Safety concerns over ice wall plans at Fukushima — NHK World

” Japan’s nuclear regulator and experts are questioning the safety of plans to build frozen walls to deal with the buildup of radioactive wastewater at the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company plan to create walls of frozen soil to prevent groundwater from flowing beneath the reactor buildings. 400 tons of groundwater is flowing beneath the facilities from nearby mountains every day.

The government and TEPCO want to start construction in June. But they need permission from the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA.

The NRA invited experts to a meeting last Friday to assess the planned ice walls.

NRA Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa expressed concern about the risk of the ground sinking.

Experts raised questions about the effects of a power blackout on the frozen walls.

They said all the risks need to be addressed further.

The NRA decided to continue to closely look into the safety of the planned frozen walls. ”

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Fukushima disaster: Tokyo hides truth as children die, become ill from radiation – ex-mayor via RT

Katsutaka Idogawa, the former mayor of Futaba city, shares his experiences during the March 2011 tsunami and triple meltdown. He reviews his timeline of decision-making to evacuate the citizens of Futaba as well as the lack of information disclosed to him by the Japanese government. Idogawa explains his distrust of the government based on their lack of the following: monitoring of radiation levels, taking responsibility for citizens’ safety, practicing evacuation drills in the event of another nuclear crisis and sharing information about the risks of radiation exposure due to air and soil contamination. Children from Fukushima Prefecture who have been moved back to contaminated areas are suffering from heart conditions, asthma, leukemia and lethargy. Despite the concerns of parents, safety measures are not being taken. Idogawa himself has been experiencing lethargy, muscle weakness, worse vision and dry skin, symptoms from radiation exposure. According to Idogawa, the central government and prefecture authorities say, “There is no radiation. Fukushima Prefecture is safe.” He says that the government and large corporations are pushing for nuclear energy reliance in Japan, although alternative energy sources, like hydroelectric energy, are available. Sixty to 70 percent of Japanese citizens are now in favor of utilizing these options, Idogawa says. …

Excerpt:

” SS: So after the tragedy, the government wanted to build nuclear waste storage facilities on the territory of Futaba. You were against that, but now, as I understand, these facilities are going to be built after all. Do you fear that that will prevent residents from ever returning to their town?

KI: Media report it as the final decision has been made. But that’s not true. The problem is with the decision-making process. That’s why I keep saying no. The central government makes all the decisions by itself the way it pleases. It ignores the victims. Actually, we have a rule in our country saying that decisions can’t be made without taking people’s opinion into consideration, but the government ignores this rule and just does everything the way they see fit. After all, this matter is up to landowners. Unless they agree, nothing can happen. That’s how things work in Japan. And even though there’s been much speculation, nobody has talked to landowners yet. So media reports suggesting that the final decision has been made are premature. In reality, nothing has been decided. It is not clear at this point what will happen. All we know right now is that there will be repositories built and that land will be nationalized. Radiation is a big problem today but even this problem hasn’t been solved yet. Without consulting with us, with the people, that is, Fukushima Prefecture announced that people will be relocated from the prefecture for 30 years, but they failed to keep this promise as well. It’s all very unreasonable. All the unpopular decisions were made without us. That’s why I’ve been saying no all the time. ”

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Exports that defy reason — The Japan Times

” Following an April 4 “yes” vote by the Lower House, the Upper House on Friday approved civilian nuclear accords Japan has signed with Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to enable the export of Japanese equipment and technology for nuclear power generation to them.

The big question, though, is why a country that suffered a disaster at a nuclear power plant (which remains ongoing) three years ago would choose to push the export of nuclear power plants — and especially to countries that are prone to earthquakes, like Turkey. It is deplorable from moral and other viewpoints that the Abe administration treats the export of nuclear power equipment and technology as a pillar in its economic growth strategy. Japan concluded similar nuclear accords with Jordan, Vietnam, South Korea and Russia under the previous Democratic Party of Japan-led administration.

At present, the government is negotiating civilian nuclear cooperation with five more countries — India, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

The Diet approval came with the support of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the DPJ at a time when Japan’s own crisis, caused by the triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, shows no signs of resolution. More than 130,000 residents of Fukushima Prefecture are still displaced from their homes due to radioactive contamination of their communities more than three years after the nuclear crisis. Although the DPJ after the March 2011 Fukushima disaster called for ending nuclear power generation in the 2030s, it supported plans for Japan to export nuclear power technology.

As demonstrated in the Fukushima catastrophe, a large-scale accident at a nuclear power plant causes irreparable damage to people’s lives and the environment. If such an accident occurs at a plant in another country built with exported Japanese technology, both the Japanese government and the manufacturers of the technology would likely be expected to shoulder some of the responsibility. Even if they offer to pay compensation, they could be criticized for giving priority to business interests over human lives and the environment.

