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| Tweet Topic Started: April 11 2011, 02:28 PM (7,660 Views) | |
| Audi-Tek | September 27 2011, 09:51 PM Post #441 |
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Prince
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Fukushima desolation worst since Nagasaki;farm industry, tourism devastated Radioactive zone bigger than that left by Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings A temporary tide barrier at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima prefecture, June 30, 2011. Photograph by: HO, REUTERS Beyond the police roadblocks that mark the no-go zone around Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, six-foot tall weeds invade rice paddies and vines gone wild strangle road signs along empty streets. Takako Harada, 80, returned to an evacuated area of Iitate village to retrieve her car. Beside her house is an empty cattle pen, the 100 cows slaughtered on government order after radiation from the March 11 atomic disaster saturated the area, forcing 160,000 people to move away and leaving some places uninhabitable for two decades or more. “Older folks want to return, but the young worry about radiation,” said Harada, whose family ran the farm for 40 years. “I want to farm, but will we be able to sell anything?” What’s emerging in Japan six months since the nuclear meltdown at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant is a radioactive zone bigger than that left by the 1945 atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While nature reclaims the 20 kilometer (12 mile) no-go zone, Fukushima’s US$3.2 billion-a-year farm industry is being devastated and tourists that hiked the prefecture’s mountains and surfed off its beaches have all but vanished. The March earthquake and tsunami that caused the nuclear crisis and left almost 20,000 people dead or missing may cost 17 trillion yen (US$223 billion), hindering recovery of the world’s third-largest economy from two decades of stagnation. Compensation Costs A government panel investigating Tokyo Electric’s finances estimated the cost of compensation to people affected by the nuclear disaster will exceed 4 trillion yen, Kyodo News reported today, without saying how it got the information. The stock fell 6.2 percent to 243 yen, the lowest since June 13. The bulk of radioactive contamination cuts a 5 kilometer to 10 kilometer-wide swath of land running as far as 30 kilometers northwest of the nuclear plant, surveys of radiation hotspots by Japan’s science ministry show. The government extended evacuations beyond the 20-kilometer zone in April to cover this corridor, which includes parts of Iitate village. No formal evacuation zone was set up in Hiroshima after an atomic bomb was dropped on the city on Aug. 6, 1945, though as the city rebuilt relatively few people lived within 1 kilometer of the blast epicenter, according to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum. Food shortages forced a partial evacuation of the city in the summer of 1946. Chernobyl Explosion On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl reactor hurled 180 metric tons of nuclear fuel into the atmosphere, creating the world’s first exclusion zone of 30 kilometers around a nuclear plant. A quarter of a century later, the zone is still classed as uninhabitable. About 300 residents have returned despite government restrictions. The government last week said some restrictions may be lifted in outlying areas of the evacuation zone in Fukushima, which translates from Japanese as “Lucky Isle.” Residents seeking answers on which areas are safe complain of mixed messages. “There are no simple solutions,” Timothy Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, said. Deciding whether life should go on in radiation tainted areas is a “question of acceptable risks and trade offs.” To Mousseau, one thing is clear. ‘Consequences’ “There will be consequences for some of the people who are exposed to levels that are being reported from the Fukushima prefecture,” Mousseau said by e-mail from Chernobyl, where he is studying radiation effects. Japan abandoned any ambition to develop atomic weapons after the 1945 bombings. Two decades later, the nation embraced nuclear power to rebuild the economy after the war in the absence of domestic oil and gas supplies. Tokyo Electric’s decision in the 1960s to name its atomic plant Fukushima Dai-Ichi has today associated a prefecture of about 2 million people that’s almost half the size of Belgium with radiation contamination. In contrast, Chernobyl is the name of a small town near the namesake plant in what today is Ukraine. The entire prefecture has been stained because of the link, according to Governor Yuhei Sato. “At Fukushima airport you don’t see Chinese and Korean visitors like before because of negative associations,” he said. Stigmatized The fear of radiation was prevalent after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and it stigmatized the survivors, known as hibakusha, or people exposed to radiation. Many hibakusha concealed their past for fear of discrimination that would prevent them finding work or marriage partners, according to the Japan Confederation of A-and H-bomb Sufferers Organization. Some people believed A-bomb survivors could emit radiation and others feared radiation caused genetic mutations, said Evan Douple, Associate Chief of Research at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima. An examination of more than 77,000 first-generation children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings found no evidence of mutations, he said. While radiation readings are lower in Fukushima than Hiroshima, Abel Gonzales, the vice-chair of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, said similar prejudices may emerge. “Stigma. I have the feeling that in Fukushima this will be a very big problem,” Gonzales said in a symposium held in Fukushima City on the six-month anniversary of the disaster. Bullying Some children that fled Fukushima are finding out what Gonzales means. Fukushima schoolchildren were being bullied at their new school in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo for “carrying radiation,” the Sankei newspaper reported in April, citing complaints made to education authorities. An 11-year-old Fukushima boy was hospitalized in Niigata prefecture after being bullied at his new school, Kyodo News reported April 23. Produce from Fukushima’s rich soil is also being shunned. Peaches, the prefecture’s biggest agricultural product after rice, have halved in price this year. Beef shipments from the prefecture were temporarily suspended and contamination concerns stopped the town of Minami Soma from planting rice, according to local authorities. Fallow Land Some land around the Fukushima reactors will lie fallow for two decades or more before radiation levels fall below Japan’s criteria for evacuation, the government said Aug. 26. Radiation risks in the 20 kilometer zone forced the evacuation of about 8 percent, or 160,000, of some 2 million people who live in Fukushima. Almost 56,000 were sent to areas outside Fukushima, prefecture spokesman Masato Abe said by phone. More than 8,000 left on their own accord because of radiation fears, Abe said. Inside the evacuation areas, levels of radiation higher than the government’s criteria for evacuation have been recorded at 89 of 210 monitoring posts. At 24 of the sites, the reading was higher than the level at which the International Atomic Energy Agency says increases the risk of cancer. Japan Atomic Energy Institute researcher Toshimitsu Homma used Science Ministry data to compare the geographic scale of the contamination in Fukushima with Chernobyl. He estimates the no-go zone in Fukushima will cover 132 square kilometers, surrounded by a permanent monitoring area of 264 square kilometers, assuming Japan follows the criteria set by the Soviet Union in 1986. The two areas combined equal about half the size of the five boroughs that comprise New York City. In the case of Chernobyl, the two zones cover a land mass 25 times greater, according to Homma’s figures. Intermittent Information While scientists knew back in March that radiation contamination would create an uninhabitable zone in Fukushima, information to the public has come intermittently, said Hiroaki Koide, a nuclear physics scientist at Kyoto University. “Many people in Fukushima have to face the reality that they cannot go back to their homes for decades,” Koide said. Masaki Otsuka said it may be worse than that. “I don’t think I can ever go back to my house, because it was just 4 kilometers from the Dai-Ichi reactors,” the 51-year- old pipe welder said in an interview at an evacuation center in Azuma, Fukushima city, where he has lived for six months. People’s distrust of politicians and scientists, as well as conflicting commentary, makes it harder for residents to decide whether to stay or leave, said Michiaki Kai, a professor in environmental health science at Oita University of Nursing and Health Sciences. Official Contradictions Similar circumstances affected residents near Chernobyl and those close to the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in the U.S. in 1979. “Contradiction in some official statements, and the appearance of non-scientifically based ‘expert’ voices, confused and added stress to the local populations in each case,” said Evelyn Bromet, distinguished professor in the department of psychiatry at Stony Brook State University of New York. “Lies got told, contradictions got told. In the end it’s easier to believe nobody,” Bromet said in an interview, citing mental health studies she did on people in the areas. What radiation hasn’t ruined, the earthquake and tsunami devastated. Fukushima prefecture welcomed 56 million domestic and overseas visitors in 2009, equal to 44 percent of Japan’s population. Surfing Canceled The coastal town of Minami Soma this year canceled its annual qualifying stage for the world surfing championship, part of a waterfront that lured 84,000 beachgoers in July and August last year, said Hiroshi Tadano, head of the town’s economic division. This year, nobody visited the beaches in the two months. “Most of the beaches are destroyed,” Tadano said. “And of course, radiation played its part.” The area’s biggest festival, Soma Noma Oi, a re-enactment of samurai battles, attracted 200,000 visitors last year. This year 37,000 came. Of the 300 horses typically used in the event, 100 were drowned in the tsunami and another 100 were evacuated due to radiation, Tajino said. Minami Soma resident Miyaguchi, 54, lost his home and parents in the tsunami. He quit his job at Tokyo Electric, leaving him unemployed and housed in an evacuation center. Still, he has no plans to move away. “Most people who wanted to move away have done so, but I can’t live in big cities like Tokyo,” he said, declining to give his first name. The future of Fukushima is in the hands of residents like Miyaguchi and Harada who say they want to stay and work to reclaim their land from disaster. A giant banner in the playground of the closed Haramachi elementary school in Minami Soma makes that a promise: “To all of you wherever you are, we say we won’t give up.” © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun |
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| Audi-Tek | September 29 2011, 04:14 PM Post #442 |
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Prince
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Fukushima’s Contamination Produces Some Surprises at Sea![]() Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionKen Buesseler on his boat. Six months after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the news flow from the stricken nuclear power plant has slowed, but scientific studies of radioactive material in the ocean are just beginning to bear fruit. The word from the land is bad enough. As my colleague Hiroko Tabuchi reported on Saturday, Japanese officials have detected elevated radiation levels in rice near the crippled reactors. Worrying radiation levels had already been detected in beef, milk, spinach and tea leaves, leading to recalls and bans on shipments. Off the coast, the early results indicate that very large amounts of radioactive materials were released, and may still be leaking, and that rather than being spread through the whole ocean, currents are keeping a lot of the material concentrated. Most of that contamination came from attempts to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools, which flushed material from the plant into the ocean, and from direct leaks from the damaged facilities. Japanese government and utility industry scientists estimated this month that 3,500 terabecquerels of cesium 137 was released directly into the sea from March 11, the date of the earthquake and tsunami, to late May. Another 10,000 terabecquerels of cesium 137 made it into the ocean after escaping from the plant as steam. The leakage very likely isn’t over, either. The Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the plant, said Sept. 20 that it believed that something on the order of 200 to 500 tons a day of groundwater might still be pouring into the damaged reactor and turbine buildings. Ken Buesseler, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who in 1986 studied the effects of the Chernobyl disaster on the Black Sea, said the Fukushima disaster appeared to be by far the largest accidental release of radioactive material into the sea. Chernobyl-induced radiation in the Black Sea peaked in 1986 at about 1,000 becquerels per cubic meter, he said in an interview at his office in Woods Hole, Mass. By contrast, the radiation level off the coast near the Fukushima Daiichi plant peaked at more than 100,000 becquerels per cubic meter in early April. Before Fukushima, in 2010, the Japanese coast measured about 1.5 becquerel per cubic meter, he said. ‘‘Chernobyl might have been five times bigger, over all, but the ocean impact was much smaller,’’ Mr. Buesseler said. Working with a team of scientists from other institutions, including the University of Tokyo and Columbia University, Mr. Buesseler’s Woods Hole group in June spent 15 days in the waters off northeast Japan, studying the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances there and the effect on marine life. The project, financed primarily by the Moore Foundation after governments declined to participate, continued to receive samples from Japanese cruises into July. While Mr. Buesseler declined to provide details of the findings before analysis is complete and published, he said the broad results were sobering. “When we saw the numbers — hundreds of millions of becquerels — we knew this was the largest delivery of radiation into the ocean ever seen,’’ he said. ‘‘We still don’t know how much was released.’’ Mr. Buesseler took samples of about five gallons, filtered out the naturally occurring materials and the materials from nuclear weapon explosions, and measured what was left. The scientists had expected to find ocean radiation levels falling off sharply after a few months, as radioactive substances were dispersed by the currents, because, he said, “The ocean’s solution to pollution is dilution.’’ The good news is that researchers found the entire region 20 to 400 miles offshore had radiation levels too low to be an immediate threat to humans. But there was also an unpleasant surprise. “Rather than leveling off toward zero, it remained elevated in late July,’’ he said, up to about 10,000 becquerel per cubic meter. ‘‘That suggests the release problem has not been solved yet.” The working hypothesis is that contaminated sediments and groundwater near the coast are continuing to contaminate the seas, he said. The international team also collected plankton samples and small fish for study. Mr. Buesseler said there were grounds for concern about bioaccumulation of radioactive isotopes in the food chain, particularly in seaweed and some shellfish close to the plants. A fuller understanding of the effect on fish that are commercially harvested will probably take several years of data following several feeding cycles, he said. ‘‘We also don’t know concentrations in sediments, so benthic biota may be getting higher doses and if consumed (shellfish), could be of concern,’’ he wrote later in an e-mail, referring to organisms that dwell on the sea floor. The study also found that the highest cesium values were not necessarily from the samples collected closest to Fukushima, he said, because eddies in the ocean currents keep the material from being diluted in some spots farther offshore. The overall results were consistent with those previously found by Japanese scientists, Mr. Buesseler said. He said more research was urgently needed to answer several questions, including why the level of contamination offshore near the plant was so high. “Japan is leading the studies, but more work is needed than any one country, or any one lab, can possibly carry out,” he said. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 01:49 AM Post #443 |
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Prince
