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| Tweet Topic Started: April 11 2011, 02:28 PM (7,661 Views) | |
| Audi-Tek | September 11 2011, 05:02 PM Post #401 |
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Prince
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Japan anti-nuclear protests mark 6 months since quake TOKYO (Reuters) – Anti-nuclear protesters took to the streets of Tokyo and other cities on Sunday to mark six months since the March earthquake and tsunami and vent their anger at the government's handling of the nuclear crisis set off by meltdowns at the Fukushima power plant. In one of the largest protests, an estimated 2,500 people marched past the headquarters of the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and created a "human chain" around the building of the Trade Ministry that oversees the power industry. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan's northeastern coast left 20,000 dead or missing and crippled the Fukushima plant, triggering the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. The accident that led to radiation and contamination fears spurred widespread calls for an end to Japan's reliance on nuclear power in the quake-prone country. Protesters, marching to the beat of drums, called for a complete shutdown of nuclear power plants across Japan and demanded a shift in government policy toward alternative sources of energy. Among the protestors were four young men who declared the start of a 10-day hunger strike to bring about change in Japan's nuclear policy. "I believe it is very important that the young generation voices opposition against nuclear power, and in order to bring our point across we need to put ourselves on the line and that's why we chose to hunger strike for 10 days," said 20-year-old Naoya Okamoto. Japanese media reported similar protests in other cities across Japan on the day many offered prayers to those who died in the March 11 disaster. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 12 2011, 04:07 PM Post #402 |
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Prince
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The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant plans to build an iron wall on the ocean side of the plant to prevent radioactive water from leaking into the sea. Tokyo Electric Power Company says more than 110,000 tons of highly radioactive water remains in the basements of reactor buildings at the plant. There is growing concern that the water may eventually pass via underground water into the ocean. The utility will use thousands of iron pipes to create an 800-meter-long wall surrounding the water intakes of 4 reactor facilities. Each pipe, 22-meters long and one meter wide, will be installed deep below the sea bed to stop the flow of groundwater. The firm says it will also prepare for a rise in underground water levels around the plant after the wall is built. It says it will closely monitor the level of groundwater and consider pumping it away to prevent overflow. Construction will begin as early as the end of this year and be completed in about 2 years. http://youtu.be/bZTDMQmNUFg |
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| Audi-Tek | September 12 2011, 04:49 PM Post #403 |
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Prince
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After Fukushima, mother fights to get her life back FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, Japan (Reuters) – Even before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck knocking out the Fukushima nuclear plant, Aya's life was a struggle. She had divorced her abusive husband and was left on her own to care and provide for her two daughters. Now, six months after she fled her home just 9 km (6 miles) away from the radiation-spewing plant, the 26-year old single mother is barely surviving. She has no job, languishes in hiding from her violent ex-husband in temporary housing and will probably never see her home again. "It feels like a hole has opened inside me. My home was so important to me and I felt safe there," said Aya who would not give her family name or disclose her exact location out of fear her ex-husband could find her. "It's like time has just stopped. Ever since March 11, the time has stopped for me." The tsunami left 20,000 dead or missing, set off the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl a quarter of a century ago and forced 80,000 to evacuate. It hit particularly hard those who were already down on their luck. There were reports of lone deaths in temporary housing and suicide rates jumped in the quake-battered regions. After the disaster Aya was evacuated to a nearby gymnasium, but could not stay there as Noa - her younger four-year-old daughter - cannot walk because of a split spine and needs special care. The older, six-year-old Kurea has no disabilities and goes to school. "Noa's father then called and we went to Saitama (north of Tokyo). He said the hospitals were up and running there, so I decided to do it for Noa's sake," says Aya as she puts braces around her younger daughter's legs as they prepare for a trip to the kindergarten. "He soon started beating us up. It was so insane, I just had to flee again. Ignoring the risk of radiation I came back up to Fukushima prefecture," says Aya, zipping her daughter's backpack. She now lives in a modest apartment in one of the prefecture's bigger cities sharing the fate of the tens of thousands that six months after the disaster still do not have a permanent home. About 10,000 still live in evacuation shelters, 34,000 stay in hotels or with relatives or friends and 40,000 live in temporary housing. ANXIETY "I also lost my job as an insurance agent as my company moved to a different town," says Aya. With her daughter in kindergarten, she goes job hunting and says any job that would let her check on Noa from time to time will do. Landing a job is tough, though, as the influx of evacuees from the tsunami-hit areas doubled the number of job-seekers in the Fukushima prefecture. Like other evacuees, she blames the government for dragging its feet on mapping out the area's future. Only last week, Tokyo said it would aim to halve radiation over two years in places contaminated by the nuclear disaster, removing soil, plants and trees in an area spanning thousands of square km. But it is not clear when, if ever, the evacuees will be able to return home. "I want them to come out into the open and to say it clearly: you will or will not be able to go back to your place. If not, I want them to tell me what am I, and thousands of other people, supposed to do," says Aya in a trembling voice. "I have to wonder if I'll be able to build my life here. I just can't even begin to think about what to do in the future." |
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| Audi-Tek | September 12 2011, 06:50 PM Post #404 |
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Prince
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Japan: What recovery looks like Campaign posters for local elections are up in the wasteland that was Rikzentakata's waterfront [D. Parvaz/Al Jazeera] After an earthquake and tsunami that left around 20,000 dead or missing, Japan, the world's third-largest economy, is still reeling from the blow. Tourism is down, the fishing industry battered and, on top of it all, there's the issue of a nuclear meltdown at the damaged Daiichi plant in Fukushima - and the energy shortage that accompanies it - to contend with. I was in Japan in March, right after the earthquake and tsunami struck (and just as the Daiichi plant was burning, exploding, and kicking out all kinds of smoke), when things looked at their worst. Six months on, I'm back. What I'm seeing is a country pushing forward with the mighty task of repairing communities and lives up and down its northeast coast while trying to come to terms with its energy consumption and what it means to have 54 nuclear power plants on its seismically active land. [Photos by D. Parvaz/Al Jazeera] link ...... http://www.vuvox.com/collage/detail/045b02ed14 |
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| Audi-Tek | September 12 2011, 08:08 PM Post #405 |
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Prince
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Six months after Japan's tsunami, residents worry their plight is fading from view![]() AXcess News) Minami-Sanriku, Japan - As memorial services were held across the northeast coastal regions to mark six months since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, recovery from the vast disaster is proving to be painfully slow in many places. Some of the worst-hit towns still resemble wasteland. More than 80,000 people remain in temporary accommodation. The nuclear crisis at Fukushima triggered by the tsunami is ongoing, and the new industry minister resigned over the weekend after making disparaging comments about the city. "We pray for the lost lives and for the missing to be found as early as possible. We hope that people can return to this town and we can hear cheerful voices again," said Jin Sato, the mayor of Minami-Sanriku at a service attended by more than 2,200 in the town's Bayside Arena. His voice faltered as he spoke about the many friends and colleagues lost on March 11. Mr. Sato had been in the town hall along with 130 staff when the tsunami struck. He was one of only 10 survivors when the 50-ft. waves came across the roof of the building and washed away 20 of the 30 people who had made it that far. Most of the residents of the town returned for the service from other areas, as Minami-Sanriku remains largely uninhabitable. Thousands of tons of debris were piled into mountains of wood, earth, metal, and concrete along the waterfront. A boat rests on the second floor of the former city hospital, facing away from the sea, where the tsunami deposited it as the huge wave pulled back to where it came from after obliterating 95 percent of the town. Recognizing sacrifices Red steel girders are all that is left of the town's disaster response center where a young local government worker, Miki Endo, famously stayed at her post sounding an alarm and urging residents to evacuate, until the tsunami engulfed the building and she went missing. People came from as far as Tokyo to pay their respects at the small makeshift shrine that has appeared in the shell of the building, dedicated to Ms. Endo's sacrifice. Some residents of Minami-Sanriku want the remains of the building to be turned into a permanent monument to her heroism. A cluster of 20 prefab housing units behind the Bayside Arena, where Sunday morning's service was held, is now home to a fraction of the town's people who lost their homes on March 11. Kaeko Gyoba was in a club for Minami-Sanriku's elderly residents with her husband when the earthquake struck. They made it up to the fourth floor and were spared as the waves swept through the three stories below, but left the building standing when the waves receded. It was one of the few buildings spared in the entire town. "We spent two nights up there until a Self-Defense Force helicopter was able to land at the elementary school nearby and get us out," says Ms. Gyoba. She stayed with relatives near Tokyo after the disaster, but she returned last month to be with the rest of her family, who now occupy five of the small, flimsy-looking temporary houses. "It's very tough living here, I just can't get used to it. There's nowhere in the town to shop, you need a car to go anywhere, and I worry how cold it will be in the winter," says Gyoba. "And none of the family have jobs now. They all worked on the ocean, farming seaweed and oysters. Everything was swept away." Fading from public consciousness? Despite the nationwide attention that the six-month memorials have been receiving, some of those still struggling to put their lives back together feel they are gradually fading from people's consciousness in the rest of the country. There is also anger at politicians in Tokyo who they see as more concerned with partisan fighting than focusing on helping the region's recovery. Even the leadership contest to replace former Prime Minister Naoto Kan - heavily criticized for his handling of the crisis - was seen as a self-indulgent distraction by many in the region. His replacement, Yoshihiko Noda, has already lost his trade and industry minister, only eight days after being sworn in. On his first visit to the disaster zone last week, Trade Minister Yoshio Hachiro joked with a reporter accompanying him on the trip about infecting him with radiation by wiping his jacket on the journalist after coming out of the no-go zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant. The minister went on to describe the area around the stricken facility as, "really like a town of death." Hachiro's behavior provoked outrage not just among residents of Fukushima, but across Japan's north-east coast. For many, the minister's attitude betrayed a lack of real empathy from Tokyo politicians with the victims of the triple disasters, and his tearful apology afterward convinced few. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 13 2011, 05:13 PM Post #406 |
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Prince
