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Topic Started: April 11 2011, 02:28 PM (7,658 Views)
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High radiation detected at Tokyo school

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Radiation of nearly 4 microsieverts per hour--a level that slightly exceeds the government-set benchmark for designating evacuation zones--was detected Monday at a primary school in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, ward officials said.

The reading was recorded under the drainpipe attached to a gutter of a machinery room next to a swimming pool at Higashi-Fuchie Primary School. Tests conducted Monday found radiation of 3.99 microsieverts per hour at five centimeters above the ground. At the same point, 0.41 microsieverts per hour was measured at a height of 50 centimeters, and 0.24 microsieverts per hour at one meter.

Ward officials have made the area around the "hot spot" off-limits to students. The area will be decontaminated and the topsoil removed, the officials said.

A radiation reading of 3.99 microsieverts per hour equates to a cumulative dose of about 21 millisieverts a year, surpassing the 20-millisieverts-a-year standard the government used to designate expanded evacuation zones after the crisis erupted at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to the officials.

"The high reading possibly was caused by the accumulation of rainwater that contained radioactive material released at the outbreak of the nuclear accident," a ward official said.

The ward office measured radiation levels at the school Monday after being tipped off by residents who had detected high readings at 20 locations in the ward. The office chose five of the 20 points--including Higashi-Fuchie Primary School--where residents had found radiation levels of more than 1 microsievert per hour.
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Sending kids to school becomes heartwrenching decision

Naoki Taruta / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima--It was back to school Monday for five primary and middle schools for the first time since emergency evacuation preparation zones were opened for parts of Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, and Hisae Suzuki had a special request. "Could you drive the kids to school?" she asked her 65-year-old mother.

A nurse at a hospital in Minami-Soma, Suzuki, 36, worked the night shift the previous day. She plans to drive her three sons to and from Haramachi Daiichi Primary School except for six or seven times a month when she has to work night shifts.

Although emergency evacuation preparation zones created in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have been opened, parents like Suzuki remain worried about their children's exposure to excessive radiation.

All five schools are located in Minami-Soma's Haramachi district, which was inside the emergency evacuation preparation zone that covered all or part of five municipalities in the prefecture.

The Suzukis, however, still live at emergency rental housing in Soma available to evacuees after the March 11 disaster, even though the emergency evacuation preparation zone in Minami-Soma was dissolved on Sept. 30.

"Due to concerns over radiation exposure, we won't return to our house unless we can confirm it's safe," Suzuki said.

She is considering sending her eldest son, sixth-grader Shigeyuki, 12, to a middle school in Soma--instead of a school near their original house--in April next year after he graduates from primary school.

Whether or not her children can play their favorite sport, baseball, in Haramachi, will factor into the decision.

However, her two younger sons--fourth-grader Yusuke, 9, and second-grader Kiyonori, 8--have been urging Suzuki to return to Haramachi, saying, "All our friends are there."

"I'd like my sons to have more freedom to do the things they like," Suzuki said. "I know we shouldn't stay at the [Soma] shelter for too long."

Meanwhile, Reiko Sato, 41, whose family evacuated from Minami-Soma to Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, decided not to allow two of her children to return to Haramachi Daiichi Primary School when it reopened.

She said she would decide on the timing "after taking [the district's] decontamination efforts into account." Her youngest child, Hiromu, is only 4 years old, and Sato's main priority is to avoid any future health risks to her children posed by excessive radiation.

Her husband, Hidemasa, 41, spends five days a week in Minami-Soma working at his used car sales and real-estate rental businesses.

The couple's children--eldest son Taiko, 12, and daughter Haru, 9--are adjusting to primary school in Yonezawa, but sometimes become homesick.

Sato therefore takes the children to play baseball in the Soma district on weekends when other children from Haramachi are there.

"Of course I'm worried about radiation exposure," Taiko said, "but I want to attend middle school in Haramachi."

Yet the sixth-grader's mother had a more immediate concern: "I'm wondering where his primary school graduation ceremony [in March] will take place--Minami-Soma or Yonezawa."
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72 lost volunteer firefighters responsible for gate-closing

The Yomiuri Shimbun



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Of 253 volunteer firefighters who were killed or went missing in three disaster-hit prefectures as a result of the March 11 tsunami, at least 72 were in charge of closing floodgates or seawall gates in coastal areas, it has been learned.

The tragedy occurred amid mounting calls for more floodgates that can be operated remotely, due to the danger of going to the coast to close gates immediately after an earthquake.

Given the large number of casualties, officials said the government will investigate the situation at the time of the tsunami and consider revising the rules for floodgate operations.

There are about 1,450 floodgates in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, including some to prevent the inflow of seawater into rivers and seawall gates to allow people to pass through.

According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, 119 volunteer firefighters died or went missing in the March 11 disaster in Iwate Prefecture, 107 in Miyagi Prefecture and 27 in Fukushima Prefecture.

Of these, 59 and 13 were in charge of closing gates in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, respectively, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey of the municipalities and firefighting agencies concerned.

Volunteer firefighters are classified as irregular local government officials, and many have regular jobs. Their average annual allowance was 25,475 yen in 2008.

Their allowance per mission amounted to 3,356 yen for the same year. If voluntary firefighters die in the line of duty, the Mutual Aid Fund for Official Casualties and Retirement of Volunteer Firefighters pays benefits to their bereaved families.

There were slightly more than 880,000 volunteer firefighters in 2010, a drop of 67,000 from 2000.