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Japan's post-tsunami tourism industry haunted by nuclear fears![]() Fears about the effect of leaking radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant have all but stopped the influx of visitors MATSUSHIMA — Seagulls flock around passengers on the deck of a cruise boat, hoping for scraps; hotels and inns show no-vacancy signs and fresh oysters are served in seaside restaurants. But despite an appearance of normality, business is far from booming in Matsushima, where serene pine-covered islands have attracted generations of tourists to an area classed as one of Japan’s three most beautiful spots. The guesthouses and hotels—in a district the Michelin Blue guide gives its maximum three stars—owe most of their business to workers helping to rebuild coastal communities shattered by the March 11 tsunami. Matsushima, in Miyagi Prefecture, escaped the worst of the disaster, its island-dotted bay breaking up the ferocity of the giant waves that devastated hundreds of kilometers of picturesque Pacific coast. But the tourists on whom Matsushima’s economy depends are few and far between. Fears about the effect of leaking radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant 110 kilometers south have all but stopped the influx of visitors from China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Domestic visitor numbers have also been badly hit. “I don’t think tourism will be booming again here like before unless the nuclear problem is contained and people think it is safe to visit,” said Keiji Fukui, executive director of the Matsushima Tourist Association. He said the total number of visitors this year would be “2 million at best,” little more than half the 3.7 million seen in normal years. Although the town’s 20 hotels and inns, which can accommodate 5,000 people, are full up, “nearly 80% of the guests are workers, including volunteers, related to reconstruction,” Fukui said. They are daily dispatched to help rebuild washed-away towns nearby, such as the fishing port of Ishinomaki where 4,000 people were killed and debris and wrecked vehicles form huge mounds along the shoreline. Matsushima escaped almost unscathed, with the 260 islets and odd-shaped rocks in its bay acting as a buffer against the towering waves triggered by a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake. Elsewhere along the coast, waves as high as 16 meters swallowed ships, crushed seawalls, swept away buildings, cars and human lives. But in Matsushima, the water rose just a few meters, washing away two bridges and flooding houses and commercial facilities including a wax museum. Two of the town’s 15,000 residents died, barely registering in a tragedy that claimed 20,000 lives across the northeast. “Zenshin (move forward), Matsushima,” reads a slogan seen everywhere in the town, which is dotted with historic sites, including the 400-year-old Buddhist temple Zuigan-ji dedicated to a local samurai warrior. And things are moving, but only slowly. Fukui said the number of visitors in June and July was just a quarter of what it has been in previous years. In August, it was around 40% and peaked at 50% on a couple of holidays in September. The tsunami also destroyed the oyster industry for which Matsushima was famous, washing away farms all along the rugged coast. The shellfish is back in souvenir shops and restaurants, served in pastries or pickles, eaten raw from the shell or cooked in a hot pot. But they are not Matsushima oysters. “Brokers are bringing in oysters from Mie,” said Yasuko Sakurai, a manager at a seafood restaurant, referring to an unaffected pearl-growing region in central Japan. “I hear that volunteers have built new oyster rafts in our region and they may start shipping out products in one and a half years.” Masaharu Mano, a senior manager of the sightseeing boat operators’ cooperative, said the number of passengers peaked at 2,000 a day in mid-August, just a third of what it was last year. “We used to see 20-30 buses every day carrying Asian tourists in the autumn season. Now we see just a few every week.” Mano said he hoped the return of regular international flights to and from the rebuilt local Sendai airport in late September would help bring back foreigners. But he acknowledged transport was not the main thing keeping visitors away. “We need to do away with harmful rumors associated with the nuclear plant,” he said. Japanese and foreigners alike are wary of Fukushima, where the tsunami knocked out cooling systems, causing a nuclear meltdown that sent radiation spewing into the air and sea and infecting the food chain. The government and the plant’s operator have pledged to bring the world’s worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl under control by the end of the year. But skepticism remains. Fears over the radiation, coupled with a punishingly high yen, continue to depress the number of foreign visitors to the country as a whole, the Japan National Tourism Organization said. About 2.5 million foreigners visited Japan in March-August, down 44% from a year earlier. Of them, 547,000 came in August—down 32% in what should be a peak month for overseas guests. On a recent weekday, about 70 passengers took a noontime bay cruise aboard the 188-tonne No. 3 Nioh, which can carry 400. Janice MacFarlane and her daughter from the Shetland Isles in the far north of Scotland were the only foreign faces on board, taking a day trip out from their base in Sendai where they were visiting another of her daughters. “I’ve been watching information on the Fukushima situation,” said the 56-year-old. “There was no problem coming to Sendai or Matsushima.” Tourism managers are hoping there are more people like MacFarlane. But in Matsushima at the moment, they are a rare sight. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 01:53 AM Post #444 |
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Prince
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Fukushima shocking truths: Historical radiation dump, cover-up, the unborn Nuclear energy refugees and unwitting consumers face overwhelming reality of Fukushima catastrophe impacting survivors and the unborn On September 29, another strong quake hit Japan's Fukushima where workers refuse to work at its crippled nuclear power plant that is releasing more radioactive contamination into the ocean than ever seen, with highest cesium values not closest to Fukushima, amid what an "ultimate insider" told ABC News Australia is a "cover-up" of a catastrophe so intense, truth has been buried, even by the Prime Minister. Thousands of Japan's nuclear energy refugees battle to face reality, especially women confronted with these new reports who worry about their children and their unborn. According to a preliminary research analysis reported by Ken Buesseler, a scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who is leading an international team of researchers, "Japanese government and utility industry scientists estimated this month that 3,500 terabecquerels of cesium 137 was released directly into the sea from March 11, the date of the earthquake and tsunami, to late May," reported The New York Times Wednesday. "Another 10,000 terabecquerels of cesium 137 made it into the ocean after escaping from the plant as steam." “Rather than leveling off toward zero, it remained elevated in late July,’’ said Buesseler who is leading a research project financed mainly by the Moore Foundation "after governments declined to participate," David Holly wrote for the Times. Holly's Times report revealed that the radioactive contamination figure is up to the unimaginable approximated amount of 10,000 becquerel per cubic meter. Meanwhile, the Fukushima nuclear reactors remain so lethal, it is also unimaginable how anyone can work where danger is higher than ever. In Confessions of a workers’ discovery of 10,000 mSv yet! After another refused work (Google Translation), Gendai isMedia, September 24, 2011 that has been translated by Google and reported by Energy News, a worker who refuses to work on the plant stated, “In the blocks 1, 2 and 3, there is a strong possibility that has emerged during the melting of nuclear fuel not only from the pressure vessel, but also from the protective sheath. "At the moment nobody is able to determine, is melted in the extent and to what extent the core," he stated. "I can not imagine how people can work there or at another location, where the danger has reached a point that nobody has ever experienced.“ Professor Chris Busby recently reported that children are not being protected nor tested for radiation. He also stated why workers are taking contaminated materials from Fukushima and spreading them all over Japan and burning them. (See end of embedded Youtube on this page left.) Professor Busby says the testing done in Japan is so substandard that his car air filter testing for radiation indicates higher levels than what testers are saying children who are tested show. "The car breathes air the same way the child breathes air." "We need to do something about these children who are being contaminated," Busby said, "take them somewhere where it's reasonably safe.' He explains, however, that there is nowhere to take them since contaminated material is being deliberately spread throughout Japan and burned, thus releasing radioactive material in the air. The "sinister and horrifying" reason for trucking the radioactive material from Fukushima to all over Japan to be burned, said Professor Busby, is that eventually, when Japanese children start to die to leukemia, from other cancers, from heart disease, their parents are going to want to go to court and sue the government. To do that, the parents will need to say the children were contaminated. Since cancer rates will have escalated throughout the nation, there will be no control group with no contaminated materials to compare with the high cancer rates, so there can be no successful lawsuits according to Professor Busby. "The aim is to destroy all of Japan, to increase the cancer rate throughout Japan so there will be no control group to which you can compare these children in the Fukushima area." The same burned radioactive contaminated material going up into the air is also being carried by the jet stream to the United States, as nuclear specialist Arnie Gundersen has formerly explained, calling the lethal practice, "kicking the can." "It eventually ends up into the Pacific Northwest, either into B.C., Oregon, Washington or California. The process of burning the radioactive material means they're kicking the can down the road." Ultimate insider explains nuclear energy cover-ups and incompetence In an ABC News Australia interview on September 28, Australia's veteran reporter Mark Willacy interviewed Mark Colvin. Colvin stated that an "ultimate insider" has revealed that the Prime Minister contemplated evacuating 30 million from Tokyo, but did not due to fear of mass panic and chaos and that eastern Japan might collapse. (Watch ABC Australia report on the interview, "Japan 'scared' of telling truth to Fukushima evacuees," on the Youtube video embedded on this page left.) "Former special adviser to Japan's prime minister and cabinet Kenichi Matsumoto has told the ABC that the government has known for months that many who live close to the Fukushima plant will not be able to return to their homes for 10 to 20 years because of contamination," reported ABC New Australia. "MARK COLVIN: [...] Kenichi Matsumoto is the ultimate insider. As special advisor to Japan’s prime minister and cabinet he witnessed both the government’s and the plant operator’s responses to the worst nuclear accident in a quarter of a century. And when it comes to the meltdowns, Professor Matsumoto paints a picture of cover-ups, incompetence and communication breakdown. [...] MARK WILLACY: He’s been described as the prime minister’s ‘brains trust’ but Kenichi Matsumoto isn’t a nuclear physicist or a scientific genius. The history professor and author was a special advisor to the Japanese cabinet when a tsunami slammed into the Fukushima nuclear plant. So he would become a witness to history and he’s given the ABC an ultimate insider’s account of what happened in the hours and days after March 11 [...] During the interview, it is stated that "Matsumoto confirms the prime minister at the time, Naoto Kan, also contemplated evacuating tens of millions of people from in and around Tokyo." Professor Matsumoto said, "The government should have conveyed the truth to the evacuees. But it felt scared; it feared telling the truth to the people." “There was no clue about the amount of radiation coming from the Fukushima plant or if it was spreading over 100 or 200 kilometres." “If that was the case, Tokyo would be in danger. And Prime Minister Kan actually said that eastern Japan might not be able to keep functioning; that it might collapse.” Professor Matsumoto concludes that talk of tens of millions ["30 million people"] being evacuated was dismissed, with fears it would cause mass panic and chaos worse than the nuclear crisis itself. ABC New Australia reported Thursday that "Professor Matsumoto has also revealed details about the stricken plant's operator, TEPCO." "He says TEPCO wanted to abandon the plant at the height of the crisis, but its request was rejected. "First TEPCO did not convey accurate information about the accident to the prime minister. It tried to make the disaster look small," he said. "Then TEPCO's headquarters wanted to evacuate the nuclear plant, but the chief of the facility vowed not to leave. So prime minister Kan was outraged because he wasn't getting proper information or the truth." There have been no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued after Thursday's 5.6 quake centered off Fukushima. But as Jonathan Watts of the Guardian recently stated in his special report about Fukushima, after receiving an email from a local encouraging his continued reporting on the cover-up, "This is not a one-off freak event, it is a shift in day-to-day life that changes the meaning of 'ordinary.' But quite how is hard to determine." "Low-level radiation is an invisible threat that breaks DNA strands with results that do not become apparent for years or decades. Though the vast majority of people remain completely unaffected throughout their lives, others develop cancer. "Not knowing who will be affected and when is deeply unsettling," reported Watts who described his Japanese friend, Reiko-san and her dismay about being misinformed about the radiation contamination. "She always wore a mask and carried an umbrella to protect against black rain. Every conversation was about the state of the reactors. In the supermarket, where she used to shop for fresh produce, she now looked for cooked food – 'the older, the safer now'. "She expressed fears for her son, anger at the government and deep distrust of the reassuring voices she was hearing in the traditional media. "We are misinformed. We are misinformed," she repeated. "'Our problem is in society. We have to fight against it. And it seems as hard as the fight against those reactors."' "Individuals are being forced to make decisions about what is safe to eat and where is safe to live, because the government is not telling them – Japanese people are not good at that," says Satoshi Takahashi, one of Japan's leading clinical psychologists," reported Watts. "Some people say they want to die. Others become more dependent on alcohol. Many more complain of listlessness." "Sachiko Masuyama has suffered many of these symptoms as she has been forced to make life-or-death decisions for herself and her unborn baby. On 9 March, she found out she was expecting her third child. Two days later, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant – only 25km from her home – was jolted into meltdown. And since then her life has been turned upside down, first by a desperate escape from the disaster zone, then by a growing worry about the effects of the radiation on the foetus growing inside her. Each time she goes to the hospital for a checkup, she is filled with anxiety that the ultrasound might reveal a deformity, so she counts and recounts the fingers and toes. The doctors have reassured her there is no sign of abnormality, but they won't know for sure until the birth in November – and perhaps not for years later. For Masuyama, the worry has become so all-consuming that she has considered abortion and suicide." Ms. Masuyama told Watts, "When I watch the documentaries about Chernobyl, it is horrifying, but I have decided to give birth." "I have three children: one inside me and two outside. I wouldn't kill my son and daughter because they were exposed, so how could I kill my unborn child?" Another woman, due to give birth in October, Mari Ishimori, is one of the over 135,000 Japanese nuclear energy refugees. She is now alone after her husband chose to stay at their home in the Fukushima area. Watts writes that Ms. ishimori "avoids eating fish, meat or eggs, and is deeply sceptical about official safety assurances." She told Watts, "I don't trust anything they say. Tokyo Electric and the government have told us so many lies." Before publishing his special report on Fukushima, Watts sent a draft to his friend, Reiko. "Her reply was polite, but I felt she was disappointed," he wrote, and included it: "Maybe you can find the answer. Maybe it is too much to ask. If so, just forget it. Even though I am much louder than other Japanese, I feel I am lost. My life here requires me to be normalised, to behave like we used to. I have to work, I have to eat. After five months of struggling, I am getting tired of worrying. It is much easier to give up pursuing reality. What bothers me most is being torn in this conflicting situation with no answer, every moment." Helping to represent the voiceless, all those injured and suffering from nuclear energy contamination, including the unborn, the planet's future, last Thursday, a former Fukushima area resident farmer from Kawaamata Town, Ms. Sachiko Sato, 53, spoke at a gathering in central New York. Ms. Sato urged people worldwide to abolish nuclear power plants. "There is no such thing as safe nuclear power," she told some 70 participants at the event organized by a US anti-nuclear group. Ms. Sato was forced to evacuate from Fukushima to neighboring Yamagata Prefecture with her family after the catastrophe began in March. She said that the nuclear energy plant accident changed her life totally and that she wants the world to to know hardship she has experienced after forced to abandon her farmland. Ms. Sato called on people worldwide to work together to get rid of nuclear plants, saying that, "when one thinks about the future of children, what they have to do is clear." Copyright, Deborah Dupré 2011. All rights reserved. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 02:02 AM Post #445 |
