Japan's plutonium stocks no reason for concern: IAEA chief

Japan had balked

I am interested to know why Japan had 'balked' ????

Japan's plutonium stocks no reason for concern

why? because Japan says.

Lol. Said by China who is the number one proliferator

And, ummm, what country does the general director hail from?

He may hail from Japan, but his staff is from around the world. I'm sure if he were bullshitting someone would call him out on it.

Now I feel totally at ease, now I've read that. I love the trust these people have, its so refreshing.

The right wingers and media will continue to whip up anti foreign fear and combined with the real threats from China, North Korea and now possibly a Russia aiming to return to the USSR days will result in Japan becoming a nuclear armed nation. Maybe they already are. Who knows in this opaque society.

Inspecting N- sites?? How does he explain the shocking state of some of Japan's N-sites. Were the not checked? Confidence is low on many statements.

Just don't push for a U.S. carte blanche for its plutonium.

Keep it Japan. We will need it for when China invades.

"There is no reason for concern that plutonium held by Japan could be diverted for nuclear arms purposes". Of course. They can barely contain contaminated water from leaking.

Yeah, no reason for concern until Abe and his cronies change the constitution! Why would Japan keep weapons grade plutonium if they don't intend to develop it? If the Abe government goes through with their intended changes to the constitution I have no doubt this will change and we will see japan developing WMDs in an attempt to keep the Chinese wolves away.

I see. It OK for friends of the US to have weapons grade plutonium, but not OK for those countries whom the US or Israel deem worthy of attack.

Don't tell me, the government has everything under control. The country is in no danger at all.

All the plutonium in Japan is under IAEA safeguards,” Amano said, referring to regular nuclear inspections.

What about the radioactive Plutonium let loose by the Fukushima accident??? Where are the IAEA safeguards there??? If Cesium is detected there is a possibility of Radioactive Strontium, Plutonium, Yttrium, Amercium, Uranium, Cobalt, Iridium,Tritium and Palladium also.

Health risk or not? Cesium levels high in hundreds of Fukushima reservoirs

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201402250071

I agree with zichi’s mian point that amount of plutonium Japan possesses is indeed a serious concern for Japanese people in terms of safety and environment integrity as well as the international community. (war and peace)

I would not give too much weight to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano given his ways to propitiate Iran for the sake of deal.

In the end, tt’s really up to Japan to make the right decision. After all, Japan is only country in the world suffered tremendously because of nuclear weapon, it should have known better.

So what about all of the crap they have stored in the UK??

Zichi, Thanks for the link. It is very enlightening.

and what is 159 tons worth on the black market? I wonder if Japan asked China if they could look after it for a while what they would say. There are many ways to use plutonium as a weapon and for these quantities you don't require much of a launch system and more like an drone to sprinkle the crap from the atmosphere. My biggest fear is not Japan, but terrorists going after the stuff or some inside job to make some money or for religious reasons.

Honestly, why worrying about 159 tonnes of plutonium?

It is just totally useless, highly toxic, highly radioactive, very long half life, high grade can make nuke bombs, nobody knows where to store it and will cost billions to manage for the future generations.

Again why worrying about plutonium stockpile?

It must be from the idiot "nuke fear mongering" community.

The IAEA doesn't even know what is up and what is down. There is nothing that crazy Shinzo Abe and his bunch of clown would not do.

As secretive as you are everyone is Concerned

Every country in that region has the very same thing including South Korea while China has the largest storage of them all.

I believe it is well past due that Japan builds their own nuclear weapons for self protection.

Do not be fooled in to thinking that China's ships do not carry nuclear weapons for they do including their submarines.

Could be some truth to this

According to whistle blowers in the U.S. non-proliferation agency, highly reactive uranium from dismantled U.S. warheads stored in the Fukushima spent-fuel pools readily ignited after the quake knocked out the water pumps. A transport casket of elongated shape resembling a missile was sky-hooked out of a pool by helicopter soon after the tsunami, but the remainder of the weapons-grade stock was too heavy to remove. The series of detonations prevented repair crews from accessing controls of the reactor cores, which eventually melted through the containment chambers and into the subsurface soil. When the quake and tsunami hit on March 11, only three reactors out of a total six at Fukushima were scheduled to produce electricity yet in actuality five were operational. Since then plant workers disclosed that the supposedly empty Reactor 4 had been refitted with a new steel shroud in secret by GE and that it was fully loaded with new fuel rods. The two extra reactors were running clandestine operations, the likeliest purpose being the enrichment of uranium prior to extraction. By no coincidence, Hitachi Electric and Honeywell are partners in developing a laser-plasma system to extract highly pure plutonium and uranium

http://newamericamedia.org/2012/03/the-world-is-powerless-against-fukushima-fallout.php

Well, if Communist China has right to own Nuclear weapons it owns right and then why not Japan should not own just Plutonium. Japan is not making Plutonium to Nuclear Warheads. If Communist China concern and worry about Japan having Nuclear Weapons and then Communist Chinese leaders should not upset Japanese Government and Japanese peoples.