In six municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture where volunteer firefighters were killed, the closing of gates was entrusted to private companies and citizen groups. A local resident of Namiemachi in the prefecture died after he went out to close a floodgate.

According to the municipalities concerned and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, volunteer firefighters were also swept away while guiding the evacuation of residents or while in transit after finishing gate-closing operations.

More firefighters were lost at these times than while closing gates, the agency said.

Of about 600 floodgates and seawall gates under the administration of the Iwate prefectural government, 33 can be remotely operated. However, in some cases, volunteer firefighters rushed to manually close gates because remote controls had been rendered inoperable due to earthquake-triggered power outages.

"Some volunteer firefighters may not have been able to close the seawall gates immediately because many people passed through the gates to fetch things left behind in their boats," an official of the Iwate prefectural government said.

In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, four volunteer firefighters trying to close gates fled from the oncoming tsunami, but three died or went missing.

According to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry, there were 25,463 floodgates and seawall gates at least two meters wide at seaports and elsewhere across the country as of March last year. Of these, just 742 units, or about 3 percent, could be remotely controlled, the ministry said.

The ministry will ask each prefecture to increase the number of remotely controlled floodgates and seawall gates while inspecting how the gates have been used and administered. Based on its findings, the ministry will decide on the order in which gates should be closed after an earthquake, and study a plan to keep shut at ordinary times gates that do not need to remain open.

Another factor that increased the death toll among volunteer firefighters was the fact that many did not possess wireless equipment, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. As a result, they could not obtain frequent updates on the heights of tsunami, it said.

The agency plans to establish a reassessment panel to study countermeasures, an official said.

"We'll consider the necessity of closing floodgates when we're in danger [from the onslaught of tsunami]."
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Japan nuke plant's radioactive leaks diminishing: TEPCO

Tokyo, Oct 18 : The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant has said that emissions of radioactive materials from the earthquake-cum-tsunami hit plant have fallen by half over the past month.

In its monthly assessment of conditions at the plant, which was heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Tokyo Electric Power Co. reaffirmed its commitment to shutdown the plant''s three damaged reactors by year''s end, which would allow the government to relax evacuation orders for some residents, The Wall Streets Journal reports.

"It is our mission to allow the earliest possible return of evacuees to their homes," Yasuhiro Sonoda, a member of parliament responsible for managing the Fukushima crisis, said.

At least 85,000 residents from areas around the plant are still under mandatory evacuation orders, and the government has said it aims to reduce radiation in those areas to a level safe enough to allow the return of as many people as possible over the next two to three years.

TEPCO said that emissions from the plant are now estimated at 100 million becquerels per hour, or one eight-millionth of their peak on March 15, though TEPCO officials noted current levels are still higher than normal.

The assessment came after temperatures in the three damaged reactor cores recently fell below 100 degrees Celsius, stopping radioactive steam from being emitted into the atmosphere.

"Stopping the steam leakage is a major step forward in terms of radiation control," said Tadashi Narabayashi, professor of reactor engineering at Hokkaido University, adding that the focus of stabilization efforts will likely shift to ensuring stable cooling on a long-term basis, with the utility''s setting to embark on the disposal of the reactors.
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Japan mulls the closure of its nuclear power stations

Japan is studying the closure of all its nuclear power stations as one option for the country's future energy policy, following the earthquake and tsunami that hit the Fukushima power plant in March.
Author: By Marie Maitre (Reuters)
Posted: Tuesday , 18 Oct 2011

PARIS (Reuters) -

Japan has not ruled out the possibility of complete closure of its nuclear power stations as one option for the country's future energy policy after the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years, economy minister Yukio Edano said.

"I am certain that we are going to reduce nuclear power generation but whether we are going to reduce it to zero is a separate issue," Edano, the economy, trade and industry minister told Reuters on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting hosted by the International Energy Agency in Paris.

Asked whether pulling out of nuclear was being considered, Edano said: "Yes, it is still under consideration."

Earlier Edano told a press briefing that Japan was working on improving its energy efficiency and would promote the development of renewable energy sources and of gas powered generation plants to make up for lost nuclear output.

Japan's former prime minister Naoto Kan concluded in March that nuclear power was no longer worth the risk after an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima power plant.

But his successor Yoshihiko Noda has signalled that nuclear power could play a role for decades and pro-nuclear interests are quietly campaigning for their sector.

The government has let a panel of experts begin a debate on Japan's energy policy.

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 has 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".
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Burglaries soar in Japan nuclear zone

The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has rejected calls to compensate evacuees whose homes and businesses in the no-go zone have been burgled.

The number of break-ins has gone up since the earthquake and tsunami hit last March.

Returning to their homes and businesses on quick visits to pick up belongings, many evacuees have discovered they have been burgled.

Some have approached the operator of the Fukushima plant, TEPCO, for compensation.

They argued the break-ins only happened because the nuclear disaster forced them to abandon their homes.

Responsibility
But TEPCO has rejected the claims.

It said it is the thieves who are responsible for any losses.

Last year police near the plant received 16 burglary complaints.

This year, with many areas abandoned, 430 break-ins have been reported.

Meanwhile debris from the Japanese tsunami, including a six-metre fishing boat, has been found floating in the Pacific more than 3,000 kilometres from the disaster zone.

The International Pacific Research Centre at the University of Hawaii says the debris was near the central Pacific Midway Atoll.

