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Pakistan to set up 2 nuclear power plants
Index:
Pakistan to set up 2 nuclear power plants
Ireland to track controversial nuclear shipment
Japanese Gov't completes probes at 3 TEPCO nuclear plants
Scandal claims four top officials at Japan's Mitsui
Aussie Hill wants states to handle own radioactive waste
Radioactive water leaks at Ikata nuclear plant
TEPCO shuts down Fukushima reactor after radiation leak
Ibaraki couple file damages suit over 1999 nuclear accident
===============================
Pakistan to set up 2 nuclear power plants
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 3 (Kyodo) - The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
(PAEC) plans to set up two more nuclear power plants with capacities
of 300 and 600 megawatts (mw) in the coming years but is awaiting
government approval, PAEC Chairman Pervez Butt said Tuesday,
according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).
''The projects are under consideration for formal approval with the
government and the construction activity will commence in the near
future,'' Butt told reporters visiting the 300-mw Chashma Nuclear
Power Plant in the Mianwali district of Punjab Province, about 185
kilometers southwest of Islamabad.
Pakistan is already operating the Chinese-built Chashma nuclear power
plant, which went critical in May 2000 and was inaugurated in March
2001, and the 137-mw Karachi nuclear power plant, located at Karachi
on the Arabian Sea coast, which was supplied by Canada in 1972 and
was overhauled in the mid-1990s.
Butt said that the new 600-mw and 300-mw power plants would be set up
at Mianwali and at Karachi, respectively, adjacent to the two nuclear
plants already in operation.
The PAEC chairman did not disclose which country would help build the
new plants, but Pakistan and China have been holding talks on the
issue and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf discussed it during his
visit to Beijing last month.
Pakistan has reportedly been negotiating transfer of technology for
indigenous assembly and manufacture of nuclear power plants.
Butt said Pakistan is self-sufficient in uranium and capable of
manufacturing its own fuel for nuclear power plants.
-----------------
Ireland to track controversial nuclear shipment
DUBLIN, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Ireland's navy and air force will monitor
the passage through the Irish Sea later this month of two ships
carrying nuclear fuel to Britain, the Irish government said on
Wednesday.
The decision follows a meeting of the government's Emergency Task
Force -- set up in the wake of last year's September 11 attacks on
the U.S. -- and comes amid bitter public opposition in Ireland to the
shipment.
A Defence Ministry spokesman said patrol ships and surveillance
aircraft would track the five-tonne shipment of potentially weapons-
grade fuel as it passes close to the Irish coast en route to
Sellafield in northwestern England.
Greenpeace, which has lobbied the government to take a stand,
welcomed the move.
"This is an excellent response. It sends a very strong message to the
British government that they just cannot keep doing this,"
spokeswoman Mhairi Dunlop told Reuters.
"The tragedy is that the shipment still has to come through, but
under the circumstances we hope Britain will be listening loud and
clear."
The cargo of mixed plutonium and uranium oxides (MOX) is being
returned to state-owned British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) from Japan after
the Japanese Kansai Electric power Co Inc discovered the data for a
1999 shipment from Britain had been falsified.
The Sellafield plant, 110 miles (180 km) across the Irish Sea, has
been a long running source of friction between Ireland which says it
pollutes the sea and poses a threat of terrorist attack, and Britain
which has invested heavily in it.
Ireland's environment minister has expressed concern about the timing
of the MOX transport so close to the anniversary of the September 11
attacks.
Greenpeace's flagship "Rainbow Warrior," currently docked in Dublin,
will lead a 10-boat flotilla in a peaceful protest when the cargo
ships arrive within the next two weeks.
BNFL insists the shipment is safely contained.
-------------------
Japanese Gov't completes probes at 3 TEPCO nuclear plants
TOKYO, Sept. 4 (Kyodo) - The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on
Wednesday completed on-site investigations at three nuclear power
plants run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) which has admitted to
falsifying reports about cracks and other problems in reactor
equipment.
The agency, an affiliate of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry,
began the inspections Monday at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear
plants in Fukushima Prefecture, and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in
Niigata Prefecture.
With those inspections complete, the agency will analyze interviews
with plant executives and data giving a picture of the situation at
the time reports were falsified during the 1980s and 1990s, agency
officials said.
The agency also plans to carry out an inspection at the company's
head offices in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, the officials added.
''We were able to obtain the information in our own way. Coupled with
results of the probe at the company headquarters, we hope to
ascertain what actually happened,'' said Kazuo Matsunaga, director
general for the agency's nuclear and industrial safety policy.
But the agency's No. 2 official refrained from saying whether the
information gathered during the three-day investigation contains
evidence on falsification of reports.
''We will announce the results after proper analysis,'' he said.
The agency has said it will summarize the results in an interim
report by the end of the month.
To find out if senior TEPCO officials were involved in cover-ups, the
agency is also considering interviewing former senior TEPCO officials
who headed the three plants from the late 1980s to the 1990s, the
officials said.
