Fukushima-related deaths top 1,600
12/17/2013
http://goo.gl/B2dI8m
TEPCO: Two workers found dead in Fukushima nuclear plant
By Alex He | 04/03/2011
http://q.gs/2yfdh
Japan Nuclear Plant: 2 Missing Fukushima Workers Found Dead
RYAN NAKASHIMA and MARI YAMAGUCHI
04/03/11
http://q.gs/2yfgP
Missing workers found dead at Japan nuclear plant
Effort to plug up leak of radioactive water into Pacific Ocean fails
4/3/2011
http://q.gs/2yfmt
3.
Third worker dies at Japan's troubled nuclear plant
May 14, 2011
http://q.gs/2yfp4
http://q.gs/2yfqK
4.
Fukushima worker with no health problems dies of Leukemia after working there one week!
8/30/2011
http://goo.gl/kiiKDY
5.
Fukushima nuclear plant worker dies
A worker at Japan's disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has died, its operator said, adding that the death was not necessarily related to radioactive leaks.
Oct 6, 2011
http://goo.gl/B73VKx
Rescue team member died after bloody emesis
This woman is from Shiroishiku, Sapporo. A mother of 8 years old child.
November 7th, 2011
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/11/rescue-team-died-after-bloody-emesis/
Rumor circulating via Twitter in Japan: Many more Fukushima workers dead than revealed — Bodies may be kept at medical school
November 7th, 2011
http://enenews.com/strange-rumor-circulating-via-twitter-in-japan-many-more-fukushima-workers-dead-than-revealed-bodies-may-be-kept-at-medical-school
A man died at decontamination in Fukushima
December 12th, 2011
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/12/a-man-died-at-decontamination-in-fukushima/
Dead cleanup worker removed sludge from drains in contaminated area just hours before death — “Exceptional” unease by gov’t spokesman
http://enenews.com/dead-cleanup-worker-removed-sludge-drains-contaminated-area-hours-before-death-exceptional-unease-govt-spokesman
(UPDATED) Confirmed: A Decon Worker in Date City, Fukushima Found Dead in a Company Car at the Site
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/12/unconfirmed-info-decon-volunteer-in.html
Tepco: Send us people who don’t mind dying (VIDEO)
12/15/2011
http://enenews.com/tepco-send-people-dont-mind-dying-video
Mission accomplished and the list of the missing nuclear workers
12/15/2011
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/12/mission-accomplished-and-the-list-of-the-missing-nuclear-workers/
TEPCO says it has lost contact with 143 nuclear plant workers
AUG. 11, 2011
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-says-it-has-lost-contact-with-143-nuclear-plant-workers
A Death of A Rescue Squad Member (An Unconfirmed Story, Nov. 6, 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqB7Mf4kcrw
Mass media interrupts free-lance journalist's accusing the gov't of another Fukushima worker's death
Oct 25, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pu5iLj7toE
Who counts the number of the dead workers of the Fukushima?
Oct 27, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq07VZdbb7g
August 9, 2004
Worst Japanese Nuclear Accident Claims Fifth Life
http://www.icem.org/en/97-Sustainable-Development-Health-and-Safety/291-Worst-Japanese-Nuclear-Accident-Claims-Fifth-Life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihama_Nuclear_Power_Plant
News: An enraged Fukushima citizen talks about everything
Posted by Mochizuki on October 22nd, 2011
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/news-a-raged-fukushima-citizen-talks-about-everything/
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Japan nuclear crisis: Seven reasons why we should abandon nuclear power
Japan nuclear crisis: Seven reasons why we should abandon nuclear power
By Noraini Connie Fattah II in A Nuke Free World
http://nuke6.blogspot.com/2011/10/support-no-nuclear-energy-nuclear-free.html
1. Accidents and population centers
Worldwide standard operating procedures at nuclear power plants offer little margin for safety errors, and the industry is scrambling to check safety at each station. But can it reliably prevent another accident? Accidents are difficult to predict and have immediate far-reaching consequences, compounded by the fact that most nuclear reactors are located near major population centers – Moscow, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Budapest, Kiev. It is nearly impossible to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in a timely fashion, even with advance warning of several days – as hurricane Katrina demonstrated in New Orleans.
