Sun Apr 3, 2011 12:52pm GMT
* Cracked pit one possible source of radiation leaks
* More bodies recovered from tsunami-hit coast
* Surivor tells harrowing story of rising water
By Chizu Nomiyama and Yoko Nishikawa
TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Japan's government warned on Sunday it may take months to stop radiation leaking from a nuclear plant crippled by a huge earthquake and tsunami three weeks ago, as more bodies were recovered in devastated areas of northeast Japan.
An aide to embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the government's priority was to stop radiation leaks which were scaring the public and hindering work on cooling overheated nuclear fuel rods.
"We have not escaped from a crisis situation, but it is somewhat stabilised," said Goshi Hosono, a ruling party lawmaker and aide to Kan.
"How long will it take to achieve (the goal of stopping the radiation leakage)? I think several months would be one target," Hosono said on a nationwide Fuji TV programme on Sunday.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) found a crack in a concrete pit at its No.2 reactor in the Fukushima Daiichi complex at the weekend, generating readings of 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside.
The leaks did not stop after concrete was poured into the pit, and TEPCO turned to water-absorbent polymers to prevent any more contaminated water from going out.
The latest effort to staunch the flow of radioactive water into the Pacific started on Sunday afternoon. Workers then topped the polymers with more concrete.
"We were hoping the polymers would function like diapers but are yet to see a visible effect," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Officials believe the crack could be one source of the radiation leaks that have hobbled efforts to control the six-reactor complex and sent radiation levels in the sea soaring to 4,000 times the legal limit.
The battle to cool overheated reactors and avoid dangerous meltdowns of the highly radioactive fuel rods has seen workers hose saltwater into reactors, but this has left the facility awash with contaminated saltwater, preventing workers getting closer to the reactors.
Nishiyama said fresh water was now being pumped into No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors using external power, which was more stable than the emergency diesel generators previously being used.
He said the three reactors were now generally stable.
PM UNDER PRESSURE
The 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami on March 11 has left nearly 28,000 people dead or missing and Japan's northeast coast a splintered wreck. The disaster has hit economic production and left a damages bill which may top $300 billion.
After a three day intensive air and sea search by thousands of U.S. and Japanese forces another 77 bodies were recovered, Kyodo news agency said on Sunday.
Prime Minister Kan is under intense pressure to steer Japan through its worst crisis since World War Two, but after three weeks many Japanese are angry that the humanitarian disaster seems to have taken a back seat to the nuclear crisis.
Unpopular and under pressure to quit or call a snap poll before the disaster, Kan has been criticised for his crisis management.
When Kan visited the devastated fishing port of Rikuzentakata on Saturday, survivors struggling to rebuild their lives complained that he had not visited them earlier.
More than 163,710 people are living in shelters, with more than 70,000 people evacuated from a 20 km (12 mile) no-go zone area the nuclear plant, and another 136,000 people living a further 10 km out have been told to leave or stay indoors.
Harrowing stories are still emerging of just what happened on the fateful afternoon of March 11.
Civil servant Takako Suzuki, 40, narrowly escaped when water rose to within a few inches from the ceiling of an evacuation centre she had rushed to. "I was thinking 'if the water rises a little bit, I'm finished' - but fortunately the water suddenly stopped rising and began receding," she said.
Suzuki spent a night huddled with 11 other survivors in the deep water, bodies floating around them.
MOVES TO STOP POWER BLACKOUTS
The world's third largest economy has seen manufacturing slump to a two-year low as a result of power outages and quake damage hitting supply chains and production.
General Electric Co , which helped build the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will help TEPCO supply electricity in the coming summer months when power demand soars.
Demand for power jumps in Japan in summer due to heavy usage of air-conditioners.
The government has said it will restrict maximum power usage by companies during the hotter months in an effort to avoid further blackouts.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Japanese economy would take a short-term hit and it could not rule out further intervention for the yen.
Farmers in the countryside surrounding the reactor are fretting that consumers in Japan will reject their crops.
"Grown in Fukushima" has become a warning label for those nervous of radiation which has already been found in some vegetables close to the nuclear plant.
"There is no way we will be able to sell anything," said 73-year-old farmer Akio Abiko. "People in Tokyo are just too sensitive about this kind of thing."