In addition, high-level waste from nuclear power plants must be stored underground for more than 100,000 years before its radioactivity declines to safe levels. The safe storage of such waste for such a long period presents extremely difficult technological problems to which solutions have yet to be established. So this toxic burden would pass on to future generations. Given this reality, it would be irresponsible for Japan to export nuclear power technology and equipment.

Although the nuclear accords in principle are designed to prevent military use of the nuclear materials, equipment and technology, the accord with Turkey is problematic.

A clause in the accord states that Turkey can enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel if Japan agrees in writing to a specific instance of enrichment or reprocessing. Enriched uranium and plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel can be used to make nuclear weapons. Thus the clause runs counter to global efforts against nuclear proliferation.

The Abe administration’s policy could also result in Japanese firms continuing to devote a large amount of resources on nuclear power, possibly discouraging them from investing in the development and expansion of renewable energy sources — the “sunrise” industries where Japan’s future prosperity lies. The government must rethink its policy of promoting the export of nuclear power equipment and technology. ”

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Manager at Japan’s Fukushima plant admits radioactive water ’embarrassing’ — Reuters

” (Reuters) – The manager of the Fukushima nuclear power plant admits to embarrassment that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water, eight months after Japan’s prime minister told the world the matter was resolved.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant’s operator, has been fighting a daily battle against contaminated water since Fukushima was wrecked by a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government pledged half a billion dollars last year to tackle the issue, but progress has been limited.

“It’s embarrassing to admit, but there are certain parts of the site where we don’t have full control,” Akira Ono told reporters touring the plant this week.

He was referring to the latest blunder at the plant: channelling contaminated water to the wrong building.

Ono also acknowledged that many difficulties may have been rooted in Tepco’s focus on speed since the 2011 disaster.

“It may sound odd, but this is the bill we have to pay for what we have done in the past three years,” he said.

“But we were pressed to build tanks in a rush and may have not paid enough attention to quality. We need to improve quality from here.”

The Fukushima Daiichi station, 220 km (130 miles) northeast of Tokyo, suffered triple nuclear meltdowns in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

The issue of contaminated water is at the core of the clean-up. Japan’s nuclear regulator and the International Atomic Energy Agency say a new controlled release into the sea of contaminated water may be needed to ease stretched capacity.

But this is predicated on the state-of-art ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) project, which removes the most dangerous nucleides, becoming fully operational. The system has functioned only during periodic tests.

As Ono spoke, workers in white protective suits and masks were building new giant tanks to contain the contaminated water – on land that was once covered in trees and grass.

A cluster of cherry trees, unmoved since the disaster, is in bloom amid the bustle of trucks and tractors at work as 1,000 tanks in place approach capacity. Pipes in black insulation lie on a hill pending installation for funnelling water to the sea.

HUGE FLUSH

“We need to improve the quality of the tanks and other facilities so that they can survive for the next 30-40 years of our decommission period,” Ono said, a stark acknowledgement that the problem is long-term.

Last September, Abe told Olympic dignitaries in Buenos Aires in an address that helped Tokyo win the 2020 Games: “Let me assure you the situation is under control.”

Tepco had pledged to have treated all contaminated water by March 2015, but said this week that was a “tough goal.”

The utility flushes huge amounts of water over the reactors to keep them cool. That water mixes with groundwater that seeps into basements, requiring more pumping, treatment and storage.

In a rare success, the government won approval from fishermen for plans to divert into the sea a quarter of the 400 tonnes of groundwater pouring into the plant each day.

But things keep going wrong.

Last week, Tepco said it had directed 203 tonnes of highly radioactive water to the wrong building, flooding its basement. Tepco is also investigating a leak into the ground a few days earlier from a plastic container used to store rainwater.

In February, a tank sprouted a 100-tonne leak of radioactive water, the most serious incident since leaks sparked international alarm last year.

A hangar-like structure houses Toshiba Corp’s ALPS system, able to remove all nucleides except for less noxious tritium, found at most nuclear power stations, its planners say.

It sat idle for 19 months after a series of glitches. The latest miscue occurred on Wednesday, when a tonne of radioactive water overflowed from a tank.

“The ultimate purpose is to prevent contaminated water from going out to the ocean, and in this regard, I believe it is under control,” Ono said. But the incidents, he said, obliged officials to “find better ways to handle the water problem”.

The government says it will help fund the filtration system, build an underground ice wall and erect more storage tanks.

The 1,000 tanks hold 440,000 tonnes of contaminated water. Some 4,500 to 5,000 workers, about 1,500 more than a half year ago, are trying to double the capacity by 2016.

Once the deal was clinched with the fishermen, Tepco embarked on a plan to use a water bypass, from as early as next month, to funnel clean groundwater to the sea.

But the latest samples next to the bypass found elevated levels of radiation and the project was placed under further scrutiny. Tepco said the radiation was within permitted limits.

Plans also call for a 1.4-km underground wall of ice to block groundwater. Tests began last month and Tepco hopes next year to begin construction – sinking giant refrigeration rods into the ground to create an impermeable wall of frozen earth. ”

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