Fukushima operator to seek foreign advice on toxic water

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (R), wearing a protective suit and a mask, inspects contaminated water tanks at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture August 26, 2013, in this photo released by Kyodo.

Credit: Reuters/Kyodo

By Antoni Slodkowski

HIRONO, Japan | Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:14pm EDT

HIRONO, Japan (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, said it would invite foreign decommissioning experts to advise it on how to deal with highly radioactive water leaking from the site, and Japan signaled it may dip into a $3.6 billion emergency reserve fund to help pay for the clean-up.

Visiting the plant crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Toshimitsu Motegi, the trade and industry minister, said on Monday he would set up a taskforce to take charge of the clean-up, and send officials to Fukushima to oversee operations.

"I strongly feel that the government should get fully involved," he told reporters after touring the Fukushima Daiichi facility, which is 220 km (137 miles) north of Tokyo.

Motegi ordered Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, to replace storage tanks that are at risk of leaking radioactive water. Tepco acknowledged last week that hundreds of tons of highly radioactive water had leaked from one of around 350 tanks that were assembled quickly after the 2011 nuclear meltdowns at the site. The tanks are used to store water pumped through the reactors to keep fuel in the melted cores from overheating.

Motegi said Tepco should have more frequent patrols around the tanks and better documentation of inspections. He said the utility should replace weaker bolted tanks with sturdier welded storage units. Tepco said it was setting up its own group of experts to oversee toxic water and storage tanks at the Fukushima site.

"For measures that require sophisticated technology, we will appropriately implement them as the government while collaborating with authorities on fiscal measures, including the use of a reserve fund," Motegi said.

Earlier on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the situation at Fukushima was "deplorable", and signaled the government could use some of the 350 billion yen set aside in this year's budget as a reserve for natural disasters and other emergencies.

Tepco's revelation of the toxic leaks is the most serious problem in a series of recent mishaps, including power outages, contaminated workers and other leaks. Tepco also said last month - after repeated denials - that the Fukushima plant was leaking contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean from trenches between the reactor buildings and the shoreline.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority said last week it feared the disaster was "in some respects" beyond Tepco's ability to cope.

The latest crisis comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been touting Japan's nuclear technology abroad to countries like Turkey, promising that its nuclear reactor makers have learned vital safety lessons from the disaster.

Tepco shares ended down 6.9 percent on Monday after falling as much as 10 percent to their lowest level in 12 weeks.

CHERNOBYL LESSONS

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday visited Chernobyl in Ukraine, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, and said he hoped to apply lessons learned there to Fukushima.

"I directly saw that the battle to contain the accident still continues 27 years after the disaster. Ukraine's experience and knowledge serve as a useful reference for workers coping with the Fukushima nuclear crisis," Kyodo news agency quoted Kishida as telling reporters.

China on Sunday said it was paying close attention to developments at Fukushima, noting it has the right to request entry into waters near the facility to conduct checks and assess the impact of the nuclear accident on the Western Pacific.

The country's State Oceanic Administration said it hadn't found any evidence of a "direct impact" from radiation on Chinese waters, but will closely monitor developments.

Public distrust towards Tepco's handling of the Fukushima plant clean-up has also intensified, with a Mainichi newspaper poll finding 91 percent of respondents saying the government should take a more active role in the contaminated water issue.

($1 = 98.47 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by David Stanway in Beijing, and Leng Cheng, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Mari Saito in Tokyo.; Editing by Linda Sieg, Aaron Sheldrick and Ian Geoghegan)

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Japan official wants Fukushima operator Tepco to be liquidated

An aerial view shows Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and its contaminated water storage tanks (bottom) in Fukushima, in this photo taken by Kyodo August 20, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Kyodo

By Aaron Sheldrick and Mari Saito

TOKYO | Wed Aug 28, 2013 8:24am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear station, Tokyo Electric Power Co, should be liquidated, as its failure to learn from its mistakes fuels insecurity, says the governor of a prefecture hosting another of the utility's atomic plants.