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Nuclear agency's board adopts safety plan VIENNA (AP) -- A 35-nation meeting of the U.N. nuclear agency on Tuesday adopted a post-Fukushima nuclear safety plan - despite gripes by influential member nations that it to too timid for making compliance voluntary. Germany and several other EU states - as well as Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand - are unhappy with the plan because it does not obligate countries to allow outside monitoring of their civilian nuclear programs and gives the International Atomic Energy Agency no enforcement powers on safety. Board member nations adopted the document by consensus, but not before Canada aired grievances shared by other critics in an unusually blunt statement. "The draft Action Plan before Governors today will be seen as a timid response by the Agency," said Canada's statement to the closed meeting. Canada said the plan is neither as comprehensive as recommended by a special post-Fukushima IAEA conference attended by dozens of government ministers in June, nor recommendations by IAEA chief Yakima Amman. "It is disappointing, therefore, that the draft contains few new commitments and little in the way of increased transparency or safety peer reviews," said the statement, which was made available to The Associated Press. It chastised both the agency and its member states for missing "an opportunity to make necessary reforms to the global nuclear safety framework." Earlier in the debate on the plan, which began Monday, Ruediger Luedeking, Germany's chief IAEA representative, said the document "does not fully meet our expectations." Suggesting that the text was vague and too nonbinding in nature, Luedeking said Germany would have wanted a plan in which member states' commitments to peer reviews and IAEA oversight of their civilian nuclear programs had been "more clearly and stringently set out." Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Argentina were chief opponents of giving the IAEA more authority to police nuclear safety, said a diplomat from an IAEA member state attending the meeting. But the United States was also comfortable with the decision to strip the plan of language entrusting the agency with more clout that was present in earlier drafts and leaving oversight to governments, national safety authorities and power companies, he said. Such a stance reflects Washington's strong belief in domestic regulatory bodies having full control of nuclear safety. The six-page document outlines steps to be taken by states with civilian nuclear programs to establish weaknesses in their networks and remedy them. But these measures - whether they are peer reviews, IAEA safety checks, or other proposals meant to improve nuclear safety - can only be carried out "upon request" of the nation involved. Instead of being required to do so, member states are "strongly encouraged to voluntarily" open their facilities to outside checks of potential weak links that could result in a nuclear disaster. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 15 2011, 08:00 PM Post #407 |
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Prince
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Japan Atomic Energy Body Sees Technical Hurdles Ahead TOKYO—Japan's efforts to safely dismantle the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex is expected to be fraught with technical challenges and take more than a decade to complete, the government's Atomic Energy Commission said Wednesday. Removing the fuel from the spent-fuel pools and the reactors is vital to ensuring there will be no radiation leakage from the quake-ravaged facility. Experts fear that their structures might have been weakened by the heat and radiation from the damaged fuel and the large amount of seawater that was poured into them as an emergency measure to cool down the fuel. The commission, an independent body tasked to formulate the nation's nuclear policy, will explain to other countries about a decommissioning plan during the annual general meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to be held in Vienna next Monday. Commission chairman Shunsuke Kondo previously offered his view that it would take at least 10 years before the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., becomes ready to remove the fuel from the three damaged reactors. "It took five years to start a similar operation after an accident at the Three Mile Island plant in 1979," said Katsuichiro Hijikata, head of Tepco's Nuclear Seismic Engineering Center. "It would likely take longer at the Fukushima plant, given that it has three damaged reactors as opposed to just one at the TMI plant, and that the extent of the damage is far more serious." The most difficult challenge facing Tepco is how to plug leakages in the primary containment structures of the damaged reactors. The primary containment vessels, the main shield against radiation leaks, and the reactor buildings that house them, have been damaged in part by the impact of the magnitude-9 earthquake on March 11, and also by the subsequent breakdown of the cooling systems and the overheating of the reactors. As a result, water used for cooling down the reactors has leaked out and has flooded the connecting facilities, leading to contamination of groundwater and some incidents of leakage into the Pacific Ocean. The leakage means that the containment vessels are largely empty of water, further complicating the efforts. "Without filling up the containment vessel with water, it will be difficult to take out the toxic fuel from the reactors safely," said Hirofumi Nakamura, senior official of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, a government research affiliate, at the commission meeting. Numerous technical challenges need to be solved before Tepco begins the fuel removal, Nakamura said. New robots have to be built capable of undertaking operations to probe the conditions inside the containment vessels, identify and plug the leakages, and remove the fuel, he said. Tepco also needs to find ways to prevent any new nuclear reaction, which could happen if the fuel is not adequately cooled during the entire process. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 15 2011, 08:06 PM Post #408 |
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Prince
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Radioactive cesium from Fukushima on tour of Pacific Ocean Radioactive cesium from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant is circulating with the currents in the Pacific Ocean and will wash up on Japan's shores again in between 20 and 30 years. ![]() A TEPCO worker checks radiation levels around piping at the Fukushima nuclear power plant Photo: AFP/GETTY Scientists from the government's Meteorological Research Institute and the Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry announced their findings at a meeting of the Geochemical Society of Japan this week, adding that some of the cesium will also flow into the Indian Ocean and, eventually, reach the Atlantic. The scientists estimated that some 3,500 terabecquerels of cesium-137 was released into the sea directly from the plant between March 11, when the earthquake and tsunami struck, and the end of May. Another 10,000 terabecquerels of cesium fell into the ocean after escaping from the reactors in the form of steam. One terabecquerel is a trillion becquerels, the standard measure of radiation, and the Japanese government has set the permissible level of iodine-131 for vegetables and fish at 2,000 becquerels per kilogram (2.2lbs). Cesium is considered a more serious threat, however, because of its relatively long half-life. Cesium has a half-life of around 30 years, can accumulate in muscles and is a known cause of cancer. The researchers believe that the cesium has initially dispersed into the Pacific from the coast of Fukushima Prefecture but will be taken to the southwest by the prevailing currents at a depth of around 1,300 feet. Just short of the International Date Line, the shifting currents will take the cesium close to the Philippines before it again turns north on the Japan |
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| Audi-Tek | September 15 2011, 08:09 PM Post #409 |
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Prince
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Edano says Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant's resumption difficult TOKYO, Sept. 16, Kyodo Japan's new industry minister Yukio Edano said Thursday it will be difficult to restart the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, in addition to the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, as local residents are unlikely to approve the resumption. In an interview with Kyodo News and other media organizations, Edano said that winning approval of local municipalities where idled reactors are located is a ''precondition'' for their reactivation. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the two nuclear power complexes in Fukushima Prefecture, plans to scrap the troubled Nos. 1-4 reactors of the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi plant, and Edano had earlier said when he was chief Cabinet secretary in the wake of the start of the Fukushima nuclear crisis that the remaining Nos. 5 and 6 reactors will likely be decommissioned, too. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 15 2011, 08:11 PM Post #410 |
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Prince
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Researchers say meltdown could have been avoided A group of researchers says the meltdown of a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could have been avoided if water injection had been carried out 4 hours earlier than it was. The researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported the finding based on a computer simulation of the accident at the plant's No. 2 reactor. The core meltdown took place within a few days after the reactor's cooling system failed due to the major earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said earlier that data analysis shows that the cooling system may have stopped working shortly after 1 PM on March 14th. The utility started injecting water to cool the reactor at around 8 PM that day, after reducing pressure in the facility. But by 8 PM the next day -- around 100 hours after the quake -- much of the reactor's fuel had melted and collected at the bottom of the reactor's pressure vessel. The simulation suggests that if water had been injected by around 4 PM, it could have prevented the meltdown by lowering the temperature of the fuel before it reached 1,200 degrees Celsius, destroying the fuel's container. Group leader Masashi Hirano says the damage to the fuel could have been avoided, and that he wonders why TEPCO did not start injecting water earlier despite difficulties. TEPCO says it doesn't believe the operation was delayed, adding that workers did their best amid high radiation levels and other severe conditions. Of the plant's 6 reactors, the No. 1 to No. 3 suffered meltdowns after losing cooling functions. At the No. 2 reactor, a hydrogen explosion on March 15th caused the release and spread of massive amounts of radioactive substances. Thursday, September 15, 2011 |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:15 PM Post #411 |
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Prince
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Fukushima evacuees slam compensation requirements The evacuees pointed out that during the crisis, no one thought about collecting receipts for the purchases they made while fleeing. Residents of areas near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant who have been forced to flee their homes are criticizing the 200-page document sent by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for them to be eligible for compensation. clearpxl Evacuees are pushing for simplified compensation claims forms. TEPCO sent 60,000 application packages this week. One of the three form has 56 pages, while the explanatory brochure is 156 pages. To file a claim evacuees must also submit receipts and other records to support their claim. The evacuees say out that during the crisis no one thought about collecting receipts for the purchases they made while fleeing. TEPCO, which also required medical certificates as proof of ailments, said claimants who don’t have receipts will be dealt with on a case-to-case basis. In contrast, Japanese insurers require premium holders to file only a one- or two-page claim application for damages due to natural disasters. The General Insurance Association of Japan said it simplified the claim process because of the sheer volume of claimants, which had reached 685,000. TEPCO Managing Director Naomi Hirose said last month that the utility firm is expecting to be deluged by up to 500,000 claims from individuals and companies affected by the nuclear disaster. Another financial drain for TEPCO would be to pay for the decontamination of the affected areas. An estimate by University of Tokyo Professor Yuichi Moriguchi placed the extent of contamination to more than 2,000 square kilometers (1,243 square miles) of the Fukushima Prefecture at radiation levels considered high enough to warrant decontamination measures. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:35 PM Post #412 |
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Prince
