the Plutonium Fuel Production Facility, lost track of 70 kilograms of plutonium, and the plant had to be shut down for several years to resolve the discrepancy.

Japan already has over 47 tons of separated plutonium, nearly 10 tons of which is stockpiled in Japan. The rest is held in Europe. If the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant ever operates to full capacity, a further 8 tons of plutonium will be separated each year from spent nuclear fuel. Japan plans to use some of this plutonium as MOX fuel in its fleet of light water reactors and in fast reactors Joyo and Monju. However, because Japan will continue to separate plutonium there is little prospect that Japan’s massive stockpile of weapons-usable plutonium will be eliminated, or even brought into line with consumption any time soon.

Use of plutonium in the civil nuclear fuel cycle also increases nuclear terrorism risks. The April 13, 2010 Communiqué of the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington recognized that “highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium require special precautions”. Both of these materials can be used to produce nuclear weapons, yet far more attention was paid to the risks associated with the use of highly enriched uranium than those of plutonium. In fact, as pointed out by Gareth Evans, Co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, the Summit should have given more attention to the problems associated with plutonium.(3) The relatively limited attention given to plutonium was undoubtedly because some U.S. allies, including Japan, use plutonium in their nuclear power programs.

In addition to the direct proliferation risks associated with Japan’s program to separate and re-use plutonium, the example set by Japan encourages other countries to pursue plutonium-based nuclear power programs. However, widespread use of plutonium would dramatically increase the proliferation risks associated with the civil use of nuclear energy. As pointed out in the NGO presentation on nuclear energy, delivered to this NPT Review Conference on May 7,

“Separation of plutonium through reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and the creation of a global plutonium economy exacerbates the problem. It is fundamentally contrary and counterproductive to the NPT commitment to retire nuclear weapons, since it would put weapons-usable materials directly into global commerce.”(4)

Civil plutonium stockpiles create serious instabilities in the NPT regime. As noted above, separated plutonium cannot be effectively safeguarded. Any country that possesses separated “civil” plutonium could be only a short time away-days to weeks-from producing nuclear weapons should it choose to break out of its NPT obligations.

Implications for Nuclear Safety and Energy Supply
Fast breeder reactors, which use plutonium, are not needed to ensure the supply of energy. In fact, they have been highly unreliable in providing energy. The history of Japan’s plutonium fuel cycle program, and the plutonium fuel cycle programs of other countries clearly demonstrate that there are major safety and economic problems that will prevent fast reactors from being reliable producers of energy. Continuing to pour money into research and development will only prevent other safe, secure, and economically viable alternatives from being developed.

A recent report by the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM) sums up the problems of fast breeder reactors as follows:

The problems described in the country case studies in the following chapters make it hard to dispute Admiral Hyman Rickover’s summation in 1956, based on his experience with a sodium-cooled reactor developed to power an early U.S. nuclear submarine, that such reactors are “expensive to build, complex to operate, susceptible to prolonged shutdown as a result of even minor malfunctions, and difficult and time-consuming to repair.”(5)

In the same IPFM report Tatsujiro Suzuki discusses Japan’s fast reactor program.

Japan remains officially committed to the fast breeder reactor and closed fuel cycle systems. However, the fast breeder reactor commercialization date has receded far into the future while the fast breeder reactor R&D budget has been shrinking. Japan’s continued commitment to the fast breeder reactor appears largely driven by socio-political factors affecting Japan’s management of the back-end of the light-water reactor fuel cycle and R&D management. (6)

There is considerable opposition to Monju within Japan. Attached is a statement that was signed by 29 Japanese scientists preceding the restart of Monju. In particular, the statement addresses problems associated with the safety and organizational culture of Monju’s owner and operator, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Fourteen years after the sodium accident in 1995, it is very doubtful that these problems have been rectified.

Conclusion
Japan’s fast reactor and reprocessing program will not help meet Japan’s energy needs. At the same time it complicates efforts to control the spread of weapons-usable materials and provides potential proliferators an excuse to justify their own programs. The restart of the Monju FBR undermines Japan’s claim to leadership in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Recommendations
In view of the problems outlined above, we urge delegates to the 2010 NPT Review Conference to:
1) Call upon the Government of Japan to abandon its fast-breeder and reprocessing program.
2) Support a Comprehensive Fissile Material Ban that includes civil plutonium programs.