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Prince
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Mutton bird radiation warning![]() Photo: Parks and Wildlife is discouraging the public from collecting dead birds. (file photo) (Damien Larkins: ABC News) Tasmanians are being warned not to collect dead mutton birds for research. A recent Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association newsletter describes research into mutton bird exposure to radiation from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. It says the birds will soon be migrating back to Australia after many spent winter in the Sea of Japan. The article says people can help researchers by collecting freshly dead mutton birds, freezing them and handing them over to their local Parks and Wildlife office or museum. But the department says it is not seeking samples and discourages people unfamiliar with wildlife from collecting them. A spokeswoman says suggestions of radiation exposure in birds is being further investigated |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 07:38 PM Post #446 |
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Prince
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Fukushima's radioactive sea contamination lingers ![]() Police and other workers practise a search on the Fukushima coast earlier this month. Exhaust towers of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are visible in the background (Image: Masamine Kawaguchi/The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP/PA) Levels of radiation in the sea off the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant remain stubbornly high six months after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on 11 March. After levels peaked at around 100,000 becquerels per cubic metre of seawater in early April, much of the radioactive iodine, caesium and plutonium from Fukushima was expected to rapidly disperse in the Pacific Ocean. Instead, it seems that the levels remain high. That could be because contaminated water is still leaking into the sea from the nuclear plant, because currents are trapping the material that's already there, or both. Ken Buesseler of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, has told The New York Times that he has received samples of seawater taken in July from near the plant that contained 10,000 becquerels per cubic metre. The corresponding level last year, only months before the disaster, was just 1.5 becquerels, he says. Simon Boxall, an oceanographer at the University of Southampton, UK, says that much of the radioactive material will still be sinking down to the seabed and being absorbed by marine life. Current trap Boxall says that a strong ocean current called the kuroshio – the Japanese equivalent of the Atlantic Gulf Stream – may be responsible for the persistence of the radiation. The kuroshio skirts the Japanese seaboard, sweeping material into the deep ocean. But closer to shore, it creates huge eddies 80 to 100 kilometres across, which may send the material back towards the shore instead of dispersing it. In June, Buesseler took his own samples off the coast of Japan. He wants to have his findings analysed before publishing them, but at present they suggest Boxall may be right: further out to sea, from 30 to 600 kilometres offshore, the radiation threat drops off. It's not surprising that sea life hasn't yet swept up the radioactive material, says Boxall. Seaweed tends to accumulate radioactive iodine-131, which rapidly decays, he says – but caesium-134 and caesium 137, with half-lives of two and 30 years respectively, accumulate in shellfish and could persist for decades. "There's no reason to think it would drop so soon after the disaster," he says. Peak leaks Official estimates from the Japanese government and TEPCO, the company that owns Fukushima-Daiichi, suggest that 3500 terabecquerels of caesium-137 from the plant entered the ocean between 11 March and late May. The pollution was exacerbated in April by problems locating a persistent leak of contaminated water and a decision by TEPCO to dump contaminated water at sea. A further 10,000 terabecquerels of caesium-137 is thought to have found its way into the ocean after escaping as steam from the facility. And TEPCO said last week that Fukushima-Daiichi may still be leaking as much as 500 tonnes of contaminated water into the sea every day. "It wouldn't surprise me if there is still caesium entering the sea off Fukushima, but it can't be as bad as in March and April," says Richard Wakeford of the University of Manchester, UK. "The important thing is to keep monitoring to understand what's happening, and particularly to keep an eye on levels in seafood," he says. "The reports I've seen suggest that there isn't an immediate problem with seafood contamination, but it is important to maintain a comprehensive monitoring programme." Dirty soil There have also been significant developments this week in Japan's plans to cope with land and soil contaminated by airborne pollution from the reactors, mainly released in explosions and fires in March and April. On Tuesday, the Japanese environment ministry said that about 30 million cubic metres of contaminated soil and vegetation from around Fukushima prefecture may need to be disposed of – 23 times the volume of the iconic Tokyo Dome baseball stadium in the capital. The volume is so high because an expert panel recommended that 5 centimetres of topsoil should be shaved off contaminated areas, mainly farmland, but also including forested and residential areas. A day later, the ministry unveiled a plan to build temporary storage facilities for the soil in eight prefectures in different parts of Japan. Meanwhile there was good news this week from Fukushima-Daiichi itself. TEPCO reported on Wednesday that for the first time since the disaster on 11 March, the temperatures of all three of the most severely damaged reactor units had fallen below 100 °C – a key step towards the goal of cold shutdown, which will effectively mothball the reactors for good. The final reactor to fall below 100 °C was unit 2, the source of much of the leaked water in April. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 07:43 PM Post #447 |
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Prince
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TEPCO finds own nuclear accident manual useless TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s in-house report showed Sunday the utility has found its own emergency manual was useless for handling the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant and also repudiated the widely-held belief that a hydrogen explosion might have occurred at its No. 2 reactor. The report indicated the utility prepared the manual with a view to dealing with nuclear plant accidents including severe incidents on the assumption that emergency power generators, including diesel generators, would work properly to keep reactor cooling systems functioning. In fact, none of the backup generators worked after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit the plant located on the Pacific coast. According to the report compiled by an intra-company investigative committee, the plant operator first recognized that large explosions had been heard at the No. 2 and No. 4 reactors past 6 a.m. on March 15. The utility then confirmed that the air pressure in an area near the containment vessel of the No. 2 unit was falling and also that the upper part of the building housing the No. 4 unit had been seriously damaged. Subsequent analysis of the data led the company to conclude that an explosion had occurred at the No. 4 reactor, but it "erroneously recognized" that something akin to an explosion had possibly taken place at the No. 2 unit, according to the report. In the accident at the Fukushima plant, the buildings housing the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors were damaged due to hydrogen explosions while that of the No. 4 unit, which was idled for a regular inspection at the time of the natural disasters, was also destroyed. The building of the No. 2 reactor still stands. (Mainichi Japan) October 2, 2011 |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 07:47 PM Post #448 |
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Prince
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Rubble from quake- and tsunami-hit areas to be disposed in Tokyo![]() Rubble piles up at a temporary disposal site in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. (Mainichi) ![]() Cars destroyed by the March 11 tsunami are stacked near a pile of debris in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is set to dispose in the capital rubble from earthquake- and tsunami-hit areas in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, officials said. There is far more rubble in areas hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant than local bodies can dispose of. Moreover, due to radiation fears, little progress has been made in efforts to dispose of such waste. Tokyo decided to process rubble from disaster-hit areas after detecting only 133 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of ash generated after rubble was incinerated, far below the upper limit of 8,000 becquerels set by the national government. The central government will foot the expenses of disposing of disaster-generated rubble. Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso, who will sign an agreement with Tokyo on rubble disposal on Sept. 30, hailed the move. "It'll be a major step toward the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas," he said. "I hope Tokyo's efforts will encourage other local bodies to accept waste from disaster areas." The metropolitan government intends to transport approximately 500,000 metric tons of rubble to facilities in the capital and dispose of them over a 2 1/2-year period from this coming October to March 2014. To start with, it will accept about 1,000 tons of rubble stored at a temporary storage site in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture. The waste will be transported by freight train to Tokyo from October. The waste will be separate into burnable and unburnable items. Burnable waste will be incinerated while unburnable waste will be buried in a garbage landfill area in the Tokyo Bay area. To ensure safety, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will regularly measure the amount of radiation in the incinerated ash and atmosphere around the disposable facilities where the rubble is processed. In line with national government guidelines that call for the disposal of rubble from disaster-hit areas by the end of March 2014, the Iwate Prefectural Government had worked out a detailed plan to dispose of waste generated as a result of the disaster. Such waste generated in coastal areas alone amounts to some 4.35 million metric tons. But the capacity at disposal facilities in the prefecture is about 800 tons short per day to meet the central government's deadline. To make up for the shortage, the prefectural government asked local governments outside Iwate via the Environment Ministry to accept rubble generated by the quake and tsunami. The ministry responded to Iwate Prefecture that non-industrial waste disposal facilities in 41 prefectures can handle such waste. The prefectural government began in late June to measure the levels of radioactive substances in such waste at coastal areas. Tokyo also dispatched officials to Iwate Prefecture to hold talks on the disposal of the rubble. Tokyo will also similarly dispose of rubble from Miyagi Prefecture. However, an official with the Miyagi Prefectural Government said on Sept. 28 that it is still holding talks with a number of local governments over the disposal of disaster-generated waste. The prefectural government is set to begin sample surveys on rubble for radiation as early as next month. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 07:50 PM Post #449 |
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Prince
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Fukushima plant crisis could erupt if water injection stops for 38 hrs TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. has released an estimate that says if water injection at its stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant stops, its fuel rods could start melting in 38 hours, causing radioactive substances to spew out. The utility said, however, it can resume watering at the Nos. 1 to 3 reactors in three hours at the most in case the plant is hit by another earthquake and tsunami matching the scale of the March 11 disaster that caused their core meltdowns. The estimate said the temperature of the fuel, now believed to have solidified at the bottom of the reactors' pressure vessels, would rise about 50 C each hour and reach its melting point of 2,200 C in about 38 hours. The reactors would then start emitting massive amounts of radioactive substances, raising the radiation level around the plant's premises above 10 millisieverts, the benchmark for prompting an order to evacuate. In the estimate, TEPCO did not assess the likelihood of any melted fuel dropping through the pressure vessels into the containment vessels shrouding each reactor. In the case any one part of the current system used to pump water into the crisis-hit reactors is lost, TEPCO said it can resume watering in about 30 minutes by activating emergency pumps installed at an elevated position. In the event of multiple functions were lost, the utility projected it would require about three hours to resume injecting water. TEPCO official Junichi Matsumoto said the utility would inject boric acid if there were a concern of a nuclear chain reaction. But he said the likelihood of such a reaction occurring was small because the condition within the reactors has changed as the fuel was damaged. (Mainichi Japan) October 2, 2011 |
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| Audi-Tek | October 2 2011, 07:53 PM Post #450 |
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Prince
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Radiation invades cycle of life through fallen leaves It's what happens in fall. It's the time for leaves to change their home ... Everything dies. No matter how big or small, how weak or strong. We first do our job. We experience the sun and the moon, the wind and rain. We learn to dance and to laugh. Then we die," Daniel, the left, tells friend Freddie in "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf" authored by Leo Buscaglia. The story is about the cycle of life shown by leaves that fall with the arrival of winter and return to the soil. Leaves aren't the only things that eventually return to the soil. "Does the tree die, too?" Freddie asks. "Someday," Daniel replies. "But there is something stronger than the tree. It is life. That lasts forever and we are all a part of life." As a result of the ongoing crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, radioactive substances have invaded the cycle of life through fallen leaves. The contamination of leaf soil used for gardening has become a major social problem, and high levels of radiation have been detected in areas where there are concentrations of fallen leaves, causing concern among local residents. At the same time, some experts hope that if fallen leaves in which radioactive substances can easily accumulate are removed, it will help decontaminate forests efficiently. A survey conducted by a study team at the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry shows that 90 percent of radioactive cesium that spread to broad-leave tree forests from the crippled nuclear plant was accumulated in fallen leaves while only 10 percent infiltrated into the soil. Another survey by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry shows that the amount of radiation at forests declined by up to 50 percent after workers removed fallen leaves that contained toxic foreign substances. Still, countless "Freddies" that sacrificed themselves to protect the forests and people may proudly say, "We did our job for the forests and people." In sharp contrast, how sinful and shameful humans are even though they are also part of the cycle of life? |
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| Audi-Tek | October 3 2011, 09:20 PM Post #451 |
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Prince