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Big Japan Quakes Still a Risk Official Says Nuclear Standards Must Be Revised, Could Mean Years of Delays ![]() A nuclear plant in Fukui, the prefecture with the most reactors. Its governor calls stress tests 'not sufficient.' The Japanese government has tried to prod local municipalities to restart reactors shut down after a massive March earthquake and tsunami by using the stress tests as a way to ease concern about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. A consensus around the restart process is crucial as Japan faces the potential loss of all electricity generated by nuclear plants. Commercial reactors in Japan are subject to mandatory maintenance every 13 months. Following the March 11 quake, no reactor that has gone down for maintenance has been allowed to restart, leaving only 11 reactors in operation out of a total 54. Those will be shut down for maintenance by next May. Regulatory authorities have ordered stress tests on all reactors by early next year—simulated exercises designed to measure the plants' ability to withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and other abnormal events such as electricity loss. So far, evaluations have begun on 13 idled reactors, according to Kyodo News. Yet regulatory parameters underlying the stress tests never envisioned the type of massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11. Those guidelines—most of which date from 2006—have been called into question by experts inside and outside the government following the extensive damage caused to the Daiichi plant. Mr. Irikura's panel plans to issue a report by next March highlighting areas where revisions need to be made to existing guidelines. That has given local official pause despite the central government's moves to get reactors back online soon. The governor of Fukui prefecture, Issei Nishikawa, said Thursday after meeting with regulators in Tokyo that current stress tests are "not sufficient," signaling that local officials may demand tougher standards that envision a Fukushima Daiichi-scale disaster as a prerequisite for reactor restarts. Fukui, located on the Sea of Japan coast, hosts 13 reactors, the largest number of any prefecture in Japan. Mr. Irikura, who now heads the panel studying the lessons of Fukushima, said formulating new guidelines is a long-term process, noting it took five years to complete the last revisions, and then another four years—until December 2010—to modify those standards to deal with the dangers of tsunamis. He served on the panel that drafted the 2006 standards, and, in the interview, reflected on what he now considers to have been the flaws in that process. "We didn't focus on worst-case scenarios, but rather what were believed to be the most likely outcomes," said Mr. Irikura, 71, who coedited a book on advanced seismic-hazard assessment published earlier this year. "The risk of outliers like tsunamis was evaluated, but our advice...was that plant operators should be aware of these—not necessarily to expect them to occur." One reason for what Mr. Irikura now regards as an overly optimistic approach in fixing standards before the March quake was pressure from the nuclear industry, both in Japan and abroad. Operators criticized the NSC for trying to push excess rules and for not keeping up with the latest in engineering technology. "We were under a lot of pressure to ease up on standards from nuclear-plant engineers who felt the 2006 revisions were too strict and weren't practical or economically feasible for commercial reactors," he said. In order to bridge areas where available scientific data left uncertainties, "they told us advanced engineering could answer questions that the science couldn't." While industry pushed the standard-setters to ease up in 2006, some critics at the time said they were too lenient. They pointed to changes such as the removal of a requirement that nuclear plants be built on bedrock in favor of a looser rule calling for them to be constructed on "ground with sufficient support capacity." One member of that panel, Kobe University seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi, resigned at the last meeting prior to the guidelines' approval to protest what he saw as a weakening of regulations. In the wake of the Fukushima accident, Mr. Ishibashi, who declined to comment for this article, has stated that no nuclear plants in Japan can be considered safe. But Mr. Irikura rejects that conclusion and says many of Mr. Ishibashi's concerns were reflected in the 2006 guidelines. "Ishibashi quit at the last meeting we held and only after he came under pressure from antinuclear groups during the public comment period," he said. "We did incorporate some of his recommendations and the ones we didn't weren't considered that significant." Mr. Irikura's committee has also shed new light on what went wrong at Fukushima Daiichi from the perspective of the plant's overwhelmed earthquake and tsunami defenses. Using documents from plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co., it has found a number of weak points that triggered the power outage leading to the meltdowns of three reactors and substantial damage to the facility's infrastructure. In the interview, Mr. Irikura disclosed sources of damage that have gotten little or no attention. While it is widely known that the tsunami knocked out power to electricity generators needed to cool the reactors, he said that ground movement during the earthquake also caused outside power lines to fail, which prevented electricity from outside sources from reaching the plant in lieu of its own generators. The power lines running to and from the plant were never classified as "critical" equipment, so transmission towers were not built on as solid a foundation as the rest of the plant's facilities, resulting in the toppling of one key tower in an area untouched by the tsunami, he said. "If that tower hadn't collapsed, power might have been restored to the plant before the meltdowns," said Mr. Irikura. "We need to tear up the book on classification and seriously broaden the definition of what we consider critical nuclear equipment to be." He also said that disaster might have been avoided—or at least mitigated—if the sea water tanks at Fukushima Daiichi had not been left exposed outside and close to the coast, noting that those at the neighboring Fukushima Daini plant just 10 kilometers away were safely ensconced inside sturdy buildings and unaffected by the tsunami. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:41 PM Post #413 |
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Prince
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Fukushima residents fear being stuck with radioactive soil![]() Contaminated surface soil removed from an elementary school yard is buried in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Sept. 6. (Kengo Hiyoshi) FUKUSHIMA--Distrust is hampering plans on all levels in the struggle to dispose of the mountains of radioactive soil piling up through decontamination efforts in Fukushima Prefecture. Residents don't trust local authorities, and local officials are wary of the central government's plans, feeling they could become stuck with the contaminated soil in the long term if they accept the hazardous waste on a "temporary" basis. The city of Date, Fukushima Prefecture, which is located more than 30 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, plans to set up temporary yards for large amounts of radioactive soil and waste from the decontamination efforts in the city, including residential districts and woodlands. City officials have held about 30 meetings since late July to explain the temporary storage plans to residents. But they were unable to obtain an agreement until Sept. 13. The only agreement came from nine residents of the Aiyoshi district, where residents were advised to evacuate after radiation levels higher than in the surrounding areas were detected. "If we want to continue to live here, we may have no other choice but to accept a storage yard," Akiyoshi Takahashi, a 58-year-old farmer, said. In the Watari residential district of Fukushima, the city government began transporting radioactive waste to an existing waste disposal facility. But strong opposition from residents forced city officials to suspend the decontamination work. In August, the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced plans to build a temporary storage facility for radioactive soil and waste in Fukushima Prefecture. Makeshift yards are supposed to store the radioactive soil and waste, such as leaves and rice straw, until the temporary storage facility is completed. But virtually nothing has been decided on the temporary storage facility, such as when and where it will be built, how much radioactive materials it will store and for how long. Several temporary storage facilities may be needed considering the growing volume of contaminated soil and waste. "Residents are only beginning to accept makeshift yards reluctantly," said Takahiro Hanzawa, an official who leads the Date city government's decontamination efforts. "But the central government abruptly said it will build a temporary storage facility in Fukushima Prefecture. I feel depleted." A common view held by municipal governments and the Fukushima prefectural government is that now is not the time to discuss a temporary storage facility or a final disposal site when they are struggling to set up even makeshift yards. "Municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture and local governments suspect that waste with high radiation levels will be left at makeshift yards and the temporary storage facility for an extended period," a senior prefectural government official said. The central government has said it will build a final disposal site outside Fukushima Prefecture to take over the radioactive soil and waste from the temporary storage facility. But skepticism abounds about that scenario, too. A lawmaker from Fukushima Prefecture compares the planned temporary storage facility to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which remains in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, despite a Japan-U.S. agreement to relocate it to Nago in the prefecture. "Even if the government said it will build a final disposal site outside Fukushima Prefecture, we cannot believe it unless a concrete road map is presented," the lawmaker said. A senior official at the Environment Ministry said radioactive soil and waste must be quickly isolated at makeshift yards to reduce health risks. To set up makeshift yards, seepage-control sheets and minerals that absorb radioactive materials need to be laid on the ground first, according to government officials. The radioactive soil and waste is then covered by uncontaminated soil. Keizo Ishii, a professor at Tohoku University who is involved in removing radioactive materials in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, said the first goal is to have workers become experienced in technologies to remove only the contaminated surface soil. Many researchers are working on technologies to reduce the volume of soil to be stripped. The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has developed technology to absorb cesium in soil with pigments. Tohoku University is studying a method to remove clay combined with cesium. The long-term problem is how to deal with waste that has absorbed radioactive materials. Some researchers have proposed that the radioactive soil be incinerated, but consent from residents must be obtained. "Radioactive materials will remain somewhere for a long time," an Environment Ministry official said. "If the volume (of radioactive waste) is reduced, the concentration (of radioactive materials) will increase. The associated risk will also increase, making it difficult to handle (the waste)." Tatsuhiko Kodama, a University of Tokyo professor who has been removing radioactive materials in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, said the Environment Ministry does not have the know-how on how to decontaminate the affected areas. "A third-party committee of private-sector experts must be set up to determine the scope of decontamination and standards for decontamination," he said at a bipartisan meeting on Sept. 14. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:42 PM Post #414 |
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Fukushima clean-up may require removal of 100 million cubic meters of soil A veritable mountain of soil will have to be stripped from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and surrounding areas to remove radioactive materials. Yuichi Moriguchi, a professor of environmental systems engineering at the University of Tokyo, estimated it could amount to 100 million cubic meters of soil. That is enough to fill the 55,000-capacity Tokyo Dome, home of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team and a popular concert venue, 80 times. Moriguchi sits on the Environment Ministry panel tasked with developing standards for removing radioactive materials released from the stricken facility. The government is hoping to reduce the volume by narrowing down areas to be decontaminated mainly to residential districts and farmland. It also plans to develop technologies to separate radioactive materials from soil. Moriguchi estimated that radioactive materials must be removed from up to 2,000 square kilometers of land, or one-seventh of Fukushima Prefecture. The area includes the no-entry zone and the planned evacuation zone, where residents have been advised to evacuate, totaling 1,100 square kilometers. The estimates are based on the assumption that areas with radiation levels of 1 microsievert or more per hour need to be decontaminated to contain an additional radiation dose to 1 millisievert or less a year. Moriguchi identified those areas from a map showing radiation levels measured in late June. Scientists believe that cesium can be removed almost completely if the first 5 centimeters of top soil are stripped. Cleaning up the entire 2,000-square-kilometer area will require removing 100 million cubic meters of soil. Moriguchi presented his estimates at a study session in which Environment Ministry officials participated. The estimates did not take into account how the land is used. Woodland accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of the total area. The volume of soil to be stripped may be reduced to several tens of millions of cubic meters if mountainous areas away from residential districts are excluded. "I don't think that the whole (2,000-square-kilometer) area will be decontaminated," Moriguchi said. "But I hope the calculations will be of help when people think about how difficult it will be to remove radioactive materials and who will shoulder the burden." The scope of decontamination and the volume of soil to be stripped will directly affect the size and construction cost of a temporary storage facility for radioactive soil and waste, to be built in Fukushima Prefecture. It cost about 160 billion yen ($2 billion) to build the Low-level Radioactive Waste Disposal Center in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, a final disposal site for 200,000 cubic meters of contaminated metal parts and working uniforms from nuclear power plants. If the planned temporary storage facility has the same structure as the Rokkasho facility, the construction cost will reach about 80 trillion yen. The Environment Ministry panel, which met for the first time on Sept. 14, will draft standards for removing radioactive materials by the end of November so that the removal work can start in earnest from January. Environment Ministry officials plan to present various calculations about the scope of decontamination and the volume of soil to be stripped, using Moriguchi's estimates as one reference. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:44 PM Post #415 |