A group of farmers came to Tokyo from Fukushima at the weekend, using Geiger counters to show their produce was safe. (Additional reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Kubota in in Tokyo, David Dolan in Fukushima and Damir Sagolj in Rikuzentakata; Writing by Michael Perry and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andrew Marshall, sourced Thomson Reuters)
Showing posts with label radiation leaks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radiation leaks. Show all posts
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Japan orders immediate safety upgrade at nuclear plants
Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:52pm BSTBy Risa Maeda and Yoko Kubota
TOKYO(Reuters) - Japan ordered an immediate safety upgrade at its 55 nuclear power plants on Wednesday in its first acknowledgment that standards were inadequate when an earthquake and tsunami wrecked a facility nearly three weeks ago, sparking the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.
As operators struggle to regain control of the damaged Daiichi nuclear reactors 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, radiation leakage continued, with radioactive iodine in the sea off the damaged plant at record levels. The state nuclear safety agency said the amounts were 3,355 times the legal limit.
Smoke was reported coming from a second damaged nuclear plant site in Fukushima on Wednesday, with authorities citing an electric distribution board as the problem.
It is not known how serious the problem was at the Daini plant, which has been put into cold shutdown and is several miles from the stricken Daiichi power facility.
Anger at Japan's nuclear crisis saw more than 100 people, chanting "stop nuclear power", protest outside the Tokyo headquarters of nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on Wednesday.
"We don't want to use electric power that can kill people," said Waseda University student Mina Umeda.
A Reuters investigation showed Japan and TEPCO repeatedly played down dangers at its nuclear plants and ignored warnings, including a 2007 tsunami study from the utility's senior safety engineer.
The research paper concluded there was a roughly 10 percent chance that a tsunami could test or overrun the defences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant within a 50-year span based on the most conservative assumptions.
The new safety steps, to be completed by the end of April, include preparing back-up power in case of loss of power supply, and having fire trucks with hoses ready at all times to intervene and ensure cooling systems for both reactors and pools of used fuel are maintained, the Trade Ministry said.
Other measures such as building higher protective sea walls would be studied after a full assessment of the Fukushima disaster, officials said.
The immediate measures do not necessarily require nuclear plant operations to be halted, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda told a news conference.
"These are the minimum steps we can think of right now that should be done immediately," said Kaieda.
"We shouldn't wait until a so-called overhaul or a comprehensive revision -- something major that would take a long time -- is prepared. We should do whatever we can if and when there is something (which safety authorities agree is) viable and necessary," he said.
Before the disaster, Japan's nuclear reactors had provided about 30 percent of the nation's electric power. The percentage had been expected to rise to 50 percent by 2030, among the highest in the world.
NO END IN SIGHT
The government and TEPCO conceded there was no end in sight to Japan's nuclear crisis.
"We are not in a situation where we can say we will have this under control by a certain period," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news briefing.
The discovery of highly toxic plutonium in soil at Daiichi had raised alarm over the disaster, which has overshadowed the humanitarian calamity triggered by the earthquake and tsunami, which left 27,500 people dead or missing.
TEPCO will test sprinkling synthetic resin in some areas of the Daiichi complex to prevent radioactive dust from flying into the air or being washed into the ocean by rain. The resin is water-soluble, but when the water evaporates, it becomes sticky and contains the dust.
Pollution of the ocean is a serious concern for a country where fish is central to the diet. Experts say the vastness of the ocean and a powerful current should dilute high levels of radiation, limiting the danger of marine contamination.
However, just how radiation is spilling into the ocean is unclear and controlling leakage from the plant could take weeks or months, making precise risk assessments difficult.
Tokyo Electric said it would take a "fairly long time" to stabilise overheating reactors, adding four of the six reactors would need to be decommissioned. Meanwhile, the head of the company was in hospital due to high blood pressure, adding to the disarray at Asia's largest utility.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whose government faces mounting criticism for its handling of the crisis, won assurances of American support in a telephone conversation on Wednesday with President Barack Obama.
The United States has already agreed to send some radiation-detecting robots to Japan to help explore the reactor cores and spent fuel pools at the stricken nuclear plant.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G20 and G8 blocs of nations, is due to visit Tokyo on Thursday. He will be the first foreign leader in Japan since the disaster.
In further support, France flew in two experts from its state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva and its CEA nuclear research body to assist TEPCO.
DRAG ON ECONOMY
Hundreds of engineers have been toiling for nearly three weeks to cool the plant's reactors and avert a catastrophic meltdown of fuel rods, although the situation appears to have moved back from that nightmare scenario.
Jesper Koll, director of equity research at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo, said a drawn-out battle to bring the plant under control and manage the radioactivity being released would perpetuate the uncertainty and act as a drag on the economy.