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Plutonium detected 40km from Fukushima plant High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e3af460-ece6-11e0-be97-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ZkRg4tqJ Small amounts of plutonium believed to have escaped from Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear plant have been detected in soil more than 40km away, say government researchers, a finding that will fuel already widespread fears about radiation risk. The discovery came as authorities lifted evacuation advisories on other towns near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power station in the north-east prefecture of Fukushima, saying radiation readings showed they were safe for residents. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e3af460-ece6-11e0-be97-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1ZkRqtQS8 Government officials played down the health implications of the discovery of the first traces of plutonium from Fukushima Daiichi to be found outside the plant’s immediate environs, saying clean-up efforts should still concentrate on the far greater amounts of radioactive caesium contaminating the area. The plutonium was found at six sites – including one in Iitate around 40km from the plant – all of which are subject to evacuation orders. However, plutonium’s long half-life and the potential for even small amounts to pose a health hazard if ingested is likely to make it a focus of popular concern. Japanese authorities, who significantly underestimated radiation releases from the plant in the early days of the crisis, have since struggled to convince the public that they are able effectively to guard against radiation health threats. Fierce debate among experts on the point at which radiation becomes dangerous enough to warrant evacuation is adding to the government’s difficulty in coming up with a coherent policy. The failure of Fukushima Daiichi’s cooling systems, which prompted the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, has thrown Japan’s atomic energy sector into doubt. Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s new prime minister, on Friday reiterated that it would be “difficult” to build any new reactors in the country. Mr Noda has said he aims to restart nuclear plants currently closed for maintenance or repair once their safety can be assured, but their future remains uncertain. Kyodo news agency quoted the science ministry as saying on Friday that it had decided to postpone a trial run of a troubled fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture because of public fears. The Monju prototype reactor, which burns plutonium refined from the spent fuel of conventional reactors, was shut down in 1995 following a coolant leak and efforts to put it into full operation have been repeatedly delayed. Seiji Maehara, an influential member of the ruling Democratic party who is now its policy chief, told the Financial Times in July that the 280-megawatt plant should be scrapped. The government’s failure to ensure that the Fukushima Daiichi plant was protected against a tsunami has undermined claims that reactors elsewhere are safe, a problem exacerbated by revelations that even regulators used underhand methods to drown out anti-nuclear critics. An independent panel set up to investigate the backstage manipulation of public seminars and community gatherings found that the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency had repeatedly asked power companies to organise participants to express pro-nuclear views. “The close relationships between the agencies and power companies were behind this improper behaviour,” Jiji news agency quoted the panel as saying |
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| Audi-Tek | October 3 2011, 09:39 PM Post #452 |
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Prince
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Nuclear favoured in Japan energy debate October 3 2011 at 08:43pm ![]() Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda TOKYO - Former Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan concluded in March that nuclear power was no longer worth the risk after the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years. His successor seems less convinced. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's month-old government let a panel of experts begin debate on Japan's energy policy on Monday, but Noda has already signalled that nuclear power could play a role for decades. Six months after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, which is still leaking radiation, critics say powerful pro-nuclear interests are quietly fighting back. “It's been a real bad year for the 'nuclear village' but I don't think they are down and out,” said Jeffrey Kingston, Director of Asian Studies at Temple University's Japan campus, referring to the utilities, lawmakers and regulators who long promoted atomic power as safe, clean and cheap. Public concern about safety leapt after the Fukushima accident, which forced 80 000 people from their homes and sparked fears about food and water supply. Some 70 percent of voters polled in July backed Kan's call to phase out nuclear plants. A series of scandals in which regulators and power companies tried to sway hearings on reactors has also dented public trust. Noda has acknowledged that public safety concerns will make it tough to build new reactors, but on Friday stopped short of saying atomic power would play no role at all by 2050. He said decisions on reactors already under construction would have to be made “case-by-case”. The panel is led by the chairman of steel industry giant Nippon Steel Corp , a heavy user of electricity and considered partial to nuclear power, but also includes those opposed to atomic energy. Public safety fears remain high. Tens of thousands rallied in Tokyo last month urging an end to nuclear power, a hefty showing in a country where taking to the streets is rare. Their concerns include how to deal with increasing nuclear waste, such as the Fukushima reactors. Japan, the world's third-biggest nuclear generator, has postponed a decision on where to build a nuclear waste repository. The operator of the crippled reactors, Tokyo Electric Power Co , faces a huge compensation bill, estimated at 4.5 trillion yen ($58 billion) for the two years through March 2013 alone, and will need funds from a government-backed scheme to stay solvent. The government, analysts say, has made clear it views Tokyo Electric as too big to fail. “That rickety scheme, though it is not explicit, would see the monopoly maintained and nuclear plants continue to be used,” said Andrew DeWit, a Rikkyo University professor who writes about energy policy. Yet Trade Minister Yukio Edano, who was chief cabinet secretary for former leader Kan and now oversees energy policy, said on Monday the panel should take into account a change in public views for atomic power. “The debate should not start from the current status but rather show what the country should be in the future, then discuss how it can quickly approach there,” he told the panel. – Reuters |
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| Audi-Tek | October 3 2011, 09:48 PM Post #453 |
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Prince
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TEPCO told to cut jobs after Fukushima 04 October 2011 | 06:17:04 AM | Source: AAP Tokyo Electric Power Co will have to cut 7400 jobs and slash costs by $US33 billion ($A34 billion) over the next 10 years to pay damages for the Fukushima nuclear accident, a government-commissioned panel says. The panel, made up of five experts and assisted by a team of government officials, is investigating TEPCO's finances and advising on restructuring of the utility following the disaster at its nuclear power plant, which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Without restarting nuclear plants and an increase in electricity rates - measures likely to be deeply unpopular with the Japanese public - TEPCO will fall into a capital deficit of Y1.6 trillion ($A21.5 billion). It will also require 8.6 trillion yen in fresh funding over the next 10 years, the panel said in its final report on Monday. TEPCO, long one of the world's biggest power companies and supplying electricity to tens of millions of customers, has only about one trillion yen of its own capital. The panel estimated the utility could reduce its workforce by 14 per cent and cut costs by 2.5 trillion yen, among other measures. The findings suggest Tokyo still faces considerable challenges in trying to keep TEPCO afloat, even after setting up a body to help it pay an estimated 4.5 trillion yen in compensation claims by 2013. The panel believes that a severe restructuring of the company is the only way to guarantee funds to compensate the tens of thousands of people and businesses affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which forced the evacuation of a 20-kilometre zone around the plant. "If these restructuring measures are carried out, it will be a major step in paving the road for (TEPCO) to receive aid from the government," panel chairman Kazuhiko Shimokobe, a bankruptcy lawyer, told a news conference. Failure to obtain government assistance could prompt questions over the viability of TEPCO as a going concern and make its already difficult funding situation more challenging. The company posted a net loss of $US15 billion for the fiscal year ended in March. Rising public distrust of nuclear technology has meant many atomic reactors have been out of action since the March 11 quake as communities refuse to allow them to come back online over safety fears. The panel also warned that TEPCO may have to seek new assistance from its creditors, which include Japan's three main banks and major life insurers, saying that fresh concessions could come in the form of eased repayment terms, debt waivers, or debt-for-equity swaps. The nuclear disaster started when a magnitude-9.0 quake and massive tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant, sparking meltdowns and a series of explosions in the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl 25 years ago. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 01:55 AM Post #454 |
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Prince
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Since the start of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, hundreds of doctors and nurses have resigned from nearby facilities, according to a survey by an association of Fukushima Prefecture hospitals. Their departures have resulted in some hospitals in the prefecture suspending nighttime emergency care and other treatment services, the association said. The survey found that 125 full-time doctors had resigned from 24 hospitals in the prefecture, or 12 percent of all doctors working at those institutions. As for nurses, 407 had quit from 42 hospitals in the prefecture, representing 5 percent of the nursing staff at those institutions. The survey was conducted in late July. There are 139 hospitals in the prefecture, and the survey covered all 127 that belong to the association, with 54 providing responses. The survey found that the highest rate of doctors left from hospitals in Minami-Soma. Thirteen doctors resigned from four hospitals in the city, including one inside the no-entry zone. The figure represents 46 percent of the four institutions' total staff of doctors. In Iwaki, 31 doctors at five hospitals, or 23 percent, resigned. In Fukushima, 41 doctors at six hospitals, or 9 percent, left their jobs. In Koriyama, 25 doctors at four hospitals quit, or 8 percent. As for nurses, in Minami-Soma 44 left their jobs at four hospitals, or 16 percent of those institutions' total nursing staff. The figure includes two nurses who quit a hospital inside the no-entry zone. In Iwaki, 113 nurses at seven hospitals, or 8 percent, resigned. In Fukushima, 68 at nine hospitals, or 4 percent, quit. In Koriyama, 54 at six hospitals, or 4 percent, resigned. The association assumes most of the doctors and nurses who resigned did so due to their desire to leave the area amid concern about radiation exposure stemming from the nuclear disaster. The actual number of doctors and nurses who have resigned could be much larger if the hospitals that did not respond to the survey and non-association member hospitals are included. === Minami-Soma hit hard Minami-Soma is located within the areas that were previously designated as emergency evacuation preparation zones. The designation was lifted Friday, but the exodus of nearly 50 percent of the city's hospital doctors and 16 percent of hospital nurses could cause serious difficulties for local residents. At Minami-Soma City General Hospital, the number of doctors has fallen from 14 to seven in the wake of the disaster, and 42 nurses have resigned (including some who quit after the survey). The association said most of the departing doctors and nurses cited evacuation from the nuclear disaster as their reason. However, doctors who quit the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department and pediatrics department said they were doing so because their patients had already left the city. The city hospital has suspended services in its ophthalmology, otorhinology (ear and nose) and two other departments. Hospital President Yukio Kanazawa said, "[The nuclear accident] destroyed the local community and our medical services. "The end of the nuclear crisis is still not in sight, so I can't ask the doctors who've left to come back," he said. At Yotsukura Byoin, a psychiatric hospital in Iwaki, about 35 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, three of the institution's six full-time doctors left the prefecture soon after the nuclear crisis began. Two of the three resigned at the end of March. One of them said, "I'm concerned about radiation because I've got a small child." The two doctors have since found new jobs in Nagano Prefecture, where their respective parents live. In late August, the hospital asked one of the doctors via e-mail to return, saying radiation levels in the city had fallen. The hospital received no reply. Thirty nurses, or about 30 percent of nursing staff, also resigned from Yotsukura Byoin. Most were originally from other prefectures, and many of them have started new jobs in their hometowns. The hospital has had to stop providing nighttime emergency services. The number of inpatients it can accept is now capped at about 160, about 50 fewer than before the disaster. Isamu Otani, 62, the hospital's clerical director, said: "It's difficult to stop doctors and their families leaving, because they're worried about radiation. We're searching for new doctors, but we've had no applications." The Fukushima prefectural government allocated 450 million yen for recruitment of doctors and nurses in the extra budget it compiled in September. It plans to provide funds to medical institutions to help them deal with the staffing shortage, and has asked the Japan Medical Association and other organizations to dispatch doctors on a temporary basis. (Oct. 4, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 05:06 PM Post #455 |
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Prince
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IAEA to help decontaminate Japan nuke plant area TOKYO (AP) - A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Japan this week to help with the massive cleanup of areas contaminated by a radiation-leaking nuclear power plant. Government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said on Tuesday that the 12-member team will help plan the decontamination process during its nine-day visit. It will also meet with Japanese nuclear officials and compile a report. A massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing three reactor cores to melt and releasing large amounts of radiation. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes. Japan lifted some evacuation advisories around the plant last week, but the area must still be decontaminated. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 05:10 PM Post #456 |
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Prince
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Nuclear reactor shut down in Japan, cause unknown TOKYO (AFP) - A nuclear power reactor was shut down automatically in western Japan on Tuesday, but the cause of the suspension was not immediately known, its operator said. Operations at the number four reactor of Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Saga were automatically suspended at around 1.40pm (12.40pm Singapore time), said Kyushu Electric Power, which runs the plant. 'We have not monitored any abnormality such as any change in radiation gauges,' Yuki Hirano, a company spokesman, said, adding that there were no reports of fire or smoke. 'The cause of the automatic suspension is now under investigation,' the spokesman said. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 06:07 PM Post #457 |
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Prince
