[ RadSafe ] Japan Mihama nuclear reactor resumes full commercial operation

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

Japan Mihama nuclear reactor resumes full commercial operation
Japan Chubu Elec to restart nuclear unit on Thurs
Reid: Nuclear Energy Institute 'backing off'
Australia nuclear plant plot trial opens in Paris 
Protest shuts down Thai hearing on nuclear power 
Weather strands workers at nuclear plant
Science backs nuclear burial plan  
Nuclear services arm to be sold
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Japan Mihama nuclear reactor resumes full commercial operation

TOKYO (AP) Feb 7 - A nuclear reactor in western Japan returned to 
full-scale commercial operation Wednesday more than two years after 
it was shut down following a fatal accident, the nation´s worst at a 
nuclear facility, plant operators said Wednesday.

The No. 3 reactor at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant had been shut down 
since August 2004, when a corroded pipe ruptured and sprayed plant 
workers with boiling water and steam. Five workers were killed and 
six others were injured, although no radiation was released.

The reactor, which had been restarted earlier this year, began full-
scale commercial operation Wednesday following an approval from the 
Trade Ministry, Kansai Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, 
said in a statement.

Satoru Kawanishi, a spokesman for the operator, said no trouble has 
been reported so far.

Resource-poor Japan depends on nuclear power plants for a third of 
its energy needs and aims to raise that to nearly 40 percent by 2010.

But Japanese public has grown increasingly wary of the nuclear power 
industry following a spate of safety problems, shutdowns and cover-
ups, and utility companies face difficulty obtaining local support 
for new plant sites.

Mihama is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Tokyo. 
------------------

Japan Chubu Elec to restart nuclear unit on Thurs

TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Japan's Chubu Electric Power Co. said on 
Wednesday it would restart a nuclear unit at its Hamaoka plant in 
western Japan after an unexpected shutdown caused by problems with a 
turbine made by Hitachi Ltd. . 
Japan's third-largest utility said in a statement it would restart 
the reactor at the 1.38 million-kilowatt unit as early as Thursday as 
it has repaired the defective parts of the Hitachi turbine. 

The restart of the Hamaoka No. 5 unit, which still uses the same 
turbine, is intended as a test run to check operational safety, and 
Chubu Electric added the utility may suspend operations at the 
Hamaoka No. 5 unit if it finds any abnormalities during the test run. 

The unit has been shut since last June. 

Fellow utility Hokuriku Electric Power Co. shut a nuclear unit with 
another Hitachi turbine last July after problems there. It said 
recently that it would restart the unit in May. 

Late last year, Chubu Electric and Hokuriku Electric said they had 
asked Hitachi to discuss damages following the shutdowns. The 
utilities said those talks have not started.
-----------------

Reid: Nuclear Energy Institute 'backing off'

FALLON STAR PRESS Feb 7 - U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-Searchlight) 
recently held a press conference call with area reporters and after 
joking easily for a few minutes with the press, talked mainly about 
the issue of nuclear waste and his reaction to President George 
Bush's State of the Union address.

"It's good news that the Nuclear Energy Institute is backing off, and 
for the first time the industry is saying what we've been saying for 
a long time now," said Reid. "Yucca Mountain is in trouble here and 
that's good."

According to Reid, he is not opposed to nuclear power, but the issue 
of disposal of the waste is the problem that must be solved. "On-site 
storage is the solution," he said.

On a local topic, Reid said the work being done on the Walker River 
is going well and the government is currently obtaining contracts for 
the settlement project. There will be a meeting in Nevada in February 
to address the issue and the Senator said he will attend.

"I feel better today than I ever have. I was able to get quite a bit 
of money through the ag bill that people didn't think I was going to 
get. We are going to save that lake," he said.

In addressing the President's speech to the country Jan. 23, Reid 
said President Bush is good at identifying problems and did a good 
job in his seventh State of the Union address. "Unfortunately," said 
Reid, "his track record is not good at solving these problems. I was 
happy to see finally the words global warming came out of his mouth."

According to Reid, there are currently over 500 coal fire power 
generating plants being proposed or built across the country.

In regard to the Democratic Party's response to the president's 
speech, Reid said he believed that Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) did a good 
job addressing the president's comments. For the most part, Reid said 
he was pleased with the president for covering the issues that most 
needed to be discussed.

Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, said he was dismayed over the new 
plans for Iraq, saying that plans for escalation would be "hard for 
him to accept" when he remembers the huddled masses who have been 
forgotten in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.
---------------

Australia nuclear plant plot trial opens in Paris 

PARIS (Reuters) - A French Muslim convert suspected of plotting to 
attack an Australian nuclear power station protested his innocence on 
Wednesday and said he had no faith in French justice. 
 
