information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
20 Juin 2013
June 19, 2013
19.06.2013_No153 / News in Brief
http://www.nucnet.org/all-the-news/2013/06/19/japan-s-regulator-approves-new-safety-guidelines
Security & Safety
19 Jun (NucNet): Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) today approved safety guidelines for nuclear power plants that reflect the lessons learned from the March 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) has confirmed.
The regulators unanimously approved the final draft of the guidelines. The work to revise them started in October 2012.
The new guidelines cover three main areas: design basis safety standards, severe accident measures and safety standards for earthquakes and tsunamis.
Operators of nuclear plants will be obliged to take concrete steps to mitigate against the possibility of serious accidents. Until now, such action was voluntary, JAIF said.
They will also be required to draw up emergency scenarios for bigger earthquakes and tsunamis.
NRA chairman Shunichi Tanaka said the guidelines are up to international standards, but he said their “true value” will be tested when they are implemented. He also said there is a need for the NRA to establish a system of revising the guidelines further.
The new guidelines will come into effect on 8 July 2013, after which time the NRA will start accepting applications from power companies for reactor restarts.
Finalising the guidelines has created a framework for safety checks to take place, but it could take months for the first restarts to be approved, JAIF said. Screening of each application is likely to take six months.
A draft copy of the new guidelines posted on the NRA website says various investigation reports and studies on Fukushima-Daiichi underlined “certain vulnerability and failures” in Japan’s existing nuclear safety systems, procedures and standards, including a lack of the back-fit systems that applies revised standards to existing nuclear reactors.
The draft says examples of this include an absence of effective severe accident management measures, vulnerability in countermeasures against the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis, and insufficient preparations against common cause failures.
The NRA also said Japan lagged behind internationally accepted safety principles and guidelines, a situation which needed “redress and readjustment” in crafting any new safety standards.
In March 2013, Japan’s prime minister told parliament that idled nuclear reactors will be restarted if it is proven safe to do so.
Shinzo Abe said he would work with the NRA to establish a new safety culture to strengthen the safety of the country’s nuclear plants in the wake of Fukushima-Daiichi.
Only two of Japan’s 50 commercial reactors, Ohi-3 and Ohi-4, have restarted since the Fukushima-Daiichi accident.
A draft copy of the guidelines is online:
www.nsr.go.jp/english/data/new_safety_standards.pdf
June 18, 2013
Nuclear plants face safety hurdles
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130618_34.html
Power companies preparing to apply to restart 6 nuclear plants will first need to clear several safety hurdles under new regulation standards due to come into force next month.
Only one of the 6 plants has a building that is structurally resistant to quakes, tsunami and radiation and is capable of serving as an emergency command center as required under the new guidelines for nuclear reactors.
The operators of 5 other plants plan to complete such buildings in about 2 years, and to use alternative facilities in the meantime.
A nuclear power plant in Sendai in Kagoshima Prefecture says it will use a 100-square-meter room near the central control room as a command center.
But nuclear regulators turned down a similar plan submitted by Kansai Electric Power Company for the Ohi plant in Fukui.
They later approved a revised plan to use a control room and adjacent conference room with total floor space of 900 square meters.
The operators of the plants, except for the one at Ohi, have yet to come up with measures to deal with a maximum probable tsunami.
Kansai Electric initially assumed a 2.85-meter tsunami for the Ohi plant, but revised it to 3.68 meters after nuclear regulators rejected the first estimate as too conservative.
None of the 6 plants has completed the breakwater required under the new guidelines.
It remains to be seen how the power companies can assure operational safety with such shortcomings.
June 19, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130619p2g00m0dm083000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday officially decided on Japan's new safety requirements for reactors aimed at preventing recurrences of disasters like the one at the Fukushima Daiichi complex in 2011.
The new regulations are expected to take effect on July 8, paving the way for nuclear power plant operators to apply for the NRA's safety assessment as a step toward resuming the operation of their idled reactors.
While calling the regulations a "culmination" of discussions that have taken place since October last year, NRA commissioners acknowledged that the rules' application is a more important job for them and vowed to make efforts to further improve them.
