PM Abe Takes Tokyo Governor Race Win by Masuzoe as Endorsement of His Administration, Moves Ahead with Nuke Restart, Constitutional Change

Sure enough, on the heel of a big win by the candidate that his party supported in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moves full on again on restarting the nuclear power plants in Japan and crafting the new national energy policy that puts nuclear power back in the center.

Abe takes Masuzoe's win as strong endorsement of his administration's policies, particularly nuclear policies, just as The Economist and other influential foreign papers predicted (here's Wall Street Journal's take, with a not-so-kind photograph of Masuzoe).

It will be not just the restart of the nuclear power plants in Japan. To those of you who briefly had a glimmer of hope that Japan would finally ditch the fast breeder Monju, my condolences. Abe also wants to quickly pass the budget, modify the Constitution and carry out an educational reform.

All because the LDP/Komei backed Masuzoe won in the Tokyo gubernatorial election.

And who were all those people who insisted that the governorship of Tokyo was just another local, provincial matter with little bearing on the national politics? Whoever you are, my condolences, too.

From Mainichi Shinbun, published after the poll closed on February 9, 2014 (part):

都知事選:首相、主要政策に追い風　エネ計画月内決定

Tokyo gubernatorial election result will act as tailwind for Prime Minister's core policies, energy policies to be decided within this month

東京都知事選で自民、公明両党の支援する舛添要一元厚生労働相（６５）が当選し、安倍晋三首相は今年最初のハードルを越えた。原発再稼働に前向きな安倍政権の姿勢は一定の評価を得たととらえ、国の中長期的なエネルギー政策の指針となる新たな「エネルギー基本計画」を月内にも閣議決定する。さらに２０１４年度予算案を早期に成立させて「経済重視」をアピールしつつ、集団的自衛権の行使を可能にする憲法解釈の変更や教育委員会改革などを進める構えだ。

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cleared the first hurdle of this year by the win in the Tokyo gubernatorial election by Yoichi Masuzoe, former Minister of Health and Labor who was supported by both LDP and Komen Party. Masuzoe's win is considered as a certain degree of approval of the Abe administration which is in favor of the restart of nuclear power plants, and the new Basic Energy Plan will be approved by a cabinet decision within this month. The Basic Energy Plan serves as guidelines for mid- to long-term national energy policies. Further, Abe will pass the fiscal 2014 budget at the earliest opportunity to appeal his "focus on the economy" as well as modifying the interpretation of the Constitution that will enable Japan to exercise the right to collective defense and carrying out the reform of Board of Education.

首相に近い参院議員の一人は「首相は自民党を捨てた舛添氏をよく思っていないが、『勝てる候補』と割り切った」と首相の心情を代弁する。今年は大型の国政選挙が予定されていないものの、首都・東京で敗れた場合、高い内閣支持率を保ってきた政権の潮目が変わりかねなかったためだ。

One of the Councilors close to the prime minister speaks for Mr. Abe and says "Prime Minister doesn't think highly of Mr. Masuzoe who abandoned Liberal Democratic Party, but decided to see him as "someone who could win the election"." There is no large national election to be held this year, but if [the LDP-backed candidate] had lost in Tokyo, capital of Japan, the tide may have turned against the Abe administration whose approval rating has remained high.

細川護熙元首相と小泉純一郎元首相による「脱原発」の争点化が奏功しなかったことで、政府は、都知事選後に閣議決定を先送りしていたエネルギー基本計画について、原発を「ベース電源」と位置付けた政府素案から大きく修正しない方向だ。ただ、今後の核燃料サイクル政策を巡っては、高速増殖原型炉もんじゅを計画通り進めることに自公両党の批判が強い。自民党の高市早苗政調会長は９日夜、毎日新聞の取材に「相当丁寧に議論していかなければならない」と述べ、政府に慎重な対応を求めた。

Seeing that the efforts by former prime ministers Morihiro Hosokawa and Junichiro Koizumi to turn the "beyond nuclear" movement as an election issue was not successful, the Abe government is not going to vastly modify the government draft plan of the Basic Energy Plan, which defines nuclear power as "basic power supply". The government had deferred the cabinet decision on the Basic Energy Plan until after the Tokyo gubernatorial election. However, there are significant objections from within both LDP and Komen Party to operating the fast breeder Monju as planned, as part of the fuel cycle policy. Sanae Takaichi, Chairman of LDP's Policy Research Council, said in the Mainichi Shinbun interview in the evening of February 9 that [Monju and the fuel cycle policy] would have to be thoroughly discussed, and would require a cautious approach by the government.

