Government officials in charge of importing the first ton of plutonium from Europe for Japan`s fast-breeder reactor program defended their precautions Monday amid growing concerns about on-board safety for the deadly cargo.
In an attempt to counter anxieties about the security risk of an unprecedented two-week, 17,000-mile sea voyage with enough plutonium to build 150 nuclear bombs, officials said Japan will rely on U.S. satellite tracking to monitor the shipment and an armed coast guard ship to protect it from terrorists or hijackers. In follow-up trips, Japan plans to import a total of 30 to 40 tons of plutonium from European factories that extract the metal from used uranium fuel rods.
Anti-nuclear groups in recent weeks have stepped up their attacks on the first shipment plan, scheduled for later this year. They say the casks that will hold the plutonium cannot withstand extreme heat in the case of a ship fire, or deep ocean pressure if the vessel sank.
According to Takao Ishiwatari, president of the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., recent testing showed the casks could withstand extreme heat and pressure beyond the standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Ishiwatari spoke to foreign replans. The government-owned porters Monday in Tokyo in an agency will operate the prototype effort to head off growing internafast-breeder reactor, now undertional criticism of the shipment going tests in western Japan, that will consume much of the imported plutonium.
Despite its growing cost and non-competitiveness with other forms of electricity generation, which caused other nations to scale back or eliminate their fast breeders, Japan continues to pour money into its fast-breeder program to promote energy independence.
Plutonium, which has a half-life of 24,000 years, causes cancer if inhaled or ingested. Anti-nuclear activists fear a catastrophic accident at sea could expose millions of people to the carcinogen if it became airborne or entered the food chain through fish and seaweed.
The Japanese government, which has the world`s most ambitious fast-breeder reactor program, switched to ocean shipment of the plutonium after the U.S. and Canadian governments raised concerns about trans-North American air shipments.
Ishiwatari said the agency earlier this year tested the plutonium shipment casks in pressure tanks replicating a depth of 32,500 feet. He also said the casks passed a fire test that met an international safety standard of 800 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes.
”There`s a very remote likelihood of a (hotter) fire burning for 24 hours,” he said. ”Even if there is a fire, there are water pumps to flood the ship, and it`s double-hulled so it won`t sink.”
Jinzaburo Takagi, executive dihood of a (hotter) fire burning for rector of the Citizens Nuclear In24 hours,” he said. ”Even if there formation Center in Tokyo, is a fire, there are water pumps to countered: ”The
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standards led so it won`t sink.” are insufficient. It`s not clear the casks can endure for long in those deep depths because they have not showed the data.”
Takagi, a former nuclear engineer turned nuclear critic, said a collision with an oil tanker could cause a fire beyond the standards. ”A shipboard fire under those conditions could reach 1,100 degrees centigrade and can last for days,” he said.
The Japanese government has retrofitted a British transport vessel, the Pacific Crane, for shipping the plutonium. The government`s Maritime Safety Agency-the equivalent of the Coast Guard-also built a lightly armed escort vessel.
The French government, which is reprocessing the plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, has agreed to provide an escort for the Pacific Crane at some points along the route, according to anti-nuclear activists.
The U.S. government will not be directly involved in providing military protection, Ishiwatari said. However, there have been security consultations, including the agreement to monitor the shipment via satellite to help protect against hijackers at sea.
The U.S. retains the right to grant final approval to the shipment plans because it provided the original uranium for Japan`s nuclear power program.
