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New guideline for nuclear disaster
countermeasures
The Nuclear Regulation Authority
finalized new guideline for nuclear disaster preparedness on February
27. The guidelines stipulate a zone of 5-km radius around a nuclear
plant site as a PAZ (Precautionary Action Zone), and a 30-km zone as
the UPZ (Urgent Protective Action Planning Zone). Iodine tablets will
be distributed in advance among residents of PAZs to enable them to
take the tablets when they evacuate immediately after an accident
occurs.
When radiation measurements exceed 500 μSv/h in the UPZ, residents are
to evacuate within several hours, while those in areas over 20 μSv/h
are to evacuate within a week and maintain vigilance over radiation
levels. Although the standard of 500 μSv/h is stricter than that of the
IAEA, 1,000 μSv/h, ordinary people will reach the normal annual
radioactivity exposure limit in only two hours. Over 3,000 public
comments were sent to the Nuclear Regulation Authority demanding a
review of the plan to enable more rapid evacuation, but the Authority
made no changes to the guideline.
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Radioactive materials released before
venting at Fukushima Daiichi NPP Unit 1
The Mainichi Newspaper reported on
February 22 that at the time of the accident at Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant, radioactive materials had spread over 10 km in all
directions about five hours before venting. This was revealed after
Fukushima Prefecture collected and analyzed accumulated data (which
were not transmitted due to loss of power) from its 20 automatic
monitoring posts in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. Data
analysis had been put on a back-burner because prefecture officials
were tied up with massive amounts of work immediately after the
accident. They say the analysis was completed around September 2012.
Radioactive materials had been dispersed before the national government
ordered the evacuation. If the data had been transmitted, it should
have served as important information for appropriate evacuation. Lack
of preparedness for the power loss resulted in the data remaining
unused.
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Japan Atomic Power Co. sells uranium
Jiji Press reported on February 20 that Japan Atomic Power
Co.(JAPC), a nuclear power plant specialist power wholesaler funded by
the ten electricity utilities, has sold part of the uranium in its
possession. JAPC says it has to secure funds repay bank debts due in
April, while restart of its three idling reactors (Tokai -2 Nuclear
Power Plant, BWR, 1,100 MW; Tsuruga-1 Nuclear Power Plant, BWR, 357 MW;
Tsuruga-2 Nuclear Power Plant, PWR, 1,160 MW) are uncertain. JAPC
disclosed neither the buyer nor the amount sold. TEPCO is also reported
as considering the sale of uranium.
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Toshiba
to be given preferential negotiation rights in construction of new
Finnish NPP
On February 25, Toshiba was given preferential negotiating
rights in a bid for the Hanhikivi NPP, which Finnish corporation
Fennovoima is planning to construct. The bidding took place in January
with the participation of Toshiba and Areva, Toshiba proposing a 1,600
MW class EU-ABWR. Also considering the possibility of a 1,000 to 1,300
MW class reactor, besides interest in the Toshiba ABWR, Fennovoima will
continue talks with Areva and Rosatom with a view to making a final
decision before the end of March.
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Japan
Atomic Power Co. and Marubeni to cooperate in Kazakhstan NPP plan
On February 18, JAPC and Marubeni Utility Services Ltd.
signed a memorandum on cooperation with the National Nuclear Center of
the Republic of Kazakhstan toward introduction of a nuclear power plant
in that country. Kazakhstan plans to construct a new nuclear power
plant in the 2020s, and it is reported that the Japanese side will
assist in human resource development, feasibility studies, as well as
the construction and operation of nuclear power plants in Kazakhstan.
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Japan
to assist Saudi Nuclear Energy Plan
In his visit to the Middle East, the Minister of Economy,
Trade and Industry, Toshimitsu Motegi, held talks in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, with Vice President Faraj of “The King Abdullah City for Atomic
and Renewable Energy” on February 9. In response to the vice
president’s request for cooperation, METI’s Motegi expressed the
intention to support Saudi Arabia by, for example, accepting trainees
to develop human resources that would play a role in the operation and
regulation of nuclear reactors. However, in answer to a question in a
press briefing on February 10 about signing an atomic cooperation
agreement, METI’s Motegi said that they had not yet reached that
stage.
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HLW
returned from the UK
High-level radioactive waste has been returned to
Japan from the UK. The HLW consisted of spent fuel from Japanese
nuclear plants reprocessed in the UK. On February 27, a total of 28
vitrified HLW canisters were transported in the third shipment to the
Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited storage facility in Rokkasho Village, Aomori
Prefecture. With this, 132 canisters in all have been returned, leaving
about 770 (including middle- and low-level radioactive wastes exchanged
for an equal amount of radioactivity) still to be returned. Shipments
from France have been completed with the return of 1,310 canisters.
High-Level Vitrified
Waste from Japanese spent nuclear fuel arrives at Mutsu-Ogawara Port in
Aomori Prefecture. Photograph taken on September 15, 2011.
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