Fukushima’s Taiwan Fallout

via Wall Street Journal / May 6, 2014 / Three years after the meltdown at Fukushima, the future of nuclear energy in East Asia is coming into view. Voters everywhere remain jittery about safety, but Japan and South Korea continue to invest in new capacity. The exception is Taiwan, which may soon exacerbate its own economic and strategic vulnerabilities by abandoning domestic nuclear-power production. Large street protests and a hunger … Continue reading

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Issues involving Storage and Transportation of High Burnup Nuclear Fuel

Issues involving Storage and Transportation of High Burnup Nuclear Fuel

By
Marvin Resnikoff, Ph.D.
SCE Community Engagement Panel (CEP)
San Juan Capistrano Community Center
May 6, 2014
In the interests of full disclosure, I once worked for a public interest organization with the trademarked name, CEP, Council on Economic Priorities, and co-authored a book in 1983 on transportation issues, 3 years before Holtec, who supplies dry storage casks for the nuclear industry. The CEP book supported dry storage of nuclear fuel, but I never realized at the time the present situation, the amount of fuel and burnup that the industry would employ. In a way, part of the problem is my doing. As a member of the Sierra Club, we intervened against the only commercial reprocessing operation in the United States, Nuclear Fuel Services in West Valley, NY, and shut them down. The lack of reprocessing has led utilities to store more fuel in storage pools and in dry storage casks. The lack of a final repository is also partly my doing. I work for the State of Nevada as a consultant on nuclear transportation issues and have since 1986. My parents never gave me a middle name, but sometimes I think it’s “Trouble.”
So utilities are left with the problem of spent nuclear fuel and also faced with competition from natural gas. The economics has forced utilities to hold fuel in reactors longer, not 3 years, but 4 ½, which means less shutdown time. And the economics are also forcing the industry to put more fuel into each dry storage cask, moving from 24 PWR assemblies, to 32, which Transnuclear has requested for San Onofre, to 37 PWR assemblies, which Holtec has requested. I’m going to briefly discuss transportation and storage of nuclear fuel, and I’m going to focus on high burnup nuclear fuel (HBF). What and why is HBF? NRC has not fully investigated the technical issues and implications, which in my view, are major and should have required careful study and an EIS. This is work that should have been done before the NRC allowed utilities to go to high burnup, not after. By high burnup, I mean fuel greater than 45 GWD/MTU, but in clearer terms, allowing each assembly to remain in the reactor longer. The implications are the radioactive inventory in HBF is greater. NRC staff have focused on the heat in HBF, which is greater. But heat will decline over time. One implication is decommissioning will take longer. Fuel will sit in fuel pool for 20 years or more. San Onofre has high burnup fuel. The implication of a longer decay time is that the workers at the site will not be available for the decom process. Putting more fuel into the same space, moving from 24 fuel assemblies to 32, as Southern California Edison intends to do, will further the cooling off period. However, while heat is an important consideration, but perhaps of greater import is the impact on fuel cladding. It may surprise you to know that the NRC does not know how much HBF exists across the country. While the NRC has the power and the ability to identify how much HBF is at each reactor. The NRC has inspectors at each reactor. They simply have not made the effort. The Department of Energy (DOE) is conducting a survey which should be released in September. HBF has major implications for decommissioning, storage, transportation and disposal.
Storage Issues
Let’s step back a second. Nuclear fuel assembly – collection of fuel rods. (fuel assembly) Each rod, about 12 feet long is composed of a tube, cladding, with nuclear fuel stacked like poker chips inside. But the cladding is quite thin, not much thicker than heavy duty aluminum foil. During operation and after, the cladding will develop defects. Studies by Argonne show that the zirconium cladding of HBF will become less ductile, or more brittle. How brittle? The NRC has contracted with Oak Ridge to examine cladding of HBF. The Oak Ridge study should have been completed in March, but has not been released. I call on the NRC to release the Oak Ridge study, before it is manicured by public relations specialists. This is a study that should have been done before HBF was licensed, not after the fact. In response the NRC would say, we do have technical support. The NRC will cite a study at Turkey Point reactor. But this demonstration project examined a cask loaded with lower burnup fuel (approximately 30 GWd/MTU average). Following 15 years of storage, the cask internals and fuel did not show any significant degradation (Einziger et al., 2003). According to that report, the data from this study can be extrapolated to maintain a licensing safety finding that low burnup SNF can be safely stored in a dry storage mode for at least 80 years with an appropriate aging management program that considers the effects of aging on systems, structures, and components (SSCs). The limits in ISG-11, Rev. 3, a peak cladding temperature of 400 oC, are all based on data available prior to 2002. None of this is directly relevant to HBF.
The NRC will also cite the 1988 report, PNL-6258, “Assessment of the Use of Extended Burnup Fuel in Light Water Power Reactors,” but this report did not address the cladding problems of HBF.
Cooling during storage may result in hydride-induced embrittlement. According to a more recent Argonne report, “pre-storage drying-transfer operations and early stage storage subject cladding to higher temperatures and much higher pressure-induced tensile stresses than experienced in-reactor or during pool storage.” The Argonne report discussed the problems of embrittlement of cladding of HBF. Due to thinning of cladding and lack of ductility, the cladding is weakened. As a result the cladding may not be an effective barrier to release of radioactivity to the cask canister. A report by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board goes into the matter in great detail. Thinning of cladding is correlated with the outer oxide layer on the cladding. As seen in the figure below, at a burnup of 60 GWD/MTU, the outer oxide layer is 115 microns. Considering the initial cladding thickness is on average 600 microns, NWTRB calculates a metal loss on the order of 70 microns or 12% at 60 GWD/MTU. Together with a hydride layer inside the cladding, this represents substantial weakening of the cladding.