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TEPCO secretly bought tickets to political fund-raisers Despite refraining from making political donations since 1974, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spent more than 50 million yen ($650,000) a year on tickets to politicians' fund-raising parties for several years through 2009. TEPCO limited each purchase to 200,000 yen or less so that it would not have to appear on politicians' political fund reports, according to sources. "It is important to keep friendly relations with politicians, particularly those in power, on a regular basis to maintain the general trend of promoting nuclear power policy," a senior TEPCO official said. However, Tomoaki Iwai, professor of political science at Nihon University, said TEPCO has deceived the public and its shareholders. "TEPCO expects smooth nuclear power administration and lawmakers want funds for political activities. TEPCO bought party tickets because the intentions of both parties matched," said Iwai, an expert on political funds. "TEPCO kept its name from appearing on political fund reports probably because it does not want to be criticized for collusion with politicians." TEPCO, which appears to have bought tickets for many years before 2009, spent more than 50 million yen annually for several years through 2009, with the amount reaching about 100 million yen at least in one year. The tickets for fund-raising parties and study meetings were bought annually for more than 50 politicians it ranked based on their importance in nuclear power policies and cooperation in electricity-related policies. "We evaluated politicians, considering whether they were elected from prefectures that host TEPCO facilities or how much they are supportive of electricity-related policies and the electric power industry," a former TEPCO executive said. Lawmakers elected from Aomori, Fukushima and Niigata prefectures where TEPCO operates or is building nuclear power plants and those who served as minister of economy, trade and industry or their deputies were ranked high. Until the change in government in 2009, TEPCO spent about 10 times more on party tickets for then ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers than for Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers. The company continued to buy tickets in 2010, increasing the amount for DPJ lawmakers. The purchase values were decided based on the rankings. TEPCO spent 200,000 yen for high-ranking lawmakers and also bought tickets for the same politicians several times. Politicians are not required to enter the company that bought party tickets into their political fund reports if each purchase is 200,000 yen or less. The former TEPCO executive acknowledged that the company had put a cap on each purchase. "We are seen in a bad light if a public utility is found to have connections with politicians," the source said. TEPCO has publicly refrained from political donations since 1974, saying they are contrary to a public utility granted a regional monopoly in electricity supply. An official at TEPCO's public relations department said paying for party tickets does not conflict with the company's refraining from political donations. "Ticket purchases are not political donations because they are payments for food and drinks," said the official, who declined to disclose details of purchases. TEPCO's general affairs department received a large number of requests from lawmakers or their aides to buy party tickets, according to company officials. The parties and study meetings were organized by lawmakers' political organizations and fund management organizations. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 06:08 PM Post #458 |
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Prince
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Water supply vital to avoiding nightmare at Fukushima In a nightmare scenario, fuel will melt at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and large amounts of radioactive materials will be released if the water supply to the crippled reactors is halted for 38 hours, according to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. But TEPCO officials said on Oct. 1 that it is only a simulated worst-case scenario, saying that it is unlikely that water being pumped into the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors would be suspended for many hours. The officials said TEPCO will be able to restart the water supply within 30 minutes if it is stopped for any problem. "Even if multiple problems occur, we will probably be able to begin pumping in water in about three hours," an official said. The water supply may stop when pumps break down, the power supply is disrupted, tanks and other water sources are lost or water supply routes are damaged, according to TEPCO. Water temperatures in the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors, which have fallen below 100 degrees, will rise by 48-51 degrees if the water supply stops for one hour, according to TEPCO. In 18 to 19 hours, the water temperatures will reach 1,200 degrees, at which time hydrogen will be generated and could trigger an explosion, as occurred in some reactors in the early stages of the crisis following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. In 38 to 50 hours, nuclear fuel will melt again, as it did in three reactors at the crippled plant, and fuel accumulated at the bottom of the pressure vessels will leak into the outer containment vessels. But TEPCO officials said it is unlikely that the water supply would be suspended for many hours because there are backup pumps and water can also be pumped in through many routes. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 06:11 PM Post #459 |
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Prince
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Young Fukushima Evacuees Suffering from Thyroid Problems after Radiation Exposure ven though Japan is trying to rebuild, the incredible radiation unleashed by the Fukushima Daiichi plant after the tsunami continues to take its toll. One charity found that 10 out of 130 youths evacuated from Fukushima is suffering from thyroid irregularities. According to Kyodo News: The Japan Chernobyl Foundation and Shinshu University Hospital did blood and urine tests on youngsters aged up to 16 including babies under the age of one for about a month through the end of August in Chino, Nagano, when the children stayed there temporarily after evacuating from Fukushima. Three of the ten children tested lived in the 20km evacuation zone. Exposure to radiation causes greater harm in youths than it does to adults. As such, the findings aren't surprising—Enenews previously reported that 45% of youngsters had thyroid exposure to radiation, putting them at greater risk for cancer. [Kyodo News, Enenews, The Mainichi Daily News] |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 06:18 PM Post #460 |
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Prince
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Tepco fights to keep nuclear emergency procedures secret.... Six months after the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station, the Japanese utility that owns the plant is fighting to keep its pre-disaster emergency-response procedures a secret from politicians and the public, arguing they contain valuable trade information. Tokyo Electric Power angered members parliamentary committee last month when it handed over manuals outlining steps that its nuclear plant operators are meant to follow in the case of accidents. All but a few words of the texts were redacted with black ink. The storm of controversy that followed – one newspaper columnist compared it to wartime censorship – seems not to have softened the company’s stance. This week it asked Japan’s nuclear safety regulator, which had ordered it to resubmit the manuals without redaction, to allow it to keep much of the material secret. So far only the regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), has seen the originals, which run to thousands of pages. It has not passed them on to the lawmakers who originally requested them. Tepco has told Nisa that if the manuals are to be made public, 90 per cent of the content related to “severe accidents” such as that at Fukushima should be kept under black ink. “The manuals contain knowhow that we have built up over a long period of operation,” a company spokesman said on Tuesday. “There are also issues of national security.” Tepco did not elaborate on the potential security threat that releasing the manuals would pose. The manuals are based on procedures originally formulated by General Electric, which designed the nearly 40-year-old Fukushima reactors. GE’s original materials have been widely circulated inside the nuclear industry. Tepco says it has added to and refined GE’s procedures, creating valuable intellectual property in the process. Tomohiko Abe, a legislator on the science and technology panel that initially requested the manuals, said she believed that Tepco – already widely vilified for its handling of the Fukushima accident – was concerned that the manuals would expose it to further political and legal challenges. “They’re being investigated, and they’re worried that they’ll be accused of not following procedures, or that the procedures will be shown to be useless,” she told the Financial Times. “Either way, their liability problems would increase.” On Monday, a separate government panel that is examining Tepco’s finances reported that the utility could face an Y8,600bn ($112bn) funding shortfall over the coming decade if it cannot raise electricity tariffs to offset its huge clean-up and compensation costs. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 06:26 PM Post #461 |
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Prince
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Fairewinds disagrees with a recent New York Times Opinion that claims that Fukushima was caused because Japanese regulators did not properly oversee Tokyo Electric. Fairewinds shows that in the United States, the same cozy relationship exists between the NRC and the nuclear industry. Proper regulation of nuclear power has been coopted worldwide by industry refusal to implement the cost to assure nuclear safety. Video Link ........ http://vimeo.com/29929825 |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 06:31 PM Post #462 |
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Prince
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Fukushima Children Humiliated by Their Teacher for Not Drinking Fukushima Milk, and Cabinet Secretary Sneers ... It's part of the questioning in the Upper House Budget Committee on September 29 by Akira Matsu, as she related the story of a mother in Fukushima whose children, and others who refuse to drink milk in school lunches were called to the front of the classroom by their teacher and told they were not Fukushima residents if they dared refuse drinking milk from Fukushima. Towards the end, the new Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura is seen sneering, as former Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano tries his best to suppress his own sneer. Video Link ...... http://youtu.be/Aq4JG9ULVNE |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 07:31 PM Post #463 |
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Prince
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epco told to double cost cuts to compensate Fukushima nuke crisis victims..Tokyo, Oct 4 : A Japanese Government panel has called on the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to double its cost cuts to compensate Fukushima nuclear crisis victims. According to a report, compensation payments could reach 4.54 trillion Yen by March 2013, including about 3.64 trillion Yen compensation from March 11, 2011 onwards. A third-party panel report also urged the utility to review its price-setting regime as its findings suggested that household power bills might be high due to Tepco’s cost overestimates. The panel, which is empowered to scrutinize Tepco''s financial position, submitted the report to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the Japan Times reports. Noda said the report is “starting point and said the Japanese Government would "strictly" look into the country''s electricity pricing system. The report warned that Tepco would face 8.6 trillion Yen in fiscal 2020,if it did not raise prices or resume the reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture. The study showed that though Tepco could cut costs by 2.55 trillion Yen 2020, the Tepco''s plan showed that it could cut cost by 1.19 trillion Yen. "Including the streamlining suggestion from the report in the special operating plan is like a minimum requirement for Tepco," a panel head, Kazuhiko Shimokobe said. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 4 2011, 08:09 PM Post #464 |
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Prince
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Fukushima soil decontamination zone may be larger than expected![]() Fukushima-1 TOKYO, October 4 The Japanese government said it would lay down new soil pollution standards for the area around the stricken Fukushima nuclear power station, expanding the soil decontamination zone to neighboring prefectures, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said on Tuesday. "Our goal is to reduce radiation levels to under 1 millisievert. Those areas with radiation levels between 1 millisievert and 5 millisieverts will naturally be covered," said Goshi Hosono, the state minister in charge of the Fukushima nuclear accident. According to a preliminary decontamination plan made last month, about 1,778 square kilometers, or 13% of Fukushima Prefecture's total area will have to be cleared. Costs are expected to hit 1.14 trillion yen ($14.9 billion). With areas showing radiation pollution between one and five millisieverts added, the decontamination area may spread to the neighboring Tochigi and Gunma prefectures. Hosono, however, stopped short of saying if those prefectures would be included into the decontamination plan. A powerful earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant's cooling systems on March 11, causing meltdown at three of its reactors. Radiation leaked into the atmosphere, soil and seawater. About 80,000 people living within the 30-km radius from the station had to be evacuated shortly after the nuclear crisis. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:11 PM Post #465 |
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Prince
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apan: Thyroid gland irregularities found in evacuated youths from Fukushima NAGANO, JAPAN : Thyroid gland irregularities have been detected in a number of young children and teenagers evacuated from Japan's Fukushima Prefecture following its nuclear plant crisis, local media reported on Wednesday. According to a study, 10 out of 130 children evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture showed hormonal and other irregularities in their thyroid glands, the Kyodo news agency reported. The investigation was done by a charity dedicated to help victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. The Japan Chernobyl Foundation, which is based in Japan's Nagano Prefecture, carried out the study in cooperation with the Shinshu University Hospital, taking blood and urine samples from individuals up to 16 years old and infants as young as one month old. The tests took place through the end of August in Chino, Nagano, where the children were housed temporarily following their evacuation from Fukushima, where the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was crippled and caused the country's ongoing nuclear crisis. The study revealed that one child had a thyroid hormone level lower than normal while seven had above average thyroid stimulation hormone levels. In addition, two of the tested youths were diagnosed with slightly high blood concentrations of a protein called thyroglobulin, possibly caused by damage to their thyroid glands. However, Japan Chernobyl Foundation chief Minoru Kamata underlined that no clear link was found between the radiation released from the nuclear plant and the children's health condition. Nonetheless, Minoru stressed that long-term observation is necessary and key to finding any possible impact on human health due to the nuclear crisis. Last Friday, the government of Japan lifted its evacuation advisory in certain areas within a 20 to 30 kilometer (12.4 to 18.6 mile) radius from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The lifted advisory had covered the entire towns of Hirono and Naraha, the village of Kawauchi, and parts of Minamisomo and Tamura, all located in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture which was hit hard by the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. Also last Friday, plutonium was detected at six locations in Fukushima Prefecture, including in the village of Iitate which is located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japanese science ministry official said the plutonium was detected as a result of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant. This was the first time the government confirmed the spread of plutonium to the village. However, officials said the amount of detected plutonium was low and poses no danger to health. Japan has been facing an ongoing nuclear crisis since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was severely damaged on March 11 when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated the country. The disaster disabled the cooling systems of the plant and radioactive elements leaked into the sea and were later found in water, air and food products in some parts of Japan. At least 15,813 people were killed as a result of the earthquake and tsunami while 3,971 others remain missing. There are still more than 88,000 people who are staying in shelters in 21 prefectures around Japan. --BNO News |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:13 PM Post #466 |
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Prince