Thorough discussion and cautious approach. Just like when they passed the State Secrecy Protection Law. So ditch that thought that Japan finally ditches Monju.

Remember that Abe wanted to run a young female candidate to win the election. When he and his administration saw the attorney who had been defeated very badly by Mr. Inose in the December 2012 election entering the race again, they decided on Mr. Masuzoe, who they were confident could easily beat him (which he did, even if he was a man).

In the National Diet Budget Committee on the next day (February 10), Prime Minister Abe moved quickly with his coalition partner Komei Party (that also supported Mr. Masuzoe) and effectively resurrected nuclear power as "basic power supply". There is no way that "basic power supply" for the nation will be terminated in the near or even the distant future.

And what are those "beyond nuclear" supporters of the "socialist lawyer" (as The Economist puts him) doing?

Gloating on the "win" over the former prime ministers who wanted to immediately ditch nuclear power.

They are promising their followers the "long" struggle toward a nuclear-free future someday. Masuzoe's win seems to have guaranteed them a life work, paid or otherwise. Congratulations for that.

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Belgium's Two Nuclear Reactors with Cracks Are Good to Restart, Minister Says Government Does Not Have Power To Interfere with "Independent" Regulator and Operator

These days, things nuclear look almost serene compared to the (soap) scums in the political world (here and here in Japan, here and here and here in the US, for some examples).

But that's probably because political scums are used to mask problems that cannot be fixed.

Belgium, having to rely on nuclear power for more than 50% of electricity, has declared two reactors safe to operate whose Reactor Pressure Vessels were found with thousands of small cracks in August 2012 (see my post for one of them).

Why? Because there is no way to fix the cracks now (besides, the company that made the vessels went out of business), and Belgium needs electricity.

From Reuters (5/17/2013):

UPDATE 1-Belgian regulator clears GDF to restart nuclear reactors

* A third of Belgium's nuclear capacity closed since last yr

* Reactors should restart in 2-3 weeks (Recasts with regulator confirmation)

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS, May 17 (Reuters) - Belgium's nuclear safety regulator has given approval for GDF Suez to restart two nuclear reactors closed last year over safety concerns, it said in a report on Friday.

"The Federal Agency for Nuclear Control considers that the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactor units can be restarted safely," the report said.

It added that all of the safety concerns had been resolved satisfactorily.

Belgium halted the 1,006-megawatt (MW) Doel 3 reactor in August last year after indications of cracks were discovered on the core tank during ultrasound checks.

A month later, it found similar flaws on the 1,008-MW Tihange 2 after it tested the tank during a routine stoppage, leaving Belgium without a third of its nuclear power generation capacity.

It will take two to three weeks to restart the reactors, a spokeswoman for GDF Suez's Belgian division Electrabel said following the decision.

According to Asahi Shinbun who reported the news in Japan, Doel 3 reactor has over 8,000 small cracks, and Tihange 2 has over 2,000. They conducted the tolerance test to ensure safety, according to Asahi.

Greenpeace is vowed to sue the Belgium government, according to Euronews (5/17/2013):

Greenpeace are threatening to sue the Belgian government. The leading environmental activist network is threatening legal action after Belgium’s nuclear safety regulator gave the green light to GDF Suez to go ahead and restart two nuclear reactors.

However, during a news conference, the Belgian Interior Minister, Joelle Milquet claimed that the government does not have the power to block the move.

“The independent regulator provides technical advice to an operator on the restarting of its operations. We do not have the ability to interfere in the decision, because it is an independent operator,” he said.

Last year two nuclear reactors were closed after safety concerns were flagged up in their their tanks, during an ultrasound check.

Greenpeace says it is the government’s responsibility to guarantee the safety of the Belgian people.

“We will summon the government for the lack of decent emergency plan and at the same time they increase the risks of a nuclear accident,” says Greenpeace Belgium energy campaigner Eloi Glorieux.

So while a legal battle may be brewing reactors, Doel 3 and Tihange 2 could be back up and running within 3 weeks, now that Belgium’s nuclear watchdog claims all issues have been resolved.

What does the minister mean, the government does not have the power to block the move? Ensuring the safety of things like nuclear reactors is one of the few remaining good things that a government should do.

