French Nuclear Crimes
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-06-28

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

NUCLEAR FUEL ARRIVES IN JAPAN FROM FRANCE
 
Nuclear fuel shipped from France has arrived at a nuclear power plant in Japan.

 The shipment is the first since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011.

 The fuel is a type called MOX. It is a mixture of plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel and uranium.

 MOX fuel had been used at 4 reactors in Japan prior to the 2011 accident. But all plant operation and shipments had been halted since the disaster.

 A ship carrying the fuel ordered by Kansai Electric Power Company left France in April.

 It arrived on Thursday morning at the utility's Takahama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast.

 Kansai Electric plans to use the fuel at Takahama's Number 3 reactor.It hopes to apply for permission to restart operations when new guidelines for nuclear plant safety go into effect in July.

Jun. 27, 2013 - Updated 01:50 UTC

NUCLEAR AUTHORITY TO ALLOW 2 REACTORS TO RUN

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority is set to allow the only 2 reactors remaining online in the country to continue operation.

 Experts from the authority have been inspecting the reactors at the Ohi nuclear plant, in central Japan, to see if they can satisfy severe accident guidelines that take effect in early July.

 Before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, utilities were allowed to decide for themselves whether to implement such precautionary measures. This was owing to a wide-spread belief that such an accident was unlikely in Japan.

 At a meeting on Monday, the experts discussed improvements that the operator, Kansai Electric Power Company, has proposed for its draft plan for the plant.

 These include enhancing video conferencing equipment at a tentative emergency command center, and improving the ability to pump in sea water to cool reactors.

 The operator said it will complete the improvements by the end of this month.

 Officials at the authority had presented the draft report for the plant last week. It says there is no immediate threat to the safety of the reactors. The experts approved that draft with the improvements.

 The authority is expected to allow the reactors to continue operating through to September, when they will go down for regular maintenance.

 The new guidelines stipulate that plant operators must set up an emergency command center that is strong enough to withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and radiation in a worst-case scenario.

 They also require operators to install "filter vents" for boiling-water type reactors similar to those at the stricken Fukushima plant. The vents can ease pressure in containment vessels by releasing gases after filtering out most of radioactive substances.

 Plant operators must also prepare cooling measures for situations where there is an attack by aircraft. The guidelines also call for replacing power cables with non-flammable types.

Jun. 24, 2013 - Updated 06:40 UTC

FUKUSHIMA: WRONG RADIATION EXPOSURES GIVEN
  
Fukushima Prefecture says more than 16,000 residents were given wrong estimates of their external radiation exposure in a survey following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011.

 The figures were calculated by the National Institute of Radiological Sciences near Tokyo for all of Fukushima Prefecture's 2 million residents. The figures were calculated using a computer program, based on factors including the residents' activities in the 4 months after the accident.

 Of the 2 million residents, calculations using the program have been completed for 420,000 people.

 Prefectural officials say more than 12,000 people were given figures up to 0.4 millisieverts lower than the correct estimates because the calculations were based on wrong dates in the computer program.

 The prefecture says even with the correct figures, it is unlikely that the estimated dosage would pose health problems. The annual limit for exposure for the general public is one millisievert.

 The prefecture has apologized for the mistake and says the computer program will be modified, and the right figures sent to residents.

Jun. 26, 2013 - Updated 00:59 UTC

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