Moving closer to home, for this reason, we are of the opinion, Edison should consider the HBF fuel assemblies to be damaged fuel that should be individually canned; the canned assemblies would then be stored in a HUHOMS concrete containment (NUHOMS being inserted) or a Holtec vertical silo (Holtec silo) for an indefinite period.
Passive cooling works like a chimney. Once fuel is removed and put into storage, after 18 to 20 years, the NRC license can be converted to storage. Here is what remains of CT Yankee reactor (photo). Nuclear fuel in 40 Holtec casks, and reactor internals in 3 casks. San Onofre will have many more casks. But one additional feature distinguishes the San Onofre situation, the salt environment. Documents show that the stainless steel canister has pitting corrosion, after less than 20 years. This is a major concern if casks are going to remain on-site for an extended period, say 40 to 100 years. NRC’s NUREG/CR-7030 states that atmospheric corrosion of sea salt can lead to stress corrosion cracking within 32 and 128 weeks in austenitic [corrosion resistant] stainless steel canisters. How will this corrosion be prevented? Can the canisters be coated to prevent corrosion We do not believe the industry has the experience in transferring failed (damaged) fuel from one cask to another and no procedures for doing this. In fact, no spent fuel bundle, damaged or not, has ever been transferred from one dry cask to another. Since high burnup fuel is more likely to fail sooner in storage, this becomes an even bigger and more urgent problem.
This is not a theoretical problem. Three examples of stress corrosion cracking at San Onofre have already been seen. In the fall of 2009, three examples of chloride-induced SCC which extended through-wall were discovered at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in the weld heat-affected zone (HAZ) of Type 304 stainless steel piping. The piping included 24-inch, Schedule 10 emergency core cooling system (ECCS) suction piping; 6-inch, Schedule 10 alternate boration gravity feed to charging line piping; and an ECCS mini flow return to refueling water storage tank. While the through-wall failures were attributed to chloride-induced SCC, surface pitting was also observed on the surface of the pipes, with a greater concentration in the weld HAZ. All three pipes were exposed to the outside ambient marine atmosphere. Through-wall cracks developed after an estimated 25 years of service….
These are my takeaways on the HBF and storage issue:
• Little technical support for NRC approval of high burnup fuel (HBF). Experiment taking place in the field.
• Total amount of HBF unknown. At a minimum, the NRC should survey utilities.
• HBF will postpone storage up to 20 years; 32 PWR canister extends cooldown period.
• Cladding defects are a major problem for HBF; HBF may not be retrievable. HBF should be canned.
• Because of corrosion, long-term storage may not be possible in a salt environment.
Transportation Issues
Brittleness is important when considering transportation and disposal. One utility, Maine Yankee, has taken the important step of canning the HBF, that is, individually enclosing each fuel assembly in a stainless steel container. Concern is vibrations when transported, and potential shattering of cladding in a transportation accident. Transportation casks must satisfy regulatory accidents. Casks must withstand 30 foot drop onto an unyielding surface. In a hypothetical transportation accident, cask must withstand an end drop (drop from Holtec rpt) where 140 ton casks are cushioned by impact limiters. But a more serious accident involves a side impact where impact limiters are not present. One example is a RR crossing where a cask could be struck by the sill of a locomotive. (picture from NV rpt). NRC has not carefully evaluated such an accident, including the impact limiters. NRC hypothetical accident requires the cask to withstand a 30 inch drop onto a punch.
Another type of accident involves fire. Several major train fires have occurred recently. 140 ton casks would be shipped by train, on the same routes used by oil tankers. Right now, nuclear fuel has nowhere to go, no final repository. But NRC has not done the statistical analysis to determine the statistical likelihood of a nuclear shipment caught in an oil tanker fire. A study of the likelihood of an accident involving an oil tanker fire and a nuclear shipment requires a sophisticated Monte Carlo analysis. In addition to the likelihood of a long duration fire involving a nuclear cask, the NRC must also analyze the consequences of a radioactive release In my opinion, the NRC has not properly taken into account a long duration fire, by not properly taking into account the conduction of fire heat into the cask interior. As seen, fuel sits within a sealed canister, welded shut. The transportation overpack is metal, but this is surrounded by a neutron absorber, generally boronated, hydrogenated plastic, with an outer metal envelope. (picture of cask crossection). Plastic does not effectively conduct heat, so additional metal pieces serve to transfer heat out of the cask, but also conduct heat into the cask in a fire. Oil fire may burn at 1850 oF or higher depending on the air supply. The hypothetical accident fire consists of an all engulfing fire at 1475 oF for 30 minutes, while an oil fire can burn for many hours. The most recent NRC report NUREG-2125 does not correctly take into account a long duration high temperature fire and should be redone.
Here are my takeways on the transportation issue:
• Realistic low probability, high consequence accidents should be examined.
• Side impact rail accidents may shatter HBF cladding.
• Long duration, high temperature fires may involve oil tankers that travel the same tracks. NRC has not properly quantified the statistical likelihood.
Aging Nuke Plants On Fault Lines In Tsunami Hazard Zones = Fukushimas… Any Questions?
PLEASE Turn off a light for Fukushima USA / San Onofre