Tepco was nationalized last year and receives public funds to pay compensation to the 160,000 people who had to flee their homes after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused three reactor meltdowns in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Hirohiko Izumida, governor of Niigata prefecture north of Tokyo, has been arguing for two years that the utility should not be allowed to restart its Kashiwazaki Kariwa station, the world's biggest nuclear plant, unless it gives a fuller account of the Fukushima meltdowns.

Izumida, himself a former energy official, is now upping the ante, saying he believes Tepco's focus on getting the plant's reactors started to save fuel costs of about $1 billion every month overlooks safety concerns.

"There should be some procedures considered to bring about the liquidation of Tepco, because right now short-term funding concerns are taking priority over resolving the problems," Izumida told foreign reporters at a briefing in Tokyo.

The utility's recent admission, following months of denial, that the plant was leaking radioactive substances into the Pacific Ocean showed Tepco had not heeded the lessons of the disaster, Izumida said.

"I feel very insecure about the fact that a company that cannot learn from its past mistakes would operate a nuclear power plant," said Izumida, a former senior official in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that oversees the energy sector.

Restarting Kashiwazaki was also a central plank of the government's bailout of Tepco, in which 1 trillion yen ($10.29 billion) of capital was injected into the utility last year. Tepco also got a commitment from its banks to lend it another 1 trillion yen, based on getting the reactors operating again.

Tepco's plan to seek regulators' permission to restart was halted when Izumida voiced his opposition in July.

INES RATING

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on Wednesday officially raised the severity rating of a new leak of radioactive water at Fukushima to Level 3 on an international scale for such incidents.

The move raises the scale of what was Japan's first warning on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) since the Fukushima meltdowns in 2011. Those meltdowns were classified as Level 7, the highest INES rating.

Tepco said last week that 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water leaked from a storage tank at the facility, apart from leaks into the ocean confirmed by the utility in July, prompting an initial INES rating of Level 1, the second lowest.

The government has said it will get more involved in resolving the plant's growing problems with contaminated water and seek the advice of foreign experts.

Tepco was not capable of resolving the situation, the governor of Fukushima prefecture said on Wednesday.

"There is no risk management at Tepco and they are no longer capable of dealing with this on its own," Governor Yuhei Sato told the chief of the regulator at a public meeting.

"The government must present specific plans on how to resolve the water problems and put together measures as soon as possible," he told NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka.

The NRA chief told reporters Tepco had failed to act on the regulator's warnings to improve monitoring of water tanks at the plant and keep detailed records of inspections.

"I think it has become clear that they are lacking the technical knowledge" to deal with the problems, Tanaka said.

Elsewhere, Taiwan had sent back to Japan by July 15 bulk transport containers contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant, the island's Atomic Energy Council said on Wednesday.

As many as 226 containers from Japan, mostly carrying waste plastics, had shown contamination in excess of the standard level of 0.2 microsieverts per hour, and 211 were decontaminated before entering Taiwan, the Council said. ($1=97.20 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Leng Cheng and Cheng Guo)

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Fukushima operator to seek foreign advice on toxic water

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (R), wearing a protective suit and a mask, inspects contaminated water tanks at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture August 26, 2013, in this photo released by Kyodo.

Credit: Reuters/Kyodo

By Antoni Slodkowski

HIRONO, Japan | Mon Aug 26, 2013 7:39am EDT

HIRONO, Japan (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, said it would invite foreign decommissioning experts to advise it on how to deal with highly radioactive water leaking from the site, and Japan signaled it may dip into a $3.6 billion emergency reserve fund to help pay for the clean-up.

Visiting the plant crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Toshimitsu Motegi, the trade and industry minister, said on Monday he would set up a taskforce to take charge of the clean-up, and send officials to Fukushima to oversee operations.