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Fukushima nuclear plant worker dies A worker at Japan's disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has died, its operator said, adding that the death was not necessarily related to radioactive leaks. The male worker, in his 50s, was taken to hospital for treatment on Wednesday after feeling ill during a regular morning assembly at the plant, some 140 miles north of Tokyo, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). He died early morning on Thursday at the hospital, TEPCO spokesman Chie Hosoda said, adding that the cause of his death was being investigated. "He had been exposed to a small amount of radiation. It is difficult to assume that radiation was a cause of his death," she said. The unidentified worker had worked for 46 days at the plant to install a tank which will be used for processing contaminated water from the crippled reactor units. He worked three hours every day and had been exposed to a total of 2.02 millisieverts of radiation, the official said. An exposure of 100 millisieverts per year is considered the lowest level at which any increase in cancer risk is evident. He was the third worker to die at the plant following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. A male worker, in his 60s, died of a heart attack in May and another, in his 40s, succumbed to acute leukaemia in August. TEPCO said both cases were not attributable to radiation. Two other male employees were also killed directly in the disaster. The 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami left 20,000 dead or missing on Japan's northeast coast and crippled cooling systems at the Fukushima plant, causing reactor meltdowns. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:15 PM Post #467 |
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Prince
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Fukushima Nuclear Plant has 38-Hour Margin for Meltdown. he Tokyo Electric Power Co., still coping with the aftermath of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami that damaged its six-reactor Fukushima nuclear power complex, announced that if the water injections cooling the power plant are halted again, the fuel rods could start melting within 38 hours. If the fuel rods start melting, it could result in another massive release of radioactivity. TEPCO’s estimate said that the fuel’s temperature, which is now believed to have congealed into a solid mass at the bottom of the pressure vessels, in the absence of cooling water would rise about 50 degrees each hour until it hits its melting point of 2,200 degrees in about 38 hours, The Japan Times reported. If the cooling procedures failed, then the crippled reactors would start emitting radioactive fallout, which could reach over 10 millisieverts, the threshold for evacuation. An independent 14 September radiation survey found up to 307,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram of soil near Fukushima, triple that of the benchmark above which the government requires tainted mud to be sealed by concrete. The Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants NGO announced that the readings are comparable to the high levels in special regulated zones where evacuation was required after the April 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:18 PM Post #468 |
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Prince
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Hitachi workers continue to face hot spots at Fukushima plant.. HIRONO, Fukushima Prefecture -- They survived the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, narrowly escaped hydrogen explosions and are now braving radiation levels that force them to leave after only a few minutes. But Hideo Kawai and Ikuzo Tomioka, who have continued working at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since the disaster struck on March 11, have no plans to leave. "We are responsible for giving it our all as a manufacturer," Kawai said. Kawai, 57, of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd. and Tomioka, 51, of Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. are the leaders of about 600 workers of Hitachi Ltd.'s group companies who are staying in Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, a little more than 20 kilometers from the nuclear plant. The workers are now preparing to install equipment to remove gas containing radioactive materials from the No. 1 reactor building where a hydrogen explosion occurred in the early stages of the disaster. At some places in the No. 1 reactor building, radiation has exceeded 1 sievert per hour, a level that can cause acute radiation damage unless adequate precautions are taken. The Hitachi group set a maximum of 30 millisieverts for annual accumulated radiation levels for workers at the plant, which is stricter than the government standard of 50 millisieverts. Workers are not allowed to work if radiation levels exceed the Hitachi group's limit. Radiation levels are measured strictly before workers enter the hot spots within the plant. Shielding made of copper and other materials has been set up to protect the workers, but they can only stay in certain hot spots for about five minutes. Few people in responsible positions have publicly discussed what happened and is happening at the Fukushima No. 1 plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, has declined requests for interviews with Masao Yoshida, site superintendent of the Fukushima plant, and other company officials. But Kawai and Tomioka explained to The Asahi Shimbun their experiences so far in trying to bring the situation under control. When the magnitude-9 earthquake struck on March 11, Kawai told almost all of the 1,800 workers of Hitachi group companies at the plant to evacuate. About 6,400 employees of TEPCO and other companies were at the site during the quake. The plant premises soon became jam-packed with cars. Kawai remained at the plant, and received a phone call from a TEPCO official in the late afternoon. "We are in a grave situation. We want your cooperation," Kawai was told. About 30 workers connected power panels of turbine buildings to power source vehicles via cable to restore the electricity supply to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, Kawai said. Work continued until the morning of March 12, and about 10 workers returned home. When the hydrogen explosion rocked the No. 1 reactor building just past 3:30 p.m. on March 12, Kawai and others were at TEPCO's work base about 20 kilometers away. Kawai returned to the plant to find the cables in tatters. When he asked his subordinates if they would stay, most of them chose to leave. On March 14, only four Hitachi group workers remained, including Kawai and Tomioka. They heard an explosion at the No. 3 reactor building around 11 a.m. when they were trying to restore the electricity supply to the No. 2 reactor. Thirty minutes earlier, they had been working on a road beside the No. 3 reactor building. In the No. 2 reactor turbine building, Tomioka said he felt the blast from the explosion on his face through an opening for cabling. When they left the building, they found their car crushed under rubble blown off from the No. 3 reactor building. The wind was blowing toward the sea. A TEPCO worker measured radiation levels and told Hitachi group workers to flee toward the mountain. Kawai ran on a rubble-strewn road, wearing protective gear and a full-face mask. His thoughts were filled with gloom and doom. "It's all over now," he told himself. He soon had difficulty breathing and could no longer run. He finally reached the earthquake-proof building, taking 20 to 30 minutes to cover the 1-km distance. After the three explosions on March 14 and 15, many workers evacuated the plant, leaving only about 70. Kawai and other Hitachi group workers returned to a factory in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, on March 15 at the instruction of their companies. But Kawai was soon told to return to the Fukushima No. 1 plant. Around the same time, Prime Minister Naoto Kan was at the TEPCO head office yelling that the company could not withdraw from the plant. In the Hitachi group, heated discussions were held over who would be sent to the plant. About 30 section chiefs or employees in higher positions were assembled for the mission, including an engineer who had never worked at a nuclear power plant and an elderly president of a subcontractor. Kawai said he is still not sure if he made the right decision to continue working at the plant. "What if someone was killed?" he says he asks himself. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:21 PM Post #469 |
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Prince
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Search for missing people moves from land areas to the sea Search efforts for people missing since the March 11 tsunami have shifted from the land to the sea in the hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi. Since September, most bodies in that region have been found at sea. The Iwate prefectural police have enlisted divers to search waters off heavily damaged coastal areas of both prefectures. A nongovernmental organization is also assisting in searches of bay areas. On Oct. 4., the Iwate prefectural police began mounting intensive searches in waters close to a fishing port in the Kirikiri district of Otsuchi town. Seventeen divers participated, but no bodies were found that day. The prefectural police plan to continue search efforts in waters around fishing ports in Kamaishi, Ofunato, Miyako and other municipalities until Oct. 21. Some 3,700 people from the two prefectures remain missing. In September, 11 bodies were recovered in Iwate Prefecture and more than 40 bodies were found in Miyagi Prefecture. Most of them were found at sea. Of the 11 found in Iwate Prefecture, four were in Yamada Bay where a Hokkaido-based NGO, Daisetsu River Net, is searching for missing people. In the past, it has searched waters around Hokkaido. Yamada Bay, which is famous for oyster cultivation, is calm like a lake. For this reason it is called, "Lake Towada in the sea." (Lake Towada is located in the border area between Akita and Aomori prefectures, both of which are part of the quake-stricken Tohoku region.) However, rafts used for cultivation were swept away by the tsunami, and a huge amount of rope used in the operation became entangled with quake debris and settled in the narrow opening where the bay meets the Pacific Ocean. Eigo Okada, leader of the NGO, has been appointed by the Yamada town office as a senior staff in charge of searches in coastal areas. "It is also out duty to save the hearts of families. We will continue our activities (of searching for missing people) as long as there are people who wait (for their return)," Okada said. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:24 PM Post #470 |
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Prince
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Fukushima to post radiation levels at schools on Net. To help ease parents' concerns, a project is under way in Fukushima Prefecture to measure and post on the Internet round-the-clock levels of radiation at all elementary schools in the prefecture that resulted from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The education ministry and the Fukushima prefectural government are installing dosimeters in about 500 elementary schools and 100 sites, including public meeting places and sports facilities, where children gather, in the prefecture. Ministry officials will release the results, recorded at 50 centimeters above the ground, on the Internet and update the figures every 10 minutes. The project is slated for launch early this month. It is expected to be expanded later to include kindergartens, junior high schools and senior high schools in the prefecture by year-end. Although the installation of the equipment is expected to help ease health concerns over children, it does not appear sufficient to dispel parents' fears completely. "It will serve as an indicator, but having only one on the premises still has us concerned," said the 33-year-old mother of a second-grader. On Oct. 3, the dosimeter and transmission device, powered by solar power, was installed on the premises of the No. 1 elementary school in the center of Fukushima, the prefectural capital. Workers also tested the equipment to ensure it was functioning correctly. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 08:33 PM Post #471 |
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Prince
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Radiation found beyond Japan no-go zone.![]() A view of crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant A recent study says that high levels of soil contamination with radioactive cesium have been detected near Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. An independent survey conducted on September 14 by a radiological engineering expert and citizens' groups revealed that some 307,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of soil was found near central Fukushima city, located about 60 kilometers (35 miles) away from the plant, AFP reported on Wednesday. The amount is three times over the benchmark determined by the Japanese government as the legal limit is 10,000 becquerels per kilogram. Tomoya Yamauchi -- professor and radiation expert at Kobe University, who was in charge of the study -- examined soil samples from five locations in the Fukushima city. Yamauchi found the level of radioactive cesium in one location had increased five times from three months earlier. He added that the whole area was so contaminated that it would be necessary to remove not only the topsoil but also the road surfaces, asphalts, roofs and concrete walls. The finding has prompted calls on Tokyo to designate the affected section of Fukushima city an official hot spot, and make the area a voluntary evacuation zone. “We are urging the central and local governments to have children and expecting mothers evacuated from the areas," said Takeshi Sakagami, a member of Citizens against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants. Sakagami said his group was calling on authorities to at least designate the area as a non-mandatory evacuation zone due to the level of contamination. The Fukushima plant has leaked radiation into air, soil and the Pacific Ocean ever since it was hit by a 9-magnitude earthquake and a devastating tsunami on March 11. The tremor triggered a nuclear crisis by knocking out power to cooling systems and the reactor meltdowns at the nuclear power plant on Japan's northeast coast. The number of the dead and missing from Japan's March 11 quake and tsunami stands at over 28,000, according to the Japanese National Police Agency. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 09:01 PM Post #472 |
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Prince
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Japan Test Reactor Was Shaken Beyond Design Limit in March Quake. A research reactor operated by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency was shaken beyond its design limits during the earthquake that struck in March and another of the agency’s nuclear facilities was likely damaged in the disaster. The Japan Research Reactor No. 3 in Tokai village, 115 kilometers (71 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was shaken as much as 5.7 times more than its design allowed, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said in a statement. Parts of the roof of the experimental Japan Materials Testing Reactor building in the agency’s research center in Oarari, 60 kilometers from Tokyo, was damaged, possibly by the quake, the ministry said. No radiation leaks were found at either site, according to the ministry. The magnitude-9 quake and subsequent tsunami on March 11 knocked out power and cooling at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, causing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago. Neither of the Japan Atomic reactors were running when the quake hit, said Kunimi Yoshida, an official involved in nuclear power regulation at the science ministry. Tokai village was the site of an accident in 1999 at a nuclear plant operated by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co.’s unit JCO Co. Two workers were killed by radiation after pouring uranium from a bucket into a processing tank, leading to a chain reaction. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 6 2011, 09:41 PM Post #473 |
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Prince
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Nurseries take kids to play at site with lower radiation![]() Free and easy: Children from two nurseries in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, play Wednesday in a field with a much lower radiation level than their day care centers. KYODO Fukushima — Nurseries in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture — where outdoor activities are limited due to radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant — are taking part in a project to let kids play at remote sites with lower radiation levels. About 40 children commuting to two nurseries in central areas of Koriyama, where radiation of 0.9 microsievert per hour has been recorded, and their teachers took a bus Wednesday to an educational facility some 30 km away where the radiation level is 0.1 microsievert per hour. Ryuta Kamikokuryu, 40, operator of a nursery school and representative of the project launched in August, said the trips are not excursions but part of normal child care services. "We'd like to relieve the stress of parents by letting children play freely. Some families cannot take refuge" in areas with lower levels of radiation, he said. The organizer intends to regularly take kids to remote sites and solicit donations for the activities, he said. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 7 2011, 05:27 PM Post #474 |