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Japan and France to promote fast breeder reactors

via Enformable.com / May 5, 2014 /Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Francois Hollande met during a summit meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday and agreed that the two countries will work to promote the research and development of fast breeder reactors. According to Japanese sources with knowledge of the agreement, Japan will provide technical assistance on France’s fast breeder reactor development projects. France has … Continue reading

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2 Fukushima police officers found dead in apparent suicides

via NewsOnJapan.com / May 2, 2014 / Fukushima prefectural police said Thursday that two senior officers have committed suicide this week. In the first case, which occurred on April 28, Yoshikuni Tasaki, 51, an inspector, hanged himself inside an office at a police building. Fuji TV quoted police as saying that Tasaki left a note in which he said he was exhausted from work. In the second case, which occurred … Continue reading

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Fukushima Health Effects in North America?

via Goddard’s Journal / April 24, 2014 / Critique of two studies claiming 14,000 deaths and disease in North American caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Letter by Yuri Hiranuma to the journal that published the congenital-hypothyroidism study : http://fukushimavoice-eng2.blogspot.jp/2014/04/a-letter-to-editor-regarding.html The journal rejected the letter w/o explanation. The journal publisher is on Beall’s “List of Predatory Publishers 2014″ : http://scholarlyoa.com/2014/01/02/list-of-predatory-publishers-2014/ The two studies critiqued Mangano J, Sherman J, Busby … Continue reading

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TEPCO records $4.3b net profit after bailout

via business-standard.com / April 30, 2014 / The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said today it booked a USD 4.3 billion annual net profit owing to an electricity rate hike and a massive government bailout following the 2011 disaster. Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) was teetering on the brink as cleanup and compensation costs stoked huge losses and threatened to collapse the sprawling utility until Tokyo stepped with a … Continue reading

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Health Effects Of Living Near A Nuclear Reactor

Health Effects of Living Next To A Nuclear Reactor
Nuclear Reactors, On Fault Lines In Tsunami Hazard Zones Equal Fukushimas
Decommission Diablo Canyon 

The two Diablo Canyon nuclear power reactors (Diablo Canyon) in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County are aging. They began operation in 1984 and 1985, respectively.