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TEPCO quietly paid 40 billion yen to areas near nuclear plants Tokyo Electric Power Co. has been handing out about 2 billion yen (about $26 million) a year in unpublicized payments to local governments near its nuclear facilities, sources said Sept. 14. Though the large sums in taxes and public grants paid by the firm to local communities are public knowledge, the full scale of its additional, anonymous giving has not previously been revealed. It total, over the past 20 years, the company spent more than 40 billion yen on payments known internally as "funds to deal with local communities." One TEPCO executive said: "We paid the donations because we wanted to obtain the understanding of local governments on the construction of nuclear power plants. (We did not disclose the amounts of the donations because) we wanted to avoid criticism that we had collusive relations with local authorities." According to several TEPCO executives, the electric power company earmarked 1 billion yen to 2 billion yen at the start of each fiscal year for the payments. When necessary, that amount would be increased during the year, raising the average annual spending between 1990 and 2010 to more than 2 billion yen. That was in addition to the money flowing into local coffers from nuclear fuel taxes and grants mandated under the three laws on electric sources. TEPCO would first screen requests from heads of local governments and others for the payments, and then forward the proposals to its board of directors for approval. The company would often ask local governments not to reveal it as the source of the payments and would give money without specifying how it should be used, allowing local officials to use it freely. The sum given to each local government was mainly decided on the basis of the amount of electricity generated in the nuclear power plants of each prefecture. When very large payments were due to a particular local government, TEPCO would divide it over several years. Local governments receiving donations from TEPCO included the Fukushima prefectural government and the governments of the four municipalities where the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants are located. Payments were also made to the Niigata prefectural government and two municipalities hosting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, as well as the Aomori prefectural authorities and the city government of Mutsu, where a TEPCO-affiliated company planned to construct an intermediate storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. Of a total of 34.7 billion yen identified as having been paid for the construction of public facilities, 19.9 billion yen went to local governments in Fukushima Prefecture, 13 billion yen went to authorities in Niigata Prefecture, and 1.8 billion yen went to Mutsu. One TEPCO executive also said some local administrations had asked for money to cover budget deficits. "We were not able to reject the requests because we had made those donations normal events," the executive said, adding, "The responsibility weighed heavily on us." In exceptional cases, TEPCO disclosed donations for particularly expensive facilities. Fukushima Prefecture's 13-billion-yen "J Village" soccer facility and park improvements in Kashiwazaki city and Kariwa village in Niigata Prefecture worth 10 billion yen were funded by the company. But the general approach was secretive. A TEPCO public relations official said: "We refrain from disclosing each donation. We have disclosed the amounts of donations when the recipients have wanted to disclose them, or when the donations were made for large-scale projects." A former executive of the Aomori prefectural government said: "We welcomed anonymous donations because we were able to use them freely." The Mutsu city government purchased a shopping center building and turned it into a municipal government office building in 2006. Of the total cost of 2.8 billion yen, 1.2 billion yen was paid by donations from TEPCO. According to former city government executives, the city had to move because of the age of its previous building, but could not pay for the relocation itself because of serious fiscal problems. TEPCO was initially reluctant to pay, saying funding the relocation did not meet the donations' official purpose of revitalizing local communities. However, the Mutsu city government pressed the point, saying the city government office was used by local people. TEPCO eventually accepted the request. The fact that TEPCO provided the funding was only revealed after city assembly members blocked passage of the budget plan and insisted on transparency. In Aomori Prefecture, the Federation of Electric Power Companies donated a total of 17 billion yen to prefectural government-affiliated organizations during the period from 1989 and 2009. Of that amount, about 5 billion yen was shouldered by TEPCO. The municipal government of Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant is located, received a donation of 1 billion yen from TEPCO in fiscal 2007 to pay for the construction of a combined kindergarten and nursery school. "We were not able to cover all of the construction costs, so we asked TEPCO for donations," a Naraha municipal government official said. Shuji Shimizu, vice president of Fukushima University, said: "One of the reasons for enactment of the three laws on electric sources was that it is not good to be securing places for the construction of nuclear power plants by using dubious donations. It is obvious that the huge donations by electric power companies are related to nuclear power plants. If local governments depend on those donations, their finances will be forced to depend on nuclear power plants more and more." Haruyuki Matsuyama, a certified public accountant active in uncovering the finances of public organizations, said: "I feel that donations by electric power companies are a kind of bribe. The donations are used to conciliate local communities. They are apparently different from genuine donations that do not seek a return. The operations of administrations must be based on information disclosure. Anonymous donations imply that both electric power companies and local governments regard the donations as dubious." |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:46 PM Post #416 |
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Air SDF to scrap 12 fighters, citing tsunami damage Twelve Mitsubishi F-2 fighters used by the Air Self-Defense Force were damaged beyond repair by the March 11 tsunami and will be scrapped, the Defense Ministry said. Six others will be repaired at an estimated cost of 80 billion yen ($1 billion), the ministry said, more than the original purchase price of the six aircraft. The 18 F-2s were stationed at the Matsushima Air Base in Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture. According to the ministry, the jets were damaged when the air field was inundated with tsunami seawater 2 meters in height. The ministry spent 13.6 billion yen trying to determine whether the aircraft could be repaired. After months of examination, it decided that 12 of the F-2s were too heavily damaged to return to service. The jets will be parted out with undamaged components salvaged for use in other jets or equipment. The ministry requested a total of about 109 billion, including 80 billion yen for repairing aircraft, to be included in the third supplementary budget to be submitted to the Diet. The F-2s at Matsushima Air Base were mainly used for training and educating pilots. Since the air base was damaged by the tsunami, the Defense Ministry has commissioned other air bases in Japan and U.S. bases, for training pilots. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 16 2011, 06:58 PM Post #417 |
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Most Core Detectors Found Damaged At Fukushima No. 1 Reactor -Kyodo TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) said Friday most of the detectors lying below the pressure vessel at the No. 1 reactor of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that check the condition of the control rods have been found damaged, Kyodo News reported Friday. The damage - mostly burnt wiring or electrical shortages - is believed to have been caused by the intense heat in the wake of a core meltdown. The utility conducted current tests on the detectors, which each cover 97 control rods, and found only one detector functioned normally, it said. Junichi Matsumoto, a senior official at the utility, said he believes the detectors suffered such damage as both pressure and temperatures exceeded the given design limits for the pressure vessel. Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires |
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| Audi-Tek | September 17 2011, 07:40 PM Post #418 |
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Head of nuclear watchdog criticizes TEPCO over blacked-out documents The head of a government nuclear watchdog has criticized Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) for not being transparent enough, after it submitted documents earlier this month that were mostly blacked out. "Why don't they release all the information? There are problems with TEPCO's attitude toward providing information," Hiroyuki Fukano, 54, head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), told the Mainichi in an interview on Sept. 16. The documents in question include an operation manual for responding to nuclear accidents. "NISA has still not received the manual (in full)," Fukano said. "It is our job to investigate problems such as why the emergency condenser (for cooling the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant) didn't work properly, and the operation manual serves as a base for such investigations." Fukano indicated that NISA will request non-blacked out documents from TEPCO. Regarding the current state of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant six months on from the start of the crisis, Fukano said, "Although conditions have stabilized, there are still large amounts of radioactive water at the site, and we can't say the situation is under control. There are still many problems to tackle." On the plant's complete loss of electricity after the earthquake, Fukano said, "Such a possibility hadn't seemed real to us. There was a feeling that a complete loss of power was rare, and a disaster situation would end before it got too serious." Regarding the threat of tsunamis, he said, "We considered them as only an 'accompanying phenomenon' to earthquakes, and did not do enough (to make sure plants were prepared.)" Commenting on criticism that NISA suffered for initially giving the Fukushima disaster a "Level 4" rating on the International Nuclear Event Scale, Fukano said, "We should have given (an accurate) rating sooner. That's something that we are rightly criticized over." On the safety of other nuclear plants around the country, Fukano said, "I cannot say that they are absolutely safe, and I won't. Nothing involving humans is 100 percent safe. However, in stress tests from here on, we will announce what risks the plants face and how prepared they are for disasters." Fukano, who worked under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at the time of the March 11 disaster, joined NISA in late March. In August, he replaced Nobuaki Terasaka as head of NISA. (Mainichi Japan) September 17, 2011 |
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| Audi-Tek | September 17 2011, 07:46 PM Post #419 |
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Hanford expert weighs in on Fukushima nuclear cleanup SEATTLE -- Not many people would go to a nuclear disaster site three times. But scientist Yasuo Onishi from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at Hanford was invited time and again by Japan's Prime Minister. He's advising on the radioactive cleanup, a task he performed at Chernobyl 25 years ago. "I'm glad to be able to do that," smiles Onishi, just back from his third trip since March. "It's important to advise government officials on what to do to clean up radiation, but also important to tell them what NOT to do, too!" The good news, he says, is that radioactive Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 bind to dirt and can be scraped away, which is what cities in the radiation zone are doing. "So by removing some of the surface soil, it (Cesium) didn't go down much farther. It becomes a much lower concentration," Onishi observed. Radioactive water, like in a swimming pool, is sprinkled with a clay called zeolite. Cesium binds to it and sinks to the floor. The now -decontaminated water is pumped out and the radioactive zeolite, safely collected. Onishi says cleaning evergreen forests will be more problematic. The radioactive dust clings to the needles, which stay on the trees for a long time. Harvesting all the trees would be too huge a task. "It's all depending, again, on how much the government, working with the local people, can clean up the area enough to live." Onishi recently shot a photograph of a meter in front of Iitate City Hall that showed a radiation level of 3.29 millisieverts per year when it should ideally be less than one. Onishi admits some areas may never be suitable for humans but can be used for energy alternatives, like solar panel farms. "So, the land is still being used, but the people aren't necessarily living there," said Onishi. He says the people of Japan seem determined to move forward. "The earthquake and tsunami were unfortunate events," says Onishi. "But it could be a catalyst to emerge a stronger nation from the environmental point of view." He says the government is no longer interested in building more nuclear power plants and is looking to solar and wind energy to power the nation going forward. Onishi says clean up in the Fukushima area could take two years or more, depending on how much money the government wants to spend. In extremely contaminated areas, he says the radiation could remain from 20 to 300 years. Video Link ........... http://www.king5.com/news/local/Hanford-expert-weighs-in-on-Fukushima-nuclear-cleanup-129927308.html Edited by Audi-Tek, September 17 2011, 07:54 PM.
