A Circus Tent for Fukushima Daiichi?

Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The cover to block the spread of radiation from Fukushima Daiichi’s No. 1 reactor under construction on Sept. 17.

The polyester cover erected over Unit 1 of Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was fashioned in the shape of a tight-fitting, non-descript, white box. It could have looked very different.

  

At first, planners from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and general contractor Shimizu Corp. say they considered something that looked like a circus tent, when they sat down in mid-March to discuss how to stop the spread of radioactive materials from the plant’s four damaged reactor buildings. 

Constructing a tent was fast, and Tepco was in a hurry to stop the spread of radiation – particularly from Units 1 and 3, where hydrogen explosions after the nuclear accident in March had blown away the reactor buildings. The engineers finally decided the boxy shape, with panels fastened to a steel frame, would be more durable.

“We dropped the idea [of putting up a plain tent over the plant] because it would be easily blown away by winds in a typhoon,” explained Noriyoshi Nakamura, the plant’s general manager responsible for radiation containment. “It wouldn’t cover the reactor as tightly as we wanted, either.” Shimizu’s general manager for construction technology agrees. “

The cover we built is expected to last at least a few years, but in the future, we probably need a more robust structure,” said Masahiro Indo. “The cover isn’t exactly air-tight; air can leak through gaps between the panels.” The Wall Street Journal describes some of the civil-engineering heroics Shimizu went through to get the cover in place. 

But even before the construction began, there were challenges. There was no detailed plant blueprint, for one. That information was trapped in a computer in the reactor building and inaccessible. The only layout available was one produced 40 years ago, which didn’t include any of the stacks, pipes and buildings added later. 

Shimizu ended up doing a laser scan of the entire building and creating a 3-D image, then building a 1/100-scale model of Unit 1, complete with surrounding debris. “We rebuilt the model three or four times until we were satisfied with it,” Mr. Indo said.

The cover is made up of 20-meter-square polyester sheets, with each sheet held down by two weights weighing 7 and 12 tons. The panels were lifted by two cranes capable of carrying 750-ton loads, out of only 14 such machines in all of Japan. 

During the construction, those cranes got dosed with high levels of radiation, particularly the one working closest to Unit 1. So where are the contaminated cranes now? Tepco says they’re still sitting in the plant complex, waiting for their next mission. 

blogs.wsj.com

Japan: Fukushima radiation 'two times higher' than estimates

Anti-nuclear activists demonstrate on March 17 in Barcelona,
Spain in reaction to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan.
The debate over nuclear safety has reignited worldwide,
as workers in Fukushima desperately seek to
prevent a nuclear meltdown.
(Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images)

Radiation released from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is two times higher than government estimates first suggested, according to a new, worldwide study of radioactive elements in the earth's atmosphere. Scientists measured significantly higher levels than expected of the radioactive element cesium-137 in the earth's atmosphere, according to a study by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.  
The Japanese government estimated that 15,000 terabecquerels of cesium were released from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, reports the Telegraph, yet the new study says the real figure is more than twice that: 36,000 terabecquerels, or 42 percent of the total radiation released in the Chernobyl disaster.

Initial measurements in Japan did not factor in the radiation that was blown out to sea, the researchers say. Based on data from radiation monitoring stations across Japan, Europe and North America, they believe only around 20 percent of the total cesium emissions fell over Japanese territory.

The rest was carried over the Pacific Ocean, with around 2 percent landing in other countries. The possible health risks of the radiation are unclear. Cesium-137 is linked to cancer and can remain in the environment for 30 years.

The impact of the disaster could have been much worse, however, lead researcher Andreas Stohl told Nature News.

In the days following the accident, clouds of radiation blew back over Japan, but fortunately they passed over Tokyo and other densely populated areas without any precipitation. If it had rained over the cities, the population would have been exposed to far greater quantities of radiation, Stohl said.

globalpost.com

Fukushima nuclear crisis, six months later

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan quits

"Under the severe circumstances, I feel I've done everything that I had to do," Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said as he announced his resignation. [ Yuriko Nakao  /  REUTERS]

The Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced on Friday that he was stepping down after almost 15 months in office as his government's ratings plunged due to handling of nuclear crisis triggered by tsunami.

Kan appeared on national television to announce that he was resigning as the leader of the ruling Democratic Party, effectively ending his tenure as Prime Minister.

His exit paves the way for election of Japan's sixth Prime Minister in five years, as the country is struggling to come out from the devastation caused by March 11 earthquake which triggered a nuclear crisis.

"I resign as the party president effective today", Kyodo news agency quoted him as telling his party leaders. He was the first leader in Japan, not hailing from a well connected political family to don the premiership.

After taking office in June last year, the 64-year-old premier has struggled amid plunging ratings, a relentless power struggle within his party and a combative opposition controlling upper house stalling legislation.

Later he came under fire from his own party lawmakers for his perceived lack of leadership in dealing with the March disaster that claimed the lives of more than 15,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

The ruling Democratic party will vote on Monday to elect a new leader, who will become the next Prime Minister.

Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara is viewed as a frontrunner to replace Kan. Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Trade Minister Banri Kaieda may also enter the fray.

news.oneindia.in

Japan's nuclear crisis : A question of trust

TWO weeks after Japan’s trade minister gave the all-clear to restart nuclear-power plants that had been shut for maintenance, Naoto Kan, the prime minister, ordered on July 6th that they should first undergo rigorous stress tests. The inverted sequence showed that only a cursory examination had taken place. Hideo Kishimoto, a mayor in southwestern Japan who had earlier given his local power company permission to restart the Genkai nuclear-power plant, retracted his approval. “I can’t trust the government,” he said.

It is a refrain heard throughout Japan, aimed not only at national politicians but also at the power companies, bureaucrats, academics and the media who had given assurances that the country’s nuclear plants were disaster-proof. A country that has long been governed by informal bonds of trust is seeing them start to fray. The meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is forcing a re-examination of Japan’s most influential institutions.

The credibility gap bedevils the utilities. Tokyo Electric (TEPCO), the utility that serves the capital and runs the Fukushima plant, has been accused of withholding data from the start, including from the prime minister. And the energy firms have a record of spotty safety standards and cover-ups stretching back years. Yet their image worsened in recent days when it transpired that Kyushu Electric, which operates Genkai, asked thousands of employees to pose as ordinary citizens and send e-mails and faxes in support of reopening reactors at a public meeting in June that was televised live. The attempt to manipulate public sentiment, exposed by a rare whistle-blower, angered the public and energised the media.