Prosecutors say Willy Brigitte and Sajid Mir, his co-accused who is 
being tried in absentia, considered targeting a nuclear research 
reactor on the outskirts of Sydney.

Brigitte, 38, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of 
associating with criminals involved in terrorist activities, told the 
main Paris criminal court that French investigators had produced a 
biased case against him.

"I have no confidence in French justice, in the justice system of 
this country. I have lost all hope of being understood," he said, 
after first mumbling a prayer in Arabic.

Dressed in a black roll-neck jumper and tracksuit, Brigitte refused 
to answer questions on the case.

The court heard how Australian police, arresting Brigitte for 
breaching immigration rules, had found in his pocket a printout of an 
Internet page on Australian nuclear and military facilities. He was 
promptly deported back to France.

But defense lawyers said Brigitte had merely gone to Australia to 
rebuild his life -- not to plot attacks on Australian soil on the 
orders of Islamic militants.

"What you have heard is a report based essentially on a prosecution 
case strewn with untruths, inaccuracies, approximations," said 
Brigitte's lawyer Jean-Claude Durimel.

"I think when he left for Australia he didn't even know there was a 
nuclear power station at Lucas Heights," a suburb of Sydney, he 
added.

"I'M NO TERRORIST"

Fellow defense counsel Harry Durimel said records from an Australian 
court case showed there "was no proof, no implication of Willy 
Brigitte in anything terrorist related at all" while in Australia.

Australia's chief spy said Brigitte, born in the French Caribbean 
territory of Guadeloupe, had been "almost certainly involved" in 
activities aimed at harming the country. Australia has been targeted 
by militant Islamic groups because of its role alongside U.S. forces 
in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But Brigitte said a proper investigation would have shown that "I am 
not a terrorist, that I never prepared, organized, or was involved in 
any terrorist activity whatsoever."

"Terrorism is contrary to my conception (of Islam), contrary to the 
teaching of Islam, which teaches the respect of human life."

Testimony from Brigitte's two former wives in France showed he 
embraced a radical form of Islam after converting in 1998 and his 
religious beliefs became increasingly more strident.

He joined a group conducting military-style training in Fontainebleau 
Forest near Paris and later graduated to weapons and explosives 
training in camps on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Witness statements said Brigitte had expressed regret he was 
prevented from fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan when 
U.S. forces invaded after the September 11, 2003 attacks.

His lawyers said Brigitte had gone to Yemen, Chechnya, Kosovo and 
Pakistan to deepen his faith and carry out humanitarian work. The 
trial resumes on Thursday.
--------------

Protest shuts down Thai hearing on nuclear power 

BANGKOK (Reuters) Feb 6 - Thailand canceled a public hearing on a new 
power production plan which would include the country's first nuclear 
plant after protesters turned up to attend on Wednesday. 
 
Managers of a Bangkok hotel where the hearing was to have been held 
asked Energy Ministry officials to cancel the meeting after 200 
villagers traveled 300 km (190 miles) from the west coast province of 
Prachuab Khirikhan to attend.

"They don't have a big enough room to put these people in, which 
would have also annoyed its guests," senior ministry official Norkhun 
Sitthipong told reporters.

The villagers, whose protests in 2002 forced the government to cancel 
plans for two coal-powered plants there, said they wanted no power 
plant in the province and would go to every hearing.

"If you want to build them, go and build on your homeland," said one 
of the placards carried by protesters in green t-shirts carrying a 
picture of a leading environmentalist who was shot dead in 2004.

"Whenever there is a hearing, we all will go," said protest leader 
Jintana Gaewkao.

Thailand's latest plan to expand electricity production calls for 11 
700-megawatt power plants, three of them coal powered and to be built 
in Prachuab Khirikhan.

It also seeks to lessen dependence on natural gas by using more coal, 
biofuels and nuclear power and buy more electricity from Laos, 
Myanmar and China.

A 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant was also an option.
-----------------

Weather strands workers at nuclear plant

TORONTO (Reuters) Feb 6 - Severe snow squalls that led to road 
closures along the eastern shore of Lake Huron stranded some 300 
workers at a southwestern Ontario nuclear plant -- many for up to two 
days, a spokesperson said on Tuesday. 
 
"We've been undergoing this winter storm for the last few days and so 
we've had a lot of road closures into the Bruce Power site -- county 
roads and highways as well," said Steve Cannon, manager of investor 
and media relations for Bruce Power.

