NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@...)

Media Release
(3 October 2005)

New nuclear research agency inherits predecessor's radioactive waste
problems:
Japanese radioactive soil shipped to the US

The newly formed Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has inherited the
radioactive waste problems of one of its predecessors, the Japan
Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC). JAEA officially opened for
business on October 1st, but its predecessor, JNC, still has 3,000 tons
of unwanted radioactive soil to dispose of.

A portion of the more radioactive soil (290 cubic meters of
uranium-contaminated soil) was shipped to the US today, allegedly for
refining, but really for disposal.

JNC has denied requests to reveal the name of the US company that will
receive the radioactive soil, but piecing together information obtained
through freedom of information requests, it is now known that the soil
will be sent to International Uranium Corporation's White Mesa uranium
mill in Utah.

In justifying its decision not to reveal the company's name, JNC said
that it feared that the company would refuse to accept the soil if its
name was released. Now that the US company's name has been made public,
we will be interested to see if it does indeed reject the soil.

The uranium was scheduled to be loaded onto the Panamanian ship Bright
Stream and leave Kobe Port today, though the location of the US port
remains unclear.

A further 2,710 cubic meters remains in the Katamo District of Yurihama
Town in Tottori Prefecture. As a result of an October 2004 ruling by
the Supreme Court in favor of Katamo District, it must be removed by
May 2006, or compensation must be paid to the local citizens at the
rate of 50,000 yen per day. (Compensation for the 290 cubic meters
shipped today was paid from March 2005 at the rate of 750,000 per day.)

No indication has been given of what will be done with the remaining
soil, but we hope that a precedent hasn't been set with the first 290
cubic meters. We have no doubt that Japan's nuclear industry would love
to solve its radioactive waste problems by exporting it all to other
countries, but the truth is that countries which are unable to handle
their own radioactive waste are not qualified to produce such waste.

Within two days of its establishment, JAEA has already demonstrated
that it is not a responsible agency. By dumping radioactive waste in
another country, it has shown that it will prioritize expediency over
integrity. Who will trust such an agency in future?

Contact: Philip White (International Liaison Officer) 03-5330-9520

For more detailed information see the following links:

http://cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit107/nit107articles/
nit107uraniumsoil.html

http://cnic.jp/english/news/newsflash/uransoil7Sep05.html

Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
3F Kotobuki Bdg, 1-58-15, Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003
Phone: 81-3-5330-9520
Fax: 81-3-5330-9530
http://cnic.jp/english/
cnic@...


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