In contrast, Switzerland's Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant has a huge crack in the core shroud inside the Reactor Pressure Vessel, and the license to operate is set to be withdrawn by the court order in June this year.

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Atomic Energy Society of Japan Survey: 70% of Nuclear Experts Say They Are Comfortable with Nuclear Power, 92% Say We Should Continue to Use Nuclear Power

Just as the stock market performance has increasingly little or nothing to do with the real economy, the nuclear experts who are the members of Atomic Energy Society of Japan feel more confident about nuclear power while ordinary people continue to feel uneasy and threatened, 2 years after the worst nuclear accident in Japan which is still on-going.

The Mainichi article below speculates that the experts may have regained confidence after the LDP win in the Lower House election in December last year. If that's the case, well they are not scientists, but politicians.

As far as I am aware, there has been very little soul-searching, so to speak, after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident by the members of Atomic Energy Society of Japan (and who make up the so-called "nuclear village"), nor active participation by the members in solving the many problems that TEPCO has been dealing with (albeit ineffectively) since the day 1 of the accident.

They have been lying low, but now that LDP has put the restart of nuclear power plants in the election promise for the Upper House election in July, they should be more confident.

Mainichi English (5/8/2013):

70% of nuclear experts still 'comfortable' with atomic power: survey

Some 70 percent of nuclear energy experts with the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) remain "comfortable" with atomic power, while at the same time public confidence in the technology remains low, a society survey has revealed.

The AESJ began the annual survey of its members in fiscal 2006, and of the general public in fiscal 2007. The fiscal 2012 survey, conducted in January and February this year, queried 500 randomly selected residents of the Tokyo region and 559 AESJ members at universities and in the private sector.

In the fiscal 2010 survey, 86.5 percent of AESJ members queried said they were either "comfortable" or "somewhat comfortable" with atomic power generation. In the fiscal 2011 survey -- conducted after the March 2011 Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant meltdowns -- that figure dropped to 62 percent, but bounced back to 69.2 percent for fiscal 2012.

Meanwhile, only about 25 percent of the 500 members of the public agreed or somewhat agreed that Japan should keep using atomic power -- around the same rate as in the 2011 survey and half that of before the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Asked if Japan should keep using atomic power, some 92 percent of AESJ members said yes -- 6.6 points higher than in the fiscal 2011 survey and close to the pre-disaster level of around 95 percent.

"The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) included continuing atomic power in their election promises last year and won a huge victory, so I think nuclear experts might have regained some of their confidence in the technology," Kansai University professor of social psychology Shoji Tsuchida said of the survey results. "But it would be a mistake for them to think that the election results mean the public has signed off on nuclear energy."

For some unknown reason, Mainichi English drops the reference to the percentage of ordinary citizens who are comfortable with nuclear power. According to Mainichi Shinbun's Japanese article,

一方、市民は１０年度の１８・６％が５・２％（１１年度）に下がり、１２年度も６％と低下したままだ。

On the other hand, 18.6% of citizens answered they were comfortable with nuclear power generation in the fiscal 2010. The number dropped to 5.2% in the fiscal 2011, and it remains low at 6% in the fiscal 2012.

Even before the Fukushima accident, most citizens were not comfortable with nuclear power. But they were told it was good for them and good for the planet Earth, and were told it was unscientific and unreasonable to fear the nuclear power.

About the experts confidence, Mainichi English says it is the "confidence in the technology". But that cannot be inferred from the original Japanese, which simply says:

原発利用継続を公約した自民党が圧勝したことで、専門家は自信を回復したのかもしれない。

Because of the huge victory by LDP who promised continued use of nuclear power plants, the experts may have regained their confidence.

I think it is the confidence in themselves.

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Japan's Future Reliance on Nuclear Power: Noda Administration Chooses "15%" Anyway, Despite 90% of 90K Public Comments Wanted "0%"

Farce, charade, tatemae, facade, or you could call it "democracy" as practiced in most of the western world. The foregone conclusion presented as a choice for people, so that people can delude themselves that they have some say in the state affairs. (See my previous post on nearly 90,000 people sending in their opinions, exercising their democratic right, tatemae or not, and how the statisticians dissed the result.)

(By the way, the statisticians (university professors) were probably hired by the private think-tank Mitsubishi Research Institute to whom the government outsourced the analysis of the public comments.)