Japan’s food supply is safe. But pockets of doubt have crept in, owing to a mishandling of safety inspections. On July 13th the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said that beef contaminated with radioactive caesium more than six times above the safety limit was sold and possibly consumed. It followed initial reports that the meat never made it to market. Though the quantity was small (only a few cows, it appears so far) and the health risk said to be non-existent, it raises suspicions. When radiation above European safety limits was found in tea from Shizuoka in June, a prefectural official asked the retailer, Radishbo-ya, to keep quiet so as not to harm local growers.

The crisis of confidence in Japanese authority is still at the seedling stage. Yet lately there have been nightly televised exposés of the gulf between official reassurances and the worrying reality. Even the belated stress tests raise eyebrows: they will be undertaken by the utilities themselves and checked by two regulatory agencies that previously failed to supervise the utilities properly. On July 13th Mr Kan said he wants Japan to reduce nuclear power on safety grounds, if not to get rid of it altogether. A few months ago such a policy was unthinkable, because of the risk of power shortages. The public increasingly supports it—but not Mr Kan.

economist.com

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Remains 'Ticking Time Bomb' After Japan Disaster: Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist

Though global fears about radiation emissions from the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility have calmed in the weeks since Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, famed physicist Michio Kaku insists the situation remains a "ticking time bomb."

A professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York and the City College of New York, Kaku discussed some recent revelations about the disaster's impact, and noted that Japanese officials still don't yet have control at the site. "In the last two weeks, everything we knew about that accident has been turned upside down," Kaku says. "Now we know it was 100 percent core melt in all three reactors...now we know it was comparable to the radiation at Chernobyl."

Among Kaku's other distressing notes: Fukushima workers are exposed to a year's dose of radiation within minutes of entering the site, and cleanup will take between 50 to 100 years. "It's like hanging by your fingernails," he says. "It's stable, but you're hanging by your fingernails."

huffingtonpost.com

TEPCO to pay 88 bil. yen in compensation to nuclear crisis evacuees

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it expects to pay 88 billion yen in compensation to around 150,000 nuclear crisis evacuees for their mental distress.

The compensation from the operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will cover the period between March 11, when the quake-tsunami disaster crippled the complex, and mid-January, the target date for TEPCO to achieve a cold shutdown of the damaged reactors.

TEPCO's estimate was revealed after a government panel presented guidelines for compensation payments, under which evacuees in temporary housing or apartments will receive 100,000 yen per month for six months from March and those staying in shelters will receive 120,000 yen a month.

The utility will include the 88 billion yen as an extraordinary loss in its April-June consolidated financial results.

Six months into the crisis, the payments will be uniformly cut to 50,000 yen per month. A compensation plan covering payments a year after the crisis will be decided once the situation at the Fukushima plant is brought under control.

(Mainichi Japan) June 23, 2011

Fukushima halts water decontamination

Officials at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it had begun because of a rapid rise in radiation.

Fukushima workers detected a sharp radiation increase in the system's caesium-absorbing component. Photograph: AP

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is investigating the cause and could not say when the clean-up will resume, company spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said.

Fresh water is being pumped in to cool damaged reactor cores, and is becoming contaminated in the process. Around 105,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water have pooled across the plant, and could overflow within a couple of weeks if action is not taken.

In earlier tests, the water treatment system reduced caesium levels in the water to about one ten-thousandth of their original levels. The system began full operations on Friday after a series of problems involving leaks and valve flaws.

The system was suspended in early Saturday when workers detected a sharp radiation increase in the system's caesium-absorbing component, Matsumoto said. Radioactivity in one of 24 cartridges, which was expected to last for a few weeks, had already reached its limit within five hours, he said.

Japan's 11 March earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to the nuclear plant, incapacitating its crucial cooling systems and causing three reactor cores to melt. Tepco aims to bring the reactors to a stable cold shutdown state by January next year.

The water treatment system is to be eventually connected to a cooling system so the treated water can be reused. But treating the water will create an additional headache – tons of highly radioactive sludge will require a separate long-term storage space.

The Fukushima crisis shattered Japan's confidence in the safety of nuclear energy and prompted anti-nuclear sentiment. But there are also concerns that Japan will face a serious summertime power crunch unless more of its reactors get back on line.

Of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors, more than 30 – including six at Fukushima Daiichi and several others that stopped due to the quake – are out of operation.

The economy and industry minister, Banri Kaieda, said on Saturday that the rest of the nuclear plants in Japan are safe and their reactors should resume operations as soon as their ongoing regular checks are completed. He said nationwide inspections this week have found that Japanese nuclear power plants are now prepared for accidents as severe as the one that crippled Fukushima Daiichi.

Resumption of about a dozen reactors undergoing regular checkups is up in the air amid growing local residents' fear of nuclear accidents. Many of the plants' hometown officials have said restarting any pending reactors would be impossible amid the ongoing crisis.

Kaieda, however, said Japan needs the power. "Stable electric supply is indispensable for Japan's reconstruction from the disaster and its economic recovery," he said in a statement.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency instructed Japanese nuclear operators to improve their preparedness for severe accidents earlier this month and then conducted nationwide on-site inspections.

The inspections focused on measures to reduce the risk of hydrogen explosions inside containment buildings as one of the lessons learned from the Fukushima crisis, the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl.

Japanese nuclear plant operators have already taken other steps to improve accident management since the disaster to maintain core cooling capacity during blackouts.

Tepco, the operator of Japan's stricken nuclear power plant, has said it is starting an operation to clean up the site's radioactive water after several glitches and delays.

Temporary storage tanks hold radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, following the meltdown in the spring. Photograph: Ho/Reuters

Large and expanding pools of radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which is about 150 miles north-east of Tokyo, were in danger of spilling into the sea within a week unless action was taken, officials said.

The company has pumped massive amounts of water to cool three reactors at the nuclear plant, which went into meltdown after the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March this year.

Managing the radioactive water has become a problem as the plant runs out of places to store the liquid. About 110,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water, enough to fill 40 Olympic-size swimming pools, is being held at the plant.

Tepco, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, with help from the French nuclear group Areva, the US firm Kurion and other companies, has been test-running a system decontaminating radioactive water and reusing it to cool the reactors. But in a setback that delayed the plan by about a week, water leaked on Thursday from a facility used to absorb caesium.

Junichi Matsumoto, a Tepco official, said the company was aiming to use some of the cleaned water to cool the reactors within the next few days. This would not require pumping in any fresh water.

In April the utility dumped about 10,000 tonnes of water contaminated with low-level radioactivity into the ocean, prompting criticism from China and South Korea.

Even if the water treatment is successful, Tepco next faces the task of dealing with the highly radioactive sludge that will be left over from the decontamination process. It is unclear where the sludge will be stored for the long term.

