UK Government ignores Hitachi's record on nuclear safety

Undaunted by the lack of demand for nuclear reactor systems in its home country, Hitachi is now seeking to sell the systems abroad. In the UK the company aims to do this through the acquisition of Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture between E.On and RWE. Those companies announced in late March 2012 that they had abandonned nuclear new-build plans in the UK, citing a "combination of these strategic factors, together with the significant ongoing costs" and had put the business up for sale. Hitachi now plans to build new reactors in Wylfa (on Anglesey) and Oldbury (near Bristol).

The UK is seen as a target ripe for new nuclear development because of a coalition Government which portrays nuclear as a "low-carbon" option. David Cameron hailed Hitachi's announcement, saying "I warmly welcome Hitachi as a major new player in the UK energy sector" and talking of some 12,000 construction jobs which might be created short-term.

Importing disaster

The Fukushima nuclear disaster has left nearly 1000 square kilometres - an area the size of Manhattan - uninhabitable because of high radiation levels. The disaster has meant that there is now a moratorium on the building of new nuclear reactors in Japan. One of the reactor systems, whose failure has caused such widespread contamination, was built by the Japanese company Hitachi.

The nuclear reactors proposed for Wylfa and Oldbury are of the same type used at Fukushima. This is a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), based on a design by General Electric and available from a number of companies, including General Electric, Toshiba and Hitachi. The technology involves a reactor core which boils water, which turns to steam that is used to drive a turbine to make electricity. The same technology was used by reactors at both Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Cover-up culture

In March 2011 a Japanese whistle-blower revealed that there had been a cover-up of a manufacturing defect in the containment vessel for the Fukushima No. 4 reactor, made by Hitachi. The engineer, Mitsuhiko Tanaka, worked for Hitachi and was asked in 1974 to conceal a dent in the vessel caused by an error during the production process at the Babock-Hitachi foundry in Kure City. Tanaka devised a method to repair the damage, saving the company billions of yen in re-engineering costs but leaving the safety of the vessel potentially compromised.

He tried to tell the Japanese Trade Minstry about the cover-up in 1988 but officials refused to investigate and Hitachi denied the accusations. Tanaka told Bloomberg News last year "They said, if Hitachi says they didn’t do it, then there’s no problem. Companies don’t always tell the truth."

The question of waste

Forever hovering over the nuclear debate is the question of disposal of radioactive waste. Some seventy years after the first reactor was built, there is still no satisfactory solution for the disposal of the highly-radioactive waste materials produced. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estimates that the UK has produced some 5 million tonnes of nuclear waste and says in a 2010 report "Facilities for disposing of HLW [High Level Waste], ILW [Intermediate Level Waste] and LLW [Low Level Waste] unsuitable for near-surface disposal have yet to be developed – these wastes are currently stored."

by Marcus Williamson
Freelance Journalist
31 October 2012
[Please cite the name of the author if using material from this article in another publication, thank you]

TEPCO sets date for AGM amidst lawsuit, bailout and questions in Parliament

Denies AGM access to the media

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the troubled operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, has revealed the date of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and stated that it will not admit members of the media into the meeting.

The TEPCO 2012 AGM will be held from 10:00am on Wednesday 27 June at the First Gymnasium of the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, according to an e-mail received from TEPCO Corporate Communications. Spokesperson Mayumi Yoshida explained "Media is not allowed to get inside the meeting, though we will guide media to a certain area to take photos around the entrance."

The 2011 AGM was the scene of angry verbal confrontations between executives and shareholders, as nearly 9000 people packed into the meeting hall and demonstrators gathered outside. A shareholder motion for TEPCO to abandon nuclear energy was defeated at that meeting.

Losses

TEPCO reported an annual loss of US$15 billion (1.25 trillion yen) prior to the 2011 AGM and a US$10 billion (782 billion yen) loss for year to 31 March 2012. All of the 54 nuclear reactors in Japan are currently shut down and 80,000 people who were living close to the Fukushima plant have had to leave their homes.

Criminal Complaint

1300 people have today filed a criminal complaint against the TEPCO chairman and 32 other executives, according to a report in the Japan Daily Press (11 June). The complaint, lodged with the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office, alleges that the company executives failed to prepare countermeasures for earthquakes or tsunamis and did not properly warn the population about the spread of radiation.

Bailout

On 9 May TEPCO received a 1 trillion yen (US $12.5 billion) bailout from the Japanese government, in return for a controlling stake. The cash injection was necessary to avoid a collapse of the company. The shares will be held by a new body, the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund.

Questions in Parliament

On Friday last week the former president of TEPCO, Masataka Shimizu, faced a government-appointed panel to answer questions about his conduct during the Fukushima incident. In response to questions about a planned total evacuation of the site, he told panel members that TEPCO had "at no stage considered a complete pullout".

by Marcus Williamson
Freelance Journalist
11 June 2012

[Please credit the author if you use this article as a source of information for your own writing or broadcasting]