"The worst-case scenario is that this drags on not one month or two months or six months, but for two years, or indefinitely," he said. "Japan will be bypassed. That is the real nightmare scenario."
Japan's main stock index has fallen about 9 percent since the tsunami while TEPCO shares have fallen almost 80 percent. The government is considering a tax increase to pay for the damage it estimates at $300 billion in what could be the world's costliest natural disaster.
Already criticised for weak leadership during Japan's worst crisis since World War Two, Kan has been blasted by the opposition for his handling of the disaster and for not widening the exclusion zone beyond 20 km (12 miles) around Fukushima.
Kan said he was considering that step, which would force 130,000 people to move, in addition to 70,000 already displaced.
Hundreds of thousands whose homes and livelihoods were wiped away by the tsunami that obliterated cities on the northeast coast have heard next to nothing from the government about whether it will help them to rebuild.
About 175,000 were living in shelters on high ground above the vast plains of mud-covered debris with temporary housing for only a few hundred currently under construction.
As operators struggle to regain control of the damaged Daiichi nuclear reactors 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, radiation leakage continued, with radioactive iodine in the sea off the damaged plant at record levels. The state nuclear safety agency said the amounts were 3,355 times the legal limit.
Smoke was reported coming from a second damaged nuclear plant site in Fukushima on Wednesday, with authorities citing an electric distribution board as the problem.
It is not known how serious the problem was at the Daini plant, which has been put into cold shutdown and is several miles from the stricken Daiichi power facility.
Anger at Japan's nuclear crisis saw more than 100 people, chanting "stop nuclear power", protest outside the Tokyo headquarters of nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) on Wednesday.
"We don't want to use electric power that can kill people," said Waseda University student Mina Umeda.
A Reuters investigation showed Japan and TEPCO repeatedly played down dangers at its nuclear plants and ignored warnings, including a 2007 tsunami study from the utility's senior safety engineer.
The research paper concluded there was a roughly 10 percent chance that a tsunami could test or overrun the defences of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant within a 50-year span based on the most conservative assumptions.
The new safety steps, to be completed by the end of April, include preparing back-up power in case of loss of power supply, and having fire trucks with hoses ready at all times to intervene and ensure cooling systems for both reactors and pools of used fuel are maintained, the Trade Ministry said.
Other measures such as building higher protective sea walls would be studied after a full assessment of the Fukushima disaster, officials said.
The immediate measures do not necessarily require nuclear plant operations to be halted, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda told a news conference.
"These are the minimum steps we can think of right now that should be done immediately," said Kaieda.
"We shouldn't wait until a so-called overhaul or a comprehensive revision -- something major that would take a long time -- is prepared. We should do whatever we can if and when there is something (which safety authorities agree is) viable and necessary," he said.
Before the disaster, Japan's nuclear reactors had provided about 30 percent of the nation's electric power. The percentage had been expected to rise to 50 percent by 2030, among the highest in the world.
NO END IN SIGHT
The government and TEPCO conceded there was no end in sight to Japan's nuclear crisis.
"We are not in a situation where we can say we will have this under control by a certain period," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news briefing.
The discovery of highly toxic plutonium in soil at Daiichi had raised alarm over the disaster, which has overshadowed the humanitarian calamity triggered by the earthquake and tsunami, which left 27,500 people dead or missing.
TEPCO will test sprinkling synthetic resin in some areas of the Daiichi complex to prevent radioactive dust from flying into the air or being washed into the ocean by rain. The resin is water-soluble, but when the water evaporates, it becomes sticky and contains the dust.
Pollution of the ocean is a serious concern for a country where fish is central to the diet. Experts say the vastness of the ocean and a powerful current should dilute high levels of radiation, limiting the danger of marine contamination.
However, just how radiation is spilling into the ocean is unclear and controlling leakage from the plant could take weeks or months, making precise risk assessments difficult.
Tokyo Electric said it would take a "fairly long time" to stabilise overheating reactors, adding four of the six reactors would need to be decommissioned. Meanwhile, the head of the company was in hospital due to high blood pressure, adding to the disarray at Asia's largest utility.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, whose government faces mounting criticism for its handling of the crisis, won assurances of American support in a telephone conversation on Wednesday with President Barack Obama.
The United States has already agreed to send some radiation-detecting robots to Japan to help explore the reactor cores and spent fuel pools at the stricken nuclear plant.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G20 and G8 blocs of nations, is due to visit Tokyo on Thursday. He will be the first foreign leader in Japan since the disaster.
