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Sun, 2011-03-20 10:15 — mdmcdonald
Nuclear Engineering Issues

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Japan: Government Releases Plan to Deal with Nuclear Ash

Fri, 2011-08-12 15:47 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Daily Yomiyuri - August 12, 2011

The Environment Ministry has drafted a plan to bury the ash of incinerated radioactive debris and sludge that is contaminated with more than 8,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram in a carefully regulated manner to prevent leakage in final disposal sites.

The ministry submitted the draft plan to the Disaster-Related Waste Safety Assessment Committee, its advisory body, on Wednesday. The ministry will officially decide its policy on how to bury the radioactive ash by the end of August at the earliest.

In June, the ministry announced it would allow ash with radioactive cesium levels measuring less than 8,000 becquerels per kilogram to be buried. At that time, the ministry advised that ash exceeding that amount be temporarily stored.

Regarding how to bury ash exceeding 8,000 becquerels, the draft plan released on Wednesday said it is necessary to ensure that the contaminated ash would not mix with rainwater or groundwater.

The draft plan has suggested several possibilities, such as using disposal sites with roofs to shield the ash from rain water, a drainage treatment system to prevent underground water from being contaminated, placing the ash in highly durable containers or solidifying ash with cement.

Environment Ministry Gets Nuke Role

Fri, 2011-08-12 15:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Japan Times - August 12, 2011

                                  

Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet members agreed Friday to set up a new agency in charge of nuclear safety under the Environment Ministry amid the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The accord comes after the government announced last week its plan to create the new entity and said it was considering whether to place the agency under the wing of the Environment Ministry or the Cabinet Office.

The Cabinet Office was dropped as a candidate because of its "ties" with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which loans officials to the office, according to government sources.

In a bid to undertake a major overhaul of Japan's nuclear regulatory structure, Kan has been calling to separate the current Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency from the industry ministry, which promotes the use of atomic energy.

NISA has been criticized for lax government supervision of nuclear facilities and a slow response to the Fukushima plant crisis, which was triggered by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

IAEA International Fact Finding Expert Mission of the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP Accident Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                                        

Report to the IAEA Member States

Tokyo, Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP, Fukushima Dai-ni NPP, and Tokai Dai-ni NPP, Japan

24 May - 2 June 2011

By agreement with the Government of Japan, the International Atomic Energy Agency

conducted a preliminary mission to find facts and identify initial lessons to be learned from

the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi and share this information across the world nuclear

community. To this end, a team of experts undertook this Fact Finding Mission from 24 May

to 2 June 2011. The results of the Mission will be reported to the IAEA Ministerial

Conference on Nuclear Safety at IAEA headquarters in Vienna on 20 24 June 2011.

During the IAEA Mission, the team of nuclear experts received excellent cooperation from all

parties, receiving information from many relevant Japanese ministries, nuclear regulators and

operators. The Mission also visited three affected nuclear power plants (NPP) — Tokai Dai-

ni, Fukushima Dai-ni and Dai-ichi — to gain an appreciation of the status of the plants and

the scale of the damage. The facility visits allowed the experts to talk to the operator staff as

Video - IAEA Chief Surveys Progress at Fukushima Accident Site

Fri, 2011-08-05 12:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

IAEA.org - July 25, 2011

At the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano received on 25 July 2011 an extensive briefing and visited key locations at the nuclear accident site.

Eyewitnesses at Fukushima

UK Nuclear Fuel Plant to Close Amid Japan's Turmoil

Wed, 2011-08-03 22:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

NewScientist.com - August 3, 2011

      

Sellafield nuclear plant (Pic: Getty)

Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent

The 11 March earthquake and tsunami that crippled Japan's nuclear industry has claimed a commercial victim thousands of miles away: the Sellafield Mixed Oxide (MOX) plant in Cumbria, UK, is to close "at the earliest practical opportunity" the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced today.

The plant's only customer was the vastly-troubled Japanese nuclear industry, currently embroiled in a programme of plant shutdowns as the scale of the seismic menace some of its power stations face comes into sharper relief. A Sellafield spokesman said plans to close one plant in particular, at Hamaoka, was instrumental in sealing the MOX plant's fate.

Situated on the coast some 200 kilometres south of Tokyo, the Hamaoka nuclear power plant straddles two major geological faults and has been described by seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi at Kobe University as a "kamikaze terrorist waiting to explode".

Highest Levels of Radiation Since March 11 Detected at Fukushima Nuclear Reactors

Sun, 2011-07-31 21:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Janine Rees

The Mainichi Daily News - August 2, 2011

      

This photograph shows a worker who measured radiation doses near the surface of an exhaust pipe between the No. 1 and 2 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant on Aug. 1. (Photo courtesy of TEPCO)

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on Aug. 1 that it had detected radiation doses exceeding 10 sieverts per hour, the highest level of radiation measured since the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, outside the buildings for two reactors -- a new discovery that could hamper efforts to bring the troubled reactors under control.

IAEA Seeks Bigger Crisis Role in Disasters Like Fukushima Accident

Sun, 2011-07-24 20:48 — Kathy Gilbeaux

japantoday.com - July 24, 2011

IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano

VIENNA —

Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Japan Task Force Makes Its Report

Fri, 2011-07-15 19:06 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by Mike Campbell - earthtimes.org - July 13, 2011

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station - San Clemente, California - Image: © iofoto

On 11th March 2011, northeast Japan was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake and an ensuing tsunami. The Fukushima nuclear power plant was directly in the path of the tsunami and was also at the epicentre of some aftershocks. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission established a Japan Task Force which was charged with identifying lessons that the USA should learn from the Fukushima incident.

The task force was led by Charles Miller and it came up with a set of twelve recommendations aimed at improving safety at US nuclear power plants (NPP) and re-evaluating the level of public health protection required to meet needs in the 21st century.

Japan Trips in Key Effort to Cool Nuclear Reactors

Mon, 2011-06-27 17:18 — Kathy Gilbeaux

An undated composite montage image of laser scan data and construction data shows the damaged No. 1 reactor of the Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and its completion image with a polyester cover over it, in this handout released by TEPCO June 14, 2011. TEPCO said that it would start to build a giant cover shield around the reactors building on June 27, for a stopgap measure to prevent further release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power Co/Handout

Reuters - By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Kubota – Mon Jun 27, 9:06 am ET

TOKYO (Reuters) – The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant halted on Monday its new, glitch-prone system that is key to cooling down damaged reactors due to a water leakage, a setback in its efforts to avoid dumping highly contaminated water into the ocean.

Special Report: Japan's "Throwaway" Nuclear Workers

Sat, 2011-06-25 00:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Workers engaged in operations to stabilize the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant take a rest on the floor of a gymnasium inside the grounds of the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant, about 10km away from the crippled Daiichi plant in Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan, in this photo taken May 7, 2011 and released June 2, 2011 by industrial medical doctor Takeshi Tanigawa, who examined the workers.
REUTERS/Takeshi Tanigawa/Handout/Files

Reuters - By Kevin Krolicki and Chisa Fujioka - June 24, 2011

A decade and a half before it blew apart in a hydrogen blast that punctuated the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was the scene of an earlier safety crisis.

Then, as now, a small army of transient workers was put to work to try to stem the damage at the oldest nuclear reactor run by Japan's largest utility.

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