- Japanese Governor reluctantly okays nuclear waste unloading.
Reuters Environment News
By Midoriko Morita
MUTSU-OGAWARA, Japan - The governor of a Japanese prefecture ended a three-day stand off with the central government and granted permission on Friday for a British ship to unload its cargo of high-level nuclear waste.
Aomori prefectural governor Morio Kimura gave permission to unload the ship after receiving personal safety assurances from Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto about the cargo.
"The government as a whole will work to hammer out a plan to determine a final destination for the waste," Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka was quoted as telling Kimura during their meeting in Tokyo.
Kimura also met with Hashimoto after clearing the unloading of the waste in a phone call to his prefectural office.
The Pacific Swan, carrying 24 tonnes of nuclear waste, had entered Mutsu-Ogawara port earlier on Friday and unloading was in progress, harbour officials said.
About 30 demonstrators were at the port to protest what they said were inadequate safety measures to protect local residents.
They also want the Japanese government to set a time limit on storing the waste in Aomori Prefecture.
The Pacific Swan is carrying nuclear waste recycled by France's state-run nuclear firm Cogema. It left the French port of Cherbourg in late January, running into protests from environmental groups during its passage through the Panama Canal.
It was the third similar shipment of nuclear waste to the port, located 580 km (360 miles) northeast of Tokyo, following similar loads in 1995 and 1997.
Kimura had barred the 50,000-tonne Pacific Swan's entry until Hashimoto gave him the personal assurance that Japan's nuclear industry was safe and that the waste would eventually be moved from his prefecture.
Japan, lacking sufficient facilities to reprocess most of its spent nuclear fuel, relies on Britain and France to reprocess the hazardous material.
Tokyo plans eventually to ship 7,100 tonnes of spent fuel to France and Britain for reprocessing into 30 tonnes of fuel-grade plutonium, yielding 3,000 tonnes of waste.
Japan's 52 commercial nuclear reactors currently provide about one-third of the country's electric power.
Safety concerns about Japan's nuclear programme were raised last March after a radiation leak at the Tokaimura nuclear processing plant 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Investigations revealed other problems at nuclear facilities and systematic cover-ups of accidents by nuclear authorities.
In 1995, Kimura barred another British nuclear ship that had sailed from France, the Pacific Pintail, from entering the port, demanding assurances from the central government that Aomori would not be the final disposal ground of nuclear waste.
Kimura lifted the ban the following day after receiving a written assurance promising not to bury the waste in his prefecture permanently. ((Tokyo newsroom +813 3432-8018 email: tokyo.newsroom@reuters.com)).
- Birds at UK reprocessing plant are "flying nuclear waste" -- Greenpeace.
Reuters Environment News
LONDON - Pigeons living near a British plutonium processing plant are picking up so much radioactivity that they have become "flying nuclear waste", environmental pressure group Greenpeace said on Thursday.
It said the pigeons in the area around British Nuclear Fuels' (BNFL) Sellafield plant were contaminated with dangerous radioactive isotopes including Americium and Caesium and posed a serious threat to human health.
"These pigeons are getting exposed to deadly nuclear material which they then carry off-site," Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace said in a statement.
BNFL dismissed Greenpeace's allegations as "irresponsible scaremongering."
"The data which Greenpeace are basing these allegations on is entirely consistent with BNFL's own monitoring and is nothing new," it said in a statement.
"It is nonsense to suggest that contaminated pigeons are flying nuclear waste," it added.
The pressure group analysed flesh and feathers from the pigeons and soil contaminated by their faeces.
"In some cases, internal contamination of the pigeons was found to be beyond safety levels set by the European Community in the aftermath of nuclear accidents," the statement said.
"Greenpeace's samples show that pigeon droppings have contaminated soil off the Sellafield site to levels of radioactivity higher than those which forced the U.S. government to clean up after nuclear weapons testing at Rongelap Atol in the Pacific."
Britain's agriculture ministry last month issued an unprecedented warning to people in the Sellafield area not to handle or eat pigeons.
But Greenpeace said the ministry had given no indication of the huge extent of the contamination. It called on the government to investigate just how the pigeons had become contaminated and what risks they posed.
- Unloading of UK nuclear waste ship in Japan postponed again.
Reuters Environment News
By Midoriko MoritaMUTSU-OGAWARA, Japan - A British ship carrying hazardous nuclear waste from France to Japan was unable to unload its cargo for a second day on Wednesday, after the region's governor continued to deny it entry to harbour.
"We have given up unloading for today," said Michiyoshi Kuba, a spokesman for Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JFNL), owners of the cargo.
The Pacific Swan and its 24-tonne cargo are caught in the middle of a row between Aomori Governor Morio Kimura and the central government in Tokyo over the safety of Japan's nuclear industry and the future of the waste.
The freighter was scheduled to unload its 60 stainless steel containers on Tuesday, but Kimura denied the ship access to the port of Mutsu-Ogawara less than an hour before its scheduled docking. The British-flagged freighter has been sailing just outside Japanese waters off the port waiting for the row to be settled.