Scientists at the university estimate tsunami debris will wash up on Hawaiian islands in one year and the US west coast in three years.
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Q+A-What's going on at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant?.

Oct 18 (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Monday that the amount of radiation being emitted from the complex has halved from a month ago, in the latest sign that efforts to bring the facility under control are progressing.

Operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said at a monthly review that the damaged reactors at the Daiichi plant, 240 kilometres (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, were emitting about 100 million becquerels of radiation per hour, about one eight-millionth of the amount seen in the days after the March 11 disaster and half of what it announced a month ago.

It said the latest figure translates to about 0.2 millisievert per year of radiation measured at the fringes of the plant, below the 1 millisievert safety limit set out in government guidelines.

HOW HAS TEPCO GOT TO THIS STAGE?

The decline in emitted radiation follows a drop in temperature at the plant's three damaged reactors, which suffered nuclear fuel meltdowns in the first days of the crisis as the water meant to cool them evaporated after the tsunami knocked out their cooling systems.

"We see a relationship between the drop in temperature and the decline in the amount of radiation the plant emits. When temperatures at the reactors are high, it means that substances spread into the air along with evaporating water," said a spokeswoman for Tepco.

Immediately after the disaster Tepco tried to cool the reactors by pouring in tens of thousands of tonnes of water, much of it from the sea. But that left a vast pool of tainted runoff, some stored in huge tanks and some in the basements of the reactor buildings, that threatened to leak into the ocean.

The cooling progressed after Tepco alleviated this problem by building a system that decontaminates the tainted water and then reuses some of it to cool the reactors and spent fuel pools.

Temperatures at all three damaged reactors dropped below 100 degrees Celsius at the end of September, a state technically defined as cold shutdown as water used to cool nuclear fuel rods remains below boiling point and prevents the fuel from reheating.

Tepco has also nearly completed the construction of a giant barn-like structure to cover one of the three reactors, which it says will further limit the spread of radiation.

WHAT NEXT?

Tepco and the government have held off from declaring that cold shutdown has been reached although temperatures at all three reactors are below 100 degrees.

"We still need to proceed with care. We need to continue monitoring whether the temperatures of the reactors and radiation levels being emitted remain stable going forward," Yoshinori Moriyama, deputy director-general of the government watchdog Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency, said to reporters on Monday.

Tepco has, however, brought forward its cleanup plan, saying it wants to declare cold shutdown has been achieved this year instead of by January as initially planned.

Declaring cold shutdown will have repercussions well beyond the plant as it is one of the criteria the government said must be met before it begins allowing the 80,000 residents evacuated from within a 20 km radius of the facility to return home.

Even if a cold shutdown is declared, Tepco has acknowledged that it may not be able to remove the fuel from the reactors for another 10 years and experts say cleanup at the plant could take several decades.
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new Arnie Gundersen video out @ fairewinds.com
Attached to this post:
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...its the weather, like it or not..
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??? :( h-e-h-e
...its the weather, like it or not..
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October 20 2011, 03:35 AM
new Arnie Gundersen video out @ fairewinds.com


Link to above video..... New TEPCO Photographs Substantiate Significant Damage to Fukushima Unit 3
http://vimeo.com/30816614

Analysis of new Fukushima 3 photographs released last week by TEPCO substantiate Fairewinds’ claim that explosion of Unit 3 began over the spent fuel pool. Fairewinds believes that significant damage has also occurred to the containment system of Fukushima Unit 3, and that the two events (fuel pool explosion and containment breach) did not occur simultaneously. Video also includes brief discussion of tent system being constructed over Fukushima Unit 1.
Edited by Audi-Tek, October 20 2011, 08:25 PM.
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3 tons of radioactive water leaks at Fukushima facility

2011/10/20

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Three tons of radioactive water leaked from an absorption unit within a treatment facility that purifies highly radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, said Oct. 18.

The radioactive water remained within the treatment facility and did not leak outside, the utility said.

This is the second-largest amount of radioactive water to leak at the purifying plant since a leakage of 6 tons in June.

TEPCO said the water leakage was found in the radioactive cesium absorption unit manufactured by Kurion Inc. of the United States. The location and cause of the leak are under investigation.

The radioactive water had a cesium-137 concentration of 290,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter. The radioactive water that leaked has already been recovered and restored to the central waste treatment facility where it was originally located, the utility said.
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Japan sinks 2.4 cm after March 11 quake

The Great East Japan Earthquake not only shifted Japan 2.4 meters closer to the United States, but scientists have now confirmed that the events of March 11 also caused the nation to sink 2.4 centimeters.

The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan announced Oct. 18 that Japan's standard datum of leveling sank 2.4 centimeters to 24.39 meters after March 11, the first time a change has been observed since the Great Kanto Earthquake that devastated Tokyo in 1923.

The standard datum of leveling, located at the Kensei Kinenkan memorial hall in the Nagatacho area of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, serves as the benchmark for measuring heights above sea level in Japan. Altitudes are measured from the average sea level of Tokyo Bay, and the benchmark was 24.414 meters before the March 11 earthquake.

Given that the average sea level of Tokyo Bay remains unchanged after the temblor, it is estimated that the ground level has fallen 2.4 centimeters. When the 1923 earthquake struck Tokyo, the ground level sank 8.6 centimeters, according to the government institute.

The elevations of mountains and other hilly areas will not be affected by the change in the standard datum of leveling.