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| Audi-Tek | September 17 2011, 07:59 PM Post #420 |
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Edano won't rush restarts Local opinions will be weighed, METI chief says ![]() Yukio Edano Newly appointed trade and industry minister Yukio Edano said he won't set a time frame for deciding whether to restart halted nuclear reactors currently undergoing stress tests. "Rather than setting a time frame, we need to go through a careful process to gain the understanding of local residents," Edano said in a recent interview with The Japan Times and other media outlets. Earlier, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said it would be too late to wait until April to prepare for the power needs of the following summer. The most important thing is to disclose the process for the safety inspections to local residents early on and listen to their opinions, while the regulatory body works to confirm their safety, Edano said. His predecessor, Yoshio Hachiro, who resigned after just eight days in office, had hinted it wouldn't take until April to decide whether to restart the idled reactors. In the meantime, Edano said the government will do everything it can to avoid imposing compulsory power reductions on major electricity users next summer. While the situation for next summer is unclear, "we've estimated that it probably won't be necessary to issue an order for the upcoming winter, if we make a certain degree of effort," he said. To cover immediate power shortages, Edano said that natural gas is one effective source of energy and that the government is planning to include a support measure in the upcoming extra budget to help utilities obtain natural gas at a reduced cost. For the medium and long term, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will be pushing renewable energy sources to reduce dependence on nuclear power, Edano stressed. As for reactors currently under construction or in the planning stage, Edano said he will look at each case carefully. On exporting nuclear power technology, "if a partner country still expects our technology, we need to meet that expectation to maintain international confidence," he said. Edano, a graduate of Tohoku University, entered politics in 1993 with Japan New Party and then joined New Party Sakigake. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 17 2011, 08:06 PM Post #421 |
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Plugging leaks will end crisis, not cold shutdown: analysts Evacuees' health said at risk if they return home after 'Step 2' achieved ![]() Ever since the nuclear crisis erupted six months ago, the public has been clamoring to know when the damaged reactors at the Fu ku shi ma No. 1 power plant will be brought under control and when the nightmare will end. The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the crippled plant, are working to bring the three reactors into cold shutdown by mid-January. Cold shutdown means the temperature at the bottom of the pressure vessel, which holds the core, has been lowered to less than 100 degrees. This critical milestone, known as "Step 2" in Tepco's road map for containing the crisis, would limit the release of radioactive materials from the plant to less than 1 millisievert per year, a level that poses no health risks. Since work at the plant is proceeding relatively smoothly, it appears likely the mid-January target will be met. But Fukushima No. 1 will still have a long way to go before the flooded plant's reactors are stable enough to be considered safe, experts warn. The main reason is the abundance of highly radioactive water. "There are about 110,00 tons of contaminated water (in the plant) and the situation is still not completely under control because coolant water is leaking from the containment vessels. There is no guarantee that the irradiated water won't leak from the plant (and contaminate the environment)" if another natural disaster strikes, said Hisashi Ninokata, a professor of reactor engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. After achieving cold shutdowns of reactors 1, 2 and 3, the government may declare parts of the 20-km no-go zone around the plant safe. It may even let the evacuees return, as long as the area is decontaminated and crucial infrastructure restored. But the longer the tainted water leaks, the more the radioactive waste will grow, leaving the Fukushima plant vulnerable to further disasters, Ninokata said. Before the Fukushima crisis can be said contained, the holes and cracks from which the water and fuel are escaping must be located and sealed. But this extremely difficult task could take years because the radiation near the reactors is simply too high to let workers get near them. "It'll be too early to say that the situation has reached a stable phase even after Step 2 is completed," said Chihiro Kamisawa, a researcher at Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, a nonprofit group of scientists and activists opposed to nuclear power. When a reactor is in cold shutdown, the water cooling its fuel is still hot but no longer boiling, which significantly reduces the amount of radioactive emissions. In late July, the temperature in reactor No. 1's pressure vessel fell below 100 degrees. On Monday, the same thing was achieved in reactor 3 after Tepco activated a system that pumps water deep into the containment vessel. But on Friday, reactor No. 2 was still boiling away with a reading of 112.6. "Efforts seem to be making smooth progress, and I think Step 2 is likely to be achieved by mid-January," said Shinichi Morooka, a Waseda University professor and reactor expert. Another reason for optimism is the progress being made with the water decontamination system. The cleaning rate has greatly improved in the past few weeks and exceeded 90 percent of capacity last week. If the decontamination system ever reaches its full potential, it will allow Tepco to inject coolant at a higher rate and bring the melted cores to lower and stabler temperatures. The government also plans to start decontaminating soil in various hot spots so the evacuees can return once the second step is completed. But some experts are questioning whether residents should be allowed to return so soon. The cracks and holes in the leaking reactors haven't even been pinpointed yet, let alone fixed, they say. "As an engineer, I am worried (about the plan to let residents return) when it is still unclear what is really going on inside the reactors," said Morooka. For the time being, Tepco can only guess where the water is leaking from and which parts need repair, because radiation has prevented workers from fully exploring the buildings. Spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said that since no extensive damage to the reactors was found during inspections of the first and second floors of the buildings, any holes or cracks are probably at the basement level. But with the basement floors flooded, Tepco's top priority is just to get the water out. Plans to fix the reactors aren't even being discussed yet, Matsumoto said. Asked if the containment vessels can take another quake, the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Ninokata said he believes the impact would likely be distributed evenly through the structure without widening existing cracks or holes. But if the impact somehow focuses on parts damaged by the March 11 disasters, there could be further damage, he said. "The containment vessel is what really ensures the safety of a nuclear reactor," Ninokata said, warning that if radioactive materials are still leaking out, allowing residents to return would risk harming their health.
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| Audi-Tek | September 18 2011, 07:40 PM Post #422 |
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TEPCO doles out money to greedy municipalities![]() An aerial view of the J-Village complex (Asahi Shimbun file photo) TEPCO was so generous in making donations to municipalities that hosted the nuclear power plants it operated that other cities began holding out their hands demanding similar donations. Some cities asked for money even though there was no nuclear plant within their jurisdiction, leading Tokyo Electric Power Co. to resort to funneling money through a prefectural organization. The move that prompted the rush for donations was the construction in 1997 by TEPCO of the J-Village soccer training facility in Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, at a cost of 13 billion yen ($167 million). Naraha is one of the communities where the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant is located. TEPCO subsequently donated the soccer facility to the Fukushima prefectural government. TEPCO was later pushed to donate 3 billion yen to Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, as well as 6 billion yen to Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, and 4 billion yen to Kariwa, also in Niigata. The two municipalities in Niigata host TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. According to a former high-ranking official of the Koriyama city government, TEPCO officials approached city officials in 1993 and proposed the building of a roofed soccer stadium in the city. However, TEPCO officials later informed Koriyama officials they were canceling the plan. In August 1994, TEPCO announced the plan to construct the J-Village facility in Naraha. Koriyama city officials complained to TEPCO officials that they had gone back on a promise. City officials had begun considering changing zoning plans to allow for the construction of the soccer stadium. During the discussions, TEPCO officials eventually suggested the possibility of making a donation to Koriyama. However, rather than make a direct donation to Koriyama, TEPCO wanted to make a donation that would go to the entire prefecture. "There was little basis for donating to Koriyama because it was not a local government where a nuclear plant was located," a TEPCO source said. Koriyama officials then proposed that a donation be made through the Fukushima prefectural youth educational promotion association, an entity under the jurisdiction of the Fukushima prefectural government. The association's offices were located within Koriyama city hall and its activities were centered in Koriyama. TEPCO agreed to the arrangement and donated the 3 billion yen in 1999. The money went toward the construction of the Fureai Science Center in Koriyama, which opened in October 2001. Eiji Fujimori, who was Koriyama mayor at the time, said, "The donation may have been intended as an apology to the city. The money was channeled through the association because that matched the intentions of TEPCO of wanting to avoid a direct donation to Koriyama." Meanwhile, in July 1997, soon after TEPCO donated J-Village to Fukushima Prefecture, the No. 7 reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture was completed. According to former high-ranking officials of Kashiwazaki, the city asked TEPCO for a big donation as an expression of gratitude for completion of the construction plans. According to the Kashiwazaki sources, TEPCO was asked to make a donation of 10 billion yen. Officials thought this was a reasonable sum, given that 13 billion yen was spent on constructing J-Village. Officials of Kariwa also asked TEPCO for a donation to their municipality. In the end, TEPCO distributed the 10 billion yen to the two municipalities, with Kashiwazaki getting 6 billion yen and Kariwa the remaining 4 billion yen. Kashiwazaki used the money to construct a park in 2007 and pay for its upkeep, while Kariwa used its money for a sports facility. "We want to refrain from commenting about the process by which the donations were made because there are other parties involved," a TEPCO representative said. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 18 2011, 07:44 PM Post #423 |
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Sunflowers next to useless for nuclear decontamination![]() Sunflowers in an untended rice paddy in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in July Farm ministry research has dashed hopes that sunflower seeds planted in areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant would help clean up radioactive contamination. The seeds were sown within the evacuation areas in the belief they would soak up radioactive materials, but the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported Sept. 14 that sunflowers only absorbed about 0.05 percent of the radioactive cesium in contaminated ground. The laborious process of scraping off surface soil was far more effective. Since late May, the ministry has been studying farmland decontamination methods at six locations in Iitate village and Kawamata town. The ministry found that removing 3 centimeters of topsoil together with shallow-rooted grass was the most effective method of decontamination, reducing radioactive cesium by 97 percent. Scraping off about 4 cm of surface soil when shallow-rooted grass was not present removed about 75 percent of the radioactive cesium. When the surface soil was removed after applying a solidifying agent, 82 percent of the radioactive cesium was removed. Other methods tested included filling rice paddies with water, then tilling and stirring the soil and draining the water. That reduced cesium by 36 percent. Sunflower planting was highly ineffective by comparison, absorbing only one-2,000th of the cesium. According to the ministry, 95 percent of the cesium is concentrated in the top layer of soil, less than 2.5 cm from the surface. Sunflower roots grow more than 1 meter below the surface, making it difficult for them to absorb cesium near the surface. "There is no alternative plant that has a higher rate of absorption (than sunflowers)," a ministry official said. "From a practical point of view, we cannot rely on plants for decontamination." Over time, cesium bonds strongly with minerals in clay soil. This makes it very hard for plants to absorb the cesium. The ministry said the most effective decontamination method was removing the soil with the cesium |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 03:48 PM Post #424 |
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Prince
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TEPCO compensation hotline overwhelmed by 3,000 complaints per day National Sep. 19, 2011 TOKYO — Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on Sept 12 began procedures to pay compensation to victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident by sending out application forms, but its call center has been overwhelmed with complaints, pouring in at a rate of over 3,000 per day, company officials said. The main complaint is that the forms are too difficult to understand, NHK quoted a TEPCO official as saying. The forms come with a massive 156-page manual. Although TEPCO has not released all the details, other frequent inquiries include: “How do I complete the payment request form?” and “I am having a hard time understanding the manual,” NHK reported. In response, TEPCO issued a statement to the media in which it said that it will endeavor to treat all persons claiming compensation in a fair and just manner, and that it will respond to all inquires very carefully. TEPCO also said it will consider how to improve its documentation. TEPCO says the initial round of compensation claims are to cover damages from March 11 up to Aug 31. The company also announced that subsequent claims are to be taken quarterly and that the first round of compensation will not cover property damage. According to the government, about 80,000 people were evacuated from a 20-km radius around Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been leaking radiation since March 11. Compensation will cover transportation (5,000 yen per person) and lodging expenses (8,000 yen per night for accommodation) for anyone forced to relocate, as well as mental suffering. Additional amounts will be paid for loss of income on a case-by-case basis, TEPCO said, adding that those amounts will be in line with government guidelines issued earlier in August. Japan Today |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 04:01 PM Post #425 |