"When the roads are closed we do have people who will stay over until 
they can be replaced,"

Workers had been stuck at the Bruce Power site, about 250 km (155 
miles) northwest of Toronto, since Friday, though employees in nearby 
communities such as Port Elgin and Kincardine relieved them over the 
weekend, added Cannon.

At any one time, 300 out of a total 3,700 Bruce Power employees were 
stuck at the site, while "non-duty crew" were asked to work from 
home, said Cannon.

Duty crews include nuclear operators or control technicians who are 
working at the plant's generating stations.

"There wouldn't be people stuck for four days; probably two days at a 
time," said Cannon. "We've had buses that have gone in to give 
relief."

Highway 21, the main route to the nuclear plant, was one of several 
highways closed by police in southwestern Ontario over the past few 
days because of dangerous driving conditions.

The news comes as parts of Ontario have been hit by a burst of severe 
winter weather. Toronto, for example, extended its "extreme cold 
weather alert" for a fourth consecutive day as temperatures dropped 
to -11 Celsius (12 Fahrenheit).

The majority of the roads in Bruce County were shut Sunday and Monday 
due to severe snow squalls, but many are now being reopened, said 
Inspector Paul Holmes, detachment commander for the South Bruce 
Ontario Provincial Police, in Kincardine.

"It's hard to fathom when you're in Toronto what it's like here," he 
said. "It's high winds, zero visibility, drifting snow and very 
dangerous conditions -- people going off into the ditches -- so the 
roads are closed and oftentimes the (snow) plows are removed from the 
roads as well."

Workers' schedules are expected to return to normal on Wednesday, 
said Cannon. Bruce Power produces about 4,600 megawatts of 
electricity from its six operating reactors.
-----------------

Science backs nuclear burial plan  
 
BBC - Feb 7 The facility would be deep underground 
Scientists have backed the government's plan to store the UK's 
nuclear waste deep underground. 
The report, from experts working across science and technology, 
concluded there were "no insurmountable scientific or technological 
barriers" to the scheme. 

It urged the government to maintain momentum in implementing the 
policy, but recommended key areas where more research was needed to 
move forward. 

These included finding suitable sites and addressing skills 
shortages. 


See how radioactive waste might be buried 
The report resulted from a meeting of geologists, engineers, nuclear 
experts and chemists that took place in November. 

Professor Charles Curtis, president of The Geological Society of 
London, presenting the report, said: "After a long period without 
waste policy, the UK finally has a way to go forward. 

This is a 'grey-haired profession'; we have an ageing population of 
nuclear professionals. 

"We concur the safest and most secure way to go is deep geological 
depositories, and we see no insurmountable scientific and 
technological barriers to this." 

However, the report highlighted a number of key issues that would 
need to be addressed. 

It said a repository site would need to be found that was both 
geologically secure and also accepted by the local community. 

Dr Alan Hooper, of radioactive waste management company Nirex, said 
between one-third and two-thirds of the UK had the suitable 
geological make-up for deep nuclear waste burial. 

 
Long term storage of radioactive waste has been an issue for years 

The report also said the government would need to address whether 
repositories should be kept open, so the waste could be monitored, or 
sealed off immediately. 

It also highlighted the need to establish whether different types of 
nuclear waste should be stored separately in different repositories 
or kept together. 

Professor Curtis said another key concern was the decline in the UK's 
nuclear skills base. 

He said: "At the moment, this is a 'grey-haired profession'; we have 
an ageing population of nuclear professionals. 

"We need a nuclear skills renaissance so the implementation of a 
repository can be supported for the future." 

In October 2006, Environment Secretary David Miliband said the 
government would follow the Committee on Radioactive Waste 
Management's (CORWM) recommendation to bury radioactive waste in 
facilities hundreds of metres underground. 

The committee had come to this conclusion after spending three years 
investigating a long-term solution the UK's radioactive waste 
problem: for the last 50 years it has been stored at a variety of 
sites using a number of methods. 

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural 
Affairs, said Defra welcomed the report, and said a consultation on 
the process of site selection for the repository would begin later 
this year. 

Finland is already building an underground facility and is on course 
to become the first country in the world to dispose of nuclear waste 
in such a way.
-------------

Nuclear services arm to be sold

BBC Feb 7 - British Nuclear Group's project services arm is expected 
to be sold by the summer as part of a piecemeal disposal of 
government-backed nuclear industry assets. British Nuclear Fuels 
Limited, BNG's state-owned parent, yesterday launched the sale of 
project services, which employs 730 people, 80 per cent of BNG's 
workforce  

Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
Fax:(949) 296-1144

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at cox.net 

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