They are the only California nuclear power reactors still operating to produce electricity, after the San Onofre reactors were closed in June 2013. In 2010, 465,521 people lived within 50 miles of the plant.

As of 2010, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant held 1126 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste, containing more radioactivity than that released during the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Diablo Canyon emitted more highly-toxic liquid tritium into the environment than any U.S. plant during the late 2000s.

A 2013 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that the discovery of “a previously unknown earthquake fault line running as close as 2,000 feet from Diablo Canyon’s two reactors…could cause more ground motion during an earthquake than the plant was designed to withstand. Since this new fault was discovered, the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has not demonstrated that the reactors meet agency safety standards.”

Average radioactive Strontium-90 (Sr-90) levels in baby teeth from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties were 30.8% greater than the Sr-90 levels in all California baby teeth tested. In the state of California, Sr-90 levels in baby teeth rose steadily, increasing 50.2% in children born in the late 1990s vs. the late 1980s. Nuclear power plants are the only current source of Sr-90 emissions into the environment.

Major findings about local health patterns around the Diablo Nukes include:

1. Since the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant opened in the mid-1980s, San Luis Obispo County has changed from a relatively low-cancer to a high-cancer county.

2. Due to increases in the San Luis Obispo County cancer rate during 2001-2010, an additional 738 people were diagnosed with cancer.

3. Cancer incidence in San Luis Obispo County rose from 0.4% below to 6.9% above the average for the state of California during the time period of 1988-1990 to 2003-2010. The current cancer rate is the highest of all 20 counties in southern California.

4. After Diablo Canyon began operating, significant rapid increases occurred for the incidence of thyroid and female breast cancer in San Luis Obispo County, both highly radiosensitive cancers.

5. After Diablo Canyon began operating, infant mortality in San Luis Obispo County rose significantly.

6. After Diablo Canyon began operating, child/adolescent cancer mortality in the county rose rapidly.

7. Melanoma incidence in San Luis Obispo County soared from 3.6% above to 130.2% above the state incidence rate during the period from 1988-1990 to 2003-2010, and is now the highest of all California counties.

8. Cancer mortality for people of all ages in San Luis Obispo County rose from 5.1% below to 1.4% above California from 1988-1990 to 2008-2010, making SLO the 25thhighest county in the state (up from 43rd highest).

9. The ratio of babies born at very low-weight (below 3 pounds, 4 ounces) rose 45.0% higher in the 9 San Luis Obispo County zip codes closest to Diablo Canyon, versus the other more distant 10 county zip codes.

10. The ratio of all-cause mortality rose 47.9% higher in the 9 San Luis Obispo County zip codes closest to Diablo Canyon, versus the other more distant 10 county zip codes.

11. In the 10 zip code areas in Santa Barbara County closest to Diablo Canyon, there was a greater rise in the rates of infant mortality (61.7%), low weight births (40.2%) and total mortality (19.1%), than in the 5 zip codes areas in the city of Santa Barbara, located approximately 90 miles from the reactors.

12. The major findings of this report show increases in various rates of disease and death in San Luis Obispo County, as compared to the state of California, since the 1980s (before plant startup and during its early years of operation). This includes increases in infant mortality, child/adolescent cancer mortality, cancer incidence for all ages (especially thyroid, female breast, and melanoma), and cancer mortality for all ages.

