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TEPCO to ask gov't for 700 bil. yen to meet compensation needs

TOKYO, Oct. 18, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to ask the government for roughly 700 billion yen in aid to cover its immediate compensation payments in connection with the nuclear disaster at its power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The aid is expected to form the main pillar of a forthcoming special operating plan to be formulated in early November with a state-backed fund-providing body called the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, the sources said.

The amount of money the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, known as TEPCO, will have to pay in compensation by the end of March 2013 is projected to reach 4.54 trillion yen. english.kyodonews.jp

running through recent government files on sellafield and this is a magnox doc www.nda.gov.uk

@elainekirk Sounds like it would be somewhat direct to take a Magnox processing plant and turning one into a MOX processing plant. I am assuming Selafield had more than one and they were of a better standard than the original plutonium factories at Hanford.

Here is the one where UK talking of building new mox plant www.independent.co.uk

this is a sept gov doc
Achieve major milestones on high hazard ponds and silos at Sellafield, including the
installation of retrieval infrastructure in pond B30 (due to complete Mar 2014)Achieve major milestones on high hazard ponds and silos at Sellafield, including the
installation of retrieval infrastructure in pond B30 (due to complete Mar 2014) docs.google.com

@M.I.A. they re twixt the devil and the deep blue sea

At approximately 11:00 am, while we
were replacing the motor of the pumps (H2-2) in the skid of the
suspended Cesium absorption apparatus, a puddle of water was found in
the skid. The cause is currently under investigation. www.tepco.co.jp

@M.I.A. So the old MOX plant is toast. They have no MOX customers, but want to make MOX fuel and bury it. They are unsure what they are going to do with the THORPE plant. ugh.

www.hse.gov.uk
HSE Guidance Industries Office for Nuclear Regulation Reports Fukushima and the UK nuclear industry Submissions of information

Airlines: Chilean volcano's ashes ground flights www.businessweek.com

hi @elaine.. I am not broken up over the fact that the MOX fuel processing facility and subsequent use of MOX fuel in NPP's may all come to an end. I haven't been a proponent of the MOX since back in the day of testing the fuel systems.

ty @ elaine, it all goes back to the fact that these huge plants were built within an assumed safety envelope of operation, systems were sized etc to accomodate the fuel systems assumed. When extreme deviations are made to these enveloping requirements (such as MOX fuel and INCREASING power operation above that originally analyzed, or extending the life of the facility by 20 years) I believe the increased risks far outway the benefits.

indeed @ lilly or some developing technology...

Edano says Japan still considering ending nuclear power www.reuters.com

imagine taking a 1965 chevrolet and putting a 5000 hp dragster engine in it and then see what happens as it tries to approach 330 mph in around 4.5 sec's at a drag strip. to achieve that the 1965 chevrolet must withstand a force of 4G's during the acceleration ... whewwwwwwwwwww

a few stats for those monster dragsters...

In Ireland there is great anger about the radioactive material that is pumped from Sellafield into the Irish Sea and fear of the consequences of a nuclear accident or terrorist attack on Sellafield. Reflecting this, Irish energy minister, Joe Jacob, described Blair’s decision as ‘incomprehensible’. He said that his government will exploit ‘every legal avenue’ to try to stop it. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are also considering legal action, using European Union or United Nations laws or conventions. Under European law, the plant has to be economically viable to justify its radioactive discharges. Challenges are being made on this issue because BNFL has only managed to obtain orders from Germany and Switzerland for Mox fuel, orders that would require just 40% of the plant’s capacity.

The biggest generator of nuclear energy in Britain, privatised British Energy, has refused to use Mox fuel. Japan had been lined up as a key buyer, but pulled out in 1999 when it was revealed that BNFL had forged quality control records for early versions of the fuel.

@dean Japan also returned the 1999 load of faulty MOX fuel BNFL sent over.

Um.

Office for Civilian Nuclear Security has declared there to be no risk attached to the new plant. But this ‘security’ body is financed by the government’s Department of Trade and Industry, the same department that owns and controls British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) which, in turn, runs the Sellafield nuclear complex.

PROLIFERATION WORLDWIDE

A U.S. plutonium fuel program would send a clear signal to other countries: the U.S. government approves of separated plutonium fuel programs. This would undercut the government's ability to discourage reprocessing in other countries and may encourage other countries to pursue plutonium programs. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Director John Holum explained the situation clearly in a memorandum to former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary:

"U.S. decisions on plutonium disposition are inextricably linked with U.S. efforts to reduce stockpiles as well as limit the use of plutonium worldwide. The multi-decade institutionalization of plutonium use in US commercial reactors would set a very damaging precedent for US non-proliferation policy."

The alternative, to encase the plutonium in ceramics or glass (immobilization), will not affect the government's non-proliferation goals, nor encourage civilian reprocessing in the U.S. or elsewhere. Immobilizing plutonium will send the proper signal that plutonium is a dangerous waste and needs to be treated as such.