In further support, France flew in two experts from its state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva and its CEA nuclear research body to assist TEPCO.
DRAG ON ECONOMY
Hundreds of engineers have been toiling for nearly three weeks to cool the plant's reactors and avert a catastrophic meltdown of fuel rods, although the situation appears to have moved back from that nightmare scenario.
Jesper Koll, director of equity research at JPMorgan Securities in Tokyo, said a drawn-out battle to bring the plant under control and manage the radioactivity being released would perpetuate the uncertainty and act as a drag on the economy.
"The worst-case scenario is that this drags on not one month or two months or six months, but for two years, or indefinitely," he said. "Japan will be bypassed. That is the real nightmare scenario."
Japan's main stock index has fallen about 9 percent since the tsunami while TEPCO shares have fallen almost 80 percent. The government is considering a tax increase to pay for the damage it estimates at $300 billion in what could be the world's costliest natural disaster.
Already criticised for weak leadership during Japan's worst crisis since World War Two, Kan has been blasted by the opposition for his handling of the disaster and for not widening the exclusion zone beyond 20 km (12 miles) around Fukushima.
Kan said he was considering that step, which would force 130,000 people to move, in addition to 70,000 already displaced.
Hundreds of thousands whose homes and livelihoods were wiped away by the tsunami that obliterated cities on the northeast coast have heard next to nothing from the government about whether it will help them to rebuild.
About 175,000 were living in shelters on high ground above the vast plains of mud-covered debris with temporary housing for only a few hundred currently under construction.
(Additional reporting by Jon Herskowitz, Elaine Lies, Mayumi Negishi, Leika Kihara and Yoko Nishikawa in Tokyo, Roberta Rampton , Ayesha Rascoe and Deborah Zabarenko in Washington, Eileen O'Grady in Houston; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by John Chalmers and Alan Raybould, Reuters)
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Indonesia suspends importing fish from Japan
Wed Mar23, 2011 18:02:01 |English.news.cn
JAKARTA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian Fishery Minister Fadel Muhammad said on Wednesday that the government has temporarily suspended importing fish from Japan due to concern over the impact of nuclear radiation.
The minister said that Indonesia's waters were safe from possible spread of the radiation.
The decision came after the government carried out check on imported fish from Japan.
Though there has been no evidence that fish from Japan has been contaminated by the radiation, the minister said that the decision aims at convincing the Indonesian consumers.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Time for nuclear review, Chernobyl nuclear disaster...now Japanese nuclear crisis
Saturday March 19, 2011By Jeeva Arulapalam,
TWENTY-FIVE years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, fears that Japan's nuclear crisis may trigger similar ramifications have caused governments worldwide to review their adoption of nuclear energy.
Japan, hit with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami last Friday, is now coping with its own nuclear crisis after the tsunami caused Fukushima Daiichi power station's reactor to start overheating, causing radiation.
This nuclear scare has caused many nations to exercise stress tests on exiting nuclear reactors, with some even shutting down older nuclear power plants.
But an industry observer highlights that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The shutting of nuclear power plants globally will result in higher utilisation of gas and coal (commodities that will not last forever), which will drive commodity prices up further. A London Commodity Brokers report issued on Thursday said that European coal futures for 2012 have added
9% to US$ 134/tonnes since Friday's close after the earthquake and resulting tsunami shut some Japanese nuclear power plants, potentially forcing the country to burn more coal.
Malaysia, which has expressed interests in developing nuclear energy for future usage, currently relies heavily on coal and gas for electricity supply, with coal almost entirely imported and gas supply from Peninsular Malaysia fast diminishing.
The import of gas needs to commence within the next few years, Performance Management and Delivery Unit director for oil, gas and energy under the New Key Economic Areas Dr Emir Mavani told StarBizWeek.
The total potential of green energy is limited to around 4,000 MW, based on the assessment by the Green Technology Corp of Malaysia.
Coal, oil, gas, hydropower and nuclear energy are widely considered as commercial energy sources, with established economic competitiveness and supply chains globally.
“In contrast, renewable energy sources, including solar power, are considered alternative energy sources and not expected to be capable of substituting commercial energy sources. Nevertheless, renewable energy sources are expected to play an important role in reducing commercial energy demand, by augmenting overall energy supply,” said Dr Emir.
Globally
In the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, governments globally are re-looking at safety aspects of their current operating nuclear power plants and have also started to question the wisdom in relying on civil nuclear energy as part of an energy mix given the potential safety hazards in the eventuality of a nuclear power plant meltdown.