Officials at the Japanese nuclear plant did not think to have closed-circuit cameras inside the buildings to chart an accident for which they never fully planned. But we can be certain of the following. Officials belatedly warned surrounding residents of the danger to their lives, belatedly began to issue potassium iodide tablets to protect them, and belatedly expanded the evacuation zone around the station. Now at least 100,000 people have had to leave the area, and at least 100,000 more have been forced to live inside of sealed houses. At Chernobyl, as well, the authorities only ordered evacuation after a shocking delay.
2. Old reactors are dangerous
It is now standard practice to extend the life of reactors from their design parameters of 25 years to 40 years and longer. It seems foolish at best to take such a gamble on complex technology that operates under high temperature and pressure. Any “unlikely” loss of coolant-capacities may result in explosions, meltdown, and significant release of radioactivity into the environment.
3. No secure repository for spent fuel
Utilities and reactor operators still store spent fuel and other nuclear waste in and around reactors, since no truly secure, permanent repository has been built. In the US, 70,000 tons of spent fuel sits at 103 reactors around the country within 75 miles of 125 million people. In Russia, 50,000 tons of spent fuel remains at power stations.
4. Vulnerable to terrorism
Reactors around the world – 55 in Japan, 103 in the US, 40 in Russia, and so on – are also vulnerable to terrorism. For example, a National Academy of Sciences report in 2005 indicated that pools holding spent fuel stored at these reactors might not withstand a determined attack. The industry is now touting – and building – “floating” nuclear power stations that would operate on barges; clearly protection of these stations would be difficult.
5. Mother Nature's threat
As the nuclear crisis in Japan has shown, even the best-prepared facilities can neither predict nor withstand the most severe natural disasters. Exacerbating the inherent dangers of nuclear power, several plants have been built on active seismic faults: Diablo Canyon in California, Metsamor in Armenia, and Fukushima in Japan.
Diablo Canyon in California is designed to withstand a 7.5 magnitude quake, but experts have raised serious concerns – even before Japan’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami – that the plant’s safety would be threatened by a tsunami or high-magnitude earthquake.
The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia had to close abruptly in 1988 because of a devastating earthquake. It was restarted seven years later to cope with the country’s energy shortage, but has since been condemned by the European Union as deeply unsafe and vulnerable to accident.
6. Costs outweigh benefits
For fifty years, engineers have promised “too cheap to meter” energy, the construction of inherently safe reactors, and solution to waste disposal. Instead, a typical reactor, based on the experience of the advanced French industry, now costs a minimum of $6 billion. The Obama administration approved $54 billion in subsidies to the nuclear industry to jumpstart construction in the US.
Reactor costs do not include transmission, waste disposal, fuel costs, or the great costs of remediating such accidents as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and now Fukushima Daiichi. These billions of dollars will buy only more risk to the general population.
7. Renewable energies are safer, cheaper
With each accident – Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima Daiichi – the nuclear industry has followed the same pattern: hesitation to inform the public about the dangers as matters go from bad to worse followed by assertions that none of the world’s other reactors can face the same fate.
Yet none of these risks and dangers exist with other, renewable forms of energy – wind energy, solar energy – and conservation. If they are costly now in terms of power generation, they end up being less expensive and safer, while Fukushima Daiichi has already entered the lexicon of terrifying nuclear accidents.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
By Noraini Connie Fattah II in A Nuke Free World
http://nuke6.blogspot.com/2011/10/support-no-nuclear-energy-nuclear-free.html
1. Accidents and population centers
Worldwide standard operating procedures at nuclear power plants offer little margin for safety errors, and the industry is scrambling to check safety at each station. But can it reliably prevent another accident? Accidents are difficult to predict and have immediate far-reaching consequences, compounded by the fact that most nuclear reactors are located near major population centers – Moscow, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Budapest, Kiev. It is nearly impossible to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in a timely fashion, even with advance warning of several days – as hurricane Katrina demonstrated in New Orleans.
Officials at the Japanese nuclear plant did not think to have closed-circuit cameras inside the buildings to chart an accident for which they never fully planned. But we can be certain of the following. Officials belatedly warned surrounding residents of the danger to their lives, belatedly began to issue potassium iodide tablets to protect them, and belatedly expanded the evacuation zone around the station. Now at least 100,000 people have had to leave the area, and at least 100,000 more have been forced to live inside of sealed houses. At Chernobyl, as well, the authorities only ordered evacuation after a shocking delay.
