Expensive, underused nuclear fuel carrier

 November 12, 2015

Nuclear fuel carrier criticized at review session for wasteful gov't projects

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151112p2a00m0na008000c.html

The government's Headquarters for the Promotion of Administrative Reform held an open review session on Nov. 11 to check whether there is any wasteful spending in government-sponsored projects.

As for projects related to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), which operates the trouble-plagued Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor, many participants in the review session criticized the fact that 1.2 billion yen has been spent each year mainly to maintain a nuclear fuel carrier which has rarely been used. Some of the participants urged the government to present "options that include termination or review (of the project) in the future."

In connection with the open verification session on budgets related to the nuclear fuel cycle project, large parts of the JAEA's materials on bids and contracts are undisclosed. Taro Kono, state minister in charge of administrative reform, lashed out at the situation, saying, "We cannot spend money on things we cannot explain to the public."

The "Kaiei Maru" spent nuclear fuel carrier was built in fiscal 2006 to transport nuclear material such as spent fuel generated at the "Fugen" prototype nuclear test reactor in Fukui Prefecture, which is being dismantled after its shutdown in 2003. A cumulative total of 10 billion yen has been spent to develop and maintain the ship, but the vessel has been used to transport nuclear fuel only four times in the past. The ship has not been used at all since November 2009. Many experts participating in the review session said something like "We don't understand why they need it."

A project related to the Oma Nuclear Power Plant in the Aomori Prefecture town of Oma also came under fire. The Electric Power Development Co., commonly known as J-Power, has applied for funds for the project that is supposed to be subsidized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The reactor at the power station would be the world's first full-MOX commercial reactor using uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel in the reactor cores. The industry ministry has granted a total of 29 billion yen in subsidies to J-Power for technological development since fiscal 1996. But the budget execution rate has been 0 to 4 percent in the last three fiscal years. An expert urged the government to have J-Power take funds equivalent to the amount of the subsidies from its profits and return them to government coffers, saying, "It should be thoroughly reviewed."

Nonetheless, open verification sessions are not aimed at questioning the pros and cons of national policies. Discussion on whether there is the need for the nuclear fuel cycle project the government has been pursuing under the Basic Energy Plan is not subject to the review session. Therefore, whether the Monju reactor should be kept alive or dismantled was not discussed.

Among other issues discussed at the open verification session was the outlay (5 billion yen) for conducting a "national survey on academic ability and learning" under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Currently, all sixth-grade students at elementary schools and third-grade students at junior high schools are subject to the survey, but some participants said: "Sample surveys should be considered," and "Results of the survey should be released proactively."

The administrative project review is different from the budget screening designed to determine whether each project should be scrapped or kept alive. It is a system in which each government ministry or agency checks whether there is any wasteful project on its own and releases the results of its review. The total of 55 projects reviewed in the latest session included 19 nuclear-related projects that were selected to be subject to the open verification session in line with Kono's intention. But the review results are not binding. Kono has expressed his intention to negotiate with each Cabinet minister ahead of the compilation of the state budget for fiscal 2016.