"I strongly feel that the government should get fully involved," he told reporters after touring the Fukushima Daiichi facility, which is 220 km (137 miles) north of Tokyo.

Motegi ordered Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, to replace storage tanks that are at risk of leaking radioactive water. Tepco acknowledged last week that hundreds of tons of highly radioactive water had leaked from one of around 350 tanks that were assembled quickly after the 2011 nuclear meltdowns at the site. The tanks are used to store water pumped through the reactors to keep fuel in the melted cores from overheating.

Motegi said Tepco should have more frequent patrols around the tanks and better documentation of inspections. He said the utility should replace weaker bolted tanks with sturdier welded storage units. Tepco said it was setting up its own group of experts to oversee toxic water and storage tanks at the Fukushima site.

"For measures that require sophisticated technology, we will appropriately implement them as the government while collaborating with authorities on fiscal measures, including the use of a reserve fund," Motegi said.

Earlier on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the situation at Fukushima was "deplorable", and signaled the government could use some of the 350 billion yen set aside in this year's budget as a reserve for natural disasters and other emergencies.

Tepco's revelation of the toxic leaks is the most serious problem in a series of recent mishaps, including power outages, contaminated workers and other leaks. Tepco also said last month - after repeated denials - that the Fukushima plant was leaking contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean from trenches between the reactor buildings and the shoreline.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority said last week it feared the disaster was "in some respects" beyond Tepco's ability to cope.

The latest crisis comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been touting Japan's nuclear technology abroad to countries like Turkey, promising that its nuclear reactor makers have learned vital safety lessons from the disaster.

Tepco shares ended down 6.9 percent on Monday after falling as much as 10 percent to their lowest level in 12 weeks.

CHERNOBYL LESSONS

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday visited Chernobyl in Ukraine, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, and said he hoped to apply lessons learned there to Fukushima.

"I directly saw that the battle to contain the accident still continues 27 years after the disaster. Ukraine's experience and knowledge serve as a useful reference for workers coping with the Fukushima nuclear crisis," Kyodo news agency quoted Kishida as telling reporters.

China on Sunday said it was paying close attention to developments at Fukushima, noting it has the right to request entry into waters near the facility to conduct checks and assess the impact of the nuclear accident on the Western Pacific.

The country's State Oceanic Administration said it hadn't found any evidence of a "direct impact" from radiation on Chinese waters, but will closely monitor developments.

Public distrust towards Tepco's handling of the Fukushima plant clean-up has also intensified, with a Mainichi newspaper poll finding 91 percent of respondents saying the government should take a more active role in the contaminated water issue.

($1 = 98.47 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by David Stanway in Beijing, and Leng Cheng, Tetsushi Kajimoto and Mari Saito in Tokyo.; Editing by Linda Sieg, Aaron Sheldrick and Ian Geoghegan)

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Uranium miners face new hurdles as Fukushima disaster worsens

A haul truck is seen carrying uranium ore out of Energy Resource Australia's Ranger uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory in this handout photograph obtained September 2, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Rio Tinto/David Hancock/Handout

By James Regan

SYDNEY | Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:14am EDT

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Revelations of more toxic leaks from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will raise second-thoughts about Japan's nuclear future, but won't halt the long-term global expansion of the industry, the head of a uranium mining company said.

"It reinvigorates the heightened state of nervousness, it surely will make the Japanese government and nuclear regulatory authorities more cautious and conservative in the decisions about the restart," said Vanessa Guthrie, managing director of Australia's Toro Energy Ltd (TOE.AX), which expects to start mining uranium in Australia in 2016.

Japan is set to raise the severity rating of the leak to level 3, or "serious incident", on an international scale for radiological releases, underlining a deepening sense of crisis at the site.

The price of uranium, used mainly as fuel for nuclear reactors, plunged after the March 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima plant 240 km (150 miles) from Tokyo and has struggled to recover ever since.

