The following interview with Kazuhiro Suzuki, Executive Director of Japan’s International Research Institute for Decommissioning, was conducted last week on the sidelines of the 2014 Waste Management Symposium by ExchangeMonitor Publications CEO Martin Schneider and RW Monitor Reporter Jeremy L. Dillon.
To start, can you talk a little about what people can expect from your organization over the next few months, and the rest of 2014? And maybe some of the engagements you are looking for from companies as you move forward?
IRID, our organization, was established last August, and after that we started the two requests for information. One is contaminated water issues, and the other is innovative fuel debris retrieval assistance. Based on our RFI, just after the Fukushima accident, many foreign companies assisted the organization of Fukushima-Daiichi on site, such as Kurion supplying a water treatment system and also other companies like EnergySolutions and Westinghouse. But for the actual work at Fukushima, future technologies are needed such as the technology that is necessary to have some type of development work. That is the purpose for establishing IRID.
IRID was founded by the Japanese utility, the Japanese reactor vendors, Toshiba and GE Hitachi, and the Japanese Institutes such as JAEA. But we understand that in the United States, you have a lot of experience in decommissioning like TMI-2 and your governmental facilities. Of course I have a lot of contact with foreign companies and institutes. Their technology is sometimes very impressive to me. We understand we have to request information as much as possible. That is the reason why we established IRID and also why we performed the request for information. We received the submissions, but to attend this kind of meeting, I have many chances to have a direct communication, which is very good to understand the US or other countries capabilities. It’s very helpful for me and for IRID, and also for Japan.
Were you pleased with the response to the RFI? Did you get a lot of responses?
Yes, yes, yes.
What’s the next step in the RFI process after you’ve gathered those responses? What’s the next step forward?
Usually, there are three steps: first, the RFI; second step, RFP; and the next step is the actual research and development work. There are a lot of submissions for the fuel debris removal, maybe we received around 200 submissions. But maybe for the next step—the RFP, where we are considering how to perform the feasibility of the concepts—maybe we receive several responses, several meaning five to 10 to do the feasibility study. After that, maybe one or two. It’s very interesting what kind of innovative technology we need to perform the actual research on.
What will be some of the potential opportunities for American companies in the future beyond water treatment?
We have to consider how to appraise technology to the actual Fukushima site operation. We are thinking it’s better to create a kind of alliance or joint venture team. It’s better to make a Japanese company and U.S. research company or other countries, in a form of an alliance. It’s very important to establish this. The one reason we planned a work shop is to discuss each other’s specialties. To apply the foreign technology to the Fukushima site, we have to obey the Japanese law. It’s a point of nuclear safety issues and we have to consider many things. One reason why we have to perform the feasibility study is that there are many items that need to be considered.
Do you have an update of the disposal options for Japan for the material resulting from the Fukushima cleanup?
For the radioactive waste from the Fukushima site, we don’t have a disposal site yet. Before the Fukushima accident, we were considering the normal radioactive waste from an operating plant and also the normal decommissioning plant. So currently, there is no disposal site for Fukushima radioactive waste, and no rules established yet for the waste. Because the normal operations of a nuclear plant did not contain alpha radioactive waste, so we have to consider how to establish waste rules. Now we are making an effort to understand the total amount or what kind of radioactive waste created by the Fukushima site.
Is IRID taking an active role in that process, or is it more the Japanese government?
First, we have to consider the real situation of the Fukushima site. IRID now is picking up samples and analyses, and then we will assimilate the total amount of radioactive waste in the Fukushima site. Then, we have to consider what types of rules are necessary. Then the Japanese government will have to consider those rules.
After the RFI for the groundwater, what do you envision for the next process? Will it be on the spent fuel?
There are some possibilities. One is the treatment of radioactive waste. One is how to treat the fuel debris after we successfully retrieve them. That is the next big discussion issue.
How many active RFIs do you envision being able to address simultaneously, or do you see them occurring in succession?
If necessary, we will have to expand the team to handle the matters.
Are you actively looking at bringing in additional staff so you can handle more RFIs or more simultaneous activity?
Yes. Now we are considering what type of expertise we have to have by ourselves. Now the staff is all Japanese. In the future, I would like to ask foreign companies or foreign institutes to dispatch staff or engineers to us.
Who would you view as your counterpart here in the US? Is that a difficult question?
We already have contacts with people such as AREVA or Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and some others. I think it may be possible in the future.
Can you talk about what IRID may look like this time next year?
Now, in Japan, it’s kind of a transient group, because TEPCO established an in-house decommissioning company, and also the Japanese government is discussing establishing a kind of strategic body. Now, we are discussing each parties’ responsibilities. I have no idea yet. A responsibility clarification is very, very important.