New York, May 21, 2010

Notes
1. Monju is located in Tsuruga City in Fukui Prefecture on the Japan Sea side of Japan’s main island of Honshu. It has an electrical power output of 280MW.
2. When FBRs are used in “breeder” mode, plutonium is produced in a blanket of depleted uranium around the core. The plutonium produced in the blanket has a concentration of 98% plutonium-239, the most convenient plutonium isotope for nuclear weapons production. It is relatively easy to separate this plutonium, because the depleted uranium blanket is less contaminated with highly radioactive fission products than regular spent fuel.
3. Extract from “Nuclear summit seeks to boost protection without new treaties”, by Randy Woods and Rennie MacKenzie, published in Nucleonics Week (15-Apr-10).
Speaking April 12 in Washington, nonproliferation expert Gareth Evans cautioned that world leaders should not lose sight of plutonium’s importance. Evans, who is co-chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation, was speaking at a nuclear security meeting in Washington hosted by the Fissile Materials Working Group, a coalition of more than 40 nonproliferation academics and advocates.
“At the same time that the use of HEU is diminishing – although not quickly enough – plutonium, particularly in the form of mixed oxides, is coming into more widespread use,” he said.
4. The NGO paper on nuclear energy and Article IV of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty delivered at the 2010 NPT Review Conference is available on the following link:
http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/revcon2010/ngostatements/NuclearEnergy.pdf
5. Fast Breeder Reactor Programs: History and Status, A research report of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, February 2010, page 3.
http://www.fissilematerials.org/ipfm/site_down/rr08.pdf
6. ibid., page 60. Since writing the article Tatsujiro Suzuki has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission.

Letter endorsed by the following groups

International
Greenpeace International
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

Japan
Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center
Friends of the Earth Japan
Green Action
Greenpeace Japan
Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs (Gensuikin)
Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies
Peace Boat

Korea
Citizens’ Institute for Environmental Studies
Energy Justice Actions
Green Korea United
Korea Federation for Environmental Movements
Korean Women’s Association United
Korean Women’s Environmental Network
Peace Network
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
Uljin Social Policy Institute

Europe
Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (UK)
Österreichisches Ökologie-Institut (Austrian Institute of Ecology)
Umweltinstitut München e.V. (Munich Environmental Institute) (Germany)
World Information Service on Energy (Netherlands)

USA
Friends of the Earth US
Greenpeace USA
Nonproliferation Policy Education Center
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Union of Concerned Scientists

Monju Restart: Appeal By Japanese Scientists
http://www.cnic.jp/modules/news/article.php?storyid=895

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PRESS RELEASE

NGOs Criticize Restart of Japan’s Monju Fast Breeder Reactor
Call on NPT Review Conference Delegates to Support an End
to Civil Use of Plutonium

New York, May 21, 2010: A letter criticizing the restart of Japan’s Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, endorsed by leading peace, non-proliferation and disarmament, and environmental NGOs from around the world, was delivered today to government officials at the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. The letter was endorsed by 29 NGOs from Japan, Korea, Europe and the USA, and international NGOs including International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

The letter highlighted the dangerous implications of the May 6 restart of Monju for nuclear proliferation, nuclear safety and energy supply, saying, “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.”

Implications for nuclear proliferation and nuclear security of Monju and Japan’s nuclear fuel cycle program include the following:

The bulk-handling facilities needed to support the operation of fast reactors like Monju (reprocessing plants and plutonium fuel fabrication plants) cannot be effectively safeguarded against diversion.

Japan has over 47 tons of separated plutonium. If the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant operates to plan, 8 tons will be added to this each year. There is little prospect that this stockpile of weapons-usable plutonium will be eliminated any time soon.

The example set by Japan encourages other countries to pursue plutonium-based nuclear power programs, but the use of plutonium in the civil nuclear fuel cycle increases nuclear terrorism and proliferation risks.

Any country that possesses separated “civil” plutonium could be only a short time away from producing nuclear weapons should it choose to break out of its NPT obligations.

In regard to nuclear safety and energy supply, the letter noted that fast reactors have been highly unreliable in providing energy and that continuing to pour money into research and development will only prevent other safe, secure, and economically viable alternatives from being developed.

The letter urged delegates to the 2010 NPT Review Conference to:

1) Call upon the Government of Japan to abandon its fast-breeder and reprocessing program.
2) Support a Comprehensive Fissile Material Ban that includes civil plutonium programs.

