U.S. anxious to secure nuclear waste disposal site as China emerges on scene
As the world shifts away from the business of recycling plutonium-based nuclear fuel, the construction of facilities to handle nuclear waste remains a nagging issue. After plans to construct an international disposal facility in Australia fell through, the United States and Japan moved forward in negotiations to build such a facility in Mongolia, an inland country which is believed to hold rich deposits of uranium.
The United States placed importance on the issue of nuclear nonproliferation, while Japan, advancing a national strategy to export nuclear power plant technology, had been looking for countries to accept its spent nuclear fuel.
Undraa Agvaanluvsan, a special negotiation representative at Mongolia's Foreign Ministry who resigned in September, told reporters who visited the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator in April that the land earmarked to build a waste disposal facility was located near a uranium mine in the Gobi desert. She said that in the future, Mongolia wanted to secure an advantage in promoting exports of its nuclear fuel by accepting spent nuclear fuel. This involved employment of a "nuclear fuel lease" system in which a factory to produce uranium-based nuclear fuel would be built using Japanese and U.S. technology, and Mongolia would export this fuel while accepting spent nuclear fuel from overseas.
In order to dispel fears about nuclear proliferation, a U.S. negotiation team led by Daniel Poneman, deputy secretary of energy in the U.S. Department of Energy presented a framework to Undraa and other officials under which Mongolia would accept spent nuclear fuel held by Taiwan and South Korea, which hold large amounts. U.S. officials further explained that if nuclear waste in interim storage at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Japan's Aomori Prefecture was transferred, then it would be possible to secure the funds to construct and maintain a disposal facility. Though Japan denies it, during the initial negotiation stage, the U.S. told Mongolia that it could look to Japan for funding to build a disposal facility.
On Feb. 3 and 4 this year, preparations were made to sign an agreement on the Mongolian plan in Washington, and Japan sent Harufumi Mochizuki, a former administrative vice minister at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who served as an adviser to the Cabinet Secretariat and was in charge of exports of nuclear power plant technology under the administration of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Japanese nuclear reactor manufacturer Toshiba Corp. was also present at a working-level meeting on the first day, as it aimed to secure a place in the business.
However, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had been left out of negotiations, stepped in at this stage and stopped Japan from signing the agreement, saying there were too many problems with it. Then on March 11, Japan was struck by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that trigged the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, and discussions on the waste disposal facility were shelved.
After the Mainichi Shimbun reported the plans in May, an opposition campaign was launched in Mongolia, and in September this year, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj issued an order prohibiting negotiations, effectively putting an end to the plans.
Another country that has eyed concessions for building a nuclear waste disposal facility under a "nuclear fuel lease" system is China, which is widely expected to become a nuclear power plant superpower second to the United States in 10 years' time.
"There's a possibility that China and Russia will dominate the global nuclear power plant market in the future," says Akira Omoto, a commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission.
In 2006, U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co., which operates under the wing of the Toshiba group, conceded technology for a new AP1000-type reactor to China in exchange for securing a contract to export nuclear power plants there. China subsequently developed its CPR1000 reactors, and is planning exports from 2014. It has also decided to build a high-level radioactive waste final disposal site in Gansu Province in the Gobi desert near the border with Mongolia, and is preparing to sell nuclear power plant technology overseas by offering to accept spent nuclear fuel, just as Russia is aiming to do.
China has also reached an agreement to export two old-model reactors to Pakistan, which is developing nuclear weapons. This has raised concerns from the United States and other parties from the perspective of nuclear nonproliferation.
Richard Stratford, a nuclear nonproliferation leader in the U.S. State Department, lamented in a lecture at the end of March that the rise of emerging nations had weakened the United States' grip. While it still has power, it wants to secure a place that will accept spent nuclear fuel. The project previously proposed in Mongolia strongly highlights the United States' anxiousness. (By Haruyuki Aikawa, Europe General Bureau)
The United States placed importance on the issue of nuclear nonproliferation, while Japan, advancing a national strategy to export nuclear power plant technology, had been looking for countries to accept its spent nuclear fuel.
Undraa Agvaanluvsan, a special negotiation representative at Mongolia's Foreign Ministry who resigned in September, told reporters who visited the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator in April that the land earmarked to build a waste disposal facility was located near a uranium mine in the Gobi desert. She said that in the future, Mongolia wanted to secure an advantage in promoting exports of its nuclear fuel by accepting spent nuclear fuel. This involved employment of a "nuclear fuel lease" system in which a factory to produce uranium-based nuclear fuel would be built using Japanese and U.S. technology, and Mongolia would export this fuel while accepting spent nuclear fuel from overseas.
In order to dispel fears about nuclear proliferation, a U.S. negotiation team led by Daniel Poneman, deputy secretary of energy in the U.S. Department of Energy presented a framework to Undraa and other officials under which Mongolia would accept spent nuclear fuel held by Taiwan and South Korea, which hold large amounts. U.S. officials further explained that if nuclear waste in interim storage at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Japan's Aomori Prefecture was transferred, then it would be possible to secure the funds to construct and maintain a disposal facility. Though Japan denies it, during the initial negotiation stage, the U.S. told Mongolia that it could look to Japan for funding to build a disposal facility.
On Feb. 3 and 4 this year, preparations were made to sign an agreement on the Mongolian plan in Washington, and Japan sent Harufumi Mochizuki, a former administrative vice minister at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who served as an adviser to the Cabinet Secretariat and was in charge of exports of nuclear power plant technology under the administration of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Japanese nuclear reactor manufacturer Toshiba Corp. was also present at a working-level meeting on the first day, as it aimed to secure a place in the business.
However, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had been left out of negotiations, stepped in at this stage and stopped Japan from signing the agreement, saying there were too many problems with it. Then on March 11, Japan was struck by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that trigged the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, and discussions on the waste disposal facility were shelved.
After the Mainichi Shimbun reported the plans in May, an opposition campaign was launched in Mongolia, and in September this year, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj issued an order prohibiting negotiations, effectively putting an end to the plans.
Another country that has eyed concessions for building a nuclear waste disposal facility under a "nuclear fuel lease" system is China, which is widely expected to become a nuclear power plant superpower second to the United States in 10 years' time.
"There's a possibility that China and Russia will dominate the global nuclear power plant market in the future," says Akira Omoto, a commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission.
In 2006, U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co., which operates under the wing of the Toshiba group, conceded technology for a new AP1000-type reactor to China in exchange for securing a contract to export nuclear power plants there. China subsequently developed its CPR1000 reactors, and is planning exports from 2014. It has also decided to build a high-level radioactive waste final disposal site in Gansu Province in the Gobi desert near the border with Mongolia, and is preparing to sell nuclear power plant technology overseas by offering to accept spent nuclear fuel, just as Russia is aiming to do.
China has also reached an agreement to export two old-model reactors to Pakistan, which is developing nuclear weapons. This has raised concerns from the United States and other parties from the perspective of nuclear nonproliferation.
Richard Stratford, a nuclear nonproliferation leader in the U.S. State Department, lamented in a lecture at the end of March that the rise of emerging nations had weakened the United States' grip. While it still has power, it wants to secure a place that will accept spent nuclear fuel. The project previously proposed in Mongolia strongly highlights the United States' anxiousness. (By Haruyuki Aikawa, Europe General Bureau)
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