Citizen Action in Japan Prevented Larger Plutonium Disaster at Fukushima Reactor 3 (Video Update)

[FourScore]

Citizen Action in Japan Prevented Larger Plutonium Disaster at Fukushima Reactor 3
Thursday, 31 March 2011 13:44 Press Release Latest National News

WASHINGTON--(ENEWSPF)--March 31 - A concerted Japanese citizen action that delayed the loading of mixed plutonium-uranium fuel – known as MOX – into the core of the Unit 3 reactor at Fukushima and prevented the use of MOX at several other reactors, likely prevented a far worse outcome than is currently occurring at the troubled reactor today.

Japanese citizen groups successfully resisted the use of MOX fuel at Fukushima-Daiichi for a decade. MOX fuel was not loaded into the reactor until August 21, 2010 and the reactor began operation on September 18, 2010. Consequently, all the MOX fuel remains in the core and none of it had yet been transferred to the unprotected fuel pool.

Last August, Beyond Nuclear’s radioactive waste watchdog, Kevin Kamps, was invited by Green Action Japan and their local Fukushima anti-nuclear environmental allies to travel to Fukushima specifically to speak about the risks of storing MOX high-level radioactive waste in storage pools.

“If the citizen groups had not been successful, there would have been a 33% load of MOX at Fukushima Daiichi 3 instead of the current 5% and there would have been MOX in the spent fuel pool,” said Kamps. “The activists have saved countless lives by preventing what might have been a worse disaster than is already taking place...”

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/23123-citizen-action-in-japan-prevented-larger-plutonium-disaster-at-fukushima-reactor-3.html

UPDATED WITH VIDEO: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x568631

[closeupready]

1. K&R

nt

[LiberalEsto]

2. These people should be honored

as life savers

[Marblehead]

3. good news if true

[marions ghost]

4. what other reactors anywhere

are using this MOX fuel???

[crickets]

8. Good question. MOX use in the US and worldwide:

http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/mox/faq.html

Frequently Asked Questions About Mixed Oxide Fuel

Is MOX fuel currently produced in the U.S. or elsewhere?

MOX fuel is not currently being produced in the U.S., but several European countries have been producing MOX fuel for more than 20 years. Their supply of plutonium is from spent nuclear fuel rather than nuclear weapons. Under agreements between Russia and the U.S., Russia also plans to build and operate a MOX fuel fabrication facility in Russia to reduce its surplus plutonium stockpile.

How would used MOX fuel be stored?

Interim Storage. NRC expects no significant difference in the way used MOX fuel and used uranium fuel is stored. After fuel has been in a reactor for two operating cycles, the fuel is stored in fuel pools or storage casks located at each reactor site. In the United States, used fuel will remain in interim storage until a high-level waste storage facility is available. For more information, see Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel.

High-Level Waste Disposal. If a Federal high-level waste storage facility is licensed, used fuel assemblies, including MOX fuel assemblies (if available), would be packaged directly into special containers designed for the high-level waste storage facility. The containers would be shipped by truck or rail to the high-level waste storage facility, using NRC-approved shipping packages. High-level waste includes used reactor fuel and liquid wastes resulting from milling. Used fuel from nuclear power plants is one of the primary sources of high-level waste. For more information, see High-Level Waste Disposal, the draft Yucca Mountain Review Plan, and the Review of DOE's High-Level Waste Repository Site Recommendation.

Will the Price-Anderson Act apply to the MOX facility? Who will be liable if an accident occurs and who will be liable for future clean-up costs?

The Price-Anderson Act will apply to the MOX fuel fabrication facility. Pursuant to provisions of the Price-Anderson Act, NRC staff understands that DOE intends to indemnify MOX Services for any damages due to accidents, clean-up costs, or other similar expenses which involve the risk of public liability connected with the MOX project at the Savannah River Site. Using MOX fuel in a reactor would not violate the Price-Anderson Act.

Who has the ultimate authority over the proposed MOX facility?

The responsibility for ensuring that the facility is designed, constructed, and operated safely resides with the facility operator: MOX Services. NRC's role is to provide sufficient oversight and regulation to ensure that public health and safety, the common defense and security, and the environment remain protected. DOE also oversees the MOX facility because MOX Services is a contractor for the Department.

