Experts urge Japan to break away from ‘failed’ nuclear reprocessing program

[bananas]

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201308280071

Experts urge Japan to break away from ‘failed’ nuclear reprocessing program

August 28, 2013

By YASUJI NAGAI/ Senior Staff Writer

In a proposal submitted to The Asahi Shimbun, researchers at an international group of nuclear experts outlined steps they say Japan must take to break away from its “failed” nuclear fuel recycling policy.

Masafumi Takubo and Frank von Hippel of the International Panel on Fissile Materials noted that Japan currently has 44 tons of already separated plutonium, enough to make more than 5,000 Nagasaki-type atomic bombs, while it has no clear path toward disposal.

In the proposal titled, “Ending plutonium separation: An alternative approach to managing Japan’s spent nuclear fuel,” they said Japan’s reprocessing policy has “insignificant” resource conservation and radioactive waste management benefits.

It is also “becoming increasingly dysfunctional, dangerous and costly,” since weapon-useable separated plutonium is a “magnet for would-be nuclear terrorists,” the authors said. Japan’s program is also setting an ill example for countries interested in nuclear-weapon options, they added.

<snip>

The full-text of the proposal is available at: http://www.asahi.com/special/nuclear_peace/academic/August2013_english.pdf

[kristopher]

1. Yep - Another former Japanese Prime Minister turns anti-nuclear

Ex-PM Junichiro Koizumi pushes for a ‘zero nuclear power’ Japan
Aug 28, 2013 John Hofilena

Earlier in August, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Germany – a nation that has decided to give up on the use of nuclear power – and Finland, which continues to rely on nuclear technology. The 71-year-old former leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has made his opinion known after the trip that he is for the abandonment of nuclear power.

Koizumi has retired from politics, and his seat in the Diet is now held by his son, Shinjiro Koizumi. But he remains an influential personality in Japanese politics, and it is certain that his comments will attract the attention of the country’s media. Koizumi was accompanied on this specific trip by four executives from the nuclear divisions of Toshiba, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – companies that continue to manufacture and export Japan’s nuclear technology. One of these executives reportedly asked the elderly statesman if he agrees to keeping nuclear power in Japan, and also influence others to that position. “If I was back in the Diet in my old job, trying to persuade undecided members on the nuclear power issue, I don’t think I’d have it in me to convince them that Japan needs nuclear power,” Koizumi reportedly replied to the executive. “But after seeing what I’ve seen on this trip, I think I could persuade those members to move toward zero nuclear power. I’m more confident of that all the time,” he added....

http://japandailypress.com/ex-pm-junichiro-koizumi-pushes-for-a-zero-nuclear-power-japan-2834751/
3

That's worth breaking out and looking at more closely.

Koizumi was accompanied on this specific trip by four executives from the nuclear divisions of Toshiba, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – companies that continue to manufacture and export Japan’s nuclear technology. One of these executives reportedly asked the elderly statesman if he agrees to keeping nuclear power in Japan, and also influence others to that position.

To which he replied

“If I was back in the Diet in my old job, trying to persuade undecided members on the nuclear power issue, I don’t think I’d have it in me to convince them that Japan needs nuclear power... But after seeing what I’ve seen on this trip, I think I could persuade those members to move toward zero nuclear power. I’m more confident of that all the time,”

Ouch!