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Prince
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Masses turn out to protest nuclear power Tokyo rally draws estimated 60,000 Tens of thousands of people ranging from musicians, a Nobel laureate and residents of Fukushima Prefecture rallied in central Tokyo on Monday to vent their anger about the Fukushima power plant crisis and called for a society free of nuclear power. Despite the unseasonably hot and humid weather, the turnout for the Goodbye Nuclear Power Plants rally was impressive and likely one of the largest antinuclear rallies the country has ever seen. "As six months passed, we are starting to see things a bit clearer now," Ruiko Muto, who is from Fukushima and a member of a Fukushima citizens' group who are discussing the future of society after the decommission of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, told the crowd from the stage. "We now know that the facts (about the crisis) are not revealed, the government does not protect the people, the Fukushima accident is still ongoing . . . But there are people who still promote nuclear power," she said. The rally's various organizers were hoping for 50,000 people but estimated turnout to be around 60,000. The Metropolitan Police Department said it did not provide figures. At Meiji Park in Shibuya Ward, protesters were armed with colorful signs, banners and outfits to express their opposition, while well-known figures involved in organizing the rally made speeches to spur them on. Nobel laureate and author Kenzaburo Oe, who was among the organizers, said that while Italy held a national referendum on nuclear power and the people voted it down, Japan still has forces that want to promote it. In order to stop them, "what we can do is to have democratic public meetings and demonstrations," Oe said. The event also drew hundreds of participants from Fukushima Prefecture. Muto told the crowd that since the March 11 disasters, the people in Fukushima have had to make decisions every day on matters ranging from whether to stay, leave, force children to wear masks, dry laundry outside or plow their fields. The participants took to the streets at around 2:30 p.m. and marched through the Aoyama and Omotesando districts as they made their way to Yoyogi Park, chanting slogans like "We don't need nuclear power plants!" and "Tokyo Electric Power Co. must pay compensation to the victims!" Passersby in the street curiously watched the long lines of protesters, which included children and senior citizens. The huge turnout surprised even participants themselves, reflecting that the Fukushima crisis has triggered people's awareness of the nuclear power issue. Kayo Nimura, a Tokyo resident in her 40s, said she had participated in an antinuclear demonstration before but was surprised to see Monday's response. She said she was never really interested in nuclear power until March 11. Yet "because of what happened, I did some study and found out that many things appear skeptical, such as Tepco's management, how electricity prices are decided and what to do with nuclear waste," said Nimura, who came with her parents who are originally from Fukushima. In addition to Oe, the event was designed by several anti-nuclear power celebrities including musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and freelance journalist Satoshi Kamata and author Keiko Ochiai. Since June, they have been trying to collect signatures of 10 million people who agree to getting out of nuclear power dependence, such as not to build any new nuclear power plants and decommissioning existing plants in a planned manner. On Monday, the organizers said they have gathered about 1 million signatures so far. They will continue collecting signatures until next March and submit them to the Diet and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 04:06 PM Post #426 |
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Prince
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Floodgates in Tokyo fail tsunami's test![]() ![]() A floodgate in Ota Ward, Tokyo Authorities failed to close six floodgates and seawall gates before the first tsunami arrived on the Tokyo Bay coast after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The six facilities are part of 44 floodgates and 46 seawall gates on Tokyo Bay that are under the jurisdiction of the central government or the Tokyo metropolitan government. The structures are designed to prevent the influx of high water from the sea. Those set up across rivers or canals are called floodgates, while those with movable gates to enable people and vehicles to pass through a seawall are called seawall gates. They are intended primarily for protection from storm surges during typhoons. Before the March 11 disaster, authorities had not considered how the facilities should be handled in case of tsunami, officials said. They also said the facilities would not be nearly sufficient to deal with tsunami or other high waters in the event of a major earthquake with its focus just below the capital or nearby. In light of this, the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and the metropolitan government will soon embark on a major review of how to operate the facilities, the officials said. The review will aim to ensure that floodgates and seawall gates function properly if the capital is struck by a powerful earthquake and tsunami. A tsunami warning was issued at 3:30 p.m. on March 11, as the Meteorological Agency forecast that tsunami measuring a maximum of two meters in height could strike the Tokyo Bay coast. The ministry and Tokyo government subsequently decided to close 39 floodgates on the Arakawa, Tamagawa and other rivers and six seawall gates on the Tokyo Bay coast. Immediately after the decision, 33 floodgates were closed by remote control, the officials said. Facilities that have to be operated manually, however, have been entrusted to private-sector companies, and officials were unable to contact them by telephone after the massive earthquake. Government officials tried to rush by motor vehicle to those floodgates and seawall gates but could not get there due to traffic jams, they said. The first tsunami wave arrived on the Tokyo Bay coast at 4:40 p.m., but two floodgates at Haneda and Minami-Rokugo along the Tamagawa river in Ota Ward were left open until 25 minutes later, according to the officials. Both these gates are under the central government's jurisdiction. Four seawall gates handled by the Tokyo metropolitan government in Koto Ward and Minato Ward were closed by Tokyo government officials about 30 minutes after the first tsunami wave. The officials managed to do the job of companies that were commissioned to handle the facilities but did not due to lack of telephone communication, the officials said. The first wave to reach Tokyo Bay was about 80 centimeters high. The highest was 1.5 meters and came at 7:16 p.m. There were no reports of flooded houses or other tsunami-caused damage. However, authorities were alarmed because one seawall gate in Koto Ward whose closure was delayed is located close to an area below sea level in the low-lying ward, the officials noted. The disaster prevention program worked out by the metropolitan government presumes a tsunami about two meters high could strike the Tokyo Bay coast if Tokyo was hit by a major earthquake with its focus just below the capital or nearby. Seawall gates in the coastal areas are four to six meters higher than water levels at full tide to block tsunami, the officials said. Some experts, however, have said the embankments could sink by up to two meters because of massive liquefaction that would follow a big earthquake. The metropolitan government's Port and Harbor Bureau has said a major earthquake directly below the capital could bring tsunami very quickly, and if closure of the gates was delayed, a massive amount of water could flow into Tokyo's streets. (Sep. 19, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 04:11 PM Post #427 |
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Prince
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Verifying nuclear safety![]() Employees of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. conduct computerized stress tests on how much force nuclear power plants can bear during an earthquake and tsunami at the company's Kobe Shipyard and Machinery Works in Kobe on Friday. The work is part of a central government project to resume operations of suspended nuclear power plants by verifying their safety. About 600 engineers are testing the safety of nuclear power plant components, including steam generators and pumps. (Sep. 19, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 04:14 PM Post #428 |
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Prince
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Pet dogs in no-entry zone turning wild The Yomiuri Shimbun FUKUSHIMA--The Fukushima prefectural government and the Environment Ministry are trying to capture hundreds of pet dogs believed to be living feral in the no-entry zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, but their efforts are being frustrated by the animals themselves. Before the disaster, there were about 5,800 registered dogs in the area that became the no-entry zone, which stretches over a 20-kilometer radius from the plant. From May 10 to the end of August, the prefectural government captured a total of 323 pets, mainly dogs, that were left leashed at empty houses. The government began trying to capture loose dogs on Sept. 5 and has managed to captured three, but none have been caught in its traps baited with food. Even after deducting dogs that were captured by volunteers and those that died in the tsunami or from starvation, hundreds of dogs are believed to still be living within the zone. Experts say dogs that have gone feral are prone to infection and could transmit diseases to people if they leave the zone. After checking several traps within the no-entry zone in Narahamachi, a prefectural government official murmured, "No dogs in the traps today either." Six months have passed since the March 11 disaster at the nuclear power plant, and young dogs born after their parents' owners evacuated are running loose in the zone. "If these puppies become parents, their offspring will be wild dogs with no experience with people," the official said. "We want to catch these puppies before they grow up." Kawasaki veterinarian Kunitoshi Baba, 63, found a dead kitten in the zone in mid-August. Baba has been capturing feral dogs with the central and prefectural governments' permission. The kitten appeared to have been attacked by a dog, as part of its flesh was torn away. Baba saw two dogs about 10 kilometers from where he found the kitten, but they ran away from him toward a mountain. "The dogs have gone wild. If infected dogs go outside the zone and attack people, disease could spread," Baba said. Funding limited A warehouse in Fukushima that is now home to about 150 captured dogs resounded with barking recently. Among them was a puppy brought in Sept. 6, its white hair brown with dirt and a red sore on its face. "The puppy is infested with fleas," a staffer said. "It must be suffering from a skin disease." Veterinarian Tadashi Toyoda, 60, injected the dog with a vaccine and returned it to a cage. Most of the dogs' owners now live in makeshift accommodation units or apartments, so there are no prospects of them collecting the dogs. The prefectural government said it plans to establish another shelter for dogs, but its budget is tight. Maintenance of the facility is being covered by donations of about 34 million yen, of which about 8.9 million yen was left at the end of August. It is difficult to secure money for pets, as people take precedence, an official at the facility said. "Pets provide people with mental support, so we'd like to return them to their owners as soon as possible, but there's no end to this problem in sight," the official said. (Sep. 19, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 04:16 PM Post #429 |
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Prince
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Contractors were slow to reach Tokyo floodgates The Yomiuri Shimbun The March 11 disaster has revealed that operators of floodgates and seawall gates on Tokyo Bay are not sufficiently prepared to prevent tsunami from hitting the Tokyo metropolitan area, as they are designed to stop high tides and no system exists to speedily close them on short notice. On March 11, the Tohoku region was hit by massive tsunami only 30 minutes after the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake struck. In Tokyo, however, authorities did not manage to close all of the floodgates and seawall gates until about 30 minutes after the first tsunami arrived at 4:40 p.m. The first tsunami waves were only about 80 centimeters high by the time they reached Tokyo. In addition, employees of contractors commissioned by the central and Tokyo governments to close six of the total of 90 gates in case of emergencies were unable to reach the sites due to traffic jams in the wake of the massive quake as they did not use emergency vehicles. They eventually managed to arrive at their respective sites, but it took each of them more than an hour after the tsunami warning was issued at 3:30 p.m. The Rokugo gate on the Tamagawa river in Ota Ward, Tokyo, was closed at 5:05 p.m., about 25 minutes after the first group of tsunami waves had arrived there. Two gates on the river, which are under the jurisdiction of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry's Keihin Work Office in Yokohama, were supposed to be manually closed by a contractor. Right after the massive quake, roads around the floodgates were jammed with heavy traffic, making it difficult for the contractors to reach the sites. In the end, a ministry official, who managed to arrive at the sites earlier than the contractors, closed the floodgates by communicating with officials of the work office by radio and through gestures via a surveillance camera. The situation was similar with the four seawall gates along Tokyo Bay, which are under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo metropolitan government. Traffic jams in the area made it difficult for commissioned operators to reach the sites. After one operator called the center responsible for dealing with high tides at the Tokyo metropolitan government's Port and Harbor Bureau, saying they would be unable to get to one gate, metropolitan government officials nearby rushed to the site and closed the gate themselves. The four seawall gates were finally closed at around 5:10 p.m., far later than the arrival of the first tsunami in the area. Both the central and metropolitan governments expressed regret over the current system, with one official saying, "We're sorry for worrying local residents." (Sep. 19, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | September 19 2011, 10:49 PM Post #430 |
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Prince