Japan's geodetic datum, which provides the reference value of longitude and latitude in the nation, shows a shift in longitude by 27 centimeters (0.011 second) eastward, while the latitude remains the same. The geodetic datum point is located in the Azabudai area of Tokyo's Minato Ward.
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Japan’s radioactive seafood problem.


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Photograph from Greenpeace seafood testing carried out at sea in May 2011: Ike Teuling, radiation safety advisor for Greenpeace International, and Giorgia Monti of Greenpeace Italy, examine fish samples (mackerel) on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior to monitor radiation levels, as the ship sails up the eastern coast of Japan on her way to Fukushima


Since the beginning of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Greenpeace has been working on the ground in Fukushima prefecture, providing independent information on contamination levels. More recently, we’ve been testing fish and shellfish (details in Japanese) from five supermarket chains in seven Japanese cities, and what we found gives cause for concern.

We found radioactive contamination in just over half the samples (details in Japanese), highlighting problems with the official government monitoring of Japan’s seafood, and again underscoring its inadequate efforts to protect the health and safety of its people. Up to 88 becquerel per kg of caesium was found in 34 of the 60 samples – that’s well below Japan’s official limits of 500 becquerel per kg, but not so far from the 150 becquerel limit set in Ukraine following Chernobyl.

Despite being below these limits, the contaminated seafood still represents a health risk, particularly for pregnant women and children, and it is putting those far beyond Fukushima at risk as the seafood is shipped to supermarkets far and wide.

Protecting public health and safety during a crisis such as this requires absolute transparency and clear advice. As Japan’s seafood is not being labeled, consumers have no idea if it has been screened, and they are unable to make informed decisions about their seafood purchases. It’s little wonder why the Japanese people are so worried about what they eat.

One supermarket has implemented its own monitoring, but unfortunately, this is no replacement for comprehensive, consistent government screening and labeling. An official, national system is essential to protecting public health, restoring confidence in the food system, and helping the fishing industry recover. This should already be in place given it has been over seven months since this crisis began.

Greenpeace has submitted formal requests to the Consumer Affairs
 Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the Ministry of Health, and the Japan Chain Stores Association asking that
 seafood product screening and labeling be significantly improved (letters in Japanese).

Protecting people means protecting their health and their livelihoods – Japan’s government must start conducting proper, effective screening and labelling of seafood, as part of the ongoing recovery from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
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Send your message of solidarity to Japanese women staging anti-nuclear sit-in in Tokyo.


Posted Image




Everyday, the people of Japan continue to live with the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The aftermath has brought many scary realities to day-to-day life: the nuclear contamination of food supplies, the existence of radiation hotspots in public areas, children returning to schools where dangerous radiation levels have been detected.

In response, women from the Fukushima area are organizing a three-day sit-in, beginning on October 27th, in front of the Ministry of Economy in Tokyo,where they will protest against nuclear power and the threat to life it represents, not only to Japan, but to the whole planet. They are asking for your support, and you can send a message directly to the women via this e-mail address: kaori-izumi@ta3.so-net.ne.jp

Here is the message of support sent by Sarah Burton, the Programme Director here at Greenpeace International:

Dear Kaori-Izumi

Just a quick note to you and your colleagues, sisters, and allies, to let you know I am happy to support you in your anti-nuclear protest. I am very aware of the situation you face, through my colleagues in Greenpeace Japan. I am also someone who represented (as a lawyer in the UK many years ago) the women of Greenham Common who protested the placing of nuclear weapons on 'common land' i.e. 'people's land'. Those women were my heroes, and so are you. Please pass this message on.

Yours in solidarity,
Sarah Burton

Today, one of the women from Fukushima who will take part in the sit-in next week, was in Tokyo to attend an advisory committee, where the Japanese government is deciding which residents will receive compensation for the disaster. The committee was discussing the potential compensation to be provided for residents who were not part of the official government-ordered evacuation, and had asked people from Fukushima to share their experiences. At the same time this committee was meeting, a public rally was held where residents of Fukushima were invited to speak out and make clear what they expect from the Japanese government.

Here is an excerpt from a speech given by one of the women of Fukushima:

“This is about how we live. We need to imagine the world existing on the other side of the outlet that we casually insert our plug into. Think about how our convenience and prosperity are built on discrimination and sacrifice. Nuclear power plants exist on the other side. Humans are just one species. Is there any other species that robs their own kind’s future? I want to live decently in harmony with this beautiful planet earth. While carefully conserving energy, I want to pursue a rich, creative life. How can we create a world completely different from one with nuclear power?” (- MUTO Ruiko’s Speech at Anti-Nuclear Demonstration by 60,000 Citizens, Tokyo, 19 September 2011)

You can read the rest of Muto Ruiko’s beautiful and moving speech here. Next week the women of Fukushima will make their voices heard in peaceful protest. They have two simple demands:

1. Evacuate children in Fukushima to a safer place

2. Do not restart nuclear power plants that are currently shut off

After their three-day sit-in they invite women everywhere to join them, to show that the threat of nuclear power is not just a disaster for the women of Fukushima, but for women, families and people all over the world.
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Number of foreign visitors to Japan drops for 7th month on quake, nuclear crisis .