China, the world's second-biggest energy user, has taken pro-active measures by suspending approvals for new plants and those in the pre-development plans until nuclear safety regulations are approved. With some 13 reactors in operation now, the country is currently building roughly 27 new reactors as part of its proposed plan to have over 100 nuclear power plants in the coming years.
European Union (EU) energy ministers have collectively agreed to carry out stress tests on the 143 nuclear power plants spread across 14 EU countries, following the recent nuclear crisis in Japan.
The stress tests will include risk assessments of possible damage by earthquakes, terrorist attacks, power fallouts and tsunamis among others.
The EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger had also the raised the prospects of a nuclear-free future for Europe in a meeting held last Tuesday among EU nations to discuss the nuclear crisis and safety measures.
Germany, which has 17 nuclear reactors operating currently, has decided to shutdown seven of its oldest reactors for a three-month duration to conduct safety probes.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy said that the recent nuclear crisis has given rise to questions on safety of nuclear power stations and its importance in energy mix.
However, France, the second-largest producer of nuclear power worldwide after the US with some 58 reactors operating now, will continue relying on nuclear energy given that it is an essential element of the country's energy independence.
US President Barack Obama, who is a proponent of nuclear energy development, is still keen on pursuing nuclear power as the country's overall energy plan. He said the country would take lessons learnt from Japan and continuously update how the US approached nuclear safety, and has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the safety of all US nuclear plants.
The US has some 104 nuclear reactors providing 20% of the nation's electricity. It was reported by various news agencies that no new nuclear power plant has been built in the country since it experienced its own nuclear disaster in 1979, when a reactor at the Third Mile Island power plant, Pennsylvania, overheated causing radioactive gases to be released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN that he was reconsidering nuclear energy for the country due to the radiation leaks stemming from Japan's nuclear crisis.
He was reported to have said that the uncertainty over how the crisis will play out has left a cloud' hanging over the world and he was not keen to pursue civil nuclear energy in the coming years.
Malaysia
Malaysia has started to look at the feasibility of utilising nuclear energy as part of the country's energy mix. This is due to the power sector facing a major challenge as declining gas production will have an impact on the power generation industry. Currently, 58% of power generated in Peninsular Malaysia is based on natural gas, with the remainder coming from coal (37%) and hydro (5%).
A foreign research analyst says the country has to look at other renewable energy options, such as nuclear energy, especially since rising coal prices were impacting the bottomline of the country's energy provider, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
“It is unfair that TNB has to bear the brunt of rising coal prices without electricity tariffs moving up. What needs to be worked out is a proper cost-pass through mechanism,” she says.
However, she adds that renewable energies such as solar and wind depend very much on nature, which could impact the sustainable production of energy.
Under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Malaysia is exploring the option of deploying nuclear energy to meet future demand and diversify the energy mix for Peninsular Malaysia. A Nuclear Power Development Steering Committee, headed by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, was set up in June 2009 to plan for the country's potential nuclear energy needs.
The committee will prepare a Nuclear Power Infrastructure Development Plan to be ready by 2013, of which the ETP says that a nuclear power pre-feasibility study and initial site selection study has already been undertaken.
The plan will lay out a development timeframe of 12 years from pre-project to commissioning of a twin-unit nuclear power plant with a total capacity of two gigawatts costing up to RM21.3bil, with the first unit to be operational by 2021.
The rational behind pushing nuclear energy adoption is that it would be cost-competitive, supplying the cheapest source of energy. Aside form this, nuclear power is a cleaner energy than coal and gas (zero grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kwh vs 800 and 400 grams respectively.)
While these details have been made known in the ETP, what many may be interested to note is that a key enabler to the nuclear energy project taking off is public acceptance.
Many quarters have expressed concern over the development of nuclear power plants locally, with political figureheads as well as environmental and consumers groups urging the government to re-consider other renewable energy options instead of adopting nuclear energy.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said that the proposal to construct nuclear power plants for electricity has not been decided yet by the Cabinet.
The Environmental Protection Society Malaysia president Nithi Nesaduraio says that Malaysia does not need nuclear power plants, with such facilities left vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.
However, an industry source familiar with the country's nuclear development plans, says that it is premature to make any call on the impact to Malaysia's nuclear plan.
“Malaysia is not in an earthquake belt and the tsunami risk has been taken into account in the local nuclear power plant siting activity,” says the source.