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110329_3069.php

Experts Differ Over U.S. MOX Fuel Plan
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Debate persists among experts over a U.S. plan to convert 34 metric tons of excess weapons plutonium to nuclear power plant fuel at a $5 billion facility under construction in South Carolina, Scientific American reported on Friday (see GSN, March 16; John Matson, Scientific American, March 25).

Noting the unfolding crisis at a Japanese atomic plant that used mixed-oxide fuel in one reactor, Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on Monday called for a prompt reassessment of the risks of producing and using the material in the United States (see related GSN story, today). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December gave its final safety approval to the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility; the Savannah River Site plant is slated to enter operation no later than 2016, according to a previous report (U.S. Representative Edward Markey release, March 28).

Mixed-oxide fuel poses a greater risk of dangerous incidents than other nuclear fuel, said Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. The fuel depends on plutonium as its primary fissile component, whereas other nuclear fuel relies on a roughly 5 percent concentration of uranium 235.

"Plutonium has different properties than uranium 235 that generally tend to degrade some of the safety systems in nuclear plants," Scientific American quoted Lyman as saying.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf29.html

Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel (Updated 21 March 2009)

Mixed oxide (MOX) fuel provides about 2% of the new nuclear fuel used today.
-snip

MOX fuel was first used in a thermal reactor in 1963, but did not come into commercial use until the 1980s. So far about 2000 tonnes of MOX fuel has been fabricated and loaded into power reactors. In 2006 about 180 tonnes of MOX fuel was loaded into over 30 reactors (mostly PWR) in Europe.

Today MOX is widely used in Europe and in Japan. Currently about 40 reactors in Europe (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and France) are licensed to use MOX, and over 30 are doing so. In Japan about ten reactors are licensed to use it and several do so. These reactors generally use MOX fuel as about one third of their core, but some will accept up to 50% MOX assemblies. France aims to have all its 900 MWe series of reactors running with at least one third MOX. Japan also plans to use MOX in one third of its reactors in the near future and expects to start up a 1383 MWe (gross) reactor with a complete fuel loading of MOX at the Ohma plant in late 2014.2 Other advanced light water reactors such as the EPR or AP1000 will be able to accept complete fuel loadings of MOX if required.

The answers found with a quick Google are not reassuring. Given what's going on in Japan right now, things may change. One can hope.

[FourScore]

10. Interesting. n/t

[marions ghost]

11. thank you

From what you posted:

"Plutonium has different properties than uranium 235 that generally tend to degrade some of the safety systems in nuclear plants," Scientific American quoted Lyman as saying.

Hmmmmm......

[Mojeoux]

5. Fighting for truth,

truth will out. It's like gravity.
Thank God, thank the good sensible people all over the world fighting this stupid nuke industry.

[AndyTiedye]

6. Plutonium Was Always the Real Plan for These Reactors

There isn't enough uranium to run the world's nuclear reactors for more than a few decades if that.
They always intended to reprocess the spent fuel and run the reactors on plutonium,
and they use terms like "MOX" to try to hide this.

The nuke-boosters always say that the public is "ignorant" and use that as a justification for
withholding vital information.

[enough]

7. I have great admiration for the dedicated souls who have been trying to get the word out

about the dangers of nuclear power for so many years, with very little attention. This is a rare example of a success story.

We need to gear up and get educated about the status of reactors in the US. I was appalled to find that my "local" reactors (Limerick 1 and 2) have the same design as Fukushima, and have the spent fuel stored in elevated pools above the reactor.

Now we need to find out how much MOX, if any, is used in reactors in the US, and what else are they using. In short, I've got to get educated.

[Generic Other]

9. The plant operators should apologize to the activists

Because no one in the nuke industry ever wants to admit it is too dangerous. They always downplay the concerns of those who oppose the use of this technology. We are told we don't have enough expertise to understand, that our fears are irrational. They talk to us like we are simpletons. Yet, what's so hard to understand? It is dangerous, deadly and a risk many people don't want take. No one wants to live near these reactors. Anti-nuke activists have expressed their opinions on this matter for decades. Ignored by those in power.

I feel so badly for the citizen groups trying to stop this disaster. They must be devastated.