TOKYO, Oct 21 (KUNA) -- The number of foreign visitors to Japan in September declined 24.9 percent from a year earlier, marking the seventh month of fall in the wake of the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis, the government said on Friday.
An estimated 539,000 foreigners arrived in Japan last month on sightseeing or business, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. However, the rate of decrease has slowed, compared with a 31.9 percent decline in August. The triple disasters in March slashed the number of foreign visitors by 62.
5 percent in April for the biggest fall since records began in 1964. Among the countries, the number of South Korean travelers dropped 36.9 percent to 122, 400, while those from China plunged 18.0 percent year-on-year to 112,600, the tourism bureau said.
According to the bureau, business travelers are coming back to Japan, but families with children are still reluctant to visit Japan due to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, about 230 km northeast of Tokyo. The recent yen's surge also makes travel to Japan more expensive, it said. The Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata said, "Overseas tourists are returning to Japan earlier than we expected." Mizohata also told reporters that the agency plans to launch a new campaign to attract foreign tourists.
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Seven months on, Japan yet to set evacuation plans


OKYO (Reuters) - Japanese nuclear experts are considering widening the evacuation zone in the event of a nuclear disaster, more than seven months after the world's worst such disaster since Chernobyl.

Japan faced widespread criticism over its slow response in evacuating residents near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which suffered fuel rod meltdowns after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and is still leaking radiation.

A committee under Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission has been reviewing the country's nuclear disaster prevention guidelines, trying to learn lessons from the worst nuclear disaster since 1986.

It is considering creating a 30-kilometer (18-mile) radius around nuclear power plants where residents should be ready to take shelter or prepare to evacuate, a draft document compiled by the NSC secretariat and released by the NSC on Thursday showed.

This compares with a current zone of a radius up to 10 km.

It is also considering recommending that local authorities in a 50-km radius around plants be prepared to provide iodine tablets that help prevent thyroid cancers from radiation exposure.

The committee is planning to revise the draft document and finalize recommendations on evacuation zones next month. It plans to come up with a mid-term review this year, while it may take years to fully revise the guidelines, an official at the NSC secretariat said.

About 80,000 residents were forced to evacuate from a 20-km radius around the Fukushima Daiichi plant after the radiation crisis and some 30,000 more left the 20- to 30-km radius zone, though some are starting to come back.

Hours after a huge earthquake and tsunami on March 11 damaged the cooling systems of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the government told residents within a 3-km radius of the plant to evacuate.

The reactor troubles then led to fuel core meltdowns and massive leaks of radioactive materials. The government expanded the zone to a 10-km radius on March 12 and later that day to a 20-km radius. Many fled their homes as radiation levels rose.

The United States and some other countries had advised their citizens to stay out of an 80-km radius around the Fukushima plant.
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Fukushima municipalities seek post-decommissioning subsidies.

FUKUSHIMA -- Eight municipalities near the Fukushima No. 1 and Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plants were to ask the government Oct. 21 to create a grant system that pays subsidies for hosting nuclear plants even after they are decommissioned



Voluntary evacuees from Fukushima seek compensation


Residents who voluntarily evacuated from areas around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant say they should receive compensation or at least a government acknowledgment that their homes are no longer safe.
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Ministry forms call center to report radiation hot spots



October 22, 2011

The science ministry will set up a call center Oct. 24 for members of the public to report so-called radiation hot spots.

It will be set up with a special measurement team within the Emergency Operation Center at the science ministry.

The call center will be available to all prefectures except Fukushima, which already has its own radioactive decontamination assistance framework.

A radiation hot spot is defined as a location where the radiation level at a height of 1 meter above the ground is more than 1 microsievert per hour higher than the surroundings. For example, since the radiation level in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward is currently 0.056 microsievert per hour, any reading above 1.056 microsievert per hour is considered a radiation hot spot.

Science ministry guidelines recommend reading the figure indicated on a dosimeter 30 seconds after the measurement begins at a height of 1 meter above the ground.

If the elimination of mud and fallen leaves from side ditches, cutting of tree branches and other simple decontamination measures prove ineffective, the call center will cooperate with local governments to inspect the site.

It will contact the environment ministry or the Cabinet Office, as need arises, to assist in decontamination efforts.


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Tokyo to become dumping ground for radioactive rubble from Fukushima disaster


NaturalNews) Authorities from Fukushima and other disaster-stricken areas in Japan say they do not have the capacity to process and dispose of all the radioactive rubble left over from the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck back in March.

A large portion of that waste is going to be transferred to Tokyo, according to a recent report by The Mainichi Daily News, a move that some are concerned may result in additional environmental and human harm.

The massive amount of wrecked vehicles, destroyed homes and structures that were generated in eastern Japan after the 9.0+ earthquake and tsunami is simply too much for local processing facilities to handle. Reports indicate that some coastal areas generated as much as 4.35 million metric tons of waste each from the disaster, and local facilities are running far short of intended capacity in meeting the central government's processing and disposal deadline.

After discussing the issue with various local authorities, officials in Tokyo have agreed to accept roughly 500,000 metric tons of this waste at its local facility, which it plans to gradually dispose of over a two-and-a-half year period. About 1,000 tons of it are already set to be transported by freight train to processing facilities near Tokyo, where it will either be burned or buried depending on its contamination level.

But how radioactive is this waste, truly, and is it safe to begin transporting large amounts of it to areas located in very close proximity to Japan's largest population center? Many are now asking this question as the government moves forward with its plans, especially since ash left over from burning contaminated rubble has in some cases exceeded 100,000 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg) (http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news...).

Tokyo authorities say they will continually monitor the imported waste to make sure it does not exceed the 8,000 Bq/kg maximum limit set by the national government. In a recent sample taken, authorities detected only 133 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium in ash left over from rubble incineration at one location, which is well below the maximum limit.

