Japan Keeps on Producing Nuclear Waste

After thirteen years have passed since the severe accident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has not taken out any debris from the broken reactors in the site. There is no viable hope for Japan to have a facility to stock nuclear waste produced from nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, the government of Japan decided last year that it would promote nuclear power generation by extending time limit of operation of nuclear reactors beyond sixty years. Japan keeps on producing nuclear waste. 

In the accident in 2011, FDNPP was soaked in seawater by tsunami and lost its source of electricity. The nuclear fuels in reactor #1 to #3 were melt down losing control for cooling down. Reactor #1, #2 and #4 provoked hydrogen explosion, emitting huge amount of radiation around the site. 880 metric tons of radioactive debris is still remaining in reactors #1 to #3.

 

The biggest issue for Fukushima plant is how to decommission those crippled reactors. TEPCO has a mid- and long-term roadmap which shows the timeline of the decommissioning. The process is extracting used nuclear fuels from pools, taking out debris of nuclear fuels and scrapping the buildings. TEPCO supposes that the process will take 30 to 40 years from 2011, which means the decommission will be completed in 2051 at the latest.

 

The process has been delaying from the original schedule. While TEPCO finished extracting used nuclear fuels from the pools in reactor #3 and #4, taking debris out has not been started yet. Details for scrapping the buildings has not determined yet. Those efforts must be supported by measures for dealing with contaminated water and radioactive debris produced in the process of decommissioning.

 

Discharging processed water to the sea, which TEPCO started last August, was one of the measures in decommissioning process. While it temporarily solved the problem of the tanks being filled with contaminated water, it brought China’s import ban of Japanese sea products, damaging Japanese economy. The contaminated water is still increasing, because underground water keeps on flowing into the site.

 

In the name of promoting decarbonization, the government of Japan introduced a policy for survival of nuclear power plants with passing a bill for Green Transformation in the Diet last May. It was a significant policy change from regulation on nuclear power plants in post-disaster policy to maximum use of nuclear power, allowing operation of the reactors over sixty years.

 

Nuclear power plants continue their operation, but nuclear waste produced each plant is going nowhere. Following Mutsu city, Aomori, Kaminoseki town, Yamaguchi, accepted research for building interim storage facility for used nuclear fuels last August. But, whether they accept the facility has not determined. Reprocessing project of nuclear fuels has broken up. Japan has no perspective for having final disposal of used nuclear fuels, while research is ongoing in two small towns in Hokkaido.

 

The major earthquake in Noto on January 1st reminded the Japanese citizens of a fact that they are living on a very fragile land. Shika Nuclear Power Plant in Noto peninsula had a leak of oil caused by the quake. Nevertheless, the Japanese government plans to resume a reactor in Onagawa, located in the coastal area of Tohoku region hit by great tsunami thirteen years ago, later this year.

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