Fukushima Daiichi Still Raising Radiation Concerns, Spent Fuel Policy Unclear

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--More than a year has passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, owned and operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated (TYO:9501) (TEPCO) (Tokyo). However, the power station and the global ramifications of its disaster are still discussed in the media. The earthquake and ensuing tsunami caused meltdowns at three of the six reactors at the power station, and destroyed the housing around the spent fuel pool of a fourth. Thus, the spent fuel pool is exposed to open air, raising concerns from experts, while continuous problems in the cleanup effort are forcing local officials to take a more personal interest in the problem.

TEPCO's current long-term decommissioning plan for Fukushima Daiichi expects the removal of spent nuclear fuel to take 10 years to complete, having started four months ago. However, many experts are concerned that this is too long of a timeline and that removal of spent fuel, especially from Unit 4's pool, must be done on an accelerated schedule. The housing for Unit 4 was destroyed in a hydrogen explosion shortly after the earthquake. As a result, the spent fuel pool is exposed to the open air. Of prime concern is the possibility of another earthquake of sufficient magnitude. Should the fuel pool crack or begin to leak, too much water and the fuel rods will become exposed to the air, and there is a possibility that they may ignite. In this scenario, the conflagration would send vast amounts of radioactive particles into the atmosphere--potentially thousands of kilometers away, similar to the Chernobyl disaster. Estimates say that another 7- to 7.5-magnitude earthquake could cause the pool to crack.

However, even if TEPCO removed the fuel rods, the question of what to do with them is still under debate. The Japanese government is still debating propositions for future nuclear policy. Depending on whether or not Japan decides to continue to use nuclear power, spent fuel will need to be disposed of entirely, recycled into mixed-oxide fuel (MOX fuel) for use in specialized reactors, or a mix of the two. Japan has a spent fuel reprocessing facility in Rokkasho-mura, owned and operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (Rokkasho, Japan) (JNFL). However, it has faced several delays and is not fully operational. JNFL also owns a spent fuel dry cask storage, as well as low-level nuclear waste storage facilities; however, it does not have the capacity to handle all the spent fuel from all of Japan's reactors.

The situation on the ground at Fukushima Daiichi has been plagued with problems. In the winter, water circulation cooling systems had their pipes burst in the freezing temperatures. Last fall, contaminated water purification systems experienced leaks, failures, and total shutdowns. This past spring, the Japanese government ordered that the facilities set up as temporary measures to stabilize the reactor be made more permanent. In spite of this, TEPCO saw water leaks, cooling system failures, and a loss of nitrogen injection capacity through March and April. As a result, the Fukushima prefectural government dispatched a team on May 20 to investigate the site's safety measures following TEPCO's implementation of new safety and security measures, such as security cameras and increased patrols. After the investigation, the prefectural government ascertained that while TEPCO had implemented all the safety and security measures promised, there was still much room for improvement.

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