Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Japan Overwhelmed with Toxic Nuclear Waste Yet Persists in Re-Starting Reactors


These two news stories (below) published by the Mainichi demonstrate that, by default, Japan is forcing citizens and local governments to deal with toxic waste from the Fukushima nuclear disaster while simultaneously denying citizens the right to reject efforts to resume nuclear plant operations in their prefectures, despite the known hazards of nuclear power in Japan and the risks of re-starting idled reactors.

Reactor re-starts are pursued despite record lows in pricing of natural gas and petroleum. There isn't even a business case for the re-starts:



Environment ministry to OK dispersed storage of radioactive waste within Ibaraki Pref. The Mainichi, January 26, 2016, http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160126/p2a/00m/0na/006000c

The Ministry of the Environment is set to allow radioactive waste emanating from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant disaster to remain spread out among multiple storage locations in Ibaraki Prefecture rather than begin construction of a longer-term storage facility there, it has been learned…

… In Ibaraki Prefecture, 14 municipalities are storing a combined amount of around 3,500 metric tons of radioactive waste…

… The waste consists of material giving off more than 8,000 becquerels of radiation per kilogram. In Ibaraki Prefecture, almost all of it is being kept at municipality-managed trash-incineration sites and at prefecture-managed sewage processing sites. The environment ministry says the waste is being "stored under comparatively stable conditions" in the prefecture.

… In Miyagi and Tochigi prefectures, much of the radioactive waste consists of things like rice straw, and over 60 percent of it is kept in storage by residents…  


Shiga Pref., Takahama nuclear plant operator sign safety accord. The Mainchi, January 25, 2016, http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160125/p2g/00m/0dm/083000c

The Shiga prefectural government on Monday signed an agreement with Kansai Electric Power Co. on safety issues concerning its Takahama nuclear power plant, located in adjacent Fukui Prefecture, ahead of its planned restart later in the week….

… The safety accord requires Kansai Electric to immediately report emergency situations at the plant and compensate for damage caused by accidents. But it stopped short of giving Shiga Prefecture a say over the reactors' return to service -- the right usually awarded to host municipalities -- as requested by the prefectural government. 

Meanwhile Fukushima Daiichi continues to spew radioactive particles into the ocean and atmosphere:

 

 
 

5 comments:

  1. Both Japan and England are sending tons of plutonium to the USA -- Charleston; residents there are not very happy about this. In a sense plutonium is a waste product now. Perhaps the whole human species is slowly going mad. It seems that way to me. Maybe they will find a use for it in heating the planet up when we enter the next little ice age (2030)?
    I already have a vision of the future wherein many are mentally handicapped from autism,chem trails,glyphosate, public education,bad food,etc.

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  2. What can ordinary people like me do will and majia? I spoke with Japapnese people before fukushima, who said Japan has a covert nuclear weapans program. Trying to use plutonium from Japan and Britain to make fuel for mox reactors is even worse than storing the plutonium somewhere.

    The US will probably covertly ship the plutonium to Los Alamos to use it in the recently renewed plutonium pits program for h bombs. My my New Mexico, West Texas, and idaho are becoming overburdened and saturated with nuclear waste and plutonium. You would not want to live anywhere close to los alamos, albequerque carlsbad w wipp. Albequerque has plutonium in drinking water. Most of the Educated people there know it.

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    1. I guess that all ordinary people can do is believe in the possibility of change and act towards its realization despite the seeming hopelessness of pervasive disregard for human and ecological life (as noted in the comment below)

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  3. I am no weather or climate psychic. I am skeptical of anyone who claims they are based on internet research etc.

    The united states is saturated with weaker organophosphates still in use in farmaing in the united states and organophosphates even weker ones are really non competitive bindining nerve gas like agents that cause permanenet damage no matter what.

    2, 4 D is an antifoliant like roundup is still extensively used by farmers. There is lingering ddt from the 60s and 70s There is still extensive use of other chlorocarbons for pharmaceuticals and chemical processes. Arsenic is used as an antiotic in chickens which is in turn goes into chicken feces of which billions of tons are used ss fertilizers in the largest rice fields in the worldin the united states and that will not stop anytime soon no matter what anyone says.

    Tens of thousands of old uranium mines and mill ponds leaking toxic death into water all over the aunited states.

    The republican billionaire from texas who built an empire using illegals in houston to build expensive houses all over there and had a lot of power inbthe republican party( think of swift boat and john kerry) finally bribed the us and texas govt to build the largest high level nuc waste dump in the us in w texas before he died. The simmons nuc waste dump by andrews texas and not so far from wipp will leak into the ogalala aquifer the largest aquifer westb of the mississippi river in the United States There is west lake by st louis.

    There is the proposed nuke waste dump on the great lakes. There are thousands of small factories on the border of us and canada taking shipment from nuclear power plants daily to create supposedly useful mdical and industrial radioisotopes. Chem trails and glyphosate are bad but they are a drop in the bucket of what is and has gone on for years

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