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Cloud hangs over Japan's mushroom farmers ![]() Tainted food ... some producers are marking the radioactive levels on their products. Photo: Marina Oliphant FUKUSHIMA: The continuing crisis at Japan's Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant has affected this year's autumn culinary delicacies in Fukushima Prefecture. The prefecture's annual matsutake mushroom-hunting event for tourists has been cancelled. Pears, the area's speciality, are sold at some farm stands, marked with the amount of radioactive contamination. But the normally packed farmers' markets are almost empty. Farmers have been trying to gain consumers' confidence in their products and some rice farmers asked private institutes to measure the amount of radiation in their crops. After radioactive caesium exceeding the government-set provisional limit of 500 becquerels a kilogram was detected in some wild mushrooms, the shipment was banned in 43 municipalities. In the town of Tanagura-machi, famous for its matsutake mushrooms, the tourist association normally organises matsutake hunts from mid-September to mid-October and a mushroom festival on October 22. However, both events are cancelled this year. Few people visited a mushroom farm stand in Inawashiromachi, where the shipping of mushrooms is limited. Akiko Yasuda, 70, who runs the farm stand, tried to promote the mushrooms' safety with tags saying they were produced outside the town. ''Normally, at this time of the year, we have so many customers that the car park overflows. But the number of customers this year is about one-third that of a normal year,'' she said with a sigh. The nuclear crisis has also affected autumn delicacies in neighbouring Yamagata Prefecture. The Murayama municipal government changed one of the ingredients for its school lunch soup and vegetable dish ''imoni'' from beef to pork. The Yomiuri Shimbun |
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| Audi-Tek | September 20 2011, 12:26 AM Post #431 |
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Prince
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No hospital, stores, gas stations or hope. ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi--More than six months after the March 11 disaster, Ishinomaki's residential district of Ogatsucho finds itself with no hospital, no supermarket, no gas stations, a declining population and little hope for the future. The population of the district has gone from about 4,300 before the earthquake and tsunami to only about 1,000 today as residents continue to abandon the area. The central area of the district, which was known for its production of Ogatsu Suzuri inkstones, was devastated in the tsunami, leaving 262 residents dead or missing. Much of the area is deserted, with weeds growing on empty land where houses used to stand. The only hospital and only supermarket in the district were destroyed by the tsunami. According to an Ishinomaki municipal government branch office in the district, the number of registered residents has been falling since the disaster and stood at 3,300 as of the end of August. But a worker at the office said the actual population is closer to 1,000 because many residents have moved out without reporting to the office. The district was formerly a separate town but became one of seven municipalities that merged with Ishinomaki in 2005. Its population has declined the most of all seven former municipalities. Tomoko Watanabe, 67, a resident of the district who lives alone, said she likes her house, which is on high ground with a good ocean view. But she has decided to move to Kanagawa Prefecture, where her second daughter lives. "My neighbor moved out, so I feel lonely now," she said. Watanabe said there are only two stores currently operating in the area, and they are about 10 kilometers from the center of the district. Watanabe, who does not have a car, said the district is now a difficult place to live. But even if she had a car, the district's three gas stations were closed after the disaster, and residents must make a one-hour round-trip drive to get gas. In May, some district residents set up an association to discuss reconstruction. When it conducted a survey of residents, including those who had moved out, 56 percent said they wanted to live in the district. But 60 percent of those who said they wanted to live in the district said whether they do so will depend on conditions there. In response to requests by local residents to move to higher ground in groups so they can live near their neighbors, the municipal government branch office showed prospective sites to them on Thursday for the first time. However, none of the places appealed to the residents. The topography of the areas would not allow large developments, so residents would be forced to live separately. Another hurdle is the prohibitive cost of relocation. Kiyonori Naganuma, 52, a fisherman who remains in the district, has sought to resume his fishing business with other fishermen. However, their fishing boats cannot berth at the local port because of land subsidence. Naganuma said: "Every fisherman was affected differently and has different family circumstances. We don't know what the future holds." Toshiro Yama(censor)a, 77, Ogatsucho's last mayor before the town merged with the other communities, said, "Our community will disappear if nothing is done." The branch plans to listen to the comments of residents, including those outside the district, concerning whether they want to live in the district. It hopes to show the residents a reconstruction plan by mid-October. A senior official at the branch said with a sigh: "Administrative authorities don't know when the town will be reconstructed. So, I'm afraid residents may not know what to do." A senior official of the Ishinomaki municipal government also said: "Every place hit in the disaster is having a difficult time, but Ogatsucho is in especially bad shape. There doesn't appear to be any way forward. This situation may affect the reconstruction plan for the entire city." (Sep. 20, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | September 20 2011, 05:25 PM Post #432 |
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Prince
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1 dead, 2 missing, over 1 million urged to evacuate as typhoon nears ![]() Downpours over a wide area of Japan are expected on Wednesday. TOKYO — More than a million people in Japan were warned to leave their homes on Tuesday as an approaching typhoon brought heavy rain and floods which left one person dead and two others missing. Typhoon Roke, packing winds of up to 144 kilometers an hour near its center, could land in central Japan Wednesday and move northeast, possibly towards the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the Japanese weather agency said. “While keeping its strength, the typhoon could make a land fall on Wednesday,” an official with the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a televised news conference. “We ask that the highest level of caution be used because of the heavy rain, strong wind, and high waves.” The city of Nagoya issued an evacuation advisory to some 1.09 million residents at one point because of worries that rivers might burst their banks. The advisory was lifted from parts of the city, but landslide, flooding and tornado warnings affecting over a million people were still in place as night fell. A 65-year-old man in Nagoya fell to his death while fixing a stuck drain, Jiji Press news agency reported, while in neighboring Gifu Prefecture a nine-year-old boy and an 84-year-old man were feared to have been swept away by rising flood waters. Water has poured into Nagoya’s subway system and underpasses, with television images showing pedestrians wading knee-deep in water, helped by firefighters with rafts. The city asked for Self Defense Force troops to be deployed to assist with rescues, transport, and engineering damage. Nationwide, evacuation advisories have been issued to a total of 1.32 million people, national broadcaster NHK said. It was not known how many people have heeded the evacuation warning, which falls far short of a mandatory evacuation order. Rain and runoff water flooded residential areas and major local streets in southern and western regions. Heavy rain stopped trains and forced officials to close highways. The typhoon was located 330 kilometers south of Shikoku as of 9 p.m., and was on course to approach Nagoya and the main part of Honshu Wednesday afternoon, the weather agency said. The storm is then expected to move toward the disaster-ravaged Tohoku region north of Tokyo, with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant located on its possible path. Roke is expected to move to northernmost Hokkaido by Thursday afternoon, the weather official said. “Its speed will accelerate. In similar cases in the past, we have seen strong wind and high waves occur suddenly. Rain will increase in northern Japan. We ask that people take early counter-measures,” he said. The storm has already dumped 400 millimeters of rain over the past 24 hours on the southern province of Miyazaki. The agency warned of downpours over a wide area of the country on Wednesday, saying as much as 50 millimeters of rain could fall in an hour. Japan was hit by Typhoon Talas earlier this month, leaving around 100 people dead or missing, mostly in the west of the country. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 20 2011, 05:28 PM Post #433 |
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Prince
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Evacuees visit homes in Fukushima no-go zone. National Sep. 20, 2011 TOKYO — Residents of Kawauchi town inside the 20-km no-go zone around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant made brief visits to their homes on Monday. It was the second time they had been allowed back since being evacuated in March. NHK reported that 227 residents from 92 households, who are currently living in temporary housing, were allowed to go back in their own cars to retrieve personal items. In the only previous visit, only two people per household were allowed to go home by bus and they were only permitted to bring out one bag of personal items, NHK said. This time, whole families—clad in white protective gear—returned to their homes and loaded up their vehicles with winter clothes and heaters, NHK reported. They were advised by government officials to stay no longer than four hours. Japan Today |
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| Audi-Tek | September 21 2011, 08:14 PM Post #434 |
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Prince
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Workers race to protect nuclear plant from typhoon![]() Roke is expected to heap more misery on a country that has suffered badly under the yoke of nature this year TOKYO — Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan’s Pacific coast were racing against time to ready the crippled plant against a powerful typhoon heading straight for it, a spokesman said Wednesday. Loose cables and hoses were being tied down and efforts made to ensure radiation was not whipped up by winds that have been recorded at more than 200 kilometers an hour. Teams were putting sheeting over holes in the reactor buildings to try to prevent torrential rain from getting inside the stricken reactors. Typhoon Roke, packing winds of up to 216 kilometers per hour, made landfall near Hamamatsu, central Japan, at about 2 p.m. and was on course to move northeast toward the plant. “We have taken every possible measure against the typhoon,” said Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman at Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the power plant. “We have tied down cables and hoses while fixing equipment so that radioactive materials would not spread (in violent winds),” he said, adding operations on the ground and at sea had been suspended. He said tarpaulin was being placed over any holes in the buildings in a bid to limit the amount of water getting inside. However, the company believed tidal barriers built after the March tsunami that swamped the plant were sufficient to protect it from any storm surge, and no extra sandbags were being put in place. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 24 2011, 06:57 PM Post #435 |
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Prince
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The Fukushima Syndrome Millions Paid In Bribes From Nuclear Industry - YouTube.flv video Link ....... http://youtu.be/6QBb6ZT8iNQ |
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| Audi-Tek | September 24 2011, 07:34 PM Post #436 |
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Prince
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Japan finds radiation in rice, more tests planned TOKYO – Japan is ordering more tests on rice growing near a crippled nuclear plant after finding elevated levels of radiation, government officials said Saturday. A sample of unharvested rice contained 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, they said. Radioactive cesium was spewed from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant after it was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11. Under Japanese regulations, rice with up to 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram is considered safe for consumption. Officials have tested rice from more than 400 spots in Fukushima prefecture. The highest level of cesium previously found was 136 becquerels per kilogram, prefectural official Kazuhiko Kanno said. News of the elevated radiation level in rice from Nihonmatsu city, 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of the nuclear plant, set off alarm in the Japanese media. The government has been testing vegetables and fish for radiation since the disaster, in which backup generators and cooling systems failed at the plant and the cores of three reactors melted. Some nations have stopped importing some food products from Japan. Japanese consumers are nervous about radiation, but campaigns to buy from Fukushima have drawn support around the nation. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 26 2011, 06:11 PM Post #437 |
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Prince