"I think we have created a system that can be regarded as quite proper internationally. But its real value will be questioned during the screening process," NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka told Wednesday's meeting to discuss the issue.
Four major utilities are likely to file for safety screening for a maximum of 12 reactors at six plants as early as July, although it is unclear how long the process will take. Senior NRA officials said earlier it may take at least six months.
Under the new requirements, utilities will for the first time be obliged to put in place specific countermeasures against possible severe accidents like reactor core meltdowns, as well as against huge tsunami -- the direct cause of the Fukushima crisis.
Before the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, authorities had left it up to utilities whether to take steps against severe accidents, based on the assumption such disasters were extremely unlikely.
Utilities will now be required to equip reactors with filtered venting systems so that radioactive substances will be reduced when gas and steam need to be released to prevent damage to containment vessels, while preparing emergency control rooms to guard reactor operations against any act of terrorism or natural disasters.
The NRA will also require the operators to make a stricter assessment of whether geological faults running underneath nuclear power plants are active and make sure that key facilities are designed to withstand the largest tsunami estimated to hit the sites, such as by installing seawalls.
The NRA, which was launched in September last year, has been devising the new regulations to replace the current ones that proved insufficient in the wake of the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The legal deadline for enacting the new safety criteria is July 18, but the power industry, which is struggling amid soaring fuel costs to boost nonnuclear thermal power generation, has been calling for earlier implementation so that utilities can start the procedure for restarting reactors as quickly as possible.
Of the 50 commercial reactors in Japan, only two in western Japan are currently online.
The four utilities seeking to swiftly apply for the NRA's safety screening are Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Electric Power Co.
"We hope the NRA will promptly conduct safety screenings in an efficient way to address power shortages," an official of Kansai Electric Power, servicing an area centering on Osaka, said.
Kyodo
June 18, 2013
New safety guidelines for nuclear plants
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20130618_35.html
New safety guidelines for nuclear power plants oblige power companies to take measures to prepare for emergencies and disasters. Until now, the operators implemented such measures on a voluntary basis.
The guidelines require each power company to anticipate worst-case scenarios and set up an emergency command center that would deal with a nuclear crisis. The building housing such a center is required to be able to withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and radiation.
The guidelines stipulate requirements for plants with boiling-water type reactors similar to those at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant. They must have "filter vents" that can release pressure in containment vessels while limiting emission of radioactive substances.
The guidelines also call for strengthening existing safety measures, and require operators to replace power cables with non-flammable types.
Plant operators also need to install equipment to cool nuclear fuel from outside the reactors in case of aircraft attacks on reactors. A facility housing a back-up central control room must be set up 100 meters from reactors within 5 years.
As before, the guidelines say faults that moved in the last 120,000 to 130,000 years are judged to be active faults. But if it is impossible to make clear assessments, the guidelines say judgment should be based on whether faults moved in the last 400,000 years.
Power firms are asked to anticipate the largest possible tsunami, and set up breakwaters and take other measures to prevent water from entering buildings.
The guidelines also call on power companies to evaluate possible damage from volcanic eruptions and tornados.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority says it is aiming to ensure that Japan has the highest safety standards in the world.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130618p2g00m0dm072000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government is making arrangements to introduce a set of new nuclear regulations from July 8, sources close to the matter said Tuesday, in a move to overhaul safety requirements for commercial reactors following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi complex disaster.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority is expected to officially decide on the implementation date at a regular meeting of NRA commissioners Wednesday.
The new requirements, which reactors need to clear to resume operations, will for the first time oblige utilities to put in place specific countermeasures against possible severe accidents like reactor core meltdowns, as well as against huge tsunami waves -- the direct cause of the Fukushima crisis.
The operation of the reactors will also be limited to 40 years in principle, although an exceptional extension of no more than 20 years is allowed if safety is confirmed.
The NRA has been devising the new regulations following its launch in September last year.
The legal deadline for enacting the new safety criteria is July 18, but calls have been growing from the power industry for earlier implementation so that utilities can start applying for the NRA's safety assessment as a step toward restarting their idled reactors.
Of the 50 commercial reactors in Japan, only two in western Japan are currently online. The two will also be shut down in September at the latest for mandatory routine checkups.
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