Contacts:
At the NPT in New York
Shaun Burnie
Phone: +1-646-249-9361, Email: burnie.shaun@googlemail.com
In Japan
Philip White, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (International Liaison Officer)
Phone: (office) +81-3-3357-3800, (home) +81-3-3708-2898, Email: white@cnic.jp
Aileen Smith, Green Action (Director)
Phone: (office)+81-75-701-7223, (cell) 090-3620-9251, Email: amsmith@gol.com

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Press Release:
NGOs Criticize Restart of Japan’s Monju Fast Breeder Reactor
Call on NPT Review Conference Delegates to Support an End
to Civil Use of Plutonium
Download PDF version (70KB)

The full letter, along with a list of endorsing groups
Restart of Japan’s Monju Fast Breeder Reactor – Implications for Nuclear
Proliferation, Nuclear Safety and Energy Supply
Download PDF version (82KB)

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 the Nuclear Free Local Authorities in the UK states:

“The Pacific Sandpiper has recently been issued with three Statutory Memos demanding the completion of work related to crew safety, Emergency Towing Procedures, and engine room fire extinguishing systems. The available evidence implies that this work has not yet been carried out.

During recent Port State Control Inspections in Europe and Japan, the Pacific Sandpiper has been shown to have a number of deficiencies including Fire Safety measures.

The Asia Pacific Port State Control Inspection (PSCI) organisation’s website currently reports that the Pacific Sandpiper has a Target Factor of 81 and a High Risk Level.

If this vessel was an oil or chemical tanker, seeking to carry a full cargo of oil or toxic chemicals across two major oceans and through the globally identified Marine High Risk Areas between the UK and Japan, it would be considered as a pariah ship and a potential toxic time bomb. ”

The Pacific Sandpiper is still operating despite having been built to the same design and construction standards as predecessor vessels decommissioned or scrapped following discovery of “run away” corrosion.

Findings of a report* issued April 2009 and commissioned by NFLA (Nuclear Free Local Authorities), a coalition of more than 70 local authorities in Ireland and the UK, found this fleet to be:

Vulnerable to build-up of gas or moisture in their double-skinned hulls, “run away corrosion.”

40% only single-skinned hull

Claims ships are unsinkable “lack scientific and technical credibility.”

Emergency plans for coping with accidents non-existent.

*Report by independent marine pollution consultant, Tim Deere-Jones.(April 2009)

“It is unconscionable that Japan and the UK are engaging in this dangerous transport with an old, defective ship, passing it across the Pacific with no viable emergency plan in place” stated Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of Green Action based in Japan.

Martin Forwood of CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment) is quoted as saying, “The high security surrounding today’s shipment is testament to the dangers posed by this highly radioactive material and the unwholesome global trade in which the nuclear industry is immersed. Sellafield needs to wake up to the harsh reality that today’s world and its oceans are a significantly more dangerous place than they were 30 years ago when the contracts were signed.”

This shipment is the first of many such transports scheduled for return to Japan. It is expected that Japan will receive a total of up to 1000 HLW canisters at the rate of around one shipment (4 transport flasks) from Sellafield each year.

According to the press release issued by CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment) on 20 January, future shipments will be not be made on the Pacific Sandpiper (launched1985) which, as the oldest ship of the Pacific Nuclear Transport (PNTL) fleet and already at its 25 year sell-by date, is due for retirement.

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 discovery of “run away” corrosion. Findings of a report* issued April 2009 and commissioned by NFLA (Nuclear Free Local Authorities), a coalition of more than 70 local authorities in Ireland and the UK, found this fleet to be:

Vulnerable to build-up of gas or moisture in their double-skinned hulls, “run away corrosion.”

40% only single-skinned hull

Claims ships are unsinkable “lack scientific and technical credibility.”

Emergency plans for coping with accidents non-existent.

*Report by independent marine pollution consultant, Tim Deere-Jones. (April 2009)

“It is unconscionable that Japan and the UK are engaging in this dangerous transport with an old, defective ship, passing it through the Caribbean with no viable emergency plan in place, just as the tragedy of the earthquake in Haiti is unfolding” stated Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of Green Action based in Japan.

Martin Forwood of CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment) is quoted as saying, “The high security surrounding today’s shipment is testament to the dangers posed by this highly radioactive material and the unwholesome global trade in which the nuclear industry is immersed. Sellafield needs to wake up to the harsh reality that today’s world and its oceans are a significantly more dangerous place than they were 30 years ago when the contracts were signed.”

This shipment is the first of many such transports scheduled for return to Japan. It is expected that Japan will receive a total of up to 1000 HLW canisters at the rate of around one shipment (4 transport flasks) from Sellafield each year.