August uranium futures stood at $35.15 per pound on Wednesday compared with $68 per pound before the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the disaster.

However, Guthrie said contract prices between uranium miners and buyers standing at around $58-$59 a pound more accurately reflect the supply and demand balance than the spot price.

Operating costs in the industry range between $22-$25 per pound up to the high $40s, Guthrie said.

Canadian miner Uranium One Inc (UUU.TO), which Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to consolidate and take private this year, expects uranium prices to almost double in a couple of years amid dwindling supplies.

Toro is scheduled to start shipping uranium from its Wiluna mine under development by mid-2016. This week it acquired a second uranium project in Australia from Canada's Mega Uranium Ltd (MGA.TO).

Guthrie said longer-term projections continue to point to an undersupply of uranium as more nuclear power plants are commissioned, despite the events unfolding in Japan.

"I don't believe that this will delay or defer ongoing developments of the nuclear industry," Guthrie said. "For example, it will certainly not cause the Chinese to stop building new plants."

China has 28 nuclear reactors under construction and 17 in operation, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Additional reactors are planned, the association says, resulting in a four-fold increase in nuclear capacity by 2020.

In a statement faxed to Reuters, China's Foreign Ministry said it "hopes that the Japanese side can earnestly take effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident."

In contrast, since the disaster in 2011, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium decided to move away from nuclear power altogether in favor of renewable energy.

The last of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors was shut down in May 2012. Two reactors were restarted in June 2012, and Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party wants all reactors reactivated if confirmed safe.

Still, some 50 countries continue to run and build reactors.

Guthrie expects supplies of uranium to tighten once 24 million pounds of secondary uranium is removed under the U.S.- Russian Megatons to Megawatts Program, which ends this year.

The program is a bilateral nonproliferation agreement to convert high-enriched uranium taken from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into low-enriched-uranium for nuclear fuel.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Richard Pullin)

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Uranium miners face new hurdles as Fukushima disaster worsens

A haul truck is seen carrying uranium ore out of Energy Resource Australia's Ranger uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory in this handout photograph obtained September 2, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Rio Tinto/David Hancock/Handout

By James Regan

SYDNEY | Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:14am EDT

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Revelations of more toxic leaks from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will raise second-thoughts about Japan's nuclear future, but won't halt the long-term global expansion of the industry, the head of a uranium mining company said.

"It reinvigorates the heightened state of nervousness, it surely will make the Japanese government and nuclear regulatory authorities more cautious and conservative in the decisions about the restart," said Vanessa Guthrie, managing director of Australia's Toro Energy Ltd (TOE.AX), which expects to start mining uranium in Australia in 2016.

Japan is set to raise the severity rating of the leak to level 3, or "serious incident", on an international scale for radiological releases, underlining a deepening sense of crisis at the site.

The price of uranium, used mainly as fuel for nuclear reactors, plunged after the March 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima plant 240 km (150 miles) from Tokyo and has struggled to recover ever since.

August uranium futures stood at $35.15 per pound on Wednesday compared with $68 per pound before the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the disaster.

However, Guthrie said contract prices between uranium miners and buyers standing at around $58-$59 a pound more accurately reflect the supply and demand balance than the spot price.

Operating costs in the industry range between $22-$25 per pound up to the high $40s, Guthrie said.

Canadian miner Uranium One Inc (UUU.TO), which Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to consolidate and take private this year, expects uranium prices to almost double in a couple of years amid dwindling supplies.

Toro is scheduled to start shipping uranium from its Wiluna mine under development by mid-2016. This week it acquired a second uranium project in Australia from Canada's Mega Uranium Ltd (MGA.TO).

Guthrie said longer-term projections continue to point to an undersupply of uranium as more nuclear power plants are commissioned, despite the events unfolding in Japan.

"I don't believe that this will delay or defer ongoing developments of the nuclear industry," Guthrie said. "For example, it will certainly not cause the Chinese to stop building new plants."