2. Old reactors are dangerous
It is now standard practice to extend the life of reactors from their design parameters of 25 years to 40 years and longer. It seems foolish at best to take such a gamble on complex technology that operates under high temperature and pressure. Any “unlikely” loss of coolant-capacities may result in explosions, meltdown, and significant release of radioactivity into the environment.
3. No secure repository for spent fuel
Utilities and reactor operators still store spent fuel and other nuclear waste in and around reactors, since no truly secure, permanent repository has been built. In the US, 70,000 tons of spent fuel sits at 103 reactors around the country within 75 miles of 125 million people. In Russia, 50,000 tons of spent fuel remains at power stations.
4. Vulnerable to terrorism
Reactors around the world – 55 in Japan, 103 in the US, 40 in Russia, and so on – are also vulnerable to terrorism. For example, a National Academy of Sciences report in 2005 indicated that pools holding spent fuel stored at these reactors might not withstand a determined attack. The industry is now touting – and building – “floating” nuclear power stations that would operate on barges; clearly protection of these stations would be difficult.
5. Mother Nature's threat
As the nuclear crisis in Japan has shown, even the best-prepared facilities can neither predict nor withstand the most severe natural disasters. Exacerbating the inherent dangers of nuclear power, several plants have been built on active seismic faults: Diablo Canyon in California, Metsamor in Armenia, and Fukushima in Japan.
Diablo Canyon in California is designed to withstand a 7.5 magnitude quake, but experts have raised serious concerns – even before Japan’s 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami – that the plant’s safety would be threatened by a tsunami or high-magnitude earthquake.
The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant in Armenia had to close abruptly in 1988 because of a devastating earthquake. It was restarted seven years later to cope with the country’s energy shortage, but has since been condemned by the European Union as deeply unsafe and vulnerable to accident.
6. Costs outweigh benefits
For fifty years, engineers have promised “too cheap to meter” energy, the construction of inherently safe reactors, and solution to waste disposal. Instead, a typical reactor, based on the experience of the advanced French industry, now costs a minimum of $6 billion. The Obama administration approved $54 billion in subsidies to the nuclear industry to jumpstart construction in the US.
Reactor costs do not include transmission, waste disposal, fuel costs, or the great costs of remediating such accidents as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and now Fukushima Daiichi. These billions of dollars will buy only more risk to the general population.
7. Renewable energies are safer, cheaper
With each accident – Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima Daiichi – the nuclear industry has followed the same pattern: hesitation to inform the public about the dangers as matters go from bad to worse followed by assertions that none of the world’s other reactors can face the same fate.
Yet none of these risks and dangers exist with other, renewable forms of energy – wind energy, solar energy – and conservation. If they are costly now in terms of power generation, they end up being less expensive and safer, while Fukushima Daiichi has already entered the lexicon of terrifying nuclear accidents.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
A year on, Japan nuclear film shows lives in limbo
A year on, Japan nuclear film shows lives in limbo
Wed Mar 7, 2012
Reuters
* Film cautions about depending on "nuclear money"
* The most damaged people also most ignored - director
* Pride in nuclear money turns to anger
By Chris Gallagher
TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - Decades ago, the citizens of Japan's Futaba town took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex that they built a sign over a promenade proclaiming that atomic power made their town prosperous.
Now, they are scattered around Japan with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes, and their story has become a cautionary tale about the dangerous allure of nuclear power.
"Nuclear Nation," a documentary that premiered at last month's Berlin film festival, follows the residents of Futaba who were evacuated after a series of explosions set off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at reactors some 3 km (2 miles) away in neighboring Okuma.
http://easss.com/dvd
With Futaba hit by high levels of radiation, its former residents don't know when, or even if, they will be able to return to their homes within the 20 km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant. In the broader region, tens of thousands were forced to flee.
"You tend to think about the resolution of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, but you have to look at the people," the film's director, Atsushi Funahashi, told Reuters.
"The people who got the most damage are the most ignored, and that's (what) you have to show."
Besides "Nuclear Nation", two other March 11-themed documentaries also screened at last month's Berlin film festival, as filmmakers start focusing their lenses on the worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.
Funahashi began filming last April at an abandoned high school in a Tokyo suburb where 1,400 Futaba evacuees were living in classrooms and had set up town administrative offices.
Based on interviews over the course of the year, the film captures the monotony of their daily lives as they bide their time in cramped conditions with nowhere to go and the mayor describes a "refugee feeling."