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Prince
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Fukushima desolation worst since Hiroshima, Nagasaki.![]() Wasteland: Weeds cover a rail line near the edge of the 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima No. 1 plant Sept. 9. BLOOMBERG PHOTO Beyond the police roadblocks that mark the no-go zone around the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, 2-meter-tall weeds invade rice paddies and vines gone wild strangle road signs along empty streets. Takako Harada, 80, returned to an evacuated area of Iitate, a village in Fukushima Prefecture, to retrieve her car. Beside her house is an empty cattle pen, the 100 cows slaughtered on government orders after radiation from the March 11 atomic disaster saturated the area, forcing 160,000 people to move away and leaving some places uninhabitable for two decades or more. "Older folks want to return, but the young worry about radiation," said Harada, whose family ran the farm for 40 years. "I want to farm, but will we be able to sell anything?" What is emerging six months since the nuclear meltdowns at the Tokyo Electric Power Co. plant is a radioactive zone bigger than that left by the 1945 atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While nature reclaims the 20-km no-go zone, Fukushima's ¥240 billion a year farm industry is being devastated and tourists that hiked the prefecture's mountains and surfed off its beaches have all but vanished. The March earthquake and tsunami that caused the nuclear crisis and left almost 20,000 people dead or missing may cost ¥17 trillion, hindering the economic recovery from two decades of stagnation. A government panel investigating Tepco's finances estimated the cost of compensation to people affected by the nuclear disaster will exceed ¥4 trillion. The bulk of radioactive contamination cuts a 5- to 10-km-wide swath of land running as far as 30 km northwest of the nuclear plant, surveys of radiation hot spots by the science ministry show. The government extended evacuations beyond the 20-km zone in April to cover this corridor, which includes parts of Iitate. No formal evacuation zone was set up in Hiroshima after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city on Aug. 6, 1945, though as the city rebuilt relatively few people lived within 1 km of the hypocenter, according to the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum. Food shortages forced a partial evacuation of the city in summer 1946. On April 26, 1986, an explosion at the Chernobyl reactor hurled 180 metric tons of nuclear fuel into the atmosphere, creating the world's first exclusion zone of 30 km around a nuclear plant. A quarter of a century later, the zone is still classed as uninhabitable. About 300 residents have returned despite government restrictions. The government last week said some restrictions may be lifted in outlying areas of the evacuation zone in Fukushima, which translates from Japanese as "Lucky Isle." Residents seeking answers on which areas are safe complain of mixed messages. "There are no simple solutions," Timothy Mousseau, a professor of biological sciences at the University of South Carolina, said. Deciding whether life should go on in radiation tainted areas is a "question of acceptable risks and trade-offs." To Mousseau, one thing is clear. "There will be consequences for some of the people who are exposed to levels that are being reported from the Fukushima Prefecture," Mousseau said by email from Chernobyl, where he is studying radiation effects. Japan abandoned any ambition to develop atomic weapons after the 1945 bombings. Two decades later, the nation embraced nuclear power to rebuild the economy after the war in the absence of domestic oil and gas supplies. Tepco's decision in the 1960s to name its atomic plant Fukushima No. 1 has today associated a prefecture of about 2 million people that's almost half the size of Belgium with radiation contamination. In contrast, Chernobyl is the name of a small town near the namesake plant in what today is Ukraine. The entire prefecture has been stained because of the link, according to Gov. Yuhei Sato. "At Fukushima airport you don't see Chinese and Korean visitors like before because of negative associations," he said. The fear of radiation was prevalent after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and it stigmatized the hibakusha, the survivors exposed to radiation. Many hibakusha concealed their past for fear of discrimination that would prevent them finding work or marriage partners, according to the Japan Confederation of A-and H-bomb Sufferers Organization. Some people believed A-bomb survivors could emit radiation and others feared radiation caused genetic mutations, said Evan Douple, associate chief of research at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima. An examination of more than 77,000 first-generation children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings found no evidence of mutations, he said. While radiation readings are lower in Fukushima than Hiroshima, Abel Gonzales, the vice chairman of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, said similar prejudices may emerge. "Stigma. I have the feeling that in Fukushima this will be a very big problem," Gonzales said during a symposium held in the city of Fukushima on the six-month anniversary of the disaster. Some children who fled Fukushima are finding out what Gonzales means. Fukushima schoolchildren were being bullied at their new school in Chiba Prefecture for "carrying radiation," the Sankei Shimbun reported in April, citing complaints made to education authorities. An 11-year-old Fukushima boy was hospitalized in Niigata Prefecture after being bullied at his new school, Kyodo News reported April 23. Produce from Fukushima's rich soil is also being shunned. Peaches, the prefecture's biggest agricultural product after rice, have halved in price this year. Beef shipments from the prefecture were temporarily suspended and contamination concerns stopped the town of Minamisoma from planting rice, according to local authorities. Some land around the Fukushima reactors will lie fallow for two decades or more before radiation levels fall below the government's criteria for evacuation, officials said Aug. 26. Radiation risks in the 20-km zone forced the evacuation of about 8 percent, or 160,000, of some 2 million people who live in Fukushima. Almost 56,000 were sent to areas outside Fukushima, prefecture spokesman Masato Abe said. More than 8,000 left on their own accord because of radiation fears, Abe said. Inside the evacuation areas, levels of radiation higher than the government's criteria for evacuation have been recorded at 89 of 210 monitoring posts. At 24 of the sites, the reading was higher than the level at which the International Atomic Energy Agency says increases the risk of cancer. Japan Atomic Energy Institute researcher Toshimitsu Homma used science ministry data to compare the geographic scale of the contamination in Fukushima with Chernobyl. He estimates the no-go zone in Fukushima will cover 132 sq. km, surrounded by a permanent monitoring area of 264 sq. km, assuming Japan follows the criteria set by the Soviet Union in 1986. The two areas combined equal about half the size of the five boroughs that comprise New York City. In the case of Chernobyl, the two zones cover a land mass 25 times greater, according to Homma's figures. While scientists knew back in March that radiation contamination would create an uninhabitable zone in Fukushima, information to the public has come intermittently, said Hiroaki Koide, a nuclear physics scientist at Kyoto University. "Many people in Fukushima have to face the reality that they can't go back to their homes for decades," Koide said. Masaki Otsuka said it may be worse than that. "I don't think I can ever go back to my house, because it was just 4 km from the No. 1 reactors," the 51-year-old pipe welder said in an interview at an evacuation center in the Azuma district in the city of Fukushima, where he has lived for six months. People's distrust of politicians and scientists, as well as conflicting commentary, makes it harder for residents to decide whether to stay or leave, said Michiaki Kai, a professor in environmental health science at Oita University of Nursing and Health Sciences. Similar circumstances affected residents near Chernobyl and those close to the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. "Contradiction in some official statements, and the appearance of nonscientifically based 'expert' voices, confused and added stress to the local populations in each case," said Evelyn Bromet, a distinguished professor in the department of psychiatry at State University of New York, Stony Brook. "Lies got told, contradictions got told. In the end it's easier to believe nobody," Bromet said in an interview, citing mental health studies she did on people in the areas. What radiation hasn't ruined, the earthquake and tsunami devastated. Fukushima Prefecture welcomed 56 million domestic and overseas visitors in 2009, equal to 44 percent of Japan's population. The coastal town of Minamisoma this year canceled its annual qualifying stage for the world surfing championship, part of a waterfront that lured 84,000 beachgoers in July and August last year, said Hiroshi Tadano, head of the town's economic division. This year, nobody visited the beaches in the two months. "Most of the beaches are destroyed," Tadano said. "And of course, radiation played its part." The area's biggest festival, Soma Nomaoi, a re-enactment of samurai battles, attracted 200,000 visitors last year. This year 37,000 came. Of the 300 horses typically used in the event, 100 were drowned in the tsunami and another 100 were evacuated due to radiation, Tajino said. Minamisoma resident Miyaguchi, 54, lost his home and parents in the tsunami. He quit his job at Tepco, leaving him unemployed and housed in an evacuation center. Still, he has no plans to move away. "Most people who wanted to move away have done so, but I can't live in big cities like Tokyo," he said, declining to give his first name. The future of Fukushima is in the hands of residents like Miyaguchi and Harada who say they want to stay and work to reclaim their land from disaster. A giant banner in the playground of the closed Haramachi Elementary School in Minamisoma makes that a promise: "To all of you wherever you are, we say we won't give up." |
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| Audi-Tek | October 7 2011, 05:48 PM Post #475 |
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Prince
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Cesium levels off Fukushima Prefecture 58 times higher than before quake. Levels of radioactive cesium 137 in waters off Fukushima Prefecture are 58 times higher than before the March 11 quake that crippled a nuclear power plant there, a government survey shows. The science ministry conducted sophisticated sensitive analysis of seawater sampled in 11 locations, mostly about 45-320 kilometers off the coasts of Fukushima, Miyagi, Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures, in late August. Cesium 137 levels about 140 kilometers east of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant came to 0.11 becquerel per liter, or 58 times more than in 2009, the ministry said Oct. 5. Still, the figures for all locations were less than 1 percent of the legal standard of 90 becquerels for ocean waters. It was the first sensitive analysis covering large areas. In a 2009 ministry survey off the four prefectures, maximum readings were between 0.0015 and 0.0023 becquerel per liter. The latest survey detected 0.10 becquerel about 215 kilometers southeast of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, 50 times more than in 2009, and 0.076 becquerel about 200 kilometers northeast of the plant, 33 times more. Seawater sampled off Chiba Prefecture contained 0.0012-0.0023 becquerel, roughly unchanged from 2009. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 7 2011, 05:57 PM Post #476 |
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Prince
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Residents of Japanese town contaminated by Fukushima refuse to return . This could have been homecoming week in this pretty seaside town. Seven months after most residents fled as explosions rocked the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the Japanese government has declared it safe to return to Hirono. But a week after the country’s Nuclear Disaster Minister lifted the government’s evacuation recommendation for Hirono and three other towns, no one has returned. The only people in Hirono are the same hard-core few who ignored the evacuation advisory all along, plus the teams of rescue workers who use the town as a base while they race to and from the battle to repair the four damaged reactors to the north. For the rest of the town’s pre-disaster population of 5,500 – including the outspoken mayor – an assurance from Tokyo is nowhere near enough to persuade them to return. Most prefer to remain, for now, in cramped temporary accommodations further from Fukushima Daiichi. “I don’t plan to come back, ever,” said a middle-aged woman who briefly visited Hirono this week to retrieve belongings from the two-storey home that she and her family fled on March 12, the day after the tsunami that set in motion the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. She paused to take in her abandoned home’s view of the ocean and its now-unkempt garden. “I’ll never feel safe here. I’ll never feel secure.” The area where the government has lifted its advisory was one of three evacuation zones around the plant. The 20-kilometre radius around Fukushima Daiichi remains a no-go zone for the foreseeable future, as does a heavily contaminated corridor northwest of the plant that was later added to the mandatory evacuation zone. Once home to more than 100,000 people, the areas are expected to be uninhabitable for upward of two decades. Hirono and the three other towns that the government is encouraging residents to return to are in a third zone, between 20 and 30 kilometres from the plant. Pregnant women and hospitalized patients were advised to evacuate the towns in mid-April, the rest of the 58,500 who live in the area were told at the same time to be ready to flee “on a moment’s notice.” All left immediately, with the exception of 300 steadfast residents, most of them elderly enough to claim they aren’t worried about the long-term effects of radiation. Shifting official recommendations since the disaster struck – as well as new revelations about the scope of the disaster of Fukushima Daiichi that still make newspaper headlines on a near-daily basis here – leaves few locals willing to trust the latest assessment from Tokyo. Hirono’s mayor, Motohoshi Yamada, is among those staying away for now. In his estimation, the order from Tokyo – announced by new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda – was made perhaps 15 months too early. “The government’s figures on radiation are not that trustworthy. They’re not precise. My goal is to bring the radiation levels back down to what they were before March 11,” Mr. Yamada said in an interview at his administration’s temporary headquarters in the city of Iwaki, another 25 kilometres south of Hirono and away from Fukushima Daiichi. In the past week alone, plutonium was discovered in soil 40 kilometres from the stricken plant and a local environmental group reported finding levels of radioactive cesium in the city of Fukushima, 60 kilometres from the plant, that were triple the level that requires sealing in concrete. Hirono residents whisper about sky-high cesium-137 readings rumoured to have been taken near the window of the local school. A radiation dosimeter set up in Hirono’s near-deserted town hall bobbed around 0.09 microsievert per hour this week, a level that suggests annual exposure below the International Commission on Radiological Protection’s recommended limit of 1 millisievert per year. But few appeared convinced by an indoor dosimeter maintained by Tokyo Electric Power Company (better known as TEPCO), the same utility that operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant. “That’s just the indoor radiation,” snorted a 77-year-old woman who walked by the dosimeter clutching a bag full of bottled water. “There are hot spots all over town.” Mr. Yamada said he wouldn’t recommend his constituents return to Hirono until the town’s upper crust of contaminated earth and pavement is scraped away, a cleanup that is expected to take until December of 2012. Only then – and barring any further setbacks – will Mr. Yamada advise people to go home. “Restoring and revitalizing the town will take a very long time, but the situation at Fukushima Daiichi is still not solved yet,” he said. Before the disaster, Hirono was best known for hosting J-Town, a soccer training centre used by Japan’s national team. Today, J-Town hosts 3,000 blue-uniformed nuclear workers, front-line troops in the ongoing effort to bring Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors under control. Their escorted convoys to and from the crippled reactors provide the bulk of the activity on Hirono’s otherwise empty streets. Those working inside the plant provide little reason for optimism. “It’s endless, endless. The task will never end,” said a senior nuclear engineer who spends six hours a day, five days a week supervising the effort to make sure the reactor cores that partially melted down in March remain immersed in cooling water. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the nuclear worker said he wouldn’t risk having his own family join him in Hirono. “No matter how much they say it’s safe, as long as the soil contamination exists, I could not bring my relatives here.” And, he added, there remains the possibility of another explosion “if someone is careless or the cooling facility stops.” Nightmare scenarios aside, some of those who have remained in Hirono throughout say they expect their town to retain its ghostly feel for some time to come. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 8 2011, 07:47 PM Post #477 |