Aging Nuke Plants On Fault Lines In Tsunami Hazard Zones = Fukushimas… Any Questions?
PLEASE Turn off a light for Fukushima USA / San Onofre

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Minute traces of radiation from Fukushima discovered in West Coast albacore tuna

via undercurrentnews.com / April 29, 2014 / Scientists claim to have found slightly elevated levels of radioactivity in US West Coast albacore tuna caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, according to Oregon State University (OSU). Researchers from OSU said in new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology the increase of radiation has been minute. In fact, it would be needed to consume more than 700,000 … Continue reading

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Survey: Half of Fukushima evacuee households split up; distress rife in families

via Asahi Shimbun / April 29, 2014 / Nearly half of households that evacuated following the Fukushima nuclear disaster have been split up while close to 70 percent have family members suffering from physical and mental distress, a survey showed. The number of households forced to live apart exceeds the number that remain together, according the survey, the first by the Fukushima prefectural government that attempted to survey all households … Continue reading

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Corbett Report Interview: Aileen Mioko Smith on the Japanese Reactor Restarts

from The Corbett Report: The Japanese Nuclear Regulatory Agency is currently considering applications from 8 different utilities companies to restart 17 of the nation’s 54 nuclear reactors, which have been taken offline in the wake of the Fukushima crisis. Today we talk to Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan about the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and their efforts to stop the reactor restarts from happening.  

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Kawauchi residents OK’d for overnight stays in hot zone

via Japan Times / April 27, 2014 / Residents of the 20-km hot zone around the meltdown-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have been allowed to stay overnight at their homes after progress with decontamination. Previously, the residents from the village of Kawauchi Village, Fukushima Prefecture (pictured), were allowed to spend only the day inside the evacuation zone. The change means the residents will be free to spend entire days … Continue reading

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Former Mayor Claims Japanese Govt. Hiding Truth From Fukushima Returnees

via RT.com / April 21, 2014 / Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba, a town near the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant, is warning his country that radiation contamination is affecting Japan’s greatest treasure – its children. Asked about government plans to relocate the people of Futaba to the city of Iwaki, inside the Fukushima prefecture, Idogawa criticized the move as a “violation of human rights.” Compared with Chernobyl, radiation levels … Continue reading

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Chernobyl no “Eden” after 28 years

A newly published study has uncovered alarming indications of biological loss and ecological collapse in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. 

Nuclear boosters have long claimed that the superficial appearance of teeming wildlife in the approximately 1,000 square mile Chernobyl exclusion zone indicates an Eden-like outcome. But the study observed a frightening halt to organic decay and the disappearance of important microbes that indicate the steady advance of a potential “silent spring.” 

The illusion that the absence of humanity can only benefit wildlife is trumped when humanity has inflicted man-made poisons on a fragile ecosystem whose inhabitants are now biologically compromised by radiation exposures that will continue indefinitely,” observed Linda Gunter, international specialist at Beyond Nuclear, of the study’s findings.

Highly reduced mass loss rates and increased litter layer in radioactively contaminated areas, published in Oecologia, March 4, 2014, by Mousseau (Dr. Tim Mousseau pictured), Milinevsky, Kenney‑Hunt and Møller, found that the natural cycle of decay of organic materials around Chernobyl is largely dependent on microbial communities which have been significantly reduced in these radioactively contaminated zones. 

“We already know about plant and insect mutations and the shortened lifespans of birds in the zone, but this news is even more alarming,” said Paul Gunter, Director of Reactor Oversight at Beyond Nuclear. “The long-term consequences of the loss of this essential microbial community could be unprecedented ecologically, while the most immediate consequence is the build-up of undecayed leaf matter. This creates an increased risk of forest fires which could spread radioactivity to uncontaminated areas,” Gunter said.

Read the full press release


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Fukushima No. 1 boss admits water woes out of control

by Yuka Obayashi / via Japan Times / April 20, 2014 / The manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant admits to embarrassment that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water, eight months after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the world the matter had been resolved. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator, has been fighting a daily battle against contaminated water … Continue reading

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Report: Fukushima Radiation Levels Drop, Still Dangerous

via Ria Novosti / April 18, 2014 / Radiation levels in the areas surrounding the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant have dropped, but still exceed the long-term target of the Japanese government, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Friday. The report, quoted by the Asahi Shumbun daily newspaper, says that Fukushima evacuees will receive radiation doses from 0.7 to 3 millisieverts per … Continue reading

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Estimated radiation doses of Fukushima returnees withheld for half a year

By Shinichi Sekine and Miki Aoki / Asahi Shimbun / April 16, 2014 / The Japanese government withheld findings on estimated radiation exposure for Fukushima returnees for six months, even though levels exceeded the long-term target of 1 millisievert a year at more than half of surveyed locations. Individual radiation doses were estimated to be beyond 1 millisievert per year, or 0.23 microsievert an hour, at 24 of all the … Continue reading