Jiji Tsushin article makes it very clear what some people have suspected all along - that the government wants to set "15%" as the policy all along. If I remember right, these people were criticized as "cynical" by the fellow Japanese. What can I say.

The Noda administration has the usual lip service to the (naive) citizens: "Zero nukes in the future". What future?

From Jiji Tsushin (9/1/2012):

「将来的に原発ゼロ」＝中間目標３０年に１５％以下－国民に協力要請へ・政府検討

"Zero nuke plants in the future" with intermediate target in 2030 at 15% or less - the government is considering requesting cooperation from Japanese citizens

政府は１日、新たなエネルギー政策について「将来的に原発ゼロを目指す」ことを打ち出す方向で検討に入った。関係閣僚でつくる「エネルギー・環境会議」で９月上旬にも決定し、野田佳彦首相が発表する方針だ。２０３０年の原発比率は１５％以下とし、原発をゼロにするまでの中間目標と位置付けることも検討している。政府関係者が明らかにした。

The national government started the discussion on September 1 over the new national energy policy, which will likely state "[Japan] will aim for zero nuclear power in the future". The "Energy and Environment Conference", made up of the administration's ministers in the related fields, will decide [on the policy] in the early September, and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will announce the new policy. The reliance on nuclear energy in the year 2030 will be 15% or lower, and the government is also considering positioning it as interim target to zero nuclear power. An unnamed government official disclosed [to Jiji Tsushin].

　政府は新エネルギー施策について、３０年の原発比率を１５％とすることを念頭に置いてきた。しかし、７月以降に行った意見聴取会や討論型世論調査で、原発ゼロを求める意見が多かったことから、政府としてゼロを目指す姿勢を示す必要があると判断した。新政策は、エネルギー・環境会議で決める「革新的エネルギー・環境戦略」に盛り込む。これにより、原発依存を高めてきた日本のエネルギー政策は転換点を迎えることになる。

The government has considered all along to set the reliance on the nuclear power in the year 2030 at 15% as the new energy policy. However, as the opinion surveys and focus group surveys in July and August revealed that many people wanted zero nuke plants, the government felt the need to show the attitude of aiming for zero nuke plants. The new policy will be part of the "Innovative Energy and Environmental Stragegy" that will be decided by the "Energy and Environment Conference". It will mark a turning point for the Japan's energy policy which has increased reliance on nuclear energy.

　３０年に原発１５％以下の目標を達成するため、１５年から５年ごとに達成の度合いを検証する方針だ。

In order to achieve 15% reliance or less on nuclear power in 2030, the government will check the progress every 5 years starting 2015.

　新政策では、使用済み核燃料の最終処分や、風力・太陽光など再生可能エネルギーの普及など、原発ゼロに向けたさまざまな課題があることも指摘する。首相が記者会見などで「全国民に協力をお願いする」と呼び掛ける方向だ。

The new policy will also discuss various issues to achieve zero nuclear power, including the final disposal of spent fuel and spread of renewable energy like wind and solar power. The prime minister will use a press conference and other venues to ask for cooperation from every Japanese citizen.

"Innovative Energy and Environmental Stragegy" that will be decided by the "Energy and Environment Conference". Doesn't that sound wonderful, like in former Soviet Union planning?

Renewable energy? There is hardly any renewable energy source to meaningfully contribute to the power grid, but no shortage of energy anywhere in Japan. As to nuclear energy, only two reactors are currently in use (despite jellyfish), and Kansai hasn't had a single blackout. So? What kind of "cooperation" does Mr. Noda want?

More tax, I suppose, so that he has money to pay the bills come October.

Or to give big corporations big "wind" and/or "solar" projects, whether there are needs for them or not, and make citizens/residents foot the bill through subsidies and taxes.

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Workers Inhaled High Doses of Radioactive Tritium in Indian Nuke Plant During Regular Maintenance

Clearly, the workers were unaware that they were inhaling it as they cleaned out

India is to have 6 fast breeder reactors in the next 15 years, and India is not a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. India, Pakistan, and Israel are the three states who have not signed the treaty.

The article below also says at another nuclear power plant in India in 2009, workers fell ill after drinking tritium-laced water from a water cooler.

From The Indian Express (6/29/2012; emphasis is mine):

Two suffer radioactive exposure at Rawatbhata nuclear plant

Two workers at the Rawatbhata Atomic Power Station in Rajasthan have suffered exposure to high doses of radioactive tritium and are under observation.

