May 27, 2012
Akahata Sunday edition
More than half of the storage pools for spent nuclear fuel at nuclear power plants throughout Japan will be at full capacity in 8 years if the reactors continue to operate.
According to an estimate which the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy submitted to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in April, the storage pools at the Tokai Daini nuclear power plant in Ibaraki Prefecture will be the first ones to be filled with spent nuclear fuel to capacity, in 3.1 years.
The capacities will be reached in 4 years at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP (Niigata Pref.) and the Genkai NPP (Kumamoto Pref.). The Tomari NPP (Hokkaido Pref.) has the largest remaining time to reach capacity, 16.5 years.
The total amount of spent nuclear fuel stored at nuclear power plants amounts to 14,200 tons, in addition to another 2,899 tons placed at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture, which is capable of storing 3,000 tons of spent fuel.
The reprocessing plant is a facility for extracting plutonium from spent nuclear fuel for reuse. The government estimates that to carry out its present plan to reprocess all spent fuel needs at least 14.4 trillion yen.
Amid such difficult conditions, the Noda Cabinet is still promoting the restart of nuclear power plants and the export of nuclear technology which will lead to a worldwide proliferation of plutonium, warns Yoshii Hidekatsu, Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member.
Yoshii stressed that now is the time to break away from the NPP-dependent energy structure by encouraging each community to develop their own natural energy sources and connecting the renewable energy-related efforts with creating local jobs.
More than half of the storage pools for spent nuclear fuel at nuclear power plants throughout Japan will be at full capacity in 8 years if the reactors continue to operate.
According to an estimate which the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy submitted to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in April, the storage pools at the Tokai Daini nuclear power plant in Ibaraki Prefecture will be the first ones to be filled with spent nuclear fuel to capacity, in 3.1 years.
The capacities will be reached in 4 years at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP (Niigata Pref.) and the Genkai NPP (Kumamoto Pref.). The Tomari NPP (Hokkaido Pref.) has the largest remaining time to reach capacity, 16.5 years.
The total amount of spent nuclear fuel stored at nuclear power plants amounts to 14,200 tons, in addition to another 2,899 tons placed at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture, which is capable of storing 3,000 tons of spent fuel.
The reprocessing plant is a facility for extracting plutonium from spent nuclear fuel for reuse. The government estimates that to carry out its present plan to reprocess all spent fuel needs at least 14.4 trillion yen.
Amid such difficult conditions, the Noda Cabinet is still promoting the restart of nuclear power plants and the export of nuclear technology which will lead to a worldwide proliferation of plutonium, warns Yoshii Hidekatsu, Japanese Communist Party House of Representatives member.
Yoshii stressed that now is the time to break away from the NPP-dependent energy structure by encouraging each community to develop their own natural energy sources and connecting the renewable energy-related efforts with creating local jobs.
