Before starting again,"unpredicatable" should be turned into "predictable"

September 15, 2014

EDITORIAL: Plans to restart Sendai nuclear plant leave a multitude of unresolved questions

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201409150035

Last week, the government implemented several procedural steps toward restarting the Sendai nuclear plant’s No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co.

First, the Nuclear Regulation Authority officially adopted Kyushi Electric's assessment report which certifies that the reactors meet the new regulatory standards. The Nuclear Emergency Preparedness Council followed up by approving an evacuation plan for local residents in the event of an accident. Then Yuko Obuchi, the minister of economy, trade and industry, gave written notification to the governor of Kagoshima Prefecture and the mayor of Satsumasendai stating that the government will proceed with steps to restart the Sendai plant.

Are they being a bit too eager?

The NRA’s Sendai assessment report ignores warnings made by volcanologists about the potential for a major eruption and the questions they posed on how and by which means signs of such an event will be detected. Nothing has been decided about how to observe those signs, nor has any decision been reached on where to move the fuel rods if and when signs of an eruption are detected.

Previously, evacuation plans were left up to local governments. Enhancing the involvement of the national government in the evacuation plans, including the emergency dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel, is to be expected. However, there is the question of just how applicable the new evacuation plan is. Under the current plan, the authorities intend to use buses for evacuation if high radiation levels are detected. But is it ethical to put evacuees and drivers in greater risk of radiation exposure?

Also last week, the government partially released the testimonies given to its investigative committee from those involved in the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

With regard to the testimonies of the late plant manager Masao Yoshida, who died in July 2013, together with those of politicians, we realize there was poor communication between the people at the plant and those on the ground, TEPCO's headquarters in Tokyo and the prime minister's office. As Yoshida said, "No one came to help." We get a sense of the extraordinary efforts made by the workers at the plant, despite the feeling of isolation and despair.

Attempts to overcome the problems of communication were partly reflected in the new NRA guidelines, which call for better communication tools.

However, there is not enough improvement in areas where the NRA's regulatory authority does not reach, such as in fine-tuning the separate roles of the utilities and the government, and improving the collaboration between the SDF and the fire department. Now that the timeline for the reactors' restart is on the table, these glaring issues need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Another major lesson to be learned from the testimonies is that just making how-to documents, be it nuclear accident handbooks or evacuation plans, will be of little use in an actual crisis, unless we implement repeated training drills to make sure they will really work when the time comes. This is an essential step before and after the restart of nuclear power plants.

The government plans to continue releasing the testimonies gathered by its investigative committee. It should explain what it learned from the testimonies and how those findings were reflected in the detailed handbook dealing with future accidents.

There is still much to be done in order to turn the "unpredictable" into the "predictable" before the Sendai plant restarts its operations.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 14