Tepco aims to complete the initial steps in limiting releases of more radiation from the plant, and in shutting down the three unstable reactors, by January next year.

Tepco said it had not made significant alterations to its timeline.

The operator said that the storage of high-radiation sludge, likely to arise from the treatment of contaminated water, and improved conditions for the plant's workers during the summer were aspects it was examining. Measures for the workers included access to more doctors, body counters that measure exposure to radiation and resting areas away from the summer heat.

The ultimate goal is to bring the reactors to a state of "cold shutdown", where the uranium at the core can no longer boil off the water that is used as the coolant. That would allow officials to move on to cleaning up the site and eventually removing the fuel, a process that could take more than 10 years.

guardian.co.uk Saturday 18 June 2011 12.03 BST

UN report says Japan underestimated threat to Fukushima nuclear plant

A UN report says Japanese nuclear regulators failed to review and approve steps taken after 2002 to protect against tsunamis at the Fukushima plant.

And these proved insufficient to prevent the disaster three months ago.

The detailed assessment by an expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency was the first outside review of Japan's nuclear crisis.

It said the country underestimated the threat from tsunamis to the Fukushima plant and urged sweeping changes to its regulatory system.

It suggested several shortcomings both before and after a tidal wave crippled the power station.

But it also praised the way workers on the ground dealt with the situation after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

The 160-page report was prepared for a ministerial nuclear safety meeting in Vienna next week.

entertainment.xin.msn.com

17 prefectures plan or mull boosting solar power aid after nuclear crisis

Seventeen of Japan's 47 prefectures have already decided on or are considering the enhancement of programs to promote solar power in the wake of the country's worst nuclear plant crisis in Fukushima, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.

While the nuclear crisis has accelerated moves to shift energy policy at the local level, many prefectural governments called for further steps on the part of the central government, such as improving a program for power utilities to buy excess electricity generated by solar and other renewable energy sources.

newworldsolar.blogspot.com

The survey conducted from late May to early June, which received responses from all 47 prefectures, found that 36 of them already had their own programs for the promotion of solar power generation, such as subsidies for the installation of solar panels, before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Of the 36, 16 have decided on or are considering the enhancement of their programs, while the Tokyo metropolitan government, which ended its subsidy program in March, has decided to newly create a similar program for homes.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, for example, a system under which residents would be able to install solar panels at no cost is being considered by a study group launched in May in line with new Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa's election pledge to have solar panels installed at 2 million homes.

The Chiba prefectural government has decided to subsidize the installation of solar panels not only by households but also firms, while Gunma and Yamanashi prefectures have augmented solar power-related budgets.

Of the 45 prefectures that said they already installed solar power panels at schools and other public facilities at their own expense, 12 are considering increasing the number of installations.

To help spread solar power, 46 prefectures called for a reduction in the initial costs of installing the panels, 30 sought more subsidies from the central government and 22 called for improving the energy purchase system such as by extending its 10-year time frame.

After Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced at a Group of Eight nations summit in May that Japan will aim to install solar panels at 10 million homes, the Osaka prefectural government demanded that the state present a precise plan at an early date.

(Mainichi Japan) June 20, 2011

Radiation "hotspots" hinder Japan response to nuclear crisis

Hisao Nakamura still can't accept that his crisply cut field of deep green tea bushes south of Tokyo has been turned into a radioactive hazard by a crisis far beyond the horizon.

"I was more than shocked," said Nakamura, 74, who, like other tea farmers in Kanagawa has been forced to throw away an early harvest because of radiation being released by the Fukushima Daiichi plant 300 kilometers (180 miles) away.

"Throwing way what you've grown with great care is like killing your own children."

More than three months after the Fukushima nuclear plant was hit by a quake and tsunami that triggered the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Japanese officials are still struggling to understand where and how radiation released in the accident created far-flung "hotspots" of contamination.

The uncertainty itself is proving a strain.

"Stress has serious health effects. The Japanese people no longer trust the nuclear industry and the government. People do not know whether their food and their land is safe," said Kim Kearfott, an expert on radiation health risks at the University of Michigan, who toured Japan in May.

Fukushima is estimated to have released just 15 percent of the radiation at Chernobyl, but a complicated software modeling system created by the government to predict where the radiation would drift proved useless.

Under pressure to provide a more accurate picture of the contamination, the Ministry of Education has promised to complete a detailed survey of the evacuated area by October.

Since last week, local governments have been enlisted to provide daily reports of radiation.

More than 1,000 public schools in Fukushima were equipped with dosimeters in late May and teachers were asked to record hourly radiation readings to help create a contamination map.

But some experts say even these added steps are far from enough. "We need a new and more comprehensive system for monitoring radiation," said Takumi Gotoh, a Nagoya-based cancer specialist. "The system that exists now is not sufficient."

Data so far shows the most heavily contaminated area is to the northwest of Fukushima, where experts believe radioactive debris was carried by winds in March and then deposited as snow and rain.

In the city of Date, for example, some 50 km (30 miles) to the northwest of Fukushima, ground radiation was near 24 millisieverts per year as of early June. That is above the international standard for annual exposure by nuclear workers.

There is little data on how badly contaminated the now-abandoned area of forced evacuation is in the 20-kilometer (12-mile) zone around the Fukushima plant. Critics also say the monitoring of ground and seawater also needs to be stepped up.

'I WANT TO DIG A HOLE'

The incomplete data has complicated Japan's response to the disaster and planning for an environmental clean-up expected to take years and cost tens of billions of dollars.

It has also created a mood of quiet despair in already devastated communities. "I never believe anything I hear any more on radiation," said Shukuko Kuzumi, 63, who lives in Iwaki, about 50 km to the south of Fukushima.

"I want to dig a hole in the ground and scream."

More than 24,000 people were killed by the quake and tsunami. Tens of thousands more remain evacuated because of the radiation threat.

One of the high-profile casualties from the hotspot phenomenon has been the tea crop in Kanagawa and neighboring Shizuoka, where cesium was found at a level that exceeded the government's legal limit by as much as 35 percent.

"We never thought that that the nuclear accident would affect our products," said Susumu Yamaguchi, 58, who heads a farmers' cooperative in the village of Kiyokawa.

Yamaguchi has lost a crop worth over $20,000. Another farmer he knows has simply given up his field.

Others want answers: How did radioactive cesium from the reactors at Fukushima end up here?

Tetsuo Iguchi, a specialist on radiation monitoring at Nagoya University, says experts don't know.