The incident took place on June 23 at Unit 5 of the plant during routine maintenance work.

"There was no abnormal release of radioactivity to the environment," Nalinish Nagaich, Executive Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said from Mumbai.

He said there was localised increase in tritium concentration in the building of Reactor-5 due to the opening of the moderator cover gas line where the welding jobs were to be performed.

"All persons involved in the maintenance work were monitored and two were found to have four to five times higher uptake of tritium," Nagaich said. The exposure of other persons is below the annual exposure limit specified, he said.

The incident was reported to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and was investigated by independent committees set up by the regulator and NPCIL.

Tritium is a mildly radioactive type of hydrogen that is formed in the operation of nuclear power plants.

The workers had inhaled it while carrying out maintenance activities in the reactor building and it will come out of the body on its own through urine.

The level of tritium in the body is expected to reduce appreciably within a week.

The NPCIL, in a report on its website, said that the incident occurred when a modification work for assuring a provision of alternate water addition to the moderator system in the Reactor-5 was being carried out.

"The uptake occurred due to inadvertent rise in tritium levels in a localized area of the containment building of the Reactor-5," it said.

In 2009, a large number of workers at Kaiga atomic plant had taken ill after consuming tritium-laced water from a water-cooler.

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Prime Minister Noda to Give a Press Conference to Convince People in Japan That Nuclear Energy Is Essential for Japan

It's all part of a ceremony (absolutely nothing more) to restart Ooi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture before the summer peak season starts. The power that be in Japan, whether they are politicians or industry big shots, do not want the situation where there is no nuclear power plant operating and there is no shortage of electricity.

So, the ceremony goes like this:

1. Governor of Fukui Kazumi (Issei) Nishikawa, who was a career bureaucrat in the national government, wants Prime Minister Noda to explain to the Japanese that nuclear power is indispensable to Japan, as the condition for agreeing to restart Ooi Nuclear Power Plant.

2. Prime Minister Noda gives a speech saying nuclear power is indispensable to Japan.

3. Governor Nishikawa listens to the speech, and is satisfied that the speech is good. He agrees to the restart, and makes necessary steps in his government for the restart.

4. Prime Minister, on receiving the news that Governor Nishikawa is now satisfied, convenes a ministerial meeting with Edano, Hosono, Fujimura (and Sengoku in the background), and make a political decision to restart the plant, upon his "responsibility" (whatever that means).

From Yomiuri Shinbun (6/8/2012):

大飯再稼働、首相が会見で説明へ

Restart of Ooi Nuke Plant to be explained by Prime Minister in a press conference

野田首相は７日、関西電力大飯原子力発電所３、４号機（福井県おおい町）の再稼働に向け、日本のエネルギー政策に原子力発電が必要であることを国民に説明するため、記者会見を行う方向で最終調整に入った。

Prime Minister Noda was making the final arrangement on June 7 for a press conference to explain to the citizens in Japan that nuclear power generation is necessary for Japan's energy policy. The press conference is part of the government effort to restart Reactors 3 and 4 at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant operated by Kansai Electric (KEPCO) (in Ooi-cho, Fukui Prefecture).

福井県の西川一誠知事が再稼働に同意する条件として、原発の必要性に関する国民への説明を要求しているため、首相は応じることにした。

Governor Issei Nishikawa of Fukui Prefecture is demanding that the prime minister explain to the citizens of Japan about the need for nuclear power plants, as a condition to agreeing to restart the Ooi plant.

西川知事は、記者会見での首相の説明ぶりに納得できれば、県として再稼働に同意する手続きを行うとしている。首相は同意を得た後に速やかに関係閣僚との会合を開き、再稼働を最終判断する方針だ。

Governor Nishikawa has said that his prefectural government will proceed with steps to restart the plant if he is satisfied with the way Prime Minister Noda explains during the press conference. After obtaining the governor's consent, Prime Minister Noda is to convene a ministerial meeting right away to make the final decision on the restart of the plant.

政府内では「首相がこれまでの記者会見などで必要性を説明している」として記者会見に否定的な意見が強かったが、首相は７日に首相官邸で枝野経済産業相らと協議した結果、知事の求めに応じなければ再稼働時期が遅れると判断した。

Within the administration, there were many who were against such a press conference as "the prime minister has already explained the necessity [of nuclear power] in the previous press conferences". However, after conferring with people including Minister of Economy Edano at the Prime Minister's Official Residence on June 7, Noda decided that unless he responded to the Fukui governor's request, the timing for the restart would be delayed.

