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The four Fukushima NPP host towns demand decommissioning of all reactors
The Association of Fukushima Municipalities with
Atomic Power Stations, which consists of the four local Fukushima
municipal governments of Ōkuma and Futaba Towns, where the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is located, and Tomioka and Naraha Towns,
where the Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station is located, held an
extraordinary general meeting on August 9, 2013, where the mayors of
the four towns and the chairpersons of their assemblies confirmed the
Association’s policy of requesting the Japanese government and Tokyo
Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to decommission all ten nuclear power
reactors in Fukushima Prefecture.
Of the ten reactors, TEPCO took the decision on
April 19, 2012 to decommission Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 (BWRs,
2,812 MW in total). However, the power company has ignored the request
from Fukushima Prefecture to decommission Fukushima Daiichi Units 5 and
6 (BWRs, 1,884 MW in total) and Fukushima Daini Units 1 to 4 (BWRs,
4,400 MW in total), on the excuse that the company will comply with the
judgment of the national government.
On September 19, Prime Minister Abe inspected
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and requested that TEPCO also
decommission Units 5 and 6 of the plant. TEPCO president Naoki Hirose
replied that the company would make a decision before the end of the
year.
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Compensation negotiations ongoing for Monju in-vessel transfer machine accident
Concerning the Monju reactor accident that
occurred in August 2010, during which an in-vessel transfer machine for
fuel replacement fell into the reactor (see NIT 138 and 139), JAEA, the
operator of the reactor, filed a petition for conciliation under the
Civil Conciliation Act with the Tokyo District Court on August 9, 2013,
to negotiate with Toshiba, which produced the device, concerning
responsibility and compensation for the accident. JAEA claims
that the cost of production, installation, and a functional check test
of a substitute device totaled about 2.4 billion yen. Strange to say,
the substitute device is also a Toshiba product.
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Basic policies proposed for the Children and Victims Protection Law
On August 30, 2013, Japan’s Reconstruction
Agency released a draft of basic action policies on the implementation
of the Statute on Protection and Support for the Children and other
Victims of Tokyo Electric Power Company Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
(Children and Victims Protection Law). The draft limits the areas to be
supported by the law to 33 cities and towns in Fukushima Prefecture,
and specifies that the other areas that would require those actions
should be designated as secondary support areas for each action.
Radioactivity measurements of school lunches is planned to be carried
out in 11 prefectures, including Fukushima as well as Iwate, Miyagi,
Niigata and Nagano.
The Children and Victims Protection Law was
established in June 2012 on the initiative of lawmakers. It was passed
unanimously in both the House of Representatives and House of
Councilors. However, although more than a year has passed since its
passage, the basic government policies have not been established and no
specific actions have been taken to implement the law. This draft
appeared immediately after the victims filed a lawsuit demanding early
implementation of the law on August 22.
On August 30, the victims and supporters organized a
press conference and released a joint statement demanding reflection of
their views in the basic action policies. The statement also demands
that all areas where the annual radiation dose exceeds 1 millisievert
should be designated as areas to be supported under the law.
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Basic directions for restructuring JAEA released
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology is planning to restructure the Japan Atomic Energy
Agency (JAEA) after it was revealed that the agency failed to inspect
more than 10,000 components in the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor
(280 MW), which the agency operates. On August 8, the Ministry’s JAEA
Restructuring Head Office released a document named “Basic Directions
for Restructuring JAEA.” The document says that, as the only
comprehensive nuclear power research and development organization in
Japan, the activities of JAEA should be reviewed in consideration of
its social missions and responsibilities, and that its current
all-inclusive operations should be streamlined, indicating that the
particle beam research operation and atomic fusion research and
development operation, both of which are part of the current agency,
should be separated and might possibly be transferred to other research
organizations. JAEA’s functions likely to be emphasized instead include:
Handling of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident,
Research into safer nuclear power generation,
Basic and fundamental research on nuclear power generation and the development of personnel to support such research, and
Research and development of the nuclear fuel cycle project with Monju as its focus.
The Ministry says that it plans to propose a new law
that will drastically renovate the organization, including a change of
the name JAEA. More specific renovation plans will be released from
JAEA this autumn.
Concerning the administration of Monju in Tsuruga
City, Fukui Prefecture, the present JAEA Tsuruga Head Office will be
abolished and the prototype fast-breeder reactor (FBR) will be placed
under the direct control of the JAEA President with top officers in
charge of safety stationed in Tsuruga. Along with these changes,
the current FBR Research and Development Center will be
restructured to form the Monju Power Generation Plant (provisional
name). The Monju plant as an organization will exclusively handle the
operation and control of the prototype FBR, and contract duties and
public communications concerning the prototype reactor are to be
handled by the newly established “Monju Plant Support Office”
(provisional name). The officers in charge of safety stationed in
Tsuruga are to be designated from among those who have experience
of serving in plant-manager class positions at private power companies.
The division managers and deputy division managers, who have
conventionally been staffed by JAEA personnel, are to be replaced by
employees of private power companies.
Concerning these basic directions, Fukui Prefecture
and Tsuruga City are strongly concerned, indicating that the position
of the prototype FBR as a base for world-leading research and
development will be tarnished. The local municipal governments have
also expressed their discomfort about the expected organizational shift
that will place the prototype FBR under the direct control of the
president of JAEA, saying that the shift is disrespectful of the local
communities. Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka also
expressed criticism about the planned JAEA changes at a regular
gathering of the Authority on August 14, saying: “It is no good to
expect power companies to administrate or direct the organization.
Concerning the FBR, power companies are amateurs and know nothing about
it at all. As a research organization, JAEA should come up with better
measures.”
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Construction of sodium engineering research facility begun in earnest
Although the JAEA restructuring plan has not
been established (see above article), JAEA began the full-scale
construction of its sodium engineering research facility on August 6,
2013. The agency held a ceremony to set up a column at the construction
site adjacent to the Monju prototype FBR in Tsuruga City, Fukui
Prefecture, on that day. The purpose of the facility is to assist the
safe and stable operation of the reactor. The facility is scheduled to
start operation in FY2014. It will have about six tons of sodium onsite
as well as testing equipment, such as pipes and tanks, in which the
sodium will be circulated.
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