Iguchi is working as a consultant with a government group that is urging thousands of tonnes of contaminated soil to be cleared off and then sent to storage, possibly inside the Fukushima complex. That project will last into 2012 at least.

"Even that is optimistic," he said. "Nothing like this has ever been done before."

More radiation could spill from Fukushima into the sea if efforts to start a French-built water treatment facility hit a snag. The equipment is needed to decontaminate the water that has accumulated in underground structures on the site after being pumped in to cool the melted cores on three reactors.

"Unfortunately, there is still a real possibility of further significant releases of radioactivity," experts from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in a statement.

Reuters

After Nuclear Crisis, Japan’s Biggest Utility Faces Insolvency Risk

Far away from the battle to contain the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, investors are increasingly edgy about a related issue: the fate of Tokyo Electric Power, the stricken plant’s operator.

On Thursday, shares in Tokyo Electric again fell to a record low, at one point slumping to 148 yen ($1.85), down 93 percent from prequake levels. Shares finished at 192 yen ($2.40), down 4 percent from the previous day, and the company already had a 1.25 trillion yen loss in the year ending March 31, the largest annual loss for a nonfinancial institution in Japanese history.

The physical damage from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been so widespread that even conservative estimates of compensation claims amount to tens of billions of dollars — a burden that could render Japan’s largest utility insolvent.

In the early days of the disaster, even while hydrogen explosions continued to rock the nuclear plant, the collapse of Tokyo Electric was thought highly unlikely. Despite the catastrophe, analysts said, the government would not allow the failure of Tokyo’s sole electricity supplier. Because the effect of such a collapse on credit and stock markets would be catastrophic, they said, surely the government would cap compensation claims, or step in to provide other support.

And banks were so certain of this that they agreed, in early April, to lend almost 2 trillion yen ($25 billion) to the struggling utility company. In the eyes of the market, Tokyo Electric was too big to fail.

Now, three months later, the market is not so sure.

“Investors used to think, ‘This is a utility. What’s the government going to do, let it fail and let Tokyo go without power?’ ” said Yasuhide Yajima, the senior economist at the NLI Research Institute, an arm of Nippon Life Insurance. “But now their confidence is completely shaken,” he said. “They’re racing to offload their holdings before the share price hits zero.”

One cause for concern, analysts say, is the inability of a gridlocked government to complete a financial rescue plan for Tokyo Electric. To appease public anger over the disaster, the government has vowed to hold Tokyo Electric fully liable for the compensation claims that are likely to roll in from farmers, fishermen and others whose livelihoods have been disrupted in the crisis.

A government plan drawn up last month places no limit on the company’s liabilities, even though Japanese law would allow for such a cap following natural disasters. But the plan, which must still be approved by a divided Parliament, also calls for a fund that would use taxpayer money to help Tokyo Electric compensate victims and continue to provide Tokyo with power, while avoiding insolvency. Under the plan, the company will eventually pay back the fund in full.

The problem, analysts say, is that it is virtually impossible to know how large those claims could eventually be — and whether the government would have the means and commitment to cover them.

In a recent estimate, Shigeki Matsumoto, an analyst at Nomura Securities, predicted the total would come to around 5 trillion yen ($64 billion), including 3.2 trillion to 3.3 trillion yen ($40 billion to $41.2 billion) in payout to farmers and fishermen — two years’ worth of agricultural and fisheries output in the plant’s vicinity. Nomura also projected 0.6 trillion yen in compensation to displaced families.

A Bank of America-Merrill Lynch estimate puts the sum as high as $130 billion. (By comparison: BP’s compensation fund for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is $20 billion. )

“Estimating damages at this point,” Mr. Matsumoto said, “is difficult.”

Amid these uncertainties, Japan has resisted offering a blanket promise to back Tokyo Electric’s compensation payouts.

nytimes.com

INDONESIA MUST FIND SAFEST SITE FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

Indonesia needs to learn from the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident and find the safest site for its future nuclear power plant, Prof Dr Herliyani Suharto said.

The head of the International Network Program of the Indonesia Renewable Energy Community (METI) said here on Thursday "we must not only learn from the Fukushima incident that a power plant has a high risk and therefore we must not build it."

"On the contrary the incident must become a challenge for us to find the safest place (for the plant)," she said at a seminar on the aspects of safety and welfare of a nuclear power plant in Indonesia.

The researcher of renewable energy from the Technology Assessment and Implementation Agency (BPPT) said Indonesia has a lot of areas which are free of earthquakes and tsunami which have been geologically proven for hundreds of years which are fit for the location of a nuclear power plant.

Based on Law Number 17 of 2007 on Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJM) Indonesia must have a nuclear power plant by 2016 2017.

The plant has actually been built as of two years ago, head of the Association of Indonesian Nuclear Community (HIMNI), Markus Wauran, said.

"Regrettably the government has not been consistent and kept changing its stand while it has actually been clear that the national energy reserves could not last longer," he said.

A member of the National Energy Council (DEN), Dr Herman Agustiawan, meanwhile expressed regret over the rejection of nuclear power plants by a number of people. He said despite the rejection, they had offered no solution to the problem of overcoming energy demand in the future, which would be very huge.

"Indonesia needs a huge energy supply which should be met immediately, in 5 to 15 years, or maximally 20 years. So what other solutions are there for it apart from a nuclear power plant which could be built once with a big capacity," he said.

He said it would be sad to see Indonesia to have to burn coal as many 3.5 million tons a year for coal-fired power plants like the 20GW First and Second Phase Project and how serious the pollution that the people in Java would inhale from it.

Right now he said the Indonesian people could only enjoy 600 kWh of electricity per capita per year while Malaysia had up to 3,000 kWh, Japan 8,000 kWh and the US 14,000 kWh.

"While we wish to build a mass rapid transport system our electricity capacity is not enough meanwhile new industries are still waiting for distribution. We have so far often experienced outages so what would the situation become if we wish to increase development," he said.

(ANTARA)

Japan targets renewable energy

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is eying a move to renewable energy and power-saving technologies, in light of the recent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster and the closure of the Hamaoka nuclear facility.

In an initiative that would involve setting up offshore high-performance solar cells and wind turbines, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will be working with the private sector to develop the technologies.

These technologies include lithium-air batteries with ten times the energy density of lithium ion batteries, lightweight materials, and solar cells with about triple the energy conversion efficiency of products in the market today.

“Energy constraints should be an important lesson that we learn from the Great East Japan Earthquake,” said Banri Kaieda¸ Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, on Wednesday.

METI will provide subsidies of 580 billion yen (US$7.1 billion) for technological research in the initial fiscal 2011 budget, with an estimated 30 billion yen (US$371 million) dedicated to fields like renewable energy.