The total cost of disposing of radioactive rubble created by the disaster is expected to top one trillion yen, according to Japan's Environment Ministry. And this does not include the costs associated with maintaining temporary storage facilities or testing the waste's radiation levels, which could add several trillion more yen to that total


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Fukushima Nuclear Plant Released Far More Radiation than Government Said

Global radioactivity data challenge Japanese estimates for emissions and point to the role of spent fuel pools


The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more radiation than the Japanese government has claimed. So concludes a study1 that combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and fate of emissions from the shattered plant.

The study also suggests that, contrary to government claims, pools used to store spent nuclear fuel played a significant part in the release of the long-lived environmental contaminant caesium-137, which could have been prevented by prompt action. The analysis has been posted online for open peer review by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Andreas Stohl, an atmospheric scientist with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research in Kjeller, who led the research, believes that the analysis is the most comprehensive effort yet to understand how much radiation was released from Fukushima Daiichi. "It's a very valuable contribution," says Lars-Erik De Geer, an atmospheric modeler with the Swedish Defense Research Agency in Stockholm, who was not involved with the study.

The reconstruction relies on data from dozens of radiation monitoring stations in Japan and around the world. Many are part of a global network to watch for tests of nuclear weapons that is run by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna. The scientists added data from independent stations in Canada, Japan and Europe, and then combined those with large European and American caches of global meteorological data.

Stohl cautions that the resulting model is far from perfect. Measurements were scarce in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima accident, and some monitoring posts were too contaminated by radioactivity to provide reliable data. More importantly, exactly what happened inside the reactors — a crucial part of understanding what they emitted — remains a mystery that may never be solved. "If you look at the estimates for Chernobyl, you still have a large uncertainty 25 years later," says Stohl.

Nevertheless, the study provides a sweeping view of the accident. "They really took a global view and used all the data available," says De Geer.

Challenging numbers
Japanese investigators had already developed a detailed timeline of events following the 11 March earthquake that precipitated the disaster. Hours after the quake rocked the six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, the tsunami arrived, knocking out crucial diesel back-up generators designed to cool the reactors in an emergency. Within days, the three reactors operating at the time of the accident overheated and released hydrogen gas, leading to massive explosions. Radioactive fuel recently removed from a fourth reactor was being held in a storage pool at the time of the quake, and on 14 March the pool overheated, possibly sparking fires in the building over the next few days.

But accounting for the radiation that came from the plants has proved much harder than reconstructing this chain of events. The latest report from the Japanese government, published in June, says that the plant released 1.5 × 1016 bequerels of caesium-137, an isotope with a 30-year half-life that is responsible for most of the long-term contamination from the plant. A far larger amount of xenon-133, 1.1 × 1019 Bq, was released, according to official government estimates.
The new study challenges those numbers. On the basis of its reconstructions, the team claims that the accident released around 1.7 × 1019 Bq of xenon-133, greater than the estimated total radioactive release of 1.4 × 1019  Bq from Chernobyl. The fact that three reactors exploded in the Fukushima accident accounts for the huge xenon tally, says De Geer.

Xenon-133 does not pose serious health risks because it is not absorbed by the body or the environment. Caesium-137 fallout, however, is a much greater concern because it will linger in the environment for decades. The new model shows that Fukushima released 3.5 × 1016  Bq caesium-137, roughly twice the official government figure, and half the release from Chernobyl. The higher number is obviously worrying, says De Geer, although ongoing ground surveys are the only way to truly establish the public-health risk.

Stohl believes that the discrepancy between the team's results and those of the Japanese government can be partly explained by the larger data set used. Japanese estimates rely primarily on data from monitoring posts inside Japan3, which never recorded the large quantities of radioactivity that blew out over the Pacific Ocean, and eventually reached North America and Europe. "Taking account of the radiation that has drifted out to the Pacific is essential for getting a real picture of the size and character of the accident," says Tomoya Yamauchi, a radiation physicist at Kobe University who has been measuring radioisotope contamination in soil around Fukushima.

Stohl adds that he is sympathetic to the Japanese teams responsible for the official estimate. "They wanted to get something out quickly," he says. The differences between the two studies may seem large, notes Yukio Hayakawa, a volcanologist at Gunma University who has also modeled the accident, but uncertainties in the models mean that the estimates are actually quite similar.

The new analysis also claims that the spent fuel being stored in the unit 4 pool emitted copious quantities of caesium-137. Japanese officials have maintained that virtually no radioactivity leaked from the pool. Yet Stohl's model clearly shows that dousing the pool with water caused the plant's caesium-137 emissions to drop markedly (see 'Radiation crisis'). The finding implies that much of the fallout could have been prevented by flooding the pool earlier.

The Japanese authorities continue to maintain that the spent fuel was not a significant source of contamination, because the pool itself did not seem to suffer major damage. "I think the release from unit 4 is not important," says Masamichi Chino, a scientist with the Japanese Atomic Energy Authority in Ibaraki, who helped to develop the Japanese official estimate. But De Geer says the new analysis implicating the fuel pool "looks convincing".

The latest analysis also presents evidence that xenon-133 began to vent from Fukushima Daiichi immediately after the quake, and before the tsunami swamped the area. This implies that even without the devastating flood, the earthquake alone was sufficient to cause damage at the plant.