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Prince
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After the ‘3/11’ Triple Crisis, Politics in Japan Is Gridlocked Over Nuclear Power. On March 11 this year, Japan was struck by a triple disaster. An earthquake on a scale unseen in a millennium shook the northern half of the main island of Honshu. A stunning tsunami then swept away entire communities along the island’s northeast Pacific coastline. In its wake, the wave left a complex of nuclear power plants without power, causing a meltdown who se radioactive consequences are still not fully under control. Japanese refer to these disasters by the shorthand of “3/11.” It is a self-conscious reference to 9/11, evoking not only the sudden and terrible nature of the two events, but also their ongoing, transformative character. On my first visit to Japan since that day, I found a country still completely mired in the disaster. Seismically, barely a day goes by without aftershocks as the earth settles from the tectonic shift that took place six months ago, some strong enough to send my Tokyo hotel room vibrating for what seemed like minutes. In the northeast, recovery is slow as entire communities contemplate whether they even have a future. Most of all, the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant remains unresolved — cold shutdown is incomplete, and every day Japanese newspapers print maps of radiation readings spreading outward from the plant. Fewer than a dozen of Japan’s 54 nuclear power plants are operating, forcing people to dim office lights, turn off electric hand dryers in toilets and take other conservation measures. In this post-3/11 world, Japan’s leaders are focused almost entirely inward. Other than a deepening worry over the fate of the global economy and a consequent domestic slowdown, the government’s foreign policy now consists of “preserving the status quo,” a senior foreign ministry official told me, avoiding anything that can divert attention from the tasks at hand. Alongside economic recovery, the most urgent issue is the future of nuclear energy, now the main arena to fight out Japan’s political, social and economic future. These challenges are compounded by a failure of governance. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which ended a half-century of conservative Liberal Democratic Party control in 2009, has been unable to deliver on either its agenda of reform or provide leadership. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is the third DPJ premier as the party struggles with deep internal divisions, divided control of two houses of parliament, and stiff opposition from a powerful bureaucracy and its allies, including in the media. Japan seems permanently choking in a poisonous atmosphere of partisan politics and a gridlock that rivals the one in Washington. The mainstream media, long a guardian of the political order, now relentlessly pursues “scandal.” These are not the fruit of investigative research, but rather a thirst for gaffes and hints of political payola to generate headlines and embarrass politicians. All these elements have come together in post-3/11 Japan in a fierce debate over nuclear energy. The electric power industry in Japan is a classic example of the system that created the postwar economic miracle. Power companies were organized as regional monopolies, vertically integrated from the plants to the power lines, working in close coordination with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The ministry not only promoted the growth of nuclear energy — Japan ranks third in the world, after the US and France, in the amount of electricity generated by nuclear plants — but also served as its regulator. This collusive “nuclear power village,” as it is popularly known, includes politicians backed by the wealthy firms, the most powerful of which is Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco). This system worked wonderfully in Japan’s developmental rise. It marshaled resources and responded quickly to national goals like the drive for energy conservation following the oil shock of the early 1970s. But it failed to push for the development of alternative energy sources, and its regulatory oversight was notoriously lax, leading to accidents, including a plant shutdown following a 2007 earthquake in northern Japan. When 3/11 struck, then Prime Minister Naoto Kan was a captive of the “nuclear village.” During the early hours of the Fukushima crisis, Kan, an avowed foe of the bureaucracy, tried to reassure an increasingly terrified Japanese public even as he demanded that Tepco and its METI overseers bring the plant under control. In the view of his foes, Kan was an inept leader, failing to use established mechanisms of the bureaucracy and interfering with their ability to handle the crisis. Kan, particularly in recent interviews, describes himself as dragging a collusive system to act to save the country rather than protect its investment in nuclear power. Ultimately the worst may have been averted. But Kan lost his job because he was widely perceived — or rather portrayed by a largely hostile media — as incompetent. Thanks to independent media that live-streamed Tepco press conferences to the Web, going around the mainstream media, the Japanese public also saw a company that failed to plan for safety and covered up mistakes. Anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan, fed by memories of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has exploded. The formation of a new government offers some glimmer of hope of more stable governance. A low-key pragmatist and deficit hawk, Noda has restored some authority to the bureaucracy, tried to forge party unity, and explored the formation of a “grand coalition” with the conservative opposition to face the country’s post-3/11 reconstruction tasks. He backed away somewhat from Kan’s strident anti-nuclear message, stressing the need to reopen closed plants to avoid an energy crisis next spring. The wars, however, continue slightly below the surface. The METI minister appointed by Noda was forced to resign within weeks after the media jumped on his comment that the evacuated area around the Fukushima plant had become a “ghost town.” That remark was oddly labeled as insensitive. He added fuel to the fire by making an off-the-record joke, duly reported, about radiation. In the Diet, Tepco outraged parliament members when it met repeated requests for copies of accident manuals by turning over heavily redacted documents. Former DPJ Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama showed me the blacked-out documents. “There is a great deal that Tokyo Electric is still not telling us,” he said. “The response to their obstructionism hasn’t been sufficient.” A few days later, the government’s nuclear watchdog agency joined this chorus. Huge fights loom over a bailout of Tepco with public money and proposals to break up regional power monopolies. Privately, some in the DPJ worry that the party has retreated so far from its original purpose that it lost its ability to appeal to an electorate that favors change. A senior DPJ leader told me that while “Noda isn’t bad,” he worries the party is becoming “a mirror image of the LDP.” The Japanese retain the strengths of a resourceful, disciplined people, traits evident in the early days after the quake. But they desperately need good governance to steer a path through the debris and tremors of post-3/11 Japan. A window of opportunity remains open, but it’s difficult to say for how long. Daniel Sneider is the associate director for research of Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 8 2011, 07:53 PM Post #478 |
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Prince
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Japan Tsunami Psychological Injuries Slow to Heal![]() People stand in driving snow as they queue for a bus to leave town in Sendai, Japan — one of Japan's northeast coast towns devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in March. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) Ishinomaki, Japan. Doctor Shinsuke Muto runs an unusual health service in the tsunami-battered Japanese city of Ishinomaki. Patients come to his clinic to be treated for physical pain or therapy to help their bodies recover from the injuries they received when a 15-meter (45-foot) wave swept through their homes on March 11. But many also come to the health center he established nearby to have their emotions healed, to have the mental wounds patched up and the loneliness and isolation soothed. Elderly people who lived their whole lives in Ishinomaki saw their homes, their families and their friends and neighbors washed away, says Muto. “I found that the treatment of the elderly lacked warmth. They of course need treatment, but they also needed a place to meet,” he told AFP. His health center aims to provide just that. Of the 20,000 people killed nationwide in the massive waves generated by the magnitude 9.0 offshore earthquake, a fifth were from Ishinomaki. The once-thriving fishing port sits around 100 kilometers north of the Fukushima nuclear power plant where workers are still trying to tame the world’s worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl. Piles of rubble still scar the city where many of the 165,000 inhabitants were made homeless by the devastating waves. Muto arrived in the city two months after the disaster, when the need for acute medical care had subsided a little. He founded the You Home clinic, offering the normal array of medical services. Then, with a grant from French charity Secours Populaire Francais and the Nippon Foundation, he founded a health center nearby to offer all-round care to his patients. It offers free consultations, including with specialists in Tokyo, using equipment that allows them to examine patients remotely. The center, which opened its doors in September, provides pastoral care for its clients and much needed employment in a region whose economy took a battering in the disaster. Of its 10 employees, seven are local. But one of Muto’s main aims is to give patients the chance to meet with other people. Many of those he sees are living in the temporary accommodation thrown up in the months after the tsunami, often cut off from the people they know. “At the health center, young people can organize a film screening, older people have a coffee or dinner with friends,” said the doctor. This chance for human interaction is vital if Ishinomaki is to get back on its feet, says Julian Laupretre, president of Secours Populaire, who came to inaugurate the centre. “Friendship does not solve everything, but it is irreplaceable,” he said. For him, the center is a place where patients can feel that they are not alone and have not been abandoned to their fate. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, donations and offers of help flooded in from all around the world, but it is long-term care that is needed now, says doctor Ismail Hassouneh of Secours Populaire, who worked in Aceh, Indonesia, after the 2004 Asian tsunami. “It is important that we keep a close eye on what happens to those caught up in the disaster,” he said. “An event of this magnitude brings with it long-term psychological issues that must be addressed.” |
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| Audi-Tek | October 8 2011, 07:55 PM Post #479 |
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Prince
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In Japan, Nuclear Proponents Ready for New Debate Tokyo. As Japan’s leader when the Fukushima nuclear crisis began in March, Naoto Kan concluded atomic power simply was not worth the risk. His successor seems less convinced. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s government began debate on Japan’s energy policy on Monday, but Noda has already signaled that nuclear power could play a role for decades. Six months after the world’s worst radiation crisis in 25 years erupted at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima plant, critics say powerful pro-nuclear interests are quietly fighting back. “It’s been a real bad year for the ‘nuclear village’ but I don’t think they are down and out,” said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University’s Japan campus, referring to the nexus of utilities, lawmakers and regulators who long promoted atomic power as safe, clean and cheap. Concern about safety leapt after the Fukushima accident, which forced 80,000 people from their homes and sparked fears about food and water supplies. Some 70 percent of voters polled in July backed Kan’s call to phase out nuclear plants. A series of scandals in which regulators and power companies tried to sway hearings on reactors has also dented public trust. In an effort to tap in to that sentiment, Kan floated ambitious targets for renewable energy and embraced a future without nuclear power. He promised an overhaul of a government plan approved last year to build 14 new reactors and raise the share of nuclear power in Japan’s electricity mix to 53 percent by 2030. “It chilled me to the bone every waking moment of each day,” he said at his last news conference as prime minister of the battle to contain the disaster. “How should we deal with the risk that nuclear power might cause our country to perish? This question is what led me to propose the creation of a society free from dependence on nuclear power.” Noda, in contrast, has acknowledged that public safety concerns will make it tough to build new reactors, but on Friday stopped short of saying that atomic power would play no role at all by 2050. He was vague about the criteria that an advisory panel, which will make recommendations on a new energy plan by next summer, should use in reaching its conclusions. The panel is chaired by the head of steel industry giant Nippon Steel, a heavy user of electricity and considered partial to nuclear power, but also includes those opposed to atomic energy. Public safety fears remain high. Tens of thousands rallied in Tokyo last month urging an end to nuclear power, a hefty showing in a country where taking to the streets is rare. But sentiment could shift if consumers’ electricity bills rise as utilities buy more fossil fuels and pass on the cost of renewable sources such as solar and wind, some experts say. “Some opinion polls show that a majority of the public agree that nuclear plants should be shut down,” said Hidetoshi Shioda, a senior analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities. “But the high percentage is bound to fall if the public actually begins considering the fact that going without atomic power means higher bills.” Renewable energy proponents see the nuclear disaster as a chance to boost the role of such sources. They are pinning their hopes on a feed-in-tariff system enacted in August and to take effect in July 2012 that requires utilities to buy electricity from such sources and pass the cost to consumers. But experts say the extent to which renewables expand depends on attractive pricing and changes to provisions allowing utilities to refuse to buy from renewable sources. Momentum for reforms to separate or “unbundle” utilities’ power generation and transmission arms to stimulate competition — another Kan proposal — is also waning. The unbundling would break utilities’ regional monopolies, not a welcome prospect for operators like Tokyo Electric Power, the owner of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. |
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| Audi-Tek | October 8 2011, 07:57 PM Post #480 |
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Prince
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Tepco Starts To Eject Hydrogen From Fukushima Plant - Kyodo. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.T0), operator of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Saturday it has started to discharge hydrogen with high concentration levels from a pipe connected to a reactor containment vessel at the plant, as a measure to prevent an explosion. The utility said it has injected nitrogen into the pipe for the No. 1 reactor vessel to eject hydrogen found with high density of more than 60%. The hydrogen has been generated by radiation that dissolved water. Tepco said it will make sure that the concentration level of hydrogen is lowered to less than 1% before removing the pipe and going ahead with a plan to connect a system to clean up radioactive materials in the vessel. While Tepco said a hydrogen explosion isn't expected to occur in the pipe in a lack of oxygen, it has decided to lower the level of concentration to prevent an explosion from occurring during the work to cut off the pipe. The utility plans to check the levels of hydrogen in the pipes at the plant's Nos. 2 and 3 reactors, which were also damaged in the crisis that caused radiation leakage. |
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2:10 AM Jul 11