Construction workers stole and sold potentially radioactive scrap metal from the area around the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant according to the Japanese environmental ministry. The material was taken from a museum being demolished in a special zone about two and a half miles from the nuclear plant in northeast Japan that was destroyed by a tsunami in 2011.
     Residents were allowed to return to the area in 2022 after intense decontamination work. However, the radiation levels can still be above normal, and the Fukushima plant is surrounded by a no-go zone.
     Kei Osada is an official of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. The ministry was informed of the theft by workers from a joint venture conducting the demolition work in late July of this year. Osada said the ministry is continuing to exchange information with the police. Osada went on to say that the stolen metal may have been used in the frame of the building “which means that it’s unlikely that these metals were exposed to high levels of radiation when the nuclear accident occurred.”
      If radioactivity levels of the metals are high, the metals must go to an interim storage facility or be properly disposed of. If the radioactivity levels of the metals are low, they can be reused. The stolen scrap metals had not been measured for radiation levels, according to Osada. It was reported that the workers sold the scrap metal to companies outside the Fukushima zone for about six thousand dollars.
      It is not exactly clear what volume of metal went missing, where it is now or if it poses a health risk. Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported over the summer that the police in the Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki which borders Fukushima, had contacted scrap metal companies to ask them to scrutinize their suppliers more carefully as metals thefts surged there. Ibaraki authorities reported that there were over nine hundred incidents last June alone. This is the highest number of metal thefts for any of Japan’s forty seven prefectures.
     Officials in Chiba, east of Tokyo, stated that metal grates along more than twenty miles of roadway had been stolen. This terrified motorists who use the narrow roads with the prospect of falling into an open gutter, especially at night. Maintenance workers with the city of Tsu, in Mie prefecture, west of Tokyo, have started patrolling roadside grates and installing metal clips in an effort to thwart thieves.
    Infrastructure crime may not pay as much as it once did. The World Bank and other sources say that base metal prices have peaked. They will continue to decline through 2024 as global demand falls.
     The March 11, 2011, tsunami caused multiple meltdowns at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Numerous areas around the plant have been declared safe for residents to return after extensive decontamination work. Only two and two tenths of a percent of the Fukushima prefecture is still covered by no-go orders.
     Japan just began releasing into the Pacific Ocan more than a quarter of a billion gallons of wastewater that had been collected in and around one thousand steel tanks at the site. Plant operator TEPCO says that the released water is safe. The IAEA agrees with TEPCO. However, China has accused Japan of treating the Pacific Ocean like a “sewer”.

     An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of nuclear experts has just completed a follow-up review of long-term operational safety at the Ascó nuclear power plant in Spain. The team reviewed the plant’s owners and operators’ responses to recommendations and suggestions made during a Safety Aspects of Long-Term Operation (SALTO) mission in 2021.
     A SALTO peer review is a comprehensive safety review that addresses strategy and key elements for the safe long-term operation (LTO) of nuclear power plants. SALTO missions complement IAEA Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) missions. OSART missions are designed as a review of programs and activities essential to operational safety. SALTO peer reviews can be executed at any time during the lifetime of a nuclear power plant. However, according to the IAEA the most suitable time lies within the last ten years of the plant’s originally licensed operating period. SALTO and OSART reviews are undertaken at the request of the IAEA member country in which the review is to take place.
     The Ascó plant consists of two Westinghouse pressurized water reactor units with an installed capacity of about one thousand thirty megawatts. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in 1984. Unit 2 entered commercial operation in 1986. Operator Asociación Nuclear Ascó-Vandellós II (ANAV) plans to extend the operation of both units beyond the initial forty-year lifetime. Unit 1 is currently authorized to continue to operate until 2030. Unit 2 is licensed until 2031. A September 5 to September 8 review was requested by the plant’s operator. The SALTO team focused on aspects essential to the safe LTO of both units. The team reviewsed implementation of recommendations made during the SALTO review mission. It had built upon an initial Pre-SALTO mission in 2019.
     The review team was comprised of four experts from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Sweden as well as two IAEA staff members. They concluded that twelve of the fourteen recommendations and suggestions made in 2021 have already been resolved by ANAV. Work is being done with an appropriate progression for the complete implementation of the remaining two issues. The first of these is a comprehensive program to confirm the resistance of electrical components to harsh conditions, referred to as the equipment qualification program. The second is a comprehensive strategy for managing the aging of structural elements of electrical cabinets and panels. The IAEA noted that plant management expressed a determination to address the remaining areas of concern and to continue cooperating with the IAEA on LTO.
     Jorge Martínez Casado is the Director of the Ascó plant. He said, “For us this is the last step of the IAEA’s supporting service to ensure safe operation of our reactors in the LTO period. The IAEA SALTO missions, and technical cooperation helped to improve our focus on safe operation. We have worked together with the IAEA for the past five years carrying out three missions and several technical discussions. We appreciate the IAEA’s support of our plant in managing ageing and preparation for safe LTO, and we will continue to improve our processes to further comply with IAEA safety standards.”
     The IAEA team provided a draft report to ANAV and the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), Spain’s regulatory authority, at the end of the mission. ANAV and CSN will have the opportunity to make factual comments on the draft report. A final report will be provided to ANAV, CSN and the Spanish government within three months.

     Japan recently began releasing radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the Pacific Ocean. This prompted China to announce a ban on all Japanese seafood products due to concerns about radioactive contamination. They joined Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea who also have banned seafood from the area around Fukushima. Many other countries have stepped up their inspection of fish and other food items from Japan. The concern over radioactively contaminated food and agricultural products has triggered a surge of interest in the U.S. Nuclear’s food contamination monitors which can measure whether food or liquid samples are safe or if there is any contamination present.
     Japanese cuisine is very popular in China. The sector is valued at about twenty-five billion dollars. It included seven hundred eighty-nine thousand restaurants in 2022. Last year, China was also Japan’s top trading partner for seafood. It accounted for nine hundred forty-two million dollars-worth of seafood imports. Hong Kong was second at four hundred thirty-two million dollars. Restaurants and the fishing industry will be hit especially hard by food bans unless Japanese seafood can be proven to be safe. Hong Kong and Macau have issued a ban that covers Japanese seafood products from ten regions in and around Fukushima. South Korea recently issued a statement maintaining the ban on Fukushima fisheries and food products will continue until concerns have eased. Japanese seafood and products are also sent around the globe. When such bans or concerns are raised, it is important to both the exporter and importer to ensure that the product is safe and contamination free.
     U.S. Nuclear’s most popular food contamination monitors include the Model FLG-9000 and SSS-22P.  The FLG-9000 measures minute quantities of radioactive contamination in foods and other samples utilizing a large volume one quart scintillation detector and multichannel analyzer electronics for isotope identification and rapid processing of samples. The SSS-22P measures all liquid samples such as drinking water, sea water, sake or milk, for radioactive contamination down to the lowest levels possible for safety.
     It is expected that it will require thirty plus years for Japan to release all the stored radioactive water. During that time, it will be extremely important to closely monitor all food and products from that area and surrounding countries.
      The press release issued by U.S. Nuclear included “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ from expectations, estimates and projections and, consequently, these forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as accurate predictions of future events. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “continue,” and similar expressions are intended to clearly identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results.
      Investors interested in food and product monitoring can find additional information about U.S. Nuclear Corporation on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov, or the company’s website at www.usnuclearcorp.com.