Japan discovers nuclear fuel transport tank with broken latch

On June 27, the Nuclear Fuel Transport (NFT) company said it had discovered five broken latches on the lids of metal containers transporting low-level radioactive waste. NFT immediately ordered a halt to transportation operations until it could determine the safety level.

Illustrative photo. (Source: Kyodo/VNA).

NTF - the only unit in Japan specializing in transporting nuclear waste - said that no locks were broken during transportation and there was no previous impact from the outside.

Previously, on June 22, NFT discovered a bolt that had come loose while preparing to transfer waste at Kansai Electric Power Company’s Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture. Three days later, the company discovered three more bolts that had come loose at a storage facility in Rokkasho during a check.

According to Japan's Ministry of Land, Transport, Infrastructure and Tourism, the broken pin problem was first discovered in February but the company did not report it to the ministry for more than four months after judging it a "special case."

At that time, one of the four latches used to secure the lid of the container containing radioactive material broke. The incident was discovered during an inspection of empty containers at an NTF warehouse in Rokkasho village, Aomori prefecture, northeastern Japan.

Currently, all of Japan's commercial nuclear reactors are offline and have been forced to undergo rigorous safety inspections since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster to be allowed to resume operations.

For years, Japan has been shipping spent nuclear fuel from its commercial reactors to France and the UK for recycling. Before the 2011 disaster, nuclear reactors provided one-third of the country’s electricity./.

(According to Kyodo, VNA/VN+)