"The thing that I really wanted to depict in 'Nuclear Nation' was the waiting time of these people," Funahashi said.
"They're going to get compensated eventually for the land and homes they lost. But they're not going to get paid for the time they lost, and that's one of the tragedies."
Their only chance to return home was for one two-hour visit last summer, clad in protective suits and masks to collect belongings and pray for ancestors in tsunami-flattened cemeteries.
"NUCLEAR MONEY"
They express anger at the government, regulators and plant owner they feel had assured them of the power station's safety.
That's a far cry from the sentiment of the late 1970s when the town of 8,000 suddenly found itself flush with funds from property taxes and government subsidies after plant owner Tokyo Electric (Tepco) began construction in Futaba on two reactors.
With this "nuclear money" to burn, Futaba spent big on an athletic center, a library and other infrastructure, while residents were able to work in town at the plant and get bigger houses -- the power plant was seen as a godsend.
In one scene, the camera lingers on a sign that proclaims: "Atomic Energy Makes Our Town and Society Prosperous."
Under depreciation rules, however, the reactors were worth almost nothing after 15 years, and Futaba nearly went bankrupt under a pile of debt, becoming one of Japan's poorest towns by the late 2000s, according to the film.
Futaba nearly tapped new nuclear money to help fix its financial woes, with Tepco set to begin construction on two new reactors, in April 2011.
"We thought Futaba's future was at stake without that money," Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa said in the film. "Now I realize the cons far outweigh the pros ... I've come to think it was wrong to invite the nuclear power plant into our lives."
Some 500 people are still living in the high school, and Funahashi said he has already started work on "Nuclear Nation 2," about their lives in the second year since the disaster.
"I really feel a strong urge that I have to follow them until they go back home," he said.
"Nuclear Nation," produced by Documentary Japan and Big River Films, has secured distribution rights in the United States and is set to screen at Hong Kong and other film festivals. France's Wide House is handling global sales. (Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)
Wed Mar 7, 2012
Reuters
* Film cautions about depending on "nuclear money"
* The most damaged people also most ignored - director
* Pride in nuclear money turns to anger
By Chris Gallagher
TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - Decades ago, the citizens of Japan's Futaba town took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex that they built a sign over a promenade proclaiming that atomic power made their town prosperous.
Now, they are scattered around Japan with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes, and their story has become a cautionary tale about the dangerous allure of nuclear power.
"Nuclear Nation," a documentary that premiered at last month's Berlin film festival, follows the residents of Futaba who were evacuated after a series of explosions set off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at reactors some 3 km (2 miles) away in neighboring Okuma.
http://easss.com/dvd
With Futaba hit by high levels of radiation, its former residents don't know when, or even if, they will be able to return to their homes within the 20 km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant. In the broader region, tens of thousands were forced to flee.
"You tend to think about the resolution of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, but you have to look at the people," the film's director, Atsushi Funahashi, told Reuters.
"The people who got the most damage are the most ignored, and that's (what) you have to show."
Besides "Nuclear Nation", two other March 11-themed documentaries also screened at last month's Berlin film festival, as filmmakers start focusing their lenses on the worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.
Funahashi began filming last April at an abandoned high school in a Tokyo suburb where 1,400 Futaba evacuees were living in classrooms and had set up town administrative offices.
Based on interviews over the course of the year, the film captures the monotony of their daily lives as they bide their time in cramped conditions with nowhere to go and the mayor describes a "refugee feeling."
"The thing that I really wanted to depict in 'Nuclear Nation' was the waiting time of these people," Funahashi said.
"They're going to get compensated eventually for the land and homes they lost. But they're not going to get paid for the time they lost, and that's one of the tragedies."
Their only chance to return home was for one two-hour visit last summer, clad in protective suits and masks to collect belongings and pray for ancestors in tsunami-flattened cemeteries.
"NUCLEAR MONEY"
They express anger at the government, regulators and plant owner they feel had assured them of the power station's safety.
That's a far cry from the sentiment of the late 1970s when the town of 8,000 suddenly found itself flush with funds from property taxes and government subsidies after plant owner Tokyo Electric (Tepco) began construction in Futaba on two reactors.
With this "nuclear money" to burn, Futaba spent big on an athletic center, a library and other infrastructure, while residents were able to work in town at the plant and get bigger houses -- the power plant was seen as a godsend.
In one scene, the camera lingers on a sign that proclaims: "Atomic Energy Makes Our Town and Society Prosperous."