According to the press release issued by CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment) on 20 January, future shipments will be not be made on the Pacific Sandpiper (launched1985) which, as the oldest ship of the Pacific Nuclear Transport (PNTL) fleet and already at its 25 year sell-by date, is due for retirement.

ion
Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho
Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203
Tel：+81-75-701-7223 Fax：+81-75-702-1952
Cell: +81-90-3620-9251
amsmith@gol.com

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Press Release:
Dangerous shipment of Japanese High Level
Radioactive Waste Passing through the Caribbean and Panama
Download PDF version (148KB)

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 around the country. In less than two days 673 NGO groups signed on to protest and petition METI, Kyushu Electric, and Saga Prefecture demanding that use of MOX fuel at Genkai not go forward. The number of sign-on groups continue to grow.
See Kyushu blog for details: (in Japanese) http://carnivals.blog93.fc2.com/blog-entry-43.html

Over 460,000 citizens are demanding that use of MOX fuel at Genkai be suspended. This and Kyu-shu Electric’s rush to start use of MOX fuel caused an unprecedented move by the Saga prefectural legislature last month to demand that the utility rescind its original 2 October start-up date, which it did.

On 28 October Japan’s nuclear regulator NISA (Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency) admitted that there are no legal grounds for the government’s criteria for imported fuel assembly inspection of MOX fuel. This admission was made to an Upper House Diet office. Citizens, and national and Saga prefectural legislators demanded that NISA come to Saga to explain. NISA is yet to do so.

The “pluthermal” program is one part of Japan’s troubled plutonium program. The other two parts which are in deep trouble are the fast breeder program and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Com-mercialization of the fast breeder reactor program has been delayed 8 times and is nearly 80 years behind original schedule (set for early 1970s, now set for “by 2050”.) Commercial operation of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant has been delayed 17 times. Completion of active tests is now set for October 2010. However, with a dysfunctional high-level waste vitrification facility, the future of Rokka-sho is murky.

On 7 October, NISA stated that it couldn’t deny the possibility that the same quality fuel Kansai Elec-tric rejected in August is in Genkai’s MOX fuel. (Kansai Electric rejected one-quarter of the fuel that had been manufactured for use in its Takahama Unit 3 and 4 reactors.) Both utilities’ MOX fuel was fabricated at Areva’s MELOX plant in Marcoule, France.
See Saga Shinbun for NISA admission (English translation available from Green Action):
http://www.sagas.co.jp/news/saga.0.1439726.article.html

Subsequently, Kyushu Electric refused to disclose pertinent information concerning its self-inspection criteria, stating that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, their principle contractor for MOX fuel fabrication would not allow the disclosure. (The same kind of information has been released by Kansai Electric and their principle contractor Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd.) Kyushu Electric stated that MELOX as-sured them that Kyushu’s MOX fuel had no problems like the one found in Kansai Electric MOX fuel, but the utility admitted they were not shown data to confirm this was correct. The concentration of plu-tonium in Genkai’s MOX fuel is unprecedented and exceeds even that used in France.

German nuclear authorities (BMU) initiated an investigatation after Kansai Electric’s rejection of Areva MOX fuel. BMU is reported to take the issue seriously. The status of the investigation is unknown.

“The Japanese government spends 64% of its R&D for energy on nuclear. This program to utilize plu-tonium is the biggest stumbling block to development of renewable energy and energy efficiency in Japan. Prime Minister Hatoyama is woefully ignorant about this reality. The new government must become aware that this detrimental program is merely a lobbyist and bureaucratic haven. It should shut down the program immediately,” stated Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of Green Action.

The shipment of MOX fuel for use at Genkai and two other plants which took place this spring did not meet MLIT (Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure) requirements. On 26 February, twenty Diet members signed on to an open letter addressing this concern. One of them includes the current MLIT minister Seiji Maehara, and, two other ministers in the Hatoyama government. Future shipments can-not meet this requirement (MOX fuel cask drop test) at this point.

In April a report commissioned by 70 nuclear free local authorities in the UK found that the British-flagged vessels which transport the MOX fuel from Europe to Japan have serious design flaws. Ja-pan’s program is dependent on these shipments since there is no commercial MOX fuel plant in Ja-pan to supply electric utilities. Japanese nuclear transports are protested by dozens of en route coun-tries.

Japan’s pluthermal program start-up is a decade behind schedule due to a quality control data falsifi-cation scandal of Kansai Electric MOX fuel in 1999, citizen protest, nuclear inspection data falsifica-tion by Tokyo Electric in 2002, etc. In June electric utilities announced a multi-year delay in the dead-line to use MOX fuel in 16-18 reactors, originally scheduled for 2010.

