Our Impact

[18 January 2006] PDF version (472KB) Japan’s 1997 Pledge The government of Japan made a written and unequivocal pledge to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in December 1997 to uphold the “principle of no surplus plutonium.”*1 To honor this commitment, the Japan Atomic Energy Commission issued a Decision on 5 August 2003*2 which specified that electric utilities present concrete plans for utilizing plutonium before separating it from spent nuclear fuel at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant. On 6 January 2006, the Federation of Electric Power Companies released its “Plutonium Utilization Plan.”*3 The Plan, however, does not comply with the specifications set forth by the Atomic Energy Commission. Defects of the…

CONTACT:Aileen Mioko Smith, Green Action (Director)+ 81 75 701 7223 or 090 3620 9251 (Cell) Philip White, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center (International Liaison)+ 81 3 5330 9520 Atsuko Nogawa, Greenpeace Japan (Nuclear Campaigner)+ 81 3 5338 9800 11 January 2006 (2nd edition) Japanese NGOs Label Electric Utility Plutonium Utilization Plan “Fiction” Concern Raised that Atomic Energy Commission may Rubber-Stamp Plan Japanese NGOs yesterday released a scathing critique*1 of the Plutonium Utilization Plan issued by the Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPCO) on 6 January, dubbing the plan as “fiction” and pointing out that it does not comply with specifications stipulated by the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) in 2003. At…

PDF Download [Compiled 5 January 2006 by Green Action] Statements on Rokkasho, Surplus Plutonium and MOX Fuel Fukushima governor Eisaku Sato’s statement to the Japan Atomic Energy Commission about the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and surplus plutonium: “Why rush to operate a new reprocessing facility when there is still no solution for disposing the 40 tons of plutonium Japan already possesses?” Submission to Public Comment on draft of “Framework for Nuclear Energy Policy”, August 2005 —– Of the 430 tons of spent nuclear fuel to be reprocessed during the active testing scheduled to start at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in February, 310 tons belong to the two largest electric utilities in…

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…