China has 28 nuclear reactors under construction and 17 in operation, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Additional reactors are planned, the association says, resulting in a four-fold increase in nuclear capacity by 2020.

In a statement faxed to Reuters, China's Foreign Ministry said it "hopes that the Japanese side can earnestly take effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident."

In contrast, since the disaster in 2011, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium decided to move away from nuclear power altogether in favor of renewable energy.

The last of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors was shut down in May 2012. Two reactors were restarted in June 2012, and Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party wants all reactors reactivated if confirmed safe.

Still, some 50 countries continue to run and build reactors.

Guthrie expects supplies of uranium to tighten once 24 million pounds of secondary uranium is removed under the U.S.- Russian Megatons to Megawatts Program, which ends this year.

The program is a bilateral nonproliferation agreement to convert high-enriched uranium taken from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into low-enriched-uranium for nuclear fuel.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Richard Pullin)

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This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Uranium miners face new hurdles as Fukushima disaster worsens

A haul truck is seen carrying uranium ore out of Energy Resource Australia's Ranger uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory in this handout photograph obtained September 2, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Rio Tinto/David Hancock/Handout

By James Regan

SYDNEY | Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:14am EDT

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Revelations of more toxic leaks from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will raise second-thoughts about Japan's nuclear future, but won't halt the long-term global expansion of the industry, the head of a uranium mining company said.

"It reinvigorates the heightened state of nervousness, it surely will make the Japanese government and nuclear regulatory authorities more cautious and conservative in the decisions about the restart," said Vanessa Guthrie, managing director of Australia's Toro Energy Ltd (TOE.AX), which expects to start mining uranium in Australia in 2016.

Japan is set to raise the severity rating of the leak to level 3, or "serious incident", on an international scale for radiological releases, underlining a deepening sense of crisis at the site.

The price of uranium, used mainly as fuel for nuclear reactors, plunged after the March 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima plant 240 km (150 miles) from Tokyo and has struggled to recover ever since.

August uranium futures stood at $35.15 per pound on Wednesday compared with $68 per pound before the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the disaster.

However, Guthrie said contract prices between uranium miners and buyers standing at around $58-$59 a pound more accurately reflect the supply and demand balance than the spot price.

Operating costs in the industry range between $22-$25 per pound up to the high $40s, Guthrie said.

Canadian miner Uranium One Inc (UUU.TO), which Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom plans to consolidate and take private this year, expects uranium prices to almost double in a couple of years amid dwindling supplies.

Toro is scheduled to start shipping uranium from its Wiluna mine under development by mid-2016. This week it acquired a second uranium project in Australia from Canada's Mega Uranium Ltd (MGA.TO).

Guthrie said longer-term projections continue to point to an undersupply of uranium as more nuclear power plants are commissioned, despite the events unfolding in Japan.

"I don't believe that this will delay or defer ongoing developments of the nuclear industry," Guthrie said. "For example, it will certainly not cause the Chinese to stop building new plants."

China has 28 nuclear reactors under construction and 17 in operation, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Additional reactors are planned, the association says, resulting in a four-fold increase in nuclear capacity by 2020.

In a statement faxed to Reuters, China's Foreign Ministry said it "hopes that the Japanese side can earnestly take effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident."

In contrast, since the disaster in 2011, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium decided to move away from nuclear power altogether in favor of renewable energy.

The last of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors was shut down in May 2012. Two reactors were restarted in June 2012, and Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party wants all reactors reactivated if confirmed safe.

Still, some 50 countries continue to run and build reactors.

Guthrie expects supplies of uranium to tighten once 24 million pounds of secondary uranium is removed under the U.S.- Russian Megatons to Megawatts Program, which ends this year.

The program is a bilateral nonproliferation agreement to convert high-enriched uranium taken from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into low-enriched-uranium for nuclear fuel.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Richard Pullin)

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