The agency plans to increase funding for renewable energy and power-saving technologies through redistributing research and development (R&D) funding or obtaining money from additional budgets.

It is also exploring methods to enhance the efficiency of fossil-fuel-burning power plants and other technologies, such as integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power generation and superconductors that could reduce power losses during transition by about 90 per cent.

To further its collaboration with the private sector, including corporations and universities, METI is mulling the expansion of tax breaks for companies doing R&D in the above areas.

.futuregov.asia

France expands nuclear power plans despite Fukushima

With dwindling fossil fuel supplies, France is increasingly reliant on its nuclear power plants which now provide it with three-quarters of its electricity

In the aftermath of Japan's nuclear crisis at Fukushima, some European nations are rethinking their atomic plans. But France, home to 58 of 143 reactors in the EU, remains nuclear energy's champion, and plans not to retire its power stations but to expand them. Emma Jane Kirby examines why.

For many tourists visiting the tranquil north Normandy coast, the giant EPR reactor at Flamanville is little more than a lamentable industrial scar on a rather beautiful landscape.

But to the French government, Flamanville's European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) is the embodiment of the future.

Following the disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power station - which was heavily damaged by the deadly 11 March quake and tsunami - President Nicolas Sarkozy announced there would be an audit of all nuclear facilities.

But he added firmly that France would not be rethinking its nuclear energy policy as neighbours Germany, Italy and Switzerland have.

Unlike Germany's reversal of policy on Monday that will see it phase out the country's 17 nuclear power stations by 2022, Mr Sarkozy said France was confident that nuclear energy was safe and it was "out of the question" to end nuclear power.

Sceptical public

The EPR being built in Flamanville is marketed as the most secure power station yet.

It is built and designed by EDF, a company which is 80% owned by the French government.

The system is organised into four sub-systems (current plants in operation only have two), each located in separate rooms away from the reactor building.

Simultaneous failure of the systems is regarded as almost impossible; the idea is that if an incident were to occur on one of the systems, the reactor could continue to operate safely during repairs, as at least two other systems would remain available.

In the event of a meltdown, the core would be isolated by the reactor building's dual-wall containment which has one wall in pre-stressed concrete designed to withstand significant increases in pressure, and the second in reinforced concrete, known as the concrete shell.

But many French people - including Didier Anger, an anti-nuclear campaigner and former MEP - are not convinced.

"That's just propaganda," Mr Anger told the BBC at his home a few miles inland from Flamanville.

He pointed to the strong ties between EDF and the French government and asked how we could trust the government's word about nuclear safety when it owns such a massive stake in the company that builds the reactors? It was all, he insisted, the "same club".

"France claims to be a democracy," he laughed. "But in terms of the nuclear industry we are yet to prove that!

"A few weeks ago, after Fukushima, the current director of our nuclear safety authority announced in front of MPs that perhaps we should stop the EPR reactor to look at any possible problems.

"A few hours later he was made to back-pedal... he was silenced... because the power of the old boys' network is formidable in France."

Stress tests

Two years ago, cracks were found in the concrete base of the reactor dome at Flamanville and welding proved to be sub-standard. Addressing those safety issues has meant the project is now at least two years behind schedule and way over budget.

This week, European nuclear watchdogs must start safety checks - or stress tests - on their nuclear facilities to make sure they could withstand an earthquake or tsunami like that at Fukushima.

Although a 9m (30 ft) wave is unlikely on the North Normandy coast at Flamanville, Prof Jacques Foos, one of France's most respected nuclear scientists, says all precautions must be taken.

"The accident at Fukushima proved completely extraordinary events can happen," he told me. "So what would happen if a giant wave did hit one of our nuclear power plants? We need to check that out.

"I'm not saying we need to think about every eventuality such as what would happen if we were struck by a meteorite... but I am saying that when we build nuclear power plants now, we have to think the unthinkable."

Major export

The high-tech EPR reactor at Flamanville has been designed to withstand disasters such as a plane crash - but older reactors will not have such sophisticated security systems.

Claude Birraux, an MP with President Sarkozy's governing UMP party, has been chairing the official French parliamentary inquiry into the Fukushima accident, and hopes that the EU stress tests coupled with the separate French audit will help to reassure a nervous French public.

"There will be a review made by the safety authorities and if one nuclear power plant is not able to answer to those questions (set by the EU), it can maybe be shut down," he said. "Maybe."

Nuclear technology is one of France's major exports.

Three years ago, France struck a deal with the UK to build four new EPR reactors in Britain but in December 2009 it lost a $40bn (£24bn) reactor deal with Abu Dhabi amid recriminations that it was too costly.

President Sarkozy insisted that the deal was lost because its high safety standards drove up the cost. Professor Jacques Foos hopes that in a post-Fukushima world its "safety first" EPR reactors will bring in more business for France.

"We will see a boost in sales now," he said confidently. "Because who would baulk at paying for safety these days? You can't have a reactor these days that's thought of as being too safe."

A boost in sales should result in a boost in jobs but that's not an argument that holds much sway with anti-nuclear campaigner Didier Anger. Building on a second EPR reactor on the Normandy coast at Penly begins next year but Mr Anger doubts it will boost employment.

"In Flamanville, we thought the EPR would bring a lot of employment... but 50% of the workers are from Poland or Romania, or at least not from here," he complained.

He pointed to the high 9.7% unemployment rate in the Cherbourg area and asked me why I thought the jobless total was so high.

"It's because a lot of businesses are scared off by the EPR reactor," said Mr Anger. "They think what if there was an accident? The exclusion zone would be 20km [12 miles] or more. That's no good for business… so they don't set up here."

Nuclear landscape?

But if France is to make more sales with the EPR reactor, who will the new customers be when most of Europe appears to be pulling out of the nuclear energy game and mothballing their old reactors?

Could nuclear technology be sold to countries which simply aren't ready to deal with the potential risks?

MP Claude Birraux insists that France will only sell nuclear technology to responsible countries.

"There are three rules: safety, safety and safety, whatever the cost," he said. "You need to have regulation, legislation and you need an independent safety authority... otherwise no... you can't have it."

France began developing its civilian nuclear programme as a response to oil shortages in the 1970s. With dwindling fossil fuel supplies, the country is increasingly reliant on its nuclear power plants which now provide it with three-quarters of its electricity.

Nuclear energy, said Claude Birraux, was essential for "French independence".

With 58 nuclear reactors already in operation here, sites like Flamanville look likely to be part of the French landscape for many years to come.