Press Release:
Genkai Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 Starts “Pluthermal” MOX Fuel Use
460,000 Citizens Demand Suspension—- Round-the-Clock Sit-In Begins

Download PDF version (160KB MB)

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 Power Plant Units 3 and 4 have been found to be defective in one category of its self-inspection regime and has decided not to use these pellets. Kansai Electric has stated that when it asked Areva’s Melox plant for detailed data concerning these pellets, it was refused the data, and that it has not been able to decisively determine what caused this defect. Moreover, in its 19 August press release, Kansai Electric states, "The Melox Company stated that, on the basis of former experience,
these pellets in question could be used as MOX fuel.

As a result, concern has risen as to whether the safety and quality assurance of MOX fuel fabricated by Areva’s Melox plant for not only Kyushu Electric fuel but the fuel being used outside of Japan such as France and Germany has been ensured.

As a result of lessons learned from BNFL MOX fuel quality control data falsification (1999), the Japanese government has stated that it will expend all possible means including exchanging communications with nuclear safety authorities abroad, to assure the safety of MOX fuel. We therefore ask NISA: Have nuclear safety regulatory authorities abroad undertaken any measures toward the electric utilities in their purview which use MOX fuel?

Whereas, due to the concerns above, we submit the following question and petition.We ask for your rapid response.

QUESTION:

1. Have you made contact and submitted inquiries with nuclear safety regulatory authorities abroad concerning the safety and quality assurance of the French company Areva’s MOX fuel?

PETITION:

1. If NISA has not made contact or inquiries as above indicated, please do so immediately.
2. If NISA has made these contact and inquiries, please make the results public.
3. Until you have made this contact and inquiries and have confirmed that the safety and quality assurance of the MOX fuel has been ensured, delay and do not approve the loading of MOX fuel into Genkai Unit 3.

TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN:
Petition to freeze the operation of the Rokkasho Nuclear Reprocessing
Plant in order to stop the radioactive contamination of the ocean and air:

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Japan’s Worst Pollution Disaster
MINAMATA DISEASE:　Mercury poisoning from industrial waste

For immediate release: 29 June 2009
Contact: Aileen Mioko Smith
Cell: +81-75-701-7223
(Press conference in Japanese at 16:00 today in Nagata-cho area. Location to be determined.)

Tokyo, Japan—-A delegation of wheelchair-bound congenital Minamata disease victims is arriving in Tokyo this morning seeking a meeting with Yukio Hatoyama and the Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) leadership in a last minute effort to halt passage of a Minamata disease bill which will have devastating effects on relief for victims.

It was reported in the media yesterday that Prime Minister Taro Aso considers passage of the Minamata bill to be one of the top priorities before dissolving the Lower House.

The Minamata victims’ delegation will be petitioning Diet members in Tokyo today and tomorrow. Poisoned from birth, the victims —many of them in serious condition– have paid their own way to come to Tokyo to lobby leading Diet members in both Upper and Lower Houses, the Minshuto, and Liberal Democratic party.

This so-called special-measures bill submitted to the Diet is supposed to “aid” uncertified sufferers of Minamata disease.

Minamata Disease is widely recognized as Japan’s worst industrial pollution disaster. In 2004, Japan’s Supreme Court found the government guilty of having caused and spread Minamata disease. At present over 30,000 victims are registered “hoken techo” recipients, not officially certified but recognized as living in the polluted area and qualifying for medical relief.

Prime Minister Taro Aso’s government is attempting to pass a bill into law that would enable the polluter, the Chisso Corporation, to escape the burden of further compensating victims by splitting the company into two entities, separating its profit-making branch from the rest of the company. The law would also nullify the designation of Minamata and surrounding areas as an area plagued with Minamata disease under the pollution-related health damages compensation law.

Victims are concerned that certified patients will not be guaranteed future payments, and that victims yet to be recognized will have no entity from which to seek relief. The bill includes no guarantee the government will pick up costs for compensation. A wide range of Minamata victims’ groups have been petitioning Diet members to stop the bill.

More than 6,000 people are currently waiting to be officially certified by administrative authorities as Minamata disease sufferers.

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Green Action is an environmental group based in Kyoto, Japan. It’s director, Aileen Mioko Smith is co-author with W. Eugene Smith of MINAMATA which was nominated for the National Book Award (1976).
For further information on Minamata disease: http://www.aileenarchive.or.jp/minamata_en/index.html