Governor Nishikawa seems to think that having PM Noda speak about nuclear power will convince the Japanese citizens of the need to restart one of many nuclear power plants in his prefecture, according to NHK news on 6/4/2012. Governor Nishikawa knows, however, that for him to say so is part of the ceremony, and one convenient way to evade whatever responsibility in case of an accident.

The press conference is supposed to be in the evening of June 8, 2012.

Meanwhile, 70 women including those from Fukushima Prefecture did a "die-in" on June 7 in front of the Prime Minister's Official Residence in protest against the restart of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant, according to Tokyo Shinbun (6/8/2012 morning edition)

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1st Oil Crisis in 1973 and the Push for Nuclear in Japan

Chugoku Shinbun has the original article on the day when the last operating nuclear reactor at Tomari Nuclear Power Plant in Hokkaido went offline for scheduled maintenance.

In the article, the paper notes (5/6/2012):

日本原子力発電の東海原発が初の営業運転を始めたのは66年。70年に全原発が停止した際は、草創期で国内に商業用原発は２基しかなかった。

It was 1966 that Tokai Nuclear Power Plant by Japan Atomic Power Company started commercial operation. The last time all nuclear reactors in Japan stopped was in 1970, and there were only two commercial nuclear reactors.

70年代の石油危機を経て、関電と東電が競うように原発を建設。国の後押しもあり各社も追随した。90年代には沖縄電力を除く電力９社すべてが原発を保有して現在の体制が固まった。

Through the oil crises in the 1970s, KEPCO [Kansai Electric] and TEPCO competed with each other to build nuclear power plants. With the support from the national government, other electric companies followed suit. In the 1990s, all 9 electric companies in Japan (except for Okinawa Electric) had nuclear power plants, and that has remained that way to this day.

国内の原発は２０１０年度には全電力量の26・４％を供給。東日本大震災直前には30基以上が稼働していた。

In the fiscal 2010, nuclear power plants in Japan supplied 26.4% of total electricity. Right before the March 11, 2011 disaster, more than 30 reactors were in operation [out of 54 at that time].

The first oil crisis was in 1973-1974 due to the Arab oil embargo in response to the 4th Arab-Israeli War. The second oil crisis was in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution.

Japan was particularly hit hard by the first oil crisis. The inflation soared in 1974 to 23% annually, and to counter the inflation the government raised the short-term interest rate to nearly 10%. The post-war high growth era ended that year when the GDP growth went negative. Energy costs skyrocketed, as Japan depended on the oil from the Middle East.

Along came the nuclear power. Too good to be true, in retrospect, but it sure looked very attractive - energy source that was not hydrocarbon from the Middle East.

Here's the list of nuclear reactors that were built after the first oil crisis of 1973/4. The number in parenthesis indicates the year in which the construction of the reactor started. All over Japan, from Tohoku to Kyushu:

Fukushima II (Daini) Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 1 (1975), Reactor 2 (1979) - Fukushima Prefecture

Tokai II Nuclear Power Plant (1973) - Ibaraki Prefecture

Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 1 (1978) - Niigata Prefecture

Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 2 (1974) - Shizuoka Prefecture

Mihama Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 3 - Fukui Prefecture

Ooi Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 1, Reactor 2 - Fukui Prefecture

Ikata Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 1 (1973), Reactor 2 (1978) - Ehime Prefecture

Genkai Nuclear Power Plant: Reactor 2 (late 1970s) - Saga Prefecture

By the way, the very first reactor at Tokai Nuclear Power Plant was a graphite-moderated gas-cooled reactor from the United Kingdom, modified in Japan to enhance seismic safety.

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Belarus Ready to Build 2nd Nuclear Power Plant, Says President Lukashenko

From RIA Novosti (4/3/2012; emphasis is mine):

Belarus may build a second nuclear plant in the country in addition to one already planned for the western Grodno Region, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.

“If we have your cooperation, support and suitable conditions, we are ready to build a second nuclear power station in Belarus,” the president told International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Yukiya Amano who is on a visit to Minsk.

Construction of Belarus’ first nuclear plant in the Grodno Region, close to the Lithuanian border, was expected to begin in April. Lukashenko said on Tuesday its construction has “already begun.”