BBC

German government wants nuclear exit by 2022 at latest

Germany will shut all its nuclear reactors by 2022, parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government agreed on Monday, in a reaction to Japan's Fukushima disaster that marks a drastic policy reversal.

As expected, the coalition wants to keep the eight oldest of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors permanently shut. Seven were closed temporarily in March, just after the earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima. One has been off the grid for years.

Another six will be taken offline by 2021, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said early on Monday after late-night talks in the chancellor's office between leaders of the center-right coalition.

The remaining three reactors, Germany's newest, will stay open for another year until 2022 as a safety buffer to ensure no disruption to power supply, he said.

Merkel backtracked in March on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of aging nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters oppose atomic energy.

Her Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and junior coalition partner the Free Democrats (FDP) met on Sunday after an ethics commission ended its deliberations this weekend.

"It's definite: the latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022," Roettgen said after the meeting. "There will be no clause for revision."

Some politicians had wanted a clause allowing for the agreement to be revised in future. The FDP had wanted no firm date but rather a flexible window for the exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in case of emergency.

The coalition agreed to keep one of the older reactors as a "cold reserve" for 2013, if the transition to renewable energies cannot meet winter demand and if fossil fuels do not suffice to make up for a potential shortfall.

IMPACT OF FUKUSHIMA

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled Japan's Fukushima plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

The German decision still needs to go through parliament and leaders of the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens were present at parts of the meeting to enable a broad consensus.

The decision could still face opposition from RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW, the utility companies that run the 17 plants, mostly because of plans to keep a disputed nuclear fuel rod tax.

The coalition wants to retain the tax, which was expected to raise 2.3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) a year from this year, but so far has not been levied. With the immediate exit of eight plants, however, it will raise less than envisaged.

Sources had said the government was mulling scrapping the tax in return for the four big power providers supporting an earlier exit from nuclear energy and not suing the government for its policy U-turn.

Juergen Grossmann, chief executive of the biggest power provider, RWE, has lobbied for nuclear plants to stay open longer, arguing a quick exit would cost energy-intensive industry dearly and could threaten Germany's industrial base.

Before Merkel shut down the oldest plants for three months, Germany got 23 percent of its power from nuclear plants.

Her about-turn has done little to regain her support, but has drawn scorn from the opposition and from within her own party ranks. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against nuclear energy at the weekend all across Germany.

Nuclear policy is heavily disputed in Germany and the issue has helped boost the Greens, which captured control of one of the CDU's stronghold states, Baden-Wuerttemberg, in an election in March.

Merkel's majority in the Bundesrat upper house vanished last year after the CDU failed to hold onto North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. Losing Baden-Wuerttemberg, a vote held after Fukushima and fought in part over energy issues, dealt another blow to Merkel's authority.

Germany to decide on nuclear phase-out plans

Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition is expected on Sunday to formulate a timetable for closing Germany's nuclear power plants and a plan for replacing their output.

Merkel in March backtracked on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of aging nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters opposes nuclear energy.

Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), her Bavarian sister Christian Social Union (CSU) party and junior coalition partner the Free Democrats (FDP) were meeting on Sunday after an ethics commission ended its deliberations this weekend.

After meeting with heads of the federal states and just before the start of the coalition meeting, Merkel said:

"I think we're on a good path but very, very many questions have to be considered," she told reporters, referring to the costs of electricity and a secure power supply.

"If you want to exit something, you also have to prove how the change will work and how we can enter into a durable and sustainable energy provision."

Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported an agreement among the coalition was not expected on Sunday and the coalition parties had already called another round of crisis talks next weekend, but it gave no sources.

EXIT IN 10 YEARS?

The ethics commission, set up by the government after the Fukushima disaster to report on the future of Germany's nuclear power industry, will present its findings formally on Monday.

A draft of the commission's report, seen by Reuters, concluded that nuclear power can be phased out by 2021 at the latest, a call that the conservatives support.

One sticking point could be that the junior coalition partner FDP does not want a firm date but rather a flexible window for the exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in case of emergency.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled the Japanese nuclear power plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

Merkel shut the seven oldest reactors just after Fukushima while her government decided on the future of the industry. Some analysts believe they will never reopen.

The government also may decide to scrap a tax on nuclear fuel rods, which was expected to raise 2.3 billion euros ($3.29 billion) a year from this year, but so far has not been levied.

Media reports have suggested the tax may be scrapped in return for the power firms supporting an earlier exit from nuclear energy.

Merkel's about-turn on the decision to extend the life of nuclear power stations has drawn scorn from the opposition and from within her own party ranks.

The 17 nuclear power plants are run by four utilities -- RWE , E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW.

Juergen Grossmann, chief executive of Germany's biggest power provider RWE, has lobbied for nuclear plants to stay open longer, arguing a quick exit would cost energy-intensive industry dearly and could threaten Germany's industrial base.

Last week, environment ministers from Germany's federal states called for all seven suspended reactors to be permanently shut, while the federal environment ministry argued that nuclear power could be phased out entirely by 2017.

Before Merkel shut down the oldest seven plants for three months, Germany got 23 percent of its power from nuclear plants.

Nuclear policy is more closely watched in Germany than in some of its neighbors and has boosted the Greens party, which has risen from rank outsider to take control of one of the CDU's stronghold states, Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Merkel's majority in the Bundesrat upper house vanished last year after the CDU failed to hold onto North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state. Losing Baden-Wuerttemberg this year, a regional vote held after Fukushima and fought in part over energy issues, dealt another blow to Merkel's authority.

reuters.com | telegraph.co.uk

Fuel rods may have melted in more Japanese reactors, company says

Nuclear fuel rods in two more reactors at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan are believed to have melted during the first week of the nuclear crisis, the owner of the facility said Tuesday.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said a "major part" of the fuel rods in reactor No. 2 may have melted and fallen to the bottom of the pressure vessel 101 hours after the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the plant.

The same thing happened within the first 60 hours at reactor No. 3, the company said, releasing a worst-case scenario analysis.

The fuel is believed to be sitting at the bottom of the pressure vessel in each reactor building.

Tokyo Electric also released a second possible scenario for reactors 2 and 3, one that estimates a full meltdown did not occur. In that scenario, the water inside the reactors stayed at a higher level. Tepco estimates the fuel rods may have also broken in this second scenario, but may not have completely melted.

Temperature data shows the two reactors have cooled sufficiently in the more than two months since the incident, Tokyo Electric said.

A March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi, causing the three operating reactors to overheat. That compounded a natural disaster by spewing vast quantities of radioactive material into the atmosphere.