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Youths wonder whether to stay or leave Fukushima FUKUSHIMA, Japan — Ko Saito is in his final year of high school in Fukushima and sees a bleak future for his native province. “I am very scared of the radiation,” the 18-year-old told The Washington Times while waiting with friends near the city’s train station. They discussed whether to stay or leave a region devastated by the meltdown of a nuclear power plant that was crippled by a killer tsunami six months ago. “I want to be tested [for radiation levels] to know more about my true physical condition, but they are not doing that yet,” he said. “I want to go to Sendai, because I fear radiation levels in Fukushima are higher than they are saying.” Mr. Saito reflects the fears of teenagers throughout Fukushima. They want to know more about the real risks of radiation in their home province and don’t always believe official statements about the situation at the reactors. Given the shadow hanging over her native region, Natsumi Hirano, 17, wants to go to Italy to study Italian cooking and to get away from radiation fears that likely will concern her generation for years to come. “Maybe the future is better there,” she said of Italy. “I don’t want to think about radiation my whole life.” Yui Sato, 18, also wants to be tested for radiation levels, but she plans to stay near her family and friends in Fukushima city, about 40 miles from the nuclear reactors damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. She hopes to study political science and law at a university there. “I am very scared, too, but I want to stay because there is nothing I can do about it, and all my friends are here, too,” she said. Government officials, however, have sent out conflicting messages about when, if ever, residents will be allowed to resettle in homes within the 12-mile “no-go” zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. Many people who fled their homes have relocated to other parts of the country. Officials in Fukushima province said that 227 evacuees from the town of Kawauchi were allowed to go to their homes inside the danger zone this week to get winter clothes and other belongings and to clean up ancestral grave sites. Many who had to take buses the last time drove their own cars this time. Staff at a local athletic center tested radiation levels in tires and other parts of the vehicles; they reported no cases of cars needing decontamination. Many parents, teachers and school administrators across Fukushima, however, fear contamination levels are higher and more hazardous than officially reported. Schools have canceled many autumn sports festivals, normally held outdoors on school playgrounds and athletic fields. Some schools that forbid students to eat or play outside held events indoors in the gym. Schools outside Fukushima province also have canceled events. The board of education in Kashiwa, in Chiba province neighboring Tokyo, has advised schools to shorten practice hours outside and eat lunch in gyms and classrooms rather than outdoors. Goshi Hosono, the minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, told a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna last week that a “cold” shutdown of the stricken reactors could be reached by late December, a few weeks ahead of schedule. “We are steadily bringing the postaccident situation under control,” Mr. Hosono said. To achieve cold shutdown, the government said temperatures must remain below 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Tokyo Electric Power officials said temperatures Sept. 20 were under that at two of the damaged reactors and slightly higher at a third. The students interviewed in Fukushima city say they are sick of how radiation fears have tainted what should be the most cherished times of their lives. They also are worried about job prospects in an area where the economy and real estate values are likely to be in decline for years. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 26 2011, 06:38 PM Post #438 |
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Prince
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Residents near Fukushima nuclear plant make own radiation map, clean contaminated areas![]() A map, created as an initiative of the Ota district residents' council, shows radiation levels within the district in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture. (Mainichi) MINAMISOMA, Fukushima -- Residents in this city, some areas of which fall within the 20-kilometer no-entry zone from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, have organized a council to measure radiation levels and remove radioactive material spread from the power plant. The council has also published a radiation map that is twice as precise as the one released by the government, making it the most up-to-date and detailed radiation map available for the area. In the beginning of July, residents from the Ota region in the Haramachi Ward in the city of Minamisoma, gathered to organize the 'Ota area reconstruction council,' the activities of which involve measuring radiation levels within the area and decontaminating public roads. "We can't keep on relying only on the government," Kisao Watanabe, 70, the chairman of the council, said. "We decided to do what we could by ourselves, hoping we can return to normal life as soon as possible." After inviting nuclear experts to teach them how to use radiation measuring devices -- which they purchased with a 500,000-yen subsidy from the local government -- the members spent two weeks from July 13 through July 30, dividing themselves into groups of two to three, to inspect various locations within the region. With the help of a GPS (global positioning system) and four measuring instruments, they inspected radiation levels at a total of 470 locations within the Ota district. Based on the results of their findings, the council completed a map on Sept. 2, which displays radiation levels within the district, given for one centimeter and one meter aboveground for all 470 locations, one location for every 200 meters. The map is the most up-to-date and detailed one currently available, as the one issued by the government -- also in September -- shows radiation levels in the areas around the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant at one location for every 500 meters. On Sept. 15 council members distributed the map to all 1,000 households in the area. According to the council's map, radiation levels in all inspected locations were measured at 0.25 to 4.62 microsieverts, but with the exception of mountains and forests in the western part of the prefecture, radiation was comparatively low. Meanwhile, on Aug. 28, 90 council members decontaminated approximately 800 meters of sidewalks along the ward's main public roads in another initiative to speed up the city's recovery. "It is very sad indeed," Watanabe said, referring to the fact that after the Fukushima disaster many schools in the city have closed and a number of families with small children have left. "All we want is to return to a normal life. We understood well that the government never had a disaster-preservation plan, despite building 54 nuclear power plants across the country," he added, vowing to continue the council's initiatives. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 26 2011, 06:51 PM Post #439 |
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Prince
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Gov't to allow ash containing over 100,000 becquerels of cesium per kg to be buried The Environment Ministry decided Sept. 25 to allow ash with radiation levels of more than 100,000 becquerels per kilogram to be buried if steps to prevent leaks of radioactive substances are properly taken, ministry officials said. The ministry made the decision on contaminated ash following a similar decision on rubble contaminated with radioactive substances that spewed from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. From now on, ash with radiation levels of over 100,000 becquerels is required to be solidified with cement and can be buried at facilities where measures are in place to prevent the seeping of rainwater and the leakage of contaminated ash to groundwater. The ministry is also considering utilizing existing permanent disposal sites that are surrounded by concrete walls to bury toxic heavy metals or those sites equipped with measures to stop such materials from leaking into groundwater. Of a survey of about 650 industrial waste incineration plants in Tokyo, Fukushima and 14 other prefectures, the ministry checked the density of radioactive cesium at 110 of them and found ash with a radiation level of 144,200 becquerels of cesium per kilogram at one incineration plant in Fukushima. |
| Why is cloud 9 so amazing ? What is wrong with cloud 8 ? | |
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| Audi-Tek | September 26 2011, 07:05 PM Post #440 |
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Prince
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Japan's tsunami tragedy: already fading from sight? Tokyo and MinamiSanriku, Japan – In the immediate aftermath of March 11, when Japan was struck by the most powerful earthquake and tsunami in its history, there was a feeling that the country had changed irrevocably. As images of entire communities being swept away were burned into the national consciousness, many believed this represented a "year zero" for Japan, a chance to break from decades of economic stagnation and political malaise. Six months later, few still hold such high hopes and there is little sign of the promised rebuilding of homes and lives for those in the disaster zones. Some feel that the rest of the country, including the Tokyo political class, is already forgetting. The scale of the disaster remains hard to comprehend. At 2:46 p.m. on that Friday in March, a 250-mile-long and 100-mile-wide section of the Pacific tectonic plate suddenly crashed under the plate on which Japan sits. This violent shifting of the Earth's crust moved Japan's main island eight feet in the direction of the US, knocked the Earth off its axis by four to six inches, and shortened the length of a day by 1.8 microseconds. It also set off the tsunami that was to batter more than 500 miles of Japan's northeast coast, reach heights of up to 130 feet, and penetrate as far as six miles inland. The tsunami claimed nearly 20,000 lives (including the 4,057 people who remain missing half a year later), and set off the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which operators are still struggling to get into a cold shutdown. The total bill for reconstruction is estimated to be as much as 23 trillion yen ($300 billion) or 6 percent of Japan's gross domestic product, though this will be spread out over five years, at least. With tax revenues down following the disaster, a rise in the already huge national debt – currently around 200 percent of GDP – is inevitable. While the central government has been criticized for not distributing funds quickly enough, of the 31 municipalities that suffered the most damage, only four have final reconstruction plans. "Nobody outside the Ministry of Finance knows exactly how much money has been distributed, or of the money that has gone out to local authorities, how much has actually been spent," says Jun Okumura, senior adviser at the Eurasia Group. "It's very frustrating." There is money being issued, though: 1.2 trillion yen ($15.7 billion) in insurance money has already been paid out, plus the compensation money from Tokyo Electric Power company, the operator of Fukushima, and aid from local and central government, says Mr. Okumura. Still, the recovery from the vast triple disaster is proving to be painfully slow in many places. Some of the worst-hit towns still resemble a wasteland. The quake and tsunami left an estimated 22.6 million tons of rubble in the coastal towns. Out of that, nearly half has been moved to temporary storage. Much of the power has been restored to towns and cities, but power outages remain common. Out of the nearly half a million people displaced, more than 80,000 people remain in temporary accommodations. And the debate over whether to rebuild towns in the same locations continues. "They should think about building the towns again on higher ground, not in the places that could get hit by another tsunami," says Toshifumi Takada, a professor at Tohoku University. Though that may seem like a good idea to outsiders, it has been difficult to accomplish given that even in towns such as Minami-Sanriku – where 95 percent of the buildings were swept away – many residents, still very much healing their emotional wounds, are conflicted. Minami-Sanriku: largely uninhabitableOn the morning of Sept. 11, more than 2,200 people traveled to attend a memorial service in the town's Bayside Arena. "We pray for the lost lives and for the missing to be found as early as possible. We hope that people can return to this town and we can hear cheerful voices again," said Jin Sato, the mayor of Minami-Sanriku, at the service. His voice faltered as he spoke about the many friends and colleagues who were lost. Mr. Sato had been in the town hall along with 130 staff when the tsunami struck. He was one of only 10 survivors when the 50-foot waves came across the roof of the building and washed away 20 of the 30 people who had made it that far. Most of the residents of the town returned for the memorial service from other areas, as Minami-Sanriku remains largely uninhabitable. Thousands of tons of debris has been piled into mountains of wood, earth, metal, and concrete along the waterfront. But there is no sign of rebuilding. Red steel girders are all that is left of the town's disaster-response center, where a young local government worker, Miki Endo, famously stayed at her post sounding an alarm and urging residents to evacuate, until the tsunami engulfed the building and she went missing. People came from as far as Tokyo to pay their respects at the small makeshift shrine that has appeared in the shell of the building, dedicated to Ms. Endo's sacrifice. Some residents want the remains of the building to be turned into a permanent monument to her heroism. A cluster of 20 prefab housing units behind the Bayside Arena, where the service was held, is now home to a fraction of the townspeople who lost their homes. Kaeko Gyoba and her husband were in a club for Minami-Sanriku's elderly residents when the earthquake struck. They made it up to the fourth floor as the waves swept through the stories below. It was one of the few buildings spared in the town. "We spent two nights up there until a Self-Defense Force helicopter was able to land at the elementary school nearby and get us out," says Ms. Gyoba. She stayed with relatives near Tokyo after the disaster, but she returned last month to be with the rest of her family, who now occupy five of the small, flimsy-looking temporary houses. "It's very tough living here. I just can't get used to it. There's nowhere in the town to shop, you need a car to go anywhere, and I worry how cold it will be in the winter," says Gyoba. "And none of the family have jobs now. They all worked on the ocean, farming seaweed and oysters. Everything was swept away." Fading from public consciousness?Despite the nationwide attention that the six-month memorials received, some of those still struggling to rebuild their lives say their frustrations are compounded by the feeling that they are gradually fading from public consciousness. "What the people want more than anything at all is the sense that other people – the rest of Japan – are keeping a careful watch over them and are ready to help," says Yuka Kusano, leader of the Miyagi Jonet aid group for victims. "Instead, they fear that the rest of Japan is watching the baseball and comedies on TV and have forgotten about them." There is also anger at politicians in Tokyo who they see as more concerned with partisan fighting than focusing on helping the region's recovery. Even the leadership contest to replace former Prime Minister Naoto Kan – who resigned in part because of heavy criticism for his handling of the crisis – was seen as a self-indulgent distraction by many in the region. His replacement, Yoshihiko Noda, has already lost his trade and industry minister, who resigned only eight days after being sworn in when the media accused him of insensitive behavior on his first trip to the disaster zone. "The politicians in Tokyo are fools; their behavior is simply unbelievable. We don't expect much from them. We have to do this ourselves," says Tohoku University's Professor Takada. It is not only outsiders whose memories of the disasters appear to be fading; some residents of the northeast are starting to worry that the tight bonds that bound survivors are fraying. "At the time of the disaster," says Ms. Kusano, "acts of goodness gave people a new perspective. The next stage was people helping each other because they didn't have anything," she says. "There was a sense of community. But now as some semblance of normality is returning," she says, "there are signs that all that has been forgotten." |
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2:10 AM Jul 11