The $9-billion plant will be built by Russia’s Atomstroyexport company, a subsidiary of state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom. The plant will consist of two reactors with a capacity of 1,200 MW each and will boost the entire Belarusian energy system's capacity to 8,000 MW. The power station’s first unit is due to be ready in 2017 and the second in 2018.

Belarus began preparing to build a nuclear plant back in the 1980s, but the project was shelved following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in neighboring Ukraine.

Belarusian opposition and environmental activists have raised concerns over the project, which were further fuelled by the March 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power station. Lithuania has demanded the plant be moved away from its border.

Russia says it employs advanced technology to ensure accident-free operations at all the power stations it builds.

Well, it is not really the technology per se, no matter how advanced, which is the issue here. It is how the plant is managed and operated and the kind of political and social environment that it exists. Abysmal failures on all of them in Japan. How will it be different in Belarus?

Maybe it was like selling nuclear power to the Japanese after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and immediately after the Bikini Atoll (Dai-Go Fukuryu-Maru) - since Japan suffered atomic atrocities, only Japan could use the atomic energy for peaceful purposes.

In the case of Belarus, the sales pitch (if they ever needed one) would be: "Belarus has suffered tremendously from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. So, only Belarus, who has learned the lessons from the accident, will be able to operate a safe, state-of-the-art nuclear power plant and demonstrate to the world that the country has totally recovered from the accident." Something like that...

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New Zealand Herald: "Only Way Is Full Steam Ahead" With Nuke Plants Including Thorium Reactors

So says Brian Leyland, consultant to the New Zealand electric power companies, in his February 27, 2012 article in the largest paper in New Zealand.

He says:

"For electricity, nuclear power and, in particular, reactors burning thorium, promise us a virtually unlimited supply of electricity at a reasonable price"

and:

"exposure to low levels of radiation is not harmful and may even give some immunity to cancer"

Why is he saying these? Probably because:

"It would reduce the cost of nuclear power and change the public perception of the danger of nuclear power",

which is likely to be benefiting the electric power companies who employ him.

It doesn't seem to have entered his mind that the cost of nuclear power generation may not be "reasonable" if you factor in the cost of:

• a potential accident like Fukushima which is bankrupting one of the largest companies in Japan (TEPCO);

• decommissioning the reactors (so much so that the US power companies are going to do nothing for 60 years)

I guess April Fool's Day came early in New Zealand. It somewhat reads like George Monbiot (albeit far less in-your-face than Monbiot), who famously said he became pro-nuke because of the Fukushima accident.

Unlike Monbiot who wrote right after the accident started, Leyland has zero reference to the nuclear accident in Japan, writing nearly one year after the accident started. And he talks about the cost of nuclear power generation. Amazing.

From New Zealand Herald (2/27/2012; emphasis is mine):

Brian Leyland: The only way is full steam ahead

Like many people living comfortably in developed economies John Peet is opposed to continued economic growth. Unlike John, I have worked extensively in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands so I have seen the misery and environmental damage resulting from poverty-stricken people doing their best to scratch a living.

The steam engine freed us from manual labour and expensive and polluting horsepower, and drove the transformation that we have seen in the past 200 years.

As a result of the prosperity it has brought, people in developed countries live longer and are healthier than they have ever been in the past. Access to low-cost energy, engineering and technology have driven this transformation. We have progressed from eking out a living from subsistence agriculture to having plenty of time for recreation and relaxation and living better than a king of 300 years ago.

Sixty years ago, I have clear memories of Auckland being covered in a pall of smoke from chimney pots, railway engines, ferries and the coal-fired power station on Kings Wharf and of raw sewage spewing into the harbour. Since then technology has advanced and we are prosperous enough to afford to look after the environment. Economic growth has benefited us and the environment.

In our prosperous little world, it is all too easy to forget the billions of people who are still scratching a living from subsistence agriculture, suffering chronic illnesses and dying young from entirely preventable diseases. In these countries populations are growing rapidly. History shows us that as a population becomes more prosperous, the reproduction rate declines dramatically because people realise that they no longer need to have lots of children to ensure that a few will survive to support them in their old age.

A primary driver of the economic growth they need is access to affordable energy, electricity and communications. Energy frees people from the burden of manual labour and electricity frees them from the need to cut down forests for firewood. It also provides them with television and cellphones which are a major factor in lifting the economies of many developing countries.