Under depreciation rules, however, the reactors were worth almost nothing after 15 years, and Futaba nearly went bankrupt under a pile of debt, becoming one of Japan's poorest towns by the late 2000s, according to the film.
Futaba nearly tapped new nuclear money to help fix its financial woes, with Tepco set to begin construction on two new reactors, in April 2011.
"We thought Futaba's future was at stake without that money," Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa said in the film. "Now I realize the cons far outweigh the pros ... I've come to think it was wrong to invite the nuclear power plant into our lives."
Some 500 people are still living in the high school, and Funahashi said he has already started work on "Nuclear Nation 2," about their lives in the second year since the disaster.
"I really feel a strong urge that I have to follow them until they go back home," he said.
"Nuclear Nation," produced by Documentary Japan and Big River Films, has secured distribution rights in the United States and is set to screen at Hong Kong and other film festivals. France's Wide House is handling global sales. (Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Japan touts food in major Hong Kong market
Japan touts food in major Hong Kong market
(AFP)
3/02/2012
HONG KONG — More than 40 companies are touting their goods at a Japanese food exhibition in Hong Kong this weekend, hoping to reassure a major market that the country's products are safe to eat.
Hong Kong is the biggest foreign market for Japanese food, and exporters ranging from sake brewers to rice merchants are represented at the three-day exhibition, which opened Friday at the city's convention centre.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
Japanese official Mototaka Nishimura said the event would help overcome doubts about the safety of Japanese produce after last year's meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
"As recovery of exports of Japanese food is our pressing issue, we decided to carry out this exhibition in Hong Kong, the largest destination of exports of Japanese food," he said.
"I'd like people overseas to know that Japanese food for export is safe. Only food which passed the Japanese government's safety guideline is allowed to be put on the market."
The Fukushima accident, triggered by the devastating March 11 quake-tsunami, sent poisonous radioactive particles into the air and water, blanketing crops grown near the power station and polluting waters where seafood is harvested.
A number of Fukushima products were taken off shelves, with government bans on beef, milk, mushrooms and some green vegetables.
Even so, many Japanese consumers continue to have doubts about official safety standards.
Exports of Japanese farm products -- once a favourite of the country's Asian neighbours who prized their safety and quality -- fell 7.4 percent in 2011 from the previous year while exports of marine products dropped 10.9 percent.
Eight countries including China and South Korea are still blocking the import of several vegetables produced in parts of northern and eastern Japan.
Japanese agriculture minister Michihiko Kano will visit the exhibition on Saturday before meeting Hong Kong's chief secretary for administration.
(AFP)
3/02/2012
HONG KONG — More than 40 companies are touting their goods at a Japanese food exhibition in Hong Kong this weekend, hoping to reassure a major market that the country's products are safe to eat.
Hong Kong is the biggest foreign market for Japanese food, and exporters ranging from sake brewers to rice merchants are represented at the three-day exhibition, which opened Friday at the city's convention centre.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
Japanese official Mototaka Nishimura said the event would help overcome doubts about the safety of Japanese produce after last year's meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
"As recovery of exports of Japanese food is our pressing issue, we decided to carry out this exhibition in Hong Kong, the largest destination of exports of Japanese food," he said.
"I'd like people overseas to know that Japanese food for export is safe. Only food which passed the Japanese government's safety guideline is allowed to be put on the market."
The Fukushima accident, triggered by the devastating March 11 quake-tsunami, sent poisonous radioactive particles into the air and water, blanketing crops grown near the power station and polluting waters where seafood is harvested.
A number of Fukushima products were taken off shelves, with government bans on beef, milk, mushrooms and some green vegetables.
Even so, many Japanese consumers continue to have doubts about official safety standards.
Exports of Japanese farm products -- once a favourite of the country's Asian neighbours who prized their safety and quality -- fell 7.4 percent in 2011 from the previous year while exports of marine products dropped 10.9 percent.
Eight countries including China and South Korea are still blocking the import of several vegetables produced in parts of northern and eastern Japan.
Japanese agriculture minister Michihiko Kano will visit the exhibition on Saturday before meeting Hong Kong's chief secretary for administration.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Japan planning breast milk radiation tests
Japan planning breast milk radiation tests
By Kyung Lah, CNN
January 12, 2012 -
A doctor checks the level of radiation on a woman at a treatment centre in Nihonmatsu city on March 13, 2011.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Mothers in the Fukushima area had expressed concerns about the possible effects of radiation
A government study found traces of radioactive cesium in the breast milk of 7 mothers
Experts say the small amount posed no health risks to babies
Tokyo (CNN) -- Some new mothers in Japan may soon be adding radiation testing of their breast milk to their list of health checkups.
