JAPAN ATOMIC INDUSTRIAL FORUM, INC.

16 August, 2019 Noriyuki Ishii

Two-day International Forum on Decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi Focuses on Coexistence and Co-prosperity with Local Communities

On August 4 and 5, the 4th International Forum on the Decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi took place in Fukushima Prefecture, sponsored by the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF).

The first day of the forum featured a dialogue-style workshop in Tomioka Town with local residents, as well as sessions with students. On the second day, the participants moved to Iwaki City, where experts and specialists from Japan and overseas conducted panel discussions under the theme of “Working in Partnership with Local Communities.” A total of about 1,300 people participated during the two days, about half of them from Fukushima Prefecture. At the opening of the second day, NDF Chairman Hajimu Yamana kicked off the discussions by mentioning the vigorous exchanges he had had with sixty high school students and local people the day before. He stressed the significance of the theme of the forum, and that decommissioning was a project being undertaken together with local communiti...more

16 August, 2019 Kaoru Ohno

Proponents for Above-ground HLW Management Lose in Chiba University Debate

A debate on the advisability of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) was staged recently by students belonging to the Faculty of Education at the Chiba University. Assisted by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO), the students considered whether Japan should cancel the ongoing HLW geological (i.e., underground) disposal project and instead require management above ground.

A course on debate skills, taught by Professor Daisuke Fujikawa at the same university, has enjoyed the involvement of NUMO for the past eight years. This time, the students, while studying debating techniques and methods, attended lectures by nuclear specialists in preparation for the debate. Those who wished to do so also visited nuclear power plants (NPPs), the Horonobe Underground Research Center, and the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Two of the ten debate teams in the class (each consisting of from three to five students) were chosen to debate the question publicly. The team on the affirmative side of the proposition—that is, arguing in favor of above-ground HLW management—asserted that the safety of long-term HLW management in dry casks had been demonstrated ...more

9 August, 2019 Noriyuki Ishii

NRA Exchanges Views with President Sakamoto of RFS, Which Pledges to Make Its Utmost Efforts

At an extraordinary meeting on August 6, members of the Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan (NRA) exchanged views with President Takashi Sakamoto of the Recyclable-Fuel Storage Company (RFS). The company operates a spent fuel interim storage facility (see conceptual image) in Mutsu City, Aomori Prefecture, storing and managing spent nuclear fuel until it is processed.

The NRA has been inviting the top management of individual nuclear operators for public talks on the efforts of each to improve nuclear safety, and the session with RFS was the first in that series. NRA’s compliance examination of the storage facility with the new regulatory standards has been underway for about five and a half years, because, among other reasons, the assessment of the tsunami-resistance of the design has proceeded with difficulty. In February 2019, RFS was asked to demonstrate that the basic safety functions of its metal casks would be maintained even if the storage building was damaged by a tsunami. At the August 6 meeting, President Sakamoto looked back on the circumstances of examinations of the interim storage facility in the past, and emphasized the need to mai...more

9 August, 2019 Noriyuki Ishii

IRID Symposium Held in Fukushima, with Students Explaining Their Research on Fuel Debris Removal

On August 1, the International Research Institute for Decommissioning (IRID) held the IRID Symposium 2019 in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, on the current state of technological development for the removal of fuel debris at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants.

In his opening address, IRID President Hideo Ishibashi showed his enthusiasm for the effort, saying that by “gathering the world’s wisdom,” his institute would meet the challenge of removing the fuel debris. Also speaking was Tatsuya Shinkawa, director general for nuclear accident disaster response at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), who emphasized the goal of “usable devices” incorporating the developed technology, and expressed his high hopes for IRID’s activities in the future. General Manager Kenro Takamori of IRID’s R&D Strategy Planning Department then explained the current state of technological development. Noting that investigations of the reactor interiors, in preparation for fuel debris removal, have so far been focused on “obtaining images,” he said...more