I have posted many times about the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 and its aftermath. I also post a lot of links to articles about the consequences of the Fukushima disaster. It has impacted Japan socially, economically, politically, environmentally, and in many other ways. One of my reasons for all these Fukushima postings is to help people all over the world understand just how damaging a major nuclear accident can be.

         Unfortunately for the people of Japan, the Japanese government under Prime Minister Abe is committed not only to the restart of most of the Japanese reactors, idle since the disaster, but also making nuclear technology exports a major part of Japan’s international trade. Considering the fact that half of the nuclear technology being exported from Japan is not inspected, it might not be a good investment for other countries to purchase Japanese nuclear components and reactors.

        Reacting to the public backlash resulting from the Fukushima disaster and critical coverage in the press, Japan passed a new state secrets law. This new law has the stated purpose of “protecting national security by restricting the release of information about defense and diplomacy, or keeping information needed to prevent terrorist attacks and “specified harmful activities” confidential.” The new law is not just applicable to government bureaucrats and major defense contractors. Lawyers say that portions of the law including a requirement that anyone handling state secrets must have a background check could have an impact on academic research. The law contains three hundred and eighty two named subjects as state secrets under the law.

        Critics of the law point out that there is no powerful independent agency outside of the government that has the authority to decide what exactly falls under the new law. There were supposed to be external oversight agencies set up as part of implementing the new law but political arguments resulted in the law going into effect without the promised oversight. Academics are afraid that the ambiguity of the law could be used to persecute scientists who upset the government.

        The existence of the law and the practice of the government in designating major media as “approved,” have helped to suppress criticism of the government’s and TEPCO’s response to the Fukushima disaster. The “approved” media are afraid to publish stories that are “too” critical of government and industry. Independent journalists without the support of a major corporation will be vulnerable to claims that they violated the new law by publishing articles about radiation levels around Japan, organized crime’s  involvement in the nuclear industry, health problems caused  by Fukushima radiation and corruption in the Japanese government and nuclear industry. The government and TEPCO have already been caught withholding accurate data about environmental damage from Fukushima, related health problems and the seriousness of the damage to the power plant and the dangers it still poses. This law will serve to further prevent the Japanese people from receiving a full accounting of the causes of, nature of and consequences of the Fukushima disaster. This is especially troubling because of the current push to restart the Japanese fleet of reactors and to export Japanese nuclear technology.

Fukushima power plant just after the disaster:

An irradiated, abandoned town adjacent to the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has agreed to let the central government build a dump there which will house contaminated waste for as long as three decades, the town’s mayor said Tuesday. japantimes.com

A group of people on Tuesday filed a second criminal complaint against a former nuclear safety official and eight others, arguing they failed to take necessary preventive measures in the Fukushima nuclear crisis. japantimes.com

Iran announces construction of two new nuclear plants. hotair.com

Half of health care professionals surveyed in a recent study were unaware of the role pharmacists play in nuclear medicine departments. pharmacytimes.com

 

         In previous blog posts, I have often mentioned the ambition of the Russian government to be a major supplier of nuclear reactors to foreign nations. The negotiations between India and Russia for the construction of twenty one new nuclear reactors has been all over the news lately. Russia is also ramping up fast breeder reactors to make plutonium which it can then sell to reactor customers to fuel their Russian reactors. Competition between Russia and Westinghouse to fuel Ukrainian reactors has also been reported. Russian environmentalist Vladimir Slivyak with EcoDefense is speaking out against the Russian nuclear industry and facing suppression for opposing the Russian nuclear ambitions.

        Slivyak says that the Russians have basically ignored the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Although the Russian nuclear push has been slowed down by corruption and technical difficulties, the Russian nuclear industry is well financed and dedicated to an ambitious program of nuclear development. One goal of the Russian nuclear program is to build dozens of reactors outside of Russia. Rosatom says that it has about one hundred billion dollars worth of reactor orders. It is doubtful that there will be much profit in these programs because foreign reactor orders usually include loan guarantees and direct Russian funding of these international projects. Any profit from sale and operation of such reactors will take decades achieve. The money that is invested in foreign reactors remains in Russia to pay the companies that manufacture components for the reactors. Thus, the survival of the Russian nuclear industry is dependent on the support of the Russian government.

        As I have pointed out in the past, Russia is planning on using its nuclear exports as a way to make other countries dependent on Russian reactors and fuel in the same way that European nations are now partially dependent on Russia for oil and natural gas. There are only a few suppliers of nuclear technology and nuclear fuel in the world. Russia hopes to become a major player in this small circle of global nuclear suppliers. It is assumed that Russia will use any leverage that it gains from nuclear exports to pressure other countries into accepting Russian dominance.