Government officials say they are considering widespread testing of breast milk samples of new mothers in Fukushima Prefecture, home of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The details have yet to be finalized, according to a spokesman at the prefecture, who declined to give his name as is customary in Japan. But the spokesman said the prefecture is working out a plan to obtain samples of the breast milk from new mothers in the region.
Mothers in the prefecture have publicly held protests, expressing outrage over possible health effects of radiation from the plant affecting their newborns. About 18,000 babies are born each year in the prefecture. About half of those babies, according to the government, are breastfed.
http://easss.com/baby
A survey conducted in May and June by Japan's national government found traces of radioactive cesium in the breast milk of seven of 21 mothers in Fukushima. Experts say the minute amounts posed no health risks to babies.
The new plan is one of the many safety measures that have been considered after the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The disaster killed more than 15,000 people in northeastern Japan and sent plumes of radioactive particles from the damaged nuclear power plant.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Japan may shut down all nuclear power plants by 2012
Japan may shut down all nuclear power plants by 2012
POWER UTILITY | Isabelle Ulanday, Japan
31 Oct 2011
AsianPower
Shocking news as no power plants being restarted after maintenance will see Japan off all Nuclear by June 2011.
Nobuo Tanaka, Former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, said in the recently concluded Singapore Energy Lecture that Japan’s power plants are in danger of stopping operations altogether.
“Out of 55 nuclear reactors, only 11 of them are running. No nuclear reactors have been allowed to restart since March 11. If this continues, all reactors will stop, and then Japan would have to import more oil and gas,” he said.
When asked when Japan’s power stations will be restarted, Tanaka said that restarting nuclear power is the most logical option for the country. “There’s so much concern about the public’s safety. Logically, if Japan is not restarting nuclear power it means $3 trillion more expenditure in fields. This is irrational so it should start very quickly towards early next year.”
He added that in IEA’s view, Japan should continue nuclear operations but with safer regulations.
Dr Nobuo Tanaka with Geoff Cutmore of CNBC
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Japan Nuclear power generation costs surge ¥8.9 per kilowatt hour
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011
Government report says post-Fukushima price rose to 'minimum' of ¥8.9 per kilowatt hour
Nuclear power generation costs surge
The Japan Times
Kyodo
A government panel says in a draft report that nuclear power generation costs ¥8.9 per kilowatt hour when including expenses associated with nuclear accidents, higher than a 2004 projection of ¥5.9 per kwh.
The new estimate, calculated by considering the result of the catastrophe at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, shows that nuclear power is still one of the cheapest energy sources, the panel said.
But its draft report, released Tuesday, notes that ¥8.9 is the "minimum" cost of nuclear power as the total financial damages from a severe nuclear accident are still unclear.
According to the draft report, coal-powered thermal plants generate electricity at ¥9.5 per kwh, while the rate for liquefied natural gas-powered thermal plants is ¥10.7 per kwh.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
In the 2004 projection, the cost of electricity from coal-fed plants was pegged at ¥5.7 per kwh, and from LNG-fired plants at ¥6.2 per kwh.
Among renewable energy sources, costs of wind power generation on land are estimated at between ¥9.9 and ¥17.3 per kwh, and of household solar power at ¥33.4 to ¥38.3 per kwh.
Looking forward to 2030, thermal power costs are expected to increase, while the cost of wind and solar power are projected to drop to as low as ¥8.8 and ¥9.9 per kwh amid expected market expansion. The cost of nuclear power is estimated to stay at ¥8.9 per kwh.
The calculation is part of the review of energy policy in light of the Fukushima crisis.
Under the national energy plan endorsed in June 2010, reliance on nuclear energy was projected to increase to 53 percent of the total power supply by 2030, from about 30 percent before the Fukushima accident.
Based on the panel's final report, to be issued later this month, the government is expected to come up with what is known as the "energy best mix."
The latest estimates are different from the 2004 figures because of what the panel calls social expenses, in addition to capital, fuel and operation and maintenance costs.
Social expenses are included in costs for nuclear power in the form of accident risk, and for thermal power in the form of costs to deal with carbon dioxide emissions.
