Washington, D.C.–(ENEWSPF)–May 25, 2011 – UPDATE AS OF 5 P.M. EDT.
Plant Status
- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) continues to deal with water management issues at the Fukushima Daiichi site. The company is plugging concrete enclosures at the plant to retain contaminated water and is studying the feasibility of building a system to purify seawater. The Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has ordered TEPCO to complete a plan for storing and treating contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi site by June 1.
- TEPCO has begun to build a concrete structure to provide additional support to the spent fuel storage pool for reactor 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi facility. Work is planned for completion by the end of July.
Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues
- The Japanese government announced plans to appoint a panel to investigate the accident at Fukushima Daiichi. The head of the committee will be Yotaro Hatamura, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo.
- A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Japan for a fact-finding mission on the nuclear accident. Its objective is to make a preliminary assessment of safety issues at the facility and identify areas that need further study. The team is composed of 20 international and IAEA experts for a dozen countries and is to complete its work June 2. Leading the team is the United Kingdom’s chief nuclear inspector, Mike Weigtman, who will present a report on the mission at IAEA’s Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety June 22-24.
- NEI President and CEO Marvin Fertel will speak at a public meeting of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academy of Sciences on the aftermath of Fukushima, beginning at 12:45 p.m. EDT on May 26 in Washington, D.C. Other speakers include the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Thomas Cochrane and the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Ed Lyman.
- NEI Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Tony Pietrangelo will participate in a briefing for NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards on events at Fukushima, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT on May 26 at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md.
- NEI Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Doug Walters will speak at “Preparing for the Unthinkable: Joint Crisis Leadership in the Event of an Energy Systems Breakdown” at 5:30 p.m. EDT on May 26 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
New Products
- NEI has updated its frequently asked questions about issues relating to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
- NEI has created a new fact sheet on used fuel pools.
Upcoming Events
- Challenges of Nuclear Spent Fuel Management: Lessons from Around the World, 3 p.m. EDT, June 3 at American Association for the Advancement of Science Headquarters, 1200 New York Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
Source: nei.org