If Japan has ever possessed Nuclear Weapons and then it will be Communist Chinese Government's fault. If Nuclear Weapons will deter bullying from Communist Chinese Government and then Japanese peoples and Government must think about owning Nuclear Weapons.

Japan has advance technology. Japan has right to develop its own Nuclear Weapon if country sovereignty was in danger of invading by foreign Government.

Communist Chinese Government and S. Korean Government need to move on from past. Both countries leaders are addicting to using past with Japan for their political gain. If Communist Chinese Government and S. Korean Government do not want to move on from past and then Japanese Government should leave them alone. Japanese Government must ignore and leave the stupid child who does not want to grow up.

Kyodo news agency said that the United States had pressed Japan to give back the nuclear material, which could be used to make up to 50 nuclear bombs. Japan had balked, but finally given in to U.S. demands

"Give them back," said the country to the other country that it nuked twice..

Can we say the same about Chinese Nuclear stockpile?, They do have nuclear weapons, don't they?

Well - Japan could probably make its own a-bomb within days, if needed, even without this pile. China on the other hand has lost an excellent chance of keeping their mouths shut...

"No reason for concern here. Just keep moving along. Nothing to see here!" Like Magnet said above: "They can barely contain contaminated water from leaking." FCS!

So, not long after Japan makes a government secrecy law, America demands its plutonium back. Any connection?

Can we say the same about Chinese Nuclear stockpile?, They do have nuclear weapons, don't they?

They do. They openly admit it. But for those less trusting of the Japanese government, its a mystery if Japan has nukes. That makes Japan tricky and unpredictable for some, and that can be worse than knowing for sure that a country has nukes.

smithinjapan

And, ummm, what country does the general director hail from?

Currently Japan.

Eklund wasn't Japanese, though. He was Swedish. Blix and ElBaradei aren't Japanese either. None of them ever saw the issue worth mentioning, and at no point over the last 40+ years has there been suspicion raised about japan's handling, storage or security of the plutonium. By anyone.

But that probably won't matter on JT. The current head is Japanese, and everyone knows you can't trust them. He must be trying to cover for something, right?

Utrack,

According to whistle blowers in the U.S. non-proliferation agency, highly reactive uranium from dismantled U.S. warheads stored in the Fukushima spent-fuel pools readily ignited after the quake knocked out the water pumps. A transport casket of elongated shape resembling a missile was sky-hooked out of a pool by helicopter soon after the tsunami, but the remainder of the weapons-grade stock was too heavy to remove.

Highly reactive uranium? From old warheads? They will not have been generating heat like in a reactor, so why would they be in the spent-fuel pools? Of a Japanese facility to boot? And there was a helicopter with a sky-hook on standby to lift these transport containers in case of a tsunami? But they were not standardised, and only one was light enough to lift - out of a pool that was covered with debris, in a location where most of the eyes of the world were on...

...nonsense.

I don't know where the figure of 159 tons comes from?

Japan also has plutonium contained in spent nuclear fuel at civil reactor sites and reprocessing plants - totaling 159 tonnes at the end of 2012, according to Japanese data posted on the website of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

I think they were saying 159 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel - of which some was MOX containing Plutonium. They probably could have worded it better.

What about the radioactive Plutonium let loose by the Fukushima accident??? Where are the IAEA safeguards there??? If Cesium is detected there is a possibility of Radioactive Strontium, Plutonium, Yttrium, Amercium, Uranium, Cobalt, Iridium,Tritium and Palladium also.

Health risk or not? Cesium levels high in hundreds of Fukushima reservoirs

Congratulations on ignoring the purpose of the IAEA. Their concern is whether the "civilian" Plutonium is being re-purposed into weapons. The IAEA safeguards prevented the fuel being used at Fukushima from being re-allocated to a weapons plant. Nothing more. They aren't there to comment on the health hazards of a compromised civilian nuclear reactor. This is like criticizing the guy who does the annual inspection of your car for the failure of some railway inspector to notice a cracked rail. It's not the auto inspector's job to check rails, and it's not the IAEA's job to safeguard or comment on radiation leakage from a nuclear reactor. Two completely different job descriptions. I would suspect your rant would be more accurately directed at Japan's NRA.

Of course reprocessing of commercial reactor fuel does not produce plutonium that can be used to make nuclear weapons. It is contaminated with Pu-240 and Pu-241.

Weapons grade plutonium requires the uranium targets spend very short times in the reactor, on the order of a few weeks. Longer times lead to unacceptable levels of the undesirable Pu isotopes.