Returning plutonium to US

March 24, 2014

Japan to hand over weapons-grade plutonium to U.S.

March 24, 2014

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201403240062 

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Japan will finally address long-held concerns about the vulnerability of its plutonium stockpile to terrorism and hand over its weapons-grade material to the United States.

Sources said Japan will announce its intention to turn over its highly enriched uranium and plutonium to the United States during the two-day Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague that started March 24.

Japan's stockpile of 500 kilograms of uranium and plutonium is kept at facilities run by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture.

While Japan has argued the materials are being kept purely for basic research, the fact the materials have been enriched means they can easily be converted into dozens of nuclear weapons.

The Asahi Shimbun, in cooperation with the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), a U.S. nonprofit investigative journalism organization, has uncovered persistent concerns expressed by officials in Washington about deficiencies in steps taken to protect the materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.

The nuclear materials to be turned over to the United States are kept at the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) of the JAEA.

According to internal documents of the U.S. Energy Department obtained by CPI, the FCA facility has 199 kilograms of 93-percent enriched uranium. It also looks after about 290 kilograms of fissile plutonium, of which 231 kilograms is 92-percent enriched.

According to sources, the uranium was purchased from Britain, while the plutonium was acquired from the United States and Britain, from the 1960s up to around 1970. The materials were purchased for research purposes.

Because the materials are highly enriched, sources said only a small amount--anywhere between several kilograms to several dozens of kilograms--would be needed to create a nuclear weapon.

The radiation level is also not high, making the material easily portable in 5-centimeter-square sheets.

That makes the plutonium and uranium a desirable target for terrorists, which is the overriding concern of U.S. officials.

The United States strengthened restrictions on nuclear materials from 1976 due to concerns about proliferation. Since the 1990s, Japan has been gradually returning highly enriched uranium kept at research reactors operated by universities and research institutes to the United States.

The pressure to secure nuclear materials has increased under U.S. President Barack Obama, who has stated his desire for a nuclear-free world.

In addition to the nuclear materials at the Tokai facility, Japan also has about 40 tons of plutonium to be used as fuel in nuclear plants. It is also seeking to extract more plutonium once a spent fuel reprocessing facility in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, begins operations.

While those nuclear materials are less likely to be converted into nuclear weapons because the enrichment is lower, the United States has also asked Japan to strengthen security and measures against terrorists for those materials as well.

A U.S. government source said the security measures now in place at the Tokai facility were so lax it would be unthinkable in the United States.

The 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster not only highlighted the structural weakness of nuclear plants in Japan, but also focused attention on the need to bolster security against terrorists.

To help alleviate those concerns, the police have increased the number of officers guarding nuclear plants by 216. In 2012, the police in conjunction with Self-Defense Forces also began joint training exercise at nuclear plants.

China is also concerned about the safety of Japan's nuclear materials and has said it will raise the issue at the Nuclear Security Summit that President Xi Jinping will attend.

At a news conference in Beijing on March 17, Li Baodong, a vice foreign minister, said: "The international community has raised concerns about the plutonium and highly enriched uranium contained among the nuclear materials kept by Japan because it can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. Japan must make a clear explanation as well as take actual action to erase such concerns."

In the background to China's stance is the distrust toward Japan about its management of nuclear materials in the wake of the reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima plant following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. The concerns held by China have also been intensified by its confrontation with the Abe administration over historical recognition and territorial issues.

(This article was compiled from reports by Senior Staff Writer Toshihiro Okuyama in Tokyo and Nozomu Hayashi in Beijing.)

See also :

March 22, 2014

Japan to send plutonium to US for disposal

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140323_05.html