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TEPCO accidentally fills Fukushima basements with contaminated water

via Press TV / April 15, 2014 / Authorities at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant say the facility’s basements have been mistakenly filled with highly contaminated water. The basements were flooded with about 200 tons of cooling-tank radioactive water after pumps were turned on by mistake. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), says the water didn’t have a pathway to reach the ocean or leak out to … Continue reading

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TEPCO: August water leak far more toxic than first annouced

via Japan Times / April 12, 2014 / Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that toxic water found to have leaked last August at one of the huge tanks at the accident-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was far more contaminated than initially announced. After recalculating the radiation level, Tepco said the water contained 280 million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive materials such as strontium-90, instead of … Continue reading

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Citizen scientists prepare to test U.S. West Coast for Fukushima radiation

By Kevin Griffin / Vancouver Sun / April 12, 2014 / All along the Pacific coast of North America and as far south as Costa Rica, people with little or no scientific background have volunteered to raise money for the program and collect the sea water samples needed to test for radiation. The crowdsourcing, citizen-scientist program is the idea of Ken Buesseler, a research scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, … Continue reading

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Education Ministry Approves of Only 1 Elementary School Textbook Mentioning Fukushima

By Maan Pamintuan-Lamorena / via Japan Daily Press / April 11, 2014 / Teaching the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident to elementary school students proved to be difficult as what some textbook publishers found out. Especially if the words “atom” and “radiation” are not yet included in the curriculum guidelines for elementary students. As such, only one out of the six approved science textbooks for primary school use tackled the … Continue reading

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TEPCO says it’s running out of room to store contaminated debris at Fukushima Daiichi

via Enformable.com / April 8, 2014 / Engineers from Tokyo Electric held discussions with officials from the Japanese government on Monday where they communicated that they are running out of room to store contaminated debris at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.  According to estimates provided by the engineers, more than 560,000 cubic meters of debris will be produced from decommissioning activities over the next 13 years. Tokyo Electric … Continue reading

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Pumping of Fukushima Groundwater Begins

from NHK World / April 8, 2014 / The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company will begin pumping up groundwater at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Wednesday. The water is expected to be released into the sea next month. This will mark the start of one of several key measures to reduce the increasing volume of radiation-contaminated water at the facility. According to the plan, clean groundwater that … Continue reading

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Industry paper investigates why other plants were not affected like Fukushima

via Enformable.com / April 7, 2014 / A paper published by the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum focuses on why Fukushima Daiichi experienced a severe accident and other nuclear power facilities like Fukushima Daiini, Onagawa, and Tokai nuclear power plants were not as severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami. One of the findings was that the earthquake damaged all seven of the offsite power systems providing external power to the … Continue reading

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Japan’s Nuclear Energy Policy Impasse

By Andrew DeWit / Asia-Pacific Journal / April 7, 2014 / 60% of Japan’s 48 viable nuclear reactors, are not as yet being considered for application to the Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) for restart. All of Japan’s 48 viable nuclear reactors are at present offline, and have been since September of 2013. The Abe cabinet is keen to restart as many of these as possible. But regulatory rules, public opinion … Continue reading

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Mobilizing Nuclear Bias: The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Politics of Uncertainty

Kyle Cleveland Temple University Japan Abstract The nuclear disaster in Fukushima which followed in the wake of the 3/11 Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami has been one of the most significant public health crises in modern history, with profound implications for how nuclear energy is perceived. This paper analyzes the nature of risk assessment in the nuclear crisis, examining how the Japanese government and its constituent institutions in the nuclear industry, foreign governments … Continue reading

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Op-ed: The Lessons of Fukushima and Proposed Reactor Restarts

by Jeff Kingston / Japan Times / April 5, 2014 / Kyle Cleveland, my colleague at Temple University Japan, recently published a report in the online Asia-Pacific Journal, “Mobilizing Nuclear Bias: The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Politics of Uncertainty” that has drawn widespread media attention. Based on numerous interviews with government officials, military officers and nuclear energy experts, along with documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests to U.S. … Continue reading

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