福島核廠危險任務：取出燃料棒
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2013/11/22
2013-11-20 Web only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/98701585@N02/ |
在福島第一核電廠那片扭曲金屬和四散殘骸之中，第四反應爐的情況看起來相對不錯。2011年3月的地震和海嘯過後數日，氫爆炸飛了第四反應爐的屋頂，現在則有個新的建築罩住了損傷。但第四反應爐仍舊不穩定，用畢燃料儲存池亦極度危險。儲存池中存放了超過1,500根燃料棒，東電將於本月開始從移出燃料棒，以提高儲存安全性。專家指出，這是福島核電廠清理任務至今最危險的階段。
福島核電廠管理者小野明表示，移出燃料棒對所有核電設施來說都是例行工作。工程師得一一取出燃料組件，克服火災、地震等風險；若失去冷卻劑，燃料棒就會起火，相互撞擊則會爆炸。
此時正值各界對東電的信任到達低點。今年爆發了輻射水外洩等危險事故，東電也遭受猛烈攻擊。8月時，原子力規制委員會表示，汙染水外洩為三級「嚴重」事故。現在，有人認為第四反應爐的用畢燃料棒移出作業，應該由外國專家嚴密監控。
就連支持核電的自民黨，也想讓東電退出需時超過40年的退役作業。負責此事的新機構將包含東電員工，但會與商業部門切割。找出東電結構問題的解決之道，將有助日本政府重啟核電。
此時此刻，日本完全沒有核電，但這樣的情況不太可能維持太久。首相安倍晉三希望能儘快重啟通過安全檢查的核電廠；2011年至今，能源進口推升電價，也造成連串貿易赤字。9月，東電獲得新潟縣知事核准，將提交安全檢查申請，以重啟全球最大的柏崎刈羽核電廠。要是柏崎刈羽核電廠獲准重啟，其他核電廠應該就會跟進。
就算核電廠通過檢查，多數民眾還是反對重啟。然而，反核團體原子力資料情報室的伴英幸表示，正式淘汰核能應該加速、等待20年後核電廠相繼退役、抑或是介於兩者之間，目前仍舊沒有共識。十分受歡迎的自民黨前首相小泉純一郎呼籲立刻終止核電；民調顯示五分之三的受訪民眾支持他的計畫。
東京天普大學的金士頓（Jeff
Kingston）表示，小泉仍舊知道該如何激起民眾的情緒，但安倍不太可能改變支持核電的立場；安倍政府與「原子力村」的連結太過深厚，大企業也不斷要求重啟核電廠。小泉的手法顯然比山本太郎傳統許多；新任議員山本太郎在一場宴會中，大膽地將一封信交給明仁天皇，信的內容為福島核災的衝擊；與擁有近神地位的天皇直接接觸，激怒了體制內的每一個人（唯一的例外，則是繼續與山本太郎談話的明仁天皇）。日本的核能之爭尚未完結。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
The Economist
Japan and nuclear power
High alert
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: November 20, 2013
Nov 16th 2013 | FUKUSHIMA |From the print edition
The riskiest part yet of the Fukushima clean-up is soon to begin.
AMONG the twisted metal and random debris that litter much of the
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the fourth reactor looks in relatively
good condition. A new structure covers the damage from a hydrogen explosion
that blew its roof off days after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the
plant in March 2011. But the building is still unstable, and its spent-fuel
storage pool highly dangerous. This month Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) will
start plucking out over 1,500 radioactive rods from the pool in order to store
them more safely. Over the pool a crane waits to start the procedure, and a
yellow radiation alarm stands at the ready. Experts call the operation the
riskiest stage of the plant's clean-up so far.
Removing spent fuel is a routine task at all nuclear facilities, says
Akira Ono, the plant's manager. Engineers will have to take out each fuel
assembly one by one without mishap, and overcome the risks of fire, earthquake
and the pool boiling dry. The fuel rods can ignite if they lose coolant, or
explode if they collide.
The rods are being moved just when trust in the utility that owns
Fukushima Dai-ichi is at a low point. A series of leaks of highly radioactive
water this year, and other dangerous accidents including a power cut in March—a
rat chewed through the wiring—has brought it under fierce attack. In August the
Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said leaks of contaminated water were a
level-three or "serious" incident on an international scale that goes
up to seven. Now some are calling for the removal of spent-fuel rods from
reactor four to be closely monitored by foreign experts.
Even the pro-nuclear ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) wants to
take TEPCO in its current form out of the decommissioning process, which will
take 40 or more years. A new entity, including the utility's staff but separate
from its commercial side, would take charge. Finding a solution to the problem
of TEPCO's structure (among other things, the company is financially
precarious) would help the government's efforts to switch nuclear power back
on.
At the moment Japan is entirely without nuclear energy, but that is
unlikely to last for long. Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, is pushing for as
many of the country's 50 usable reactors to restart as soon as possible after
passing safety checks by the NRA. The need to import energy has pushed up the
price of electricity and added to a series of trade deficits since 2011. In
September TEPCO won approval from the governor of Niigata prefecture to apply
for a safety check in order to restart two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
nuclear plant, the world's biggest. If it is allowed to restart, others would
probably follow.
Most of the public are broadly against restarting nuclear plants even
once they pass new checks. Nonetheless, says Hideyuki Ban, secretary-general of
the Citizens Nuclear Information Centre, an anti-nuclear group, no consensus
exists on whether an official phase-out should happen quickly, over 20 years by
natural attrition, or something in between. Junichiro Koizumi, a popular LDP
former prime minister, has stepped in, calling for an immediate end to nuclear
power. After he broadcast his views at a press conference, a poll showed that
three-fifths of those who were surveyed backed his plan.
Mr Koizumi still knows how to rouse the public, says Jeff Kingston of
Temple University in Tokyo, but there is little chance that Mr Abe's commitment
to nuclear power will change. His government's links to the "nuclear
village" are too strong. Big business is clamouring for the power stations
to restart. Mr Koizumi's style is certainly more orthodox than Taro Yamamoto's.
At a garden party, the new member of parliament dared to hand a letter to the
emperor, Akihito, about the impact of the Fukushima catastrophe. Such direct
contact with a near-divine was considered an outrage by everybody in the
establishment (except Akihito, who carried on chatting with him). Japan's
nuclear-energy drama is far from over.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
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