Tokyo Electric has already reported that damage to the No. 1 reactor was more extensive than previously believed. The company says the fuel rods at the heart of the reactor melted almost completely in the first 16 hours after the disaster struck, the remnants of that core are now sitting in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel at the heart of the unit and that vessel is now believed to be leaking.

Tokyo Electric has avoided using the term "meltdown," and says it is keeping the remnants of the core cool. But U.S. experts interviewed by CNN say that while they may be containing the situation, the damage has already been done.

"On the basis of what they showed, if there's not fuel left in the core, I don't know what it is other than a complete meltdown," Gary Was, a University of Michigan nuclear engineering professor and CNN consultant, said this month. And given the damage reported at the other units, "It's hard to imagine the scenarios can differ that much for those reactors."

A massive hydrogen explosion -- a symptom of the reactor's overheating -- blew the roof off the No. 1 reactor unit the day after the earthquake, and another hydrogen blast ripped apart the No. 3 reactor building two days later. A suspected hydrogen detonation within the No. 2 reactor is believed to have damaged that unit on May 15.

In Unit 1, the remnants of the fuel rods are going to be far cooler than they were at the worst of the accident, more than two months ago. That mass likely resembles "a pile of gravel, with a central portion of it being liquid or close to liquid," said Kenneth Bergeron, a physicist and former staffer at the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

"What's going to be true is that portions of the debris bed will be at different states, different temperatures, and some of it will be liquid," Bergeron said. The liquid portion still has the potential to burn through the bottom of the thick steel pressure vessel, which he said is already likely to be leaking through damaged seals around the machinery that drives the reactor control rods.

Jack DeVine, who helped lead the cleanup of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant after the 1979 partial meltdown there, said the pressure vessel itself was "probably fine," but pipes and valves that lead into it are "softer spots" that are probably the source of the leak.

CNN

Fukushima reactor has a hole, leading to leakage

Reuters

One of the reactors at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has a hole in its main vessel following a meltdown of fuel rods, leading to a leakage of radioactive water, its operator said on Thursday.



The disclosure by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is the latest indication that the disaster was worse than previously disclosed, making it more difficult to stabilize the plant.

The discovery of the leak provides new insight into the sequence of events that triggered a partial meltdown of the uranium fuel in the No. 1 reactor at Fukushima after the plant was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, officials said.

The battle to bring Fukushima under control has been complicated by repeated leaks of radioactive water, threatening both the Pacific Ocean and nearby groundwater.


Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have been pumping water into at least three of the six reactors on the site to bring their nuclear fuel rods to a "cold shutdown" state by January.

But after repairing a gauge in the No. 1 reactor earlier this week, TEPCO discovered that the water level in the pressure vessel that contains its uranium fuel rods had dropped about 5 meters (16 ft) below the targeted level to cover the fuel under normal operating conditions.

"There must be a large leak," Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility told a news conference.

"The fuel pellets likely melted and fell, and in the process may have damaged...the pressure vessel itself and created a hole," he added.

Since the surface temperature of the pressure vessel has been holding steady between 100 and 120 degrees Celsius, Matsumoto said the effort to cool the melted uranium fuel by pumping in water was working and would continue.

VESSEL HAS A HOLE

Based on the amount of water that is remaining around the partially melted and collapsed fuel, Matsumoto estimated that the pressure vessel had developed a hole of several centimeters in diameter.

The finding makes it likely that at one point in the immediate wake of the disaster the 4-meter-high stack of uranium-rich rods at the core of the reactor had been entirely exposed to the air, he said. Boiling water reactors like those at Fukushima rely on water as both a coolant and a barrier to radiation.

U.S. nuclear experts said that the company may have to build a concrete wall around the unit because of the breach, and that this could now take years.


"If it is assumed the fuel did melt through the reactor, then the most likely solution is to encapsulate the entire unit. This may include constructing a concrete wall around the unit and building a protective cover over it," W. Gene Corley, senior vice president of CTL Group in Skokie, Illinois, said on Thursday.

"Because of the high radiation that would be present if this has happened, the construction will take many months and may stretch into years," Corley said.

TEPCO should consider digging a trench around reactors 1-3 all the way down to the bedrock, which is about 50 feet below the surface, said Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates Inc of Burlington, Vermont, who once worked on reactors of similar design to the Fukushima plant.

He said this should be filled with zeolite, which can absorb radioactive cesium to stop more poisons from leaking into the groundwater around the plant.

"TEPCO seems to be going backwards in getting the situation under control and things may well be slowly eroding with all the units having problems," said Tom Clements with Friends of the Earth, a U.S.-based environmental group.

"At this point, TEPCO still finds itself in unchartered waters and is not able to carry out any plan to get the situation under control," he said.

Matsumoto said the utility would study whether to increase the amount of water it was injecting to overcome the leak and raise the level of water covering the fuel, at the risk of allowing more radioactive water to leak out of the facility.

Nearly 10,400 tonnes of water has been pumped into the reactor so far, but it is unclear where the leaked water has been going. The high radiation levels makes it difficult for workers to check the site, Matsumoto said.

TEPCO announced a timetable last month for addressing the crisis, saying it aimed to cool reactors to a stable level and reduce the leakage of radiation within the first three months, then bring the reactors to a cold shutdown in another three to six months.

TIMETABLE COULD SLIP

TEPCO is set to review its timetable for stabilizing Fukushima on May 17 and officials indicated that the initial progress targets could slip.

Officials had planned to use the same set of steps to stabilize reactors No. 2 and No. 3 that are under way at No. 1, which workers re-entered last week for the first time since the earthquake.

But Matsumoto said it was likely that the pressure vessels in the other two reactors could be leaking as well if fuel rods had collapsed and melted after the earthquake and tsunami.

"It is necessary to make a reassessment of the condition of the nuclear reactor," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.

On Wednesday, TEPCO sealed a fresh leak of contaminated water found near the No. 3 reactor that may have seeped into the Pacific Ocean from the coastal plant. A previous ocean leak sparked international concern about the impact of the disaster on the environment. [nL3E7GB261]

Traces of radioactive cesium were detected in sewage treatment centers in Ibaraki and Kanagawa prefectures, both to the south of Fukushima, Japanese media reported on Thursday.

Reuters

Perdana Menteri Jepang : Jepang Akan Membatalkan Rencana Peningkatan Energi Nuklir Hingga Mencapai 50%

Japan's nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis - staplenews.com

Jepang akan membatalkan sebuah rencana untuk memenuhi 50% dari total kebutuhan total domestik energi listrik nasionalnya, dan sebagai penggantinya Jepang akan mengembangkan Energi Terbarui dan konservasi, hal ini terkait krisis nuklir Jepang yang hingga kini masih belum terselesaikan.

