Nuke plants are still "Apartments without toilets"

July 8, 2015

Despite moves to restart reactors, Japan lacks nuclear waste disposal site

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20150708p2a00m0na018000c.html

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference on July 7 that the government would restart nuclear reactors that met new safety standards established by the nation's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA).

The same day, Kyushu Electric Power Co. began loading fuel into a reactor at its Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima Prefecture. The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan released a statement saying, "This is one important step. Preparation for reactivation is progressing step by step." Within the electric power industry, hopes are spreading that if one reactor is restarted, then the screening of other reactors will move ahead more smoothly.

Later this month, the government will formally adopt a proposal stating that nuclear power account for 20-22 percent of Japan's energy mix by fiscal 2030. Based on this, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made an international declaration that Japan will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent from 2013 levels.

It is evident that the long-term idling of nuclear reactors has strained electric power companies financially, and both power companies and the government are aligned in seeking to restart these reactors, but the process is not all smooth sailing.

Under the Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law, the life of nuclear reactors is set at 40 years in principle. To extend this period, reactors must pass stringent NRA guidelines before this 40-year mark is reached. In fiscal 2030, there will be just 22 reactors in Japan that have been operating less than 40 years. To have nuclear power account for 20-22 percent of the nation's energy mix, around 35 reactors would need to be in operation, according to Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yoichi Miyazawa. This would mean the life of a dozen or so reactors would need to be extended.

And yet the problem of nuclear waste remains. About 17,000 tons of spent fuel sits in Japan, and the pools for spent fuel at the nation's nuclear power plants are nearly full. In the case of the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant, which Kyushu Electric Power Co. is hoping to get back online together with the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, the pools for spent fuel would be full after just three years of operation. Finding a place to store this fuel is an urgent task.

The government has positioned the "nuclear fuel cycle," under which spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed, allowing uranium and plutonium to be reused as nuclear fuel, as a central part of the nation's energy policy. However, the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facility in Aomori Prefecture has been plagued with problems, with the schedule for its completion being delayed 21 times. Moreover, the fast-breeder reactor Monju, which uses plutonium, has hardly operated at all over the past 20 years, effectively leaving the cycle broken.

Furthermore, there is currently no prospect of settling on a final disposal site for the highly radioactive waste that is produced after reprocessing. In May this year, the government switched to a policy of naming scientifically "promising" disposal sites, preparing the way to reactivate nuclear reactors.

From the same month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has held explanations for workers of local government bodies across Japan, but about 30 percent of these bodies have not attended. One in Tokushima Prefecture argued that attending would give local residents the impression that it has accepted disposal site plans.

The explanations have been held behind closed doors, sparking criticism at a ministry meeting of experts that it appears things are being done in secret.

While moves are being made to restart nuclear reactors in Japan, the weaknesses in nuclear power that have led to nuclear plants being likened to "apartments without toilets," remain unsolved.