Japanese diplomat Matsumura warns of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 high-level radioactive waste storage pool risks

Japanese diplomat Akio Matsumura has been warning about the risks of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4's high-level radioactive waste storage pool failing (see photo, left), as due to another strong earthquake. Matsumura has worked with the former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland, Murata, who has recently testified before the Japanese federal parliament, as well as written to Japanese Prime Minister Noda and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, urging international cooperation to address the dangers at Unit 4. Matsumura has devoted his homepage to dialogues with the likes of Bob Alvarez at Institute for Policy Studies, Gordon Edwards at Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsiblity, and Steven Starr with PSR, to better understand the situation and amplify the international warning.

Of course, the U.S. faces potentially catastrophic risks at its 31 GE BWR Mark I and II high-level radioactive waste storage pools, as well.

In fact, U.S. pools hold significantly more waste than their Japanese counterparts. Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 held 219 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel, according to the Japanese Parliament's committee investigating the catastrophe. But as but a couple examples, the Pilgrim, MA and Fermi 2, MI Mark I pools hold more than 600 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel, each! In fact, Pilgrim and Fermi 2's pools hold every single irradiated nuclear fuel assembly ever generated by those reactors!