It is good to point out here that the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power stations had shut off automatically after the earthquake but the emergency cooling systems failed to work after the tsunami damaged the plant's local backups. This has led the Japanese authorities to douse water onto the nuclear reactor from aerial and ground levels to keep it cool.
Back to Malaysia among the renewable energies up for consideration under the energy mix include hydro, solar and biomass. But the drawback of solar and biomass plants is that the energy output would pale in comparison to the output of nuclear power plants.
Dr Emir says a major constraint of renewable energy sources is availability.
For example, solar power supply is dependent on the availability of sunshine, which is constraint by climatic conditions, such as rain or clouds, and unavailable at night.
Hydropower is constraint by the catchment area and the size of the reservoir. The amount of electricity that could be generated by hydropower stations are limited by the volume of water that could be stored in the reservoir.
Dr Emir adds that to compensate for these constraints, redundant back-up electricity generation capacity need to be established, in the event that such renewable energy sources are not available in time of need. This would increase overall investment cost.
“Should Malaysia proceed with nuclear power plants, there needs to be an independent watchdog that is established to oversee the safety requirements on these plants,” says an industry observer.
As the world awaits to assess the potential damage from Japan's nuclear crisis, this may be the right time to reflect on the country's future energy mix and potential dependency on nuclear power.
Japan, hit with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami last Friday, is now coping with its own nuclear crisis after the tsunami caused Fukushima Daiichi power station's reactor to start overheating, causing radiation.
This nuclear scare has caused many nations to exercise stress tests on exiting nuclear reactors, with some even shutting down older nuclear power plants.
But an industry observer highlights that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The shutting of nuclear power plants globally will result in higher utilisation of gas and coal (commodities that will not last forever), which will drive commodity prices up further. A London Commodity Brokers report issued on Thursday said that European coal futures for 2012 have added
9% to US$ 134/tonnes since Friday's close after the earthquake and resulting tsunami shut some Japanese nuclear power plants, potentially forcing the country to burn more coal.
Malaysia, which has expressed interests in developing nuclear energy for future usage, currently relies heavily on coal and gas for electricity supply, with coal almost entirely imported and gas supply from Peninsular Malaysia fast diminishing.
The import of gas needs to commence within the next few years, Performance Management and Delivery Unit director for oil, gas and energy under the New Key Economic Areas Dr Emir Mavani told StarBizWeek.
The total potential of green energy is limited to around 4,000 MW, based on the assessment by the Green Technology Corp of Malaysia.
Coal, oil, gas, hydropower and nuclear energy are widely considered as commercial energy sources, with established economic competitiveness and supply chains globally.
“In contrast, renewable energy sources, including solar power, are considered alternative energy sources and not expected to be capable of substituting commercial energy sources. Nevertheless, renewable energy sources are expected to play an important role in reducing commercial energy demand, by augmenting overall energy supply,” said Dr Emir.
Globally
In the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, governments globally are re-looking at safety aspects of their current operating nuclear power plants and have also started to question the wisdom in relying on civil nuclear energy as part of an energy mix given the potential safety hazards in the eventuality of a nuclear power plant meltdown.
China, the world's second-biggest energy user, has taken pro-active measures by suspending approvals for new plants and those in the pre-development plans until nuclear safety regulations are approved. With some 13 reactors in operation now, the country is currently building roughly 27 new reactors as part of its proposed plan to have over 100 nuclear power plants in the coming years.
European Union (EU) energy ministers have collectively agreed to carry out stress tests on the 143 nuclear power plants spread across 14 EU countries, following the recent nuclear crisis in Japan.
The stress tests will include risk assessments of possible damage by earthquakes, terrorist attacks, power fallouts and tsunamis among others.
The EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger had also the raised the prospects of a nuclear-free future for Europe in a meeting held last Tuesday among EU nations to discuss the nuclear crisis and safety measures.
Germany, which has 17 nuclear reactors operating currently, has decided to shutdown seven of its oldest reactors for a three-month duration to conduct safety probes.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy said that the recent nuclear crisis has given rise to questions on safety of nuclear power stations and its importance in energy mix.
However, France, the second-largest producer of nuclear power worldwide after the US with some 58 reactors operating now, will continue relying on nuclear energy given that it is an essential element of the country's energy independence.
US President Barack Obama, who is a proponent of nuclear energy development, is still keen on pursuing nuclear power as the country's overall energy plan. He said the country would take lessons learnt from Japan and continuously update how the US approached nuclear safety, and has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a “comprehensive review” of the safety of all US nuclear plants.
