information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
17 Mai 2013
May 17, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130517p2g00m0dm055000c.html
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The president of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the operator of the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor, resigned Friday over the state-run agency's failure to properly inspect the reactor, science and technology minister Hakubun Shimomura said.
Shimomura told a regular news conference that he had accepted Atsuyuki Suzuki's offer to resign, adding he will pick Suzuki's successor shortly.
On Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulation Authority announced its decision not to allow the JAEA to engage in preparatory works toward resuming operation of the Monju reactor after identifying problems in its safety management.
The Monju fast-breeder reactor, with an output capacity of 280,000 kilowatts, is located in the city of Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast.
It went into operation in 1991 but had mostly been shut down since 1995 after a sodium leakage led to a fire. It resumed operation in May 2010 but was shut down again due to a series of problems.
In November 2012, the JAEA said it had failed to conduct inspections at appropriate intervals on many devices of the reactor.
Investigations by the NRA showed that the operator had failed to conduct inspections on some key devices at appropriate intervals.
Suzuki said at first that the failure was a procedural mistake, drawing criticism from NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka, who said Suzuki's remark was inappropriate.
Suzuki, 70, an authority on the nuclear fuel cycle, assumed the presidency of the JAEA in August 2010 after serving as professor at the University of Tokyo and as chairman of the now-defunct Nuclear Safety Commission.
Yonezo Tsujikura, vice president of the JAEA, will serve as acting president until Suzuki's successor is picked, officials said.
The JAEA was established in October 2005 through the merger of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute.
Kyodo
The Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor will unlikely be able to resume operations by the end of the current fiscal year, the research institute that owns the facility said Thursday.
The remarks were made a day after the Nuclear Regulation Authority decided not to allow the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to engage in preparatory work for resuming operations at Monju because it sees problems in its safety management.
The NRA summoned JAEA President Atsuyuki Suzuki on Thursday to convey the decision and to notify him that the agency will be given an opportunity to explain its views by May 23. Following such a procedure, the NRA is expected to issue, possibly later in the month, an order that will effectively prohibit the reactor’s resumption.
Suzuki told NRA Secretary General Katsuhiko Ikeda that he took the situation “seriously.”
As for the operation of Monju, Suzuki told reporters, “It takes nearly one year for preparation and it is physically quite difficult (to restart it within the current fiscal year through March).”
The NRA’s decision is another blow to the Monju reactor, which has remained largely offline since first achieving criticality in 1994, due to a leakage of sodium coolant and other subsequent problems.
The JAEA has been found to have failed to conduct inspections on appropriate intervals on nearly 10,000 devices, including those that are categorized as important for safety.
The NRA looked into the case in detail and determined that the agency’s “safety culture is deteriorating,” given that the agency could not address the problems even though people had been aware of the delayed inspections.
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