Perdana Menteri Naoto Kan menyatakan Jepang harus "memulainya dari awal" dalam kebijakan energi jangka panjang yang kini sangat terguncang akibat sebuah gempa dahsyat dan tsunami yang juga menghantam PLTN Fukushima Daiichi, menimbulkan kebocoran radiasi yang sangat mencemaskan.

Semua pembangkit listrik tenaga nuklir yang ada di Jepang memasok kebutuhan listrik dalam negeri sebesar 30% dari total kebutuhan nasional, dan pemerintah Jepang telah berencana untuk meningkatkan kontribusi PLTN dalam pemenuhan permintaan energi listrik hingga sebesar 50%.

Kan dalam sebuah konfrensi pres menyatakan bahwa bahan bakar nuklir dan fosil memang telah menjadi pilar-pilar dalam kebijakan energi bangsa Jepang tetapi sekarang pemerintah akan menambahkan 2 pilar lagi; ENERGI TERBARUI seperti tenaga surya, angin dan biomass, dan akan meningkatkan fokus pada KONSERVASI.

"Kami akan sepenuhnya menjamin keamanan generasi energi nuklir dan melakukan berbagai upaya untuk semakin mempromosikan penggunaan energi terbarui," sebuah area dimana Jepang tertinggal, " ujarnya.

Kan juga mengatakan akan melakukan pemotongan gajinya mulai bulan Juni hingga krisis nuklir Fukushima dapat diatasi dengan baik, sebagai sebuah bentuk tanggungjawab. Kan tak menjelaskan seberapa besar pemotongan gaji yang akan dikenakan kepada dirinya.

"Saya percaya pemerintah mengemban sebuah tanggung jawab besar karena telah mempromosikan energi nuklir sebagai kebijakan energi nasional. Saya meminta maaf kepada masyarakat karena gagal mencegah kecelakaan nuklir," ujar Kan.

chicagotribune.com

Operator PLTN Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power Co, hingga kini telah 2 bulan berjuang memulihkan sistem-sistem pendingin yang masih dalam keadaan kritis sebab lumpuh dihantam gempa dan tsunami. Sekitar 80.000 jiwa yang tinggal dalam radius 12 mil atau (20 km) dari PLTN telah dievakuasi dari rumah-rumah pada 12 Maret, dan ditampung di berbagai gedung gimnasium.

chicagotribune.com

Pada Selasa kemarin, sekitar 100 orang diizinkan masuk ke zona evakuasi dalam waktu singkat untuk mengambil barang-barang dari rumahnya masing-masing. Diizinkannya masyarakat masuk ke desa Kawauchi menandai keyakinan pemerintah untuk kali pertama merasa cukup aman untuk mengizinkan warga untuk memasuki area terlarang, walaupun hanya untuk waktu yang singkat. Warga yang akhirnya diizinkan masuk ke desa tersebut sebelumnya telah berupaya selama berminggu-minggu mendesak pemerintah agar diizinkan.

 

Warga menggunakan bus yang dicarter oleh pemerintah untuk mengantarkan mereka mengambil barang-barang berharga di rumah. Setiap pengungsi yang diizinkan masuk ke desa tersebut mengenakan pakaian pelindung, kaca mata pelindung dan masker selama berada didaerah terlarang untuk mengambil barang-barang penting. Para pengungsi juga mengenakan pengukur dosis radiasi untuk mengukur dosis radiasi yang memapar mereka, juga sarana telokomunikasi radio walkie talkie.

Semuanya akan diperiksa tingkat paparan radiasi yang diterima sebelum meninggalkan desa. Ada banyak rencana kunjungan yang dipersiapkan namun mereka khawatir bahwa mereka tak dapat kembali ke tempat tinggalnya untuk selama-lamanya.

Banyak juga warga yang menyusup ke daerah terlarang secara sembunyi-sembunyi pada waktu siang hari, tetapi pemerintah telah menerapkan blokade jalan yang ketat dan memberlakukan denda yang mulai berlaku sejak 22 April untuk mencegaj aksi pencurian dan demi keamanan masyarakat.



Kunjungan warga ke zona terlarang yang diselenggarakan oleh pemerintah dinilai sebagai sebuah pelanggaran terhadap faktor keamanan dan keinginan warga yang dipenuhi oleh pemerintah.

TEPCO dan pemerintah pada April lalu diproyeksikan akan melakukan cold shut down dalam jangka 6 bulan hingga 9 bulan dan warga kemungkinan dapat kembali dan memulai kehidupan normalnya. Tetapi pemerintah dan TEPCO mengakui bahwa perkiraan waktu itu hanyalah skenario terbaik yang mungkin dapat terjadi.

TEPCO telah mempublikasikan sebuah gambar kolam batang bahan bakar nuklir yang tertimbun puing-puing akibat ledakan sebelumnya di bulan Maret yang merusak atap dan tembok gedung. Tetapi para pejabat menjelaskan jika batang-batang bahan bakar nuklir yang tertupi puing-puing itu terproteksi oleh sebuah tabir metal, yang sangat diyakini tidak rusak.

Peningkatan suhu inti reaktor nuklir telah menjadi masalah yang sangat memusingkan. Juru bicara Badan Kemanan dan industri nuklir Hidehiko Nishiyama menyatakan para pejabat mencurigai tidak semua air pendingin masuk kedalam tangki bertekanan sebagaimana yang diinginkan.

Pada hari minggu, utilitas lainnya Chubu Electric Power Co setuju untuk mematikan 3 reaktor di sebuah PLTN yang berlokasi di garis pantai, untuk diperlengkapi dengan tembok laut dan memperbaiki mekanisme pertahanan menghadapi ancaman tsunami.

Kan juga telah meminta pemadaman sementara PLTN di Hamaoka terkait dengn perkiraan sebuah gempa berkekuatan 8,0 SR atau lebih tinggi dapat menghantam Jepang Pusat yang berada di kawasan 30 tahunan. Keputusan pemerintah ini dibuat setalah melakukan evaluasi terhadap kerawanan di 54 reaktor nuklir Jepang pasca gempa 11 Maret. Fasilitas nuklir di Hamaoka terletak diatas garis patahan dan sejak lama telah dinilai sebagai PLTN paling beresiko di Jepang.


Kan menyatakan Jepang akan mengajukan laporan lengkap terkait kebijakan Energi Hijau kepada International Atomic Energy Agency pada Juni mendatang. Kan tak mengungkapkan estimasi angka dalam bentuk apapun untuk setiap sumber daya energi terkait kebijakan energi Jepang yang baru.

Martin Simamora | ChicagoTribune