The Pacific Swan is carrying nuclear waste recycled by France's state-run nuclear firm Cogema. It left the French port of Cherbourg in late January, running into protests from environmental groups during its passage through the Panama Canal.
Kuba said the ship had not been refuelled since it left Cherbourg and he could not say how much longer the freighter could go without refuelling.
It would be the third similar shipment of nuclear waste to the port, located 580 km (360 miles) northeast of Tokyo, following similar loads in 1995 and 1997.
Governor Kimura said he barred the 50,000-tonne Pacific Swan's entry after Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto refused to grant him a meeting to get a personal assurance that Japan's nuclear industry was safe and that the waste would eventually be moved from his prefecture.
"I want to meet the prime minister to hear from him personally that the central government is working on this issue. How can he not acknowledge the necessity of such a meeting?" Kimura told reporters.
Japan, lacking sufficient facilities to reprocess most of its spent nuclear fuel, relies on Britain and France to reprocess the hazardous material.
Tokyo plans eventually to ship 7,100 tonnes of spent fuel to France and Britain for reprocessing into 30 tonnes of fuel-grade plutonium, yielding 3,000 tonnes of waste.
Japan's 52 commercial nuclear reactors currently provide about one-third of the country's electric power.
Safety concerns about Japan's nuclear programme were raised last March after a radiation leak at the Tokaimura nuclear processing plant 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Investigations revealed other problems at nuclear facilities and systematic cover-ups of accidents by nuclear authorities.
In 1995, Kimura barred another British nuclear ship that had sailed from France, the Pacific Pintail, from entering the port, demanding assurances from the central government that Aomori would not be the final disposal ground of nuclear waste.
Kimura lifted the ban the following day after receiving a written assurance promising not to bury the waste in his prefecture permanently.
- Japanese Governor bars entry of British ship carrying nuclear waste.
Reuters Environment News
MUTSU-OGAWARA, Japan - A Japanese regional governor on Tuesday barred a British freighter carrying nuclear waste from entering a port in his prefecture, a port spokesman said.
The Pacific Swan, carrying 24 tonnes of nuclear waste recycled in France, was standing off the northern Japanese port of Mutsu-Ogawara waiting for a row about its entry to be settled between Governor Morio Kimura of Aomori Prefecture and the Tokyo central government.
"The governor has told us that we are currently not in a situation to allow the docking of the ship," the port spokesman told Reuters.
Governor Kimura took the decision to bar the Pacific Swan's entry after Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto refused to grant him a meeting that he has demanded to get a personal assurance that Japan's nuclear industry is safe. It would be the third similar shipment of nuclear waste to the port, 580 km (360 miles) northeast of Tokyo, since 1995.
Japan, lacking sufficient facilities to reprocess most of its spent nuclear fuel, relies on Britain and France to reprocess the hazardous material.
The by-products - plutonium and radioactive waste - which the Pacific Swan is carrying are then returned to Japan. Tokyo plans eventually to ship 7,100 tonnes of spent fuel to France and Britain for reprocessing into 30 tonnes of fuel-grade plutonium, yielding 3,000 tonnes of waste.
- Japanese wrangle over ship carrying nuclear waste from Cogema.
Reuters Environment News
By Midoriko MoritaMUTSU-OGAWARA, Japan - On the eve of its arrival, a British ship carrying processed nuclear waste from France back to Japan, was caught in the middle of row on Monday about whether it would be allowed to dock.
The British-flagged freighter Pacific Swan, carrying 24 tonnes of nuclear waste recycled by France's state-run nuclear firm Cogema, left the French port of Cherbourg in late January and is scheduled to unload its cargo in the northern Japanese port of Mutsu-Ogawara on Tuesday.
But Governor Morio Kimura of Aomori Prefecture, where the port is located 580 km (360 miles) northeast of Tokyo, warned on Monday he may not allow the 50,000-ton ship into harbour unless he gets a personal assurance from Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto that Japan's nuclear industry is safe.
"Unless I am able to meet with the prime minister, I may have to make a serious decision," Kimura told reporters in threatening not to allow the ship to dock.
Safety concerns about Japan's nuclear programme were raised last March after a radiation leak at the Tokaimura nuclear processing plant 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Subsequent investigations revealed other problems at nuclear facilities and systematic cover-ups of accidents by nuclear authorities.
Police reinforcements have taken up positions at the port but there were fewer than 20 nuclear protesters at the site.
In 1995, Kimura barred another British nuclear ship from France, the Pacific Pintail, from entering the port, demanding assurances from the central government that Aomori would not be the final disposal ground of nuclear waste.
Kimura lifted the ban the following day after receiving a written assurance from Tokyo promising not to bury the waste in his prefecture permanently.
A similar 1997 shipment went ahead without problems.
Kimura said he had repeatedly asked to meet with Hashimoto but the prime minister's office had informed him it could not find time for a meeting.