During the just-ended inspections, the agency obtained TEPCO'S
cooperation to look at the company's records on equipment inspections
and documents stipulating rules for such inspections, they said.
It also interviewed some 90 officials about the internal reporting
process and other conditions of the time of the reports in question.
The company, Japan's largest power supplier, has admitted to at least
29 instances of falsifying records at 13 of 17 reactors at the three
plants.
''We could obtain necessary information to get hold of the facts,''
said Masaki Hirano, head of the agency's Nuclear Power Licensing
Division, during a press conference in Fukushima Prefecture, after
finishing the on-site probes at the Fukushima plants.
Akira Fukushima, chief of the agency's Electric Power Safety
Division, said after investigating the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, ''We
found that reports from General Electric Corp. had not been passed up
to senior officials. They were just informed that the tests went
okay.''
According to TEPCO officials, the results of an internal
investigation suggest there were cover-ups that were motivated
chiefly by an increased need to keep up with rising electricity
demand during Japan's economic boom in the 1980s and early 1990s.
At the time of the ''bubble'' economy, maintaining power supply was
the company's top priority, they said.
----------------
Scandal claims four top officials at Japan's Mitsui
TOKYO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The president of Japan's second-largest
trading house, Mitsui & Co Ltd, said on Wednesday he would resign
along with three other executives to take responsibility for Japan's
latest corporate scandal.
The shake-up follows allegations that Mitsui bribed a Mongolian
official to win a contract to build power generators. Mitsui admitted
to no wrongdoing but the scandal has tarnished the firm's image and
battered its stock price.
"I am deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart," Mitsui President
Shinjiro Shimizu said in a quiet voice, his hands shaking as he
addressed reporters at the company's head office.
"In order to help rebuild trust in our company once again...I will be
stepping down as president," he said.
The resignations of Shimizu, along with the chairman and two senior
executives, came just two days after the president of Japan's largest
power utility, Tokyo Electric Power Co, resigned over the
falsification of nuclear plant safety records.
Last month, a beef mislabelling scandal claimed the president of top
sausage maker Nippon Meat Packers Inc
Shimizu, 64, said he would be replaced at the end of this month by
senior managing director Shoei Utsuda, 59, who has spearheaded
Mitsui's restructuring since 2000.
Chairman Shigeji Ueshima, 71, will be succeeded by Vice President
Nobuo Ohashi.
The allegations of shady dealings follow the indictment of three
Mitsui employees in July for allegedly obtaining details about the
budget for a contract, later won by Mitsui, to build a power plant on
a Russian-held island claimed by Japan.
Since the three employees were arrested in early July, Mitsui's stock
has fallen nearly 26 percent. Its shares ended Wednesday down 0.16
percent at 613 yen, outperforming a 1.54 percent fall in the Nikkei
average
QUICK BOUNCE-BACK?
The management reshuffle comes at a time of growing concern about the
prospects of Japanese trading companies, which are vulnerable to
weakness in the U.S. economy and a stronger yen.
Mitsui and other big trading houses, once symbols of Japan's economic
power and famous for handling trade in everything from rockets to
expensive Italian suits, have been feverishly restructuring to cope
with new economic realities.
Despite its troubles, Mitsui is thought likely to benefit from
restructuring, along with industry leader Mitsubishi Corp and fourth-
ranked Sumitomo Corp
Mitsui has managed to post two consecutive years of record profits
despite lagging some of its rivals in its restructuring efforts, and
it has forecast a third year of record profit this year as its
restructuring efforts bear fruit.
"Mitsui will bounce back very quickly. It's basically a very strong
company," said Matt Aizawa, an analyst at Merrill Lynch.
"Things like this happen from time to time, and when you have a
strong base you can bounce back very quickly," Aizawa said.
The company said on Wednesday that it did not know of any lost
business due to the recent scandals, although it had readied itself
for possible fallout.
Last month, Mitsui reported an 8.9 percent fall in group net profit
to 18.37 billion yen ($156.8 million) in the April-June first quarter
as sales fell 7.9 percent to 2.92 trillion yen.
But it kept its full-year earnings forecast of a group net profit of
80 billion yen for the year to March 2003, up 45 percent from a year
earlier despite a slowdown in its energy and info-tech businesses.
Shimizu, who took over the reigns of Mitsui in June 2000, has not
decided whether he will remain in the firm where he has worked for 40
years.
"We have had two years of great results...and now we are in the key
second year of our mid-term plan," he said.
"For me to stand here in front of all of you in this way, at this
time, is truly heartbreaking."
-----------------
Aussie Hill wants states to handle own radioactive waste
Sept 4 (Australian Broadcasting Co) - South Australia's Environment
Minister, John Hill, has called on all state governments to handle
the storage of their own radioactive waste.
It comes as the Federal Government pushes ahead with plans to locate
a low level waste dump near Woomera, in South Australia's far north.
Mr Hill says South Australia should not be responsible for the
nation's nuclear waste and is legislating for a referendum on the
issue.