The Japanese government's report has already acknowledged that the shaking at Fukushima Daiichi exceeded the plant's design specifications. Anti-nuclear activists have long been concerned that the government has failed to adequately address geological hazards when licensing nuclear plants (see Nature 448, 392–393; 2007), and the whiff of xenon could prompt a major rethink of reactor safety assessments, says Yamauchi.

The model also shows that the accident could easily have had a much more devastating impact on the people of Tokyo. In the first days after the accident the wind was blowing out to sea, but on the afternoon of 14 March it turned back towards shore, bringing clouds of radioactive caesium-137 over a huge swathe of the country (see 'Radioisotope reconstruction'). Where precipitation fell, along the country's central mountain ranges and to the northwest of the plant, higher levels of radioactivity were later recorded in the soil; thankfully, the capital and other densely populated areas had dry weather. "There was a period when quite a high concentration went over Tokyo, but it didn't rain," says Stohl. "It could have been much worse."
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.2 quake jolts Fukushima Prefecture

National Oct. 26, 2011 - 06:54AM

TOKYO —

A moderate earthquake shook Fukushima Prefecture on Wednesday morning. The 5.2-magnitude quake struck just after 2 a.m. Its epicenter was on the coast near the town of Iwaki, 186 kilometers north of Tokyo.

Fukushima was severely hit by the quake and tsunami in March that left more than 21,000 people dead or missing.

The Wednesday quake was about 120 kms of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.

Another 5.3 quake later Wednesday hit 423 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, off the coast.
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Radiation hotspot near Tokyo ‘linked to Fukushima’
Radiation levels as high as those in the evacuation zone around Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant have been detected in a Tokyo suburb, and are likely linked to the disaster, officials said yesterday.
The hotspot, a small area of about one metre radius, was found in a vacant lot in Kashiwa city, Chiba prefecture, a commuter suburb of the capital, officials said.
Radiation levels of 2 microsieverts per hour were detected one metre above the surface of the soil, equivalent to some areas in the evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
City officials have also found contamination levels as high as 57.5 microsieverts per hour in the soil, sparking radiation fears in the neighbourhood some 195 kilometres from the accident site.
Inspectors from the science and technology ministry believe the hotspot was created after radioactive caesium carried by rain water became concentrated in a small area because of a broken gutter.
“We covered the area with river sand and plastic sheets, which so far have lowered the radiation levels in the air,” said a Kashiwa city official.
“We will decide what to do with the contaminated spot after discussing it with state officials later Monday,” he said.
Earlier this month the alarm was raised in western Tokyo after a radiation hotspot was discovered, but later determined to have been caused by some old paint.
Variable winds, weather and topography result in an uneven spread of contamination from the nuclear plant, experts say, and radioactive elements tend to concentrate in places where dust and rain water accumulate such as drains and ditches.
As researchers carry out tests to map how far contamination has spread from the plant, radiation fears are a daily fact of life in many parts of Japan following the earthquake and tsunami-sparked meltdowns at the plant, with reported cases of contaminated water, beef, vegetables, tea and seafood.
The March 11 earthquake triggered a tsunami that tore into Japan’s northeast coast, leaving 20,000 people dead or missing, while causing meltdowns and explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The subsequent release of radiation forced the evacuation of tens of thousands from within a 20-kilometre radius of the plant and spots beyond in the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. AFP
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Tepco confirms stoppage of water leakage at Fukushima plant

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has confirmed that the water leakage has been stopped at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station located in Japan.

The operator noticed water leaking from the axis seal region of the law water pump water desalination facility (RO membrane unit) 2 of the water treatment system.

Tepco has shut down unit 1 to 3 due to the 11 March earthquake, while units 4 to 6 were closed due to regular inspections.

The operator has also compiled a roadmap towards restoration from the accident and updated the progress status of roadmap considering the current situation on 19 July.
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Husqvarna demolition robots to help clean up Fukushima


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Husqvarna Construction has announced that two of its remote-controlled demolition robots are to help with the massive clean-up operation at the site of the fourth reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant


Sweden's Husqvarna Construction has announced that two of its remote-controlled demolition robots are to help with the massive clean-up operation at the site of the failed fourth reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The recently-featured DXR-140 and its bigger brother - the DXR-310 - will be used in heavy demolition work such as tearing down concrete constructions and dealing with contaminated materials.

Both robots have been shipped to Takenaka Construction, the company in charge of the cleaning up the plant's fourth reactor after its failure in March of this year. They've been specially optimized for the demanding conditions they'll encounter, with the 31-inch (780 mm) wide, electric-motor-driven DXR-310 being kitted out with an onboard video camera and transmission equipment to extend its range and allow remote operation from a safe distance. It's also capable of climbing stairs, has a telescopic boom reach of 216 inches (5.48 meters), and features bright LED lights to illuminate the work area.

"Our robots are well adapted to this environment," says the company's Anders Ströby. "They are powerful, reliable and easy to maneuver, even in narrow spaces."

The clean-up operation at Fukushima is expected to continue for some time to come.
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Low-level radiation detected in Fukushima students

Traces of radioactive cesium have been discovered in schoolchildren in Fukushima Prefecture, according to the Minami-Soma municipal general hospital.

Half of the elementary and junior high school students in Minami-Soma who underwent radiation checks since late September were found with low levels of radioactive cesium-137, the hospital reported.

"We will offer periodic checks to students to keep records of their health conditions," said a hospital worker in charge.

The hospital is uncertain whether the students inhaled airborne radiation or ingested it through radiation-contaminated foodstuffs after the March 11 Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident.