Even in New Zealand, any attempt to stop the economy growing would have a disproportionate effect on the poor and those who have retired.

What we need is economic growth using the best available technology to ensure that goods are supplied at the lowest cost and that energy is used efficiently and wisely. This is what engineers do.

The best definition of an engineer is "someone who can do for 20 cents what any fool can do for a dollar". Another is "the art of directing the great forces of power in nature for the use and convenience of man".

It is widely believed that the world is running out of resources. In fact, we now have more resources available to us than ever before.

When the steam engine was first invented, people were worried that, quite soon, the world would run out of coal.

Now the world is known to have more coal than it is ever likely to use. Two or three years ago, the United States and the United Kingdom were expecting to import more and more gas. The shale gas revolution has turned this around. For the past 100 years, the reserves of oil have steadily increased. For the same 100 years people have been predicting the imminent arrival of "peak oil". They have been wrong every time. Even if oil did start to run out, the immense gas reserves in offshore "methane ice" could easily be turned into liquid fuels.

For electricity, nuclear power and, in particular, reactors burning thorium, promise us a virtually unlimited supply of electricity at a reasonable price.

And for those who believe it is too dangerous to contemplate, recent research into radiation exposure shows, quite clearly, that exposure to low levels of radiation is not harmful and may even give some immunity to cancer. The radiation limits for nuclear power stations could be raised by a factor of 200 without the slightest risk. It would reduce the cost of nuclear power and change the public perception of the danger of nuclear power.

In spite of all the predictions, the world is not running out of food. With the efficient use of irrigation, improved plants and reduction in the enormous wastage that occurs in developing countries, the world could easily feed a much larger population.

I believe that one of the biggest dangers facing the world is well-meaning people who believe that the world is running out of resources, that technology will no longer continue to make our lives better and better and that economic growth is incompatible with the environment. If these people carry the day, our grandchildren will suffer.

The best way of future proofing this country, and the world, is rational and efficient development of our resources to support the economic growth we need so we can continue to do our best for people and the environment. It will also advance the date when the world population stops growing.

New Zealand is located in the "Ring of Fire" zone around the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Leyland doesn't even mention how earthquake prone his country is, and he says "full steam ahead" with nuclear power.

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TEPCO's All 17 Nuclear Reactors Will Be Out of Service on March 26, 2012

As Reactor 6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant goes into the scheduled maintenance, all 17 nuclear reactors operated by TEPCO will be offline as of March 26, 2012.

By late April, all of Japan's 54 commercial reactors will go offline, unless Kansai Electric manages to obtain the permission to restart its Ooi Nuclear Power Plant.

Since last fall, there has been no rolling blackout, no rationing of electricity anywhere in Japan. Even the government officials have admitted that the rolling blackouts and rationing right after the March 11 quake/tsunami/nuke accident were "an experiment" and a lesson to teach the Japanese the importance of nuclear power.

Japan's need for electricity in winter is no less than in summer these days, as most households and businesses have come to rely on electricity for heating after a decade of campaigns by the utility companies pushing for "All-Electric Home". In retrospect, that push was for the push for more nuclear power plants.

From Market Watch (2/9/2012):

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday it will suspend operations of the No. 6 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture on March 26 for a periodic check, a plan that will take all of its 17 reactors out of service, Kyodo News reported.

The No. 6 reactor with a power output of 1.356 million kilowatts is the last to be suspended out of the plant's seven reactors.

It will be the first time all 17 units have been halted since the April 15-May 6 period of 2002, when they were suspended after a public outcry over revelations that TEPCO had hidden problems at its nuclear plants.

Out of the seven at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 as well as the No. 7 reactors have been suspended as a result of periodic checkups and a 2007 earthquake that badly damaged the prefecture and its vicinity.

On Jan. 25, TEPCO suspended the No. 5 reactor at the plant for a periodic check, leaving the No. 6 reactor the only one in service both at the plant and throughout the utility's service area.

TEPCO says it wants to restart the operations of the seven reactors in stages, starting in fiscal 2013 or later.

But Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida said the factors that triggered the 2011 crisis at the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi plant must be examined and identified before the seven are allowed to restart operations. The nearby Fukushima Daini plant also run by TEPCO has four reactors.

Among Japan's 54 commercial reactors, only two will be in operation -- the No. 3 reactor at the Tomari plant in Hokkaido and the No. 3 reactor at the Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture. Both will go offline for regular checkups by late April.

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