Nuke Info Tokyo No. 135 (March/April 2010)

High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipped from the UK
The first shipment of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from the UK arrived in Rokkasho Mutsu-Ogawara Port, Aomori Prefecture on March 9. For the sake of a failed nuclear fuel cycle policy, the world has been forced to endure, and will continue to suffer for at least the next ten years, all the risks associated with transporting the HLW back and forth between Japan and Europe.

Prospects for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Units 1 and 5
33% of the 8,212MW seven-unit KK Nuclear Power Station’s total capacity has been brought back on line since the July 2007 Chuetsu-oki Earthquake. For the time being deliberations concerning Unit 1 are being prioritized. Unit 5 will not resume operations until deliberations concerning unit 1 are completed. At this stage the prospects for both units are still very unclear.

Ryusuke Umeda Lodges Historic Workers’ Compensation Claim
Thirty years ago Ryusuke Umeda was exposed to radiation while working at the Shimane and Tsuruga nuclear power plants. In September 2008 he applied for workers’ compensation for myocardial infarction and in February this year he caught an all night bus to Tokyo from Fukuoka City on the island of Kyushu to present his case directly to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW).

Public Involvement in Japan’s Nuclear Power Licensing System
Japan has formal procedures for public involvement and information disclosure in relation to the approval of nuclear power plants. However, public hearings and public comment processes tend to be proforma in nature. If residents have not blocked the project before these procedures begin, the process develops a momentum of its own which is hard to reverse.

Group Intro: Niigata Women Thinking about Life and Nuclear Energy
We believe that by enabling people who are now silent to raise their voices we can help put a break on the uncontrolled promotion of nuclear power. We want to encourage people to speak out about the problems of nuclear power, including the lack of any solution to the problem of nuclear waste and the daily radiation exposure of nuclear power workers.

News Watch
— Pluthermal begins at Ikata-3
— Governor and mayors approve pluthermal for Onagawa
— Fukushima Governor indicates conditional approval for pluthermal
— KEPCO, Kyushu to jointly ship MOX
— Local authority approves Tsuruga-1 operation beyond 40 years
— Request to Aomori Prefecture to accept radioactive waste returned from Europe
— Prime Minister Hatoyama sales pitch to Vietnam
— One killed, six others injured at Sendai-1