Nuclear accident risk costs are estimated at ¥0.5 per kwh, according to the draft report, which notes that expense could increase further depending on damages caused by a severe nuclear accident.
So far, the panel estimates damages costs to be at least ¥5.8 trillion, drawing on the Fukushima accident. But that figure doesn't include all factors, such as expenses related to cleaning radiation-contaminated land around the plant.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Japan mulls $13 billion Fukushima bailout
Japan mulls $13 billion Fukushima bailout
By Linda Sieg and Kentaro Hamada
TOKYO | Thu Dec 8, 2011
(Reuters) - The Japanese government may inject about $13 billion into Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T) as early as next summer in a de facto nationalization of the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, sources said on Thursday.
Tepco's future as an independent firm has been in doubt since an earthquake and tsunami wrecked the plant in March, triggering the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years and leaving it with huge compensation payments and clean-up costs.
http://www.facebook.com/nuclearfree
http://www.facebook.com/nukefree
In addition to public capital, the government and Tepco will also seek additional loans from banks, sources said, but the full scale of any Tepco bailout remains unclear.
Some analysts expressed doubt that the government would take the drastic step of taking control of the giant monopoly, which still has political clout, but the idea has proponents in some sections of Japan's ruling party.
"You have an essentially bankrupt operation, and if you are going to save it, it's going to cost a lot," said Andrew Dewit, a Rikkyo University professor who writes about energy policy.
"You've got a very bad picture getting worse, and dithering just ups the cost."
Tepco President Toshio Nishizawa was mentioned as saying a public fund injection could not be ruled out. "It is better to keep all options, so I don't deny it," Kyodo news agency quoted him as saying in an interview on Thursday.
Tepco has made progress in bringing the Fukushima plant under control and is on track to declare a "cold shutdown" -- when water used to cool the reactors is stable below boiling point -- before the end of the year.
But decommissioning four reactors at the plant is set to cost at least 1.2 trillion yen ($15.4 billion), a sum that would render Tepco insolvent if drastic measures to shore up its financial base were not taken, media reports said.
ENERGY POLICY REFORM
The Mainichi newspaper reported earlier on Thursday that the government planned to inject at least $13 billion and perhaps as much as $27 billion, while Kyodo news agency said the total bailout could reach 3 trillion yen ($38.5 billion) over four years, with half coming from private borrowings.
A government-run bailout fund would buy new stocks such as preferred shares to be issued by the utility, sources said.
Shares in Tepco slid as much as 17 percent before regaining some ground to end down 11 percent at 244 yen.
"The report got investors worried that Tepco could possibly become insolvent," said Hiroyuki Fukunaga, CEO of Investrust. "If they need 1 trillion yen to avoid that, then the money is not coming from anyone but the government."
Tepco would need to get shareholder approval to raise the ceiling on the number of shares it can issue at its next annual meeting in June.
To cover costs, Asia's biggest utility is pushing for hikes in electricity charges. It also wants permission to restart nuclear reactors, particularly those that have been idled at its biggest plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa.
Five of the seven reactors at that plant are off-line for checks or repairs, and two more are scheduled for planned shutdowns before May 2012.
But the ruling party has concluded that the public would be unwilling to accept higher electricity fees, particularly at a time when it is being asked to accept a hike in the sales tax to cover social security costs, Mainichi said, while restarting idled reactors is difficult due to public fears about safety.
Pushing Tepco to accept capital would also allow the government to pursue drastic reform of energy policy, including separating power generation from distribution, the paper said.
But experts questioned whether the two would necessarily go hand in hand. The government aims to finish a review of national energy policy, including nuclear power, by next summer.
"Nationalization could be a first step toward such reforms as splitting generation and distribution," said Rikkyo University's Dewit. "But whether this is a trial balloon and gets shot down in the short run, who's to say?"
The Mainichi report said a government panel led by Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura could, in the new year, announce plans to inject public funds, though Fujimura told reporters the issue of public funds was not now on the table.
Tepco is due to announce new steps in the coming days, which include an increase in its planned cost cuts over 10 years by 100 billion yen to 2.64 trillion yen as well as the sale of a thermal power plant, a source has said.
($1 = 77.7300 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Edwina Gibbs, Taro Fuse, Mayumi Negishi, Hideyuki Sano, Taiga Uranaka and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Alex Richardson, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Will Waterman)
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