Japan, lacking sufficient facilities to reprocess most of its spent nuclear fuel, relies on Britain and France to reprocess the hazardous material.
The by-products - plutonium and radioactive waste - which the Pacific Swan is carrying, are then returned to Japan. Tokyo plans eventually to ship 7,100 tonnes of spent fuel to France and Britain for reprocessing into 30 tonnes of fuel-grade plutonium, yielding 3,000 tonnes of waste.
Japan's 52 commercial nuclear reactors currently provide about one-third of the country's electric power. ((Tokyo Newsroom, +81-3 3432-8018 tokyo.newsroom@reuters.com)).
- Japanese Governor threatens to bar ship bringing nuclear waste.
Reuters Environment News
TOKYO - The governor of a Japanese prefecture said he will refuse entry to a ship carrying high-level nuclear waste unless he can meet with Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, a national daily reported on Sunday.
Aomori Governor Morio Kimura said the meeting with the premier was needed to ensure the safety of residents in the northern prefecture when the ship arrives this week, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
The waste, recycled by France's Cogema company, is scheduled to arrive in Aomori on Tuesday. It will be the third such shipment of Japanese nuclear waste recycled in Europe and sent back to Japan.
"I must be able to meet with the prime minister if I am to be able to make this serious decision," Kimura said at a press conference.
Prefectural officials have previously expressed concern that Aomori may become the permanent site for storing the highly toxic waste.
Kimura said he wanted to meet Hashimoto to discuss the nation's nuclear policy, but Hashimoto's office said it could not find time to arrange a meeting, the newspaper said.
International protests questioning the safety of transporting such large quantities of high-level nuclear material were lodged in 1995 and 1997 when similar shipments were made.
The canisters of nuclear waste will be taken to the Mutsu-Ogawara Port located within a reprocessing plant complex at Rokkasho village in Aomori Prefecture, about 580 km (360 miles) northeast of Tokyo, which is operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.
Safety concerns about Japan's nuclear program were raised last March after a radiation leak caused by a fire and explosion at the Tokaimura nuclear processing plant 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Subsequent investigations revealed other problems at Japan's nuclear facilities and systematic cover-ups of accidents by Japan's nuclear authorities. ((Tokyo newsroom +813 3432-8018 email: tokyo.newsroom@reuters.com)).
- Planned dummy-bomb test using depleted uranium draws protests.
Reuters Environment News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Environmentalists, Indian organizations and disarmament activists are seeking to block at the last minute a dummy-bomb test the U.S. Air Force plans to carry out at a remote site in the interior of Alaska.
In the test, scheduled for next Wednesday, two bomb casings are to be dropped onto a permafrost-covered military bombing range about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Fairbanks. The test is designed to study the bomb casings' durability and degree of penetration into frozen ground.
But critics said they feared the test could result in contamination by the depleted uranium used in the bomb casings to make them denser. They said the uranium was radioactive, had been linked to cancer, and could harm the area's wildlife and residents.
"We simply cannot accept Air Force assurances of safety when precious habitat, fish and wildlife, subsistence resources, and human health and safety are at risk," said a letter of protest sent this week to President Bill Clinton from more than 100 organizations in Alaska and elsewhere.
The critics, led by Alaska Community Action on Toxics, a spinoff of Greenpeace, also charged that the test violated national policies and international agreements to limit the expansion of nuclear-weapons arsenals.
Other organizations seeking to halt the test include Alaska's Council of Athabaskan Tribal Governments, the Minnesota-based Indigenous Environmental Network, and peace and environmental groups from as far away as Turkey, Japan and Norway.
Air Force officials said the activists' fears were misplaced because no detonation of the dummy bombs was planned.
"There will be no explosion. There will be no fire. These will be inert units," Capt. Don Langley of Eielson Air Force Base, near Fairbanks, said.
The Air Force has already made 24 similar test drops of the bomb casings into a variety of surfaces, including concrete, Maj. Joe Mecadon of the Air Force's Alaska command unit said. In none of those drops has the steel casing cracked, he said.
The final test, into frozen soil and permafrost, can be conducted only in Alaska, Langley said.
The tests are necessary to develop the earth-penetrating B61-11 bomb, Air Force officials said.
Langley said federal and state agencies had granted the appropriate permits for next week's Alaska test. "None of the agencies have found any reason why this test could not be done and the data cannot be analyzed," he said.
Pam Miller of Alaska Community Action on Toxics said the Air Force claims did little to assure her of the test's safety.
"We've no reason to trust the military," she said. "They've betrayed our trust many times in the past."
Environmentalists in the Fairbanks area said the Air Force did a poor job of informing the public or responding to local concerns about the test, planned for a region known as the Tanana Flats.
"The first time that a lot of people heard about this was long after the public comment period closed, which is kind of disturbing to us," Sara Callaghan of the Fairbanks-based Northern Alaska Environmental Center, said Friday. "We really think that the public needs to determine what the actual costs are."