"We think it's appropriate that we look after our own waste...and we
have asked the EPA [Environment Protection Authority] to conduct an
audit of all the radioactive waste currently stored in SA and the
best way of looking after that waste," he said.
"We think each of the...[states] should do the same thing. We think
it's totally inappropriate to put all the waste all around Australia
in the desert parts of South Australia."
A nuclear researcher told the meeting it is increasingly likely
Australia could become the dumping ground for the world's high level
nuclear waste following reports of renewed interest from the Swiss-
based Association for Regional and International Underground
Storage.
But a Federal Government representative, Dr Keith Lokan, says the
Government would not be part of such a plan.
"That was pretty bloody arrogant of them to decide that Australia
would be the place for them," he said.
"It's been a very firm policy by succeeding Australian governments
that there would be no acceptance of waste from overseas. In
fact, that's contained in the regulations."
---------------
Radioactive water leaks at Ikata nuclear plant
MATSUYAMA, Japan, Sept. 3 (Kyodo) - Radioactive cooling water leaked
Monday at a reactor in the town of Ikata, Ehime
Prefecture, but no radiation was released into the environment,
Shikoku Electric Power Co. said Tuesday.
An employee found water leaking from a pipe around 3:15 p.m. Monday
at the No. 1 reactor at Shikoku Electric's Ikata nuclear
power plant, company officials said, adding that the leakage was
stopped at 8:08 p.m.
Some 230 cc of the coolant water which contained 550 becquerel (bq)
of radiation leaked, they said, adding that there is no harmful
effect on the environment with such an amount of radiation. The
amount was the same as that in hot springs, they said.
The government has designated the standard for mandatory reporting of
radiation leakage at 3.7 million bq, but the amount in the
leak was well below the standard, the officials said.
One drop was leaking every five seconds during the period in question
at the 566,000-kilowatt pressurized-water reactor from a hole
in the pipe, which has a 22-millimeter diameter, according to the
officials. The pipe returns coolant water to a filling pump,
according
to the officials.
The filling pump is used to put coolant water back into the reactor's
main circulatory system after the water is purified.
-----------------
TEPCO shuts down Fukushima reactor after radiation leak
TOKYO, Sept. 3 (Kyodo) - Tokyo Electric Power Co. has begun shutting
down a reactor in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern
Japan, following a radiation leak Monday, company officials said
Tuesday.
The company said no unusual levels of radiation were detected in the
atmosphere outside the premises of its Fukushima No. 2
nuclear power plant.
The leak follows revelations that Tokyo Electric Power falsified
reports and failed to carry out repairs on cracks in nuclear
reactors,
including the one being shut down, for more than 10 years. The
company said, however, that the leak is not related to the scandal.
The officials said instruments detected radiation of about 100 times
the normal level in the steam to drive a turbine at the No. 2
reactor of the plant at 7:44 p.m. Monday. Slightly higher than normal
levels of radiation was detected in exhaust from the building, it
said.
Prior to the leak, radiation levels were found to have risen at 5:49
p.m. Monday in circulating cooling water at the reactor.
The company said it suspects a minute hole in a tube containing
nuclear fuel allowed radiation to leak to the coolant water, leading
to the high levels of radiation in the steam.
In the scandal that came to light last week, Tokyo Electric Power
reportedly falsified reports on a crack in the shroud of the 1.1
million kilowatt boiling-water reactor in the Fukushima No. 2 plant,
and continued operating it without mending the crack.
The officials said that as the reactor is being shut down, the
company will check the shroud now instead of in late October as
earlier
planned.
------------------
Ibaraki couple file damages suit over 1999 nuclear accident
MITO, Japan, Sept. 3 (Kyodo) - A couple in Hitachi, Ibaraki
Prefecture, filed a suit Tuesday with the Mito District Court against
nuclear processing firm JCO Co. and its parent company seeking 60
million yen in compensation for endangering their health as a
result of Japan's worst nuclear accident in 1999.
Shoichi Oizumi, 73, and his 62-year-old wife Keiko are the first
local residents to file a civil suit against JCO and Sumitomo Metal
Mining Co. over radiation exposure caused by the nuclear accident.
Oizumi owns an auto parts company located about 120 meters west of
the JCO plant in Tokaimura in the eastern Japan prefecture
where the accident occurred and both he and his wife were in the
factory at the time.
Following the incident, he suffered from eczema on his hands. His
wife was hospitalized for gastric ulcer and upon being discharged,
was diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
On Sept. 30, 1999, a nuclear fission chain reaction occurred at the
uranium processing plant, 120 kilometers northeast of Tokyo,
when workers using buckets poured too much of the uranium solution
into a processing tank.
Two of the plant workers died later from radiation sickness and more
than 600 people were exposed to radiation as a result of the
accident.
On Monday, prosecutors sought at the same district court prison terms
ranging from two and a half years to four years for six JCO
officials, and a 1 million yen fine for the company, for charges
including negligence resulting in death.
The six and the company itself have pleaded guilty to the charges.
-------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Director, Technical
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax:(714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
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