The US has some 104 nuclear reactors providing 20% of the nation's electricity. It was reported by various news agencies that no new nuclear power plant has been built in the country since it experienced its own nuclear disaster in 1979, when a reactor at the Third Mile Island power plant, Pennsylvania, overheated causing radioactive gases to be released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN that he was reconsidering nuclear energy for the country due to the radiation leaks stemming from Japan's nuclear crisis.
He was reported to have said that the uncertainty over how the crisis will play out has left a cloud' hanging over the world and he was not keen to pursue civil nuclear energy in the coming years.
Malaysia
Malaysia has started to look at the feasibility of utilising nuclear energy as part of the country's energy mix. This is due to the power sector facing a major challenge as declining gas production will have an impact on the power generation industry. Currently, 58% of power generated in Peninsular Malaysia is based on natural gas, with the remainder coming from coal (37%) and hydro (5%).
A foreign research analyst says the country has to look at other renewable energy options, such as nuclear energy, especially since rising coal prices were impacting the bottomline of the country's energy provider, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB).
“It is unfair that TNB has to bear the brunt of rising coal prices without electricity tariffs moving up. What needs to be worked out is a proper cost-pass through mechanism,” she says.
However, she adds that renewable energies such as solar and wind depend very much on nature, which could impact the sustainable production of energy.
Under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Malaysia is exploring the option of deploying nuclear energy to meet future demand and diversify the energy mix for Peninsular Malaysia. A Nuclear Power Development Steering Committee, headed by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, was set up in June 2009 to plan for the country's potential nuclear energy needs.
The committee will prepare a Nuclear Power Infrastructure Development Plan to be ready by 2013, of which the ETP says that a nuclear power pre-feasibility study and initial site selection study has already been undertaken.
The plan will lay out a development timeframe of 12 years from pre-project to commissioning of a twin-unit nuclear power plant with a total capacity of two gigawatts costing up to RM21.3bil, with the first unit to be operational by 2021.
The rational behind pushing nuclear energy adoption is that it would be cost-competitive, supplying the cheapest source of energy. Aside form this, nuclear power is a cleaner energy than coal and gas (zero grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kwh vs 800 and 400 grams respectively.)
While these details have been made known in the ETP, what many may be interested to note is that a key enabler to the nuclear energy project taking off is public acceptance.
Many quarters have expressed concern over the development of nuclear power plants locally, with political figureheads as well as environmental and consumers groups urging the government to re-consider other renewable energy options instead of adopting nuclear energy.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui said that the proposal to construct nuclear power plants for electricity has not been decided yet by the Cabinet.
The Environmental Protection Society Malaysia president Nithi Nesaduraio says that Malaysia does not need nuclear power plants, with such facilities left vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.
However, an industry source familiar with the country's nuclear development plans, says that it is premature to make any call on the impact to Malaysia's nuclear plan.
“Malaysia is not in an earthquake belt and the tsunami risk has been taken into account in the local nuclear power plant siting activity,” says the source.
It is good to point out here that the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power stations had shut off automatically after the earthquake but the emergency cooling systems failed to work after the tsunami damaged the plant's local backups. This has led the Japanese authorities to douse water onto the nuclear reactor from aerial and ground levels to keep it cool.
Back to Malaysia among the renewable energies up for consideration under the energy mix include hydro, solar and biomass. But the drawback of solar and biomass plants is that the energy output would pale in comparison to the output of nuclear power plants.
Dr Emir says a major constraint of renewable energy sources is availability.
For example, solar power supply is dependent on the availability of sunshine, which is constraint by climatic conditions, such as rain or clouds, and unavailable at night.
Hydropower is constraint by the catchment area and the size of the reservoir. The amount of electricity that could be generated by hydropower stations are limited by the volume of water that could be stored in the reservoir.
Dr Emir adds that to compensate for these constraints, redundant back-up electricity generation capacity need to be established, in the event that such renewable energy sources are not available in time of need. This would increase overall investment cost.
“Should Malaysia proceed with nuclear power plants, there needs to be an independent watchdog that is established to oversee the safety requirements on these plants,” says an industry observer.
As the world awaits to assess the potential damage from Japan's nuclear crisis, this may be the right time to reflect on the country's future energy mix and potential dependency on nuclear power.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Developments after major Japan earthquake
Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:47am GMT
TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) - Following are main developments after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck northeast Japan on Friday and set off a tsunami.
- More than 1,800 people likely dead or missing from the quake and tsunami, Kyodo news agency says.
- Kyodo reports 10,000 people in one town unreachable.
* Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have risen above the safety limit but says this posed no "immediate threat" to human health. An explosion blew the roof off the plant, but authorities had said radiation levels were lessening.
* Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says efforts to eliminate radiation risks focus on air being being vented out of the reactor and water being supplied to it.
- Evacuation ordered of 110,000 from 20-km (12-mile) radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 30,000 from 10-km (6-mile) radius around nearby Fukushima Daini plant. Kyodo says 300,000 evacuated overall, 5.5 million without power.
* Jiji news agency says a further 19 people may have been exposed to radiation from the reactor. The nuclear safety agency had earlier said up to 160 people may have been exposed.
- Nuclear safety agency rates the incident a 4 on the 1 to 7 International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, less serious than Three Mile Island, which was a 5, and Chernobyl at 7.
- Quake triggers tsunami up to 10 metres (30 feet). Waves swept away homes, crops, vehicles and submerged farmland.
- Bank of Japan to hold policy meeting on Monday. The central bank vows to ensure financial market stability.
- Toyota Motor Co to suspend operations at all 12 factories on Monday.
- Total insured loss could be up to $15 billion, equity analysts covering the industry say.
- Disaster sends oil, metals, and grain prices sliding on fears over its impact on demand, deepening their biggest decline in months; yen rises broadly on risk aversion by Japanese investors and expectations of repatriations by Japan's insurance companies; oil prices slide more than $3 a barrel.
- Tokyo Stock Exchange to trade as normal on Monday. (Tokyo bureau; World Desk Asia, Singapore +65 6870 3815)
TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) - Following are main developments after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck northeast Japan on Friday and set off a tsunami.
- More than 1,800 people likely dead or missing from the quake and tsunami, Kyodo news agency says.
- Kyodo reports 10,000 people in one town unreachable.
* Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have risen above the safety limit but says this posed no "immediate threat" to human health. An explosion blew the roof off the plant, but authorities had said radiation levels were lessening.
* Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says efforts to eliminate radiation risks focus on air being being vented out of the reactor and water being supplied to it.
- Evacuation ordered of 110,000 from 20-km (12-mile) radius around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 30,000 from 10-km (6-mile) radius around nearby Fukushima Daini plant. Kyodo says 300,000 evacuated overall, 5.5 million without power.
* Jiji news agency says a further 19 people may have been exposed to radiation from the reactor. The nuclear safety agency had earlier said up to 160 people may have been exposed.
- Nuclear safety agency rates the incident a 4 on the 1 to 7 International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, less serious than Three Mile Island, which was a 5, and Chernobyl at 7.
- Quake triggers tsunami up to 10 metres (30 feet). Waves swept away homes, crops, vehicles and submerged farmland.
- Bank of Japan to hold policy meeting on Monday. The central bank vows to ensure financial market stability.
- Toyota Motor Co to suspend operations at all 12 factories on Monday.
- Total insured loss could be up to $15 billion, equity analysts covering the industry say.
- Disaster sends oil, metals, and grain prices sliding on fears over its impact on demand, deepening their biggest decline in months; yen rises broadly on risk aversion by Japanese investors and expectations of repatriations by Japan's insurance companies; oil prices slide more than $3 a barrel.
- Tokyo Stock Exchange to trade as normal on Monday. (Tokyo bureau; World Desk Asia, Singapore +65 6870 3815)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Japanese PM declares atomic power emergency
2011-03-11 19:38:40
TOKYO, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Friday declared a state of atomic power emergency after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Japan's northeastern Honshu island, but denied any radiation leaks.
The move aims to enable emergency measures in case of any atomic
disasters.Local authorities have called on a total of 3,000 residents living in the neighborhood of a nuclear power plant in Fukushima to evacuate, local media reported.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said some cooling functions were not working at the plant and one reactor cannot be cooled down.
He added the evacuation call is precautionary as no radiation leaks have so far been detected.
And the central government has sent senior officials to the plant to help cope with any emergency.
At a press conference earlier in the day, Edano said that residents near nuclear power plants do not need to take any special actions as no nuclear radiation leaks have been detected so far.
Separately, a fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture following the massive quake which has so far sent the death toll to 90.
Tohoku Electric Power Co. said that the fire started detected at a building housing the turbine at its Onagawa plant but denied any radiation leaks.
The industry ministry said that there were no immediate reports from monitoring posts of fires or other abnormalities near the nuclear plants.
According to the ministry, 11 nuclear reactors were automatically shut down at the Onagawa plant, Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants and Tokai No. 2 plant.
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