        Slivyak is critical of Russian nuclear ambitions and claims. Even though Russia claims to have orders to build twenty one new nuclear reactors for India and orders from other countries, he points out that Russia have been unable to build more than a few domestic reactors in the past few decades. Russia has not be able to build more than one new reactor per year. In spite of their bragging about one hundred billion in reactor orders, actual construction of Russian reactors is only taking place in Russia, Belarus and China. Slivyak says that Rosatom is promising much more than it could deliver.

        Several years ago, Russia and Vietnam signed an agreement for a new reactor. Construction was to begin almost immediately. Now it has been reported that the Vietnam deal will be postponed until 2020. A contract was signed with Turkey before Vietnam for a reactor but construction has still not begun. Apparently most of the foreign orders for Russian reactors are really just agreements to negotiate over the building of reactors, not actual hard orders with fixed deadlines. Rosatom has been caught giving out exaggerated and false information about reactor orders.

       One big concern about Russian nuclear plans is that if Rosatom actually begins to construct reactors, there may be serious pressure to finish any particular reactor as quickly as possible which could seriously compromise reactor safety in spite of claims that a new unbuilt and untested Russian reactor design is (or will be) the safest reactor in the world.

Russia’s Putin and India’s Modi discuss bilateral trade agreements:

Five aging  Japanese nuclear reactors will be decommissioned in the near future, a move that government officials hope will increase public support for resuming operations at newer reactors. ajw.asahi.com

On 1/9/2015, Panasonic announced they are going to reuse Fukushima factory as vegetable plant. fukushima-diary.com

As winter clamps down with a deep freeze over much of the country, data shows the nuclear power industry is helping the nation’s electricity grids remain stable during this period of peak demand, the Nuclear Energy Institute said. nuclearstreet.com

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO), which owns and operates the Olkiluoto nuclear power station, is to restructure its operations in an effort to find savings of €15 million a year, saying it is coming under pressure from subsidised energy sources. nucnet.org

         In September of 2007, Israeli jets bombed an unidentified target in Syrian desert about twenty miles from Deir el-Zor. The Syrians said that some Israeli jets invaded Syrian airspace and were forced to leave after dropping some munitions on in the desert. They claimed that the munitions caused no damage or injury. The Israelis said that their jets never went into Syria at all on the day in question. The two countries have technically been at war since the Jewish state was founded in 1948 but they cooperated in covering up the Israeli military action against Syria.

         It is now thought that Syria was trying to build a nuclear weapon at a hidden base called Kibar in the desert and the Israeli jets destroyed the secret base on their bombing raid. Eventually, Syria, a signatory of the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty, allowed inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to enter the ruins of Kibar. Although the Syrians had tried to remove all traces of nuclear activity from Kibar, uranium particles were found at the site.

        Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, has just published an article claiming that Syria has a secret nuclear research installation near the Lebanese border. The article referred to a report from the IAEA about the site. In the report, the IAEA said that they thought that Syria had a uranium stockpile that could be enriched to create at least five nuclear bombs. Western intelligence agencies have said that Syria is continuing work on nuclear weapons in a secret underground facility. There are supposed to be eight thousand nuclear fuel rods at the hidden facility and a working nuclear reactor. This base is supposed to be just west of the city of Qusayr less than a mile from the Lebanese border.

        Satellite imagery shows that heavy construction and digging is taking place near Qusayr even though the Syrians have been trying to hide their activity. During the current civil war, there was intense fighting in the Qusayr area but Syrian forces repelled the rebels. The site is connected to the national power grid and has a deep well. Intercepted radio messages in Syria mentioned an “atomic factory” at Qusayr. The project is apparently referred to as “Zamzam”, the name of a well that legend says was created by God to slake the thirst of the wife and daughter of Abraham in Mecca.

        Syria denies that they are involved in nuclear research at Qusayr but that is to be expected regardless of whether or not they are actually working on a nuclear device there. The fact that their sworn enemy Israel has a nuclear arsenal would be an incentive for Syria to develop their own nuclear weapons. A lot of attention has been focused on Iran because many  believe they are working on developing nuclear weapons. Perhaps more attention should be directed at Syria. The situation there is especially troubling because of the civil war. If the Syrian government were to fall and the Qusayr site occupied by ISIS, then the radical Islamists might acquire  nuclear weapons. Even if they did not find a nuclear bomb at Zamzam, a cache of enriched uranium would allow them to build dirty bombs.

Satellite image of Zamzam nuclear facility near Syria’s border with Lebanon:

Outright failures continue to plague Fukushima plant. enenews.com

Australia today expressed confidence that negotiations on the civil nuclear deal with India will not “drag on” as political clearance has already been given and only technical issues are required to be resolved.  economictimes/indiatimes.com

The owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant says the fuel has been removed from the reactor and placed in the spent fuel pool. necn.com

Nuclear waste clean-up operations at Sellafield are anticipated to be taken back into state hands, as the private consortium managing the Cumbrian website is stripped of its £20bn contract. macroinsider.com