Radioactive cesium-137 was detected at below 10 becquerels per kilogram of a student's weight in 199 students. The substance was also found at from 10 to less than 20 becquerels in 65 students; 20 to less than 30 becquerels in three students; and 30 to below 35 becquerels in one student, the hospital said.

Despite the substance's half-life of about 30 years, it will be discharged from the body through bowel movements and other bodily functions. The discharge process takes 100 days for adults, but only 30 days for first- to third-grade elementary school students, who have faster metabolism rates.

Much remains unknown as to the effects of low levels of internal radiation exposure on human health. Detailed data on such effects were not available from the 1945 atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki or from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Given that precise values of internal exposure--albeit trace amounts--were identified this time, continued checks are expected to provide more accurate measurements of radiation amounts entering the body through inhaling at the time of the onset of the Fukushima crisis, as well as through ingestion following the accident. Such measurements will enable a closer probe into the relationship between internal exposure and health damage, allowing for monitoring of increases in internal radiation through foods, sources said.

"If radiation checks are conducted again on the students in a few months to determine if any change between the two checks has arisen, we can roughly estimate (the radiation amounts entering the body through inhaling and through ingesting)," said Masaharu Tsubokura, a doctor at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science.

Tsubokura added that nationwide government-led efforts are needed (for such measurements).

The Institute of Radiation Safety Belrad, a radiation research organization in Belarus, handled radiation exposure measures after the Chernobyl accident. The institute set hazardous levels for children at 70 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of their weight and caution levels at 20 becquerels.

Tetsuji Imanaka, an assistant professor of nuclear power engineering at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, said, "The human body naturally contains radioactive potassium-40 of between 50 to 60 becquerels per kilogram. If the level reaches 30 becquerels, you may want to take action to lower radiation levels within the body."

In August, the thyroid glands of 45 percent of children aged 15 and under in Iwaki, Kawamata, Iitate, all in Fukushima Prefecture, were found to have exposure to radiation, according to the government's headquarters handling the Fukushima crisis. Children are said to be particularly vulnerable to thyroid gland cancer due to radiation exposure.
By SHIN MATSUURA / Staff Writer
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Reporter hot on the trail of a radioactive vehicle


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Vehicles for export are lined up on a pier at Sakai-Senboku Port in Izumi-Otsu, Osaka Prefecture, where a radioactive used vehicle was brought. (Ryo Ikeda)


It's not the stuff of legends, but a rumor has been circulating among used car dealers about a used vehicle with a high radioactive level that has been popping up for sale in various locations in Japan.

I decided to put the pedal to the metal and pursue the vehicle in question.

Having obtained its vehicle identification number (VIN), I headed off in hot pursuit to a transport ministry branch office, where I found that the latest owner of the vehicle was a car exporter in Okayama Prefecture.

So, I visited the owner's company. It was a small shop, with just seven to eight vehicles on display along the road.

The manager chose his words carefully, after learning that I was a newspaper reporter.

“I thought your visit would be about this case,” he said.

He said he bought the vehicle in question--a minivan with a license plate of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture--in late July.

He added that he paid 1.43 million yen ($18,700) at an auction in Chiba Prefecture for car dealers.

He brought the vehicle to Osaka Prefecture, intending to export it to Southeast Asia. At Sakai-Senboku Port in Izumi-Otsu, he had the vehicle's radioactivity level tested in August before prefectural government staff.

The vehicle's radiation level tested at 110 microsieverts per hour, far exceeding the government limit for export containers of 5 microsieverts per hour.

“I decontaminated repeatedly after the test,” the exporter said, “and retested the filter of the air conditioner, the wipers and tires, replacing them thoroughly, but the radiation level dropped only to 30 microsieverts per hour.”

What did he do next?

“I decided to sell the vehicle in Japan, for I couldn't afford to lose the money,” the man said.

He applied for a cancellation of the registration at the local transport ministry branch office and removed the original license plate, he said.

He put the vehicle up for auction in September in Osaka city, but it did not sell.

The next week it sold for 1.21 million yen in an auction in Kobe.

He said he does not know the successful bidder as the system keeps buyers' names secret.

The vehicle became known as a "no-no" among car dealers in the Kansai region, who dubbed it “a vehicle one should never get involved with,” according to another car dealer.

Dealers in the area were cautioned about the vehicle’s VIN, which was the same one I had obtained.

If one is exposed to a dose of 30 microsieverts per hour for two hours every day, his or her radiation exposure will exceed the government’s evacuation standard of 20 milisieverts a year.

Wondering where the vehicle was contaminated, I searched documents and came up with the first owner’s name--a company selling automobiles in Fukushima Prefecture.

I visited a company dealership in Iwaki, which was about 40 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

I talked with the manager.

“I heard a male resident of Iwaki had bought the vehicle three years ago,” the manager said. “He was parking the vehicle near the nuclear plant when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. I also heard the man paid the balance of its loan in July before he sold it to another secondhand vehicle dealer.”

Where is the vehicle now?

It was reportedly put up for auction in Saitama Prefecture earlier in October, but was not sold.

An eyewitness reported that it was auctioned off in Chiba Prefecture the following week.

I called the auctioneer to ask the name of the winning bidder, but he declined to give it, saying it was against regulations.

That was the end of the road for my dogged pursuit of the radioactive vehicle.

An exporter said it is not uncommon for nonexportable vehicles to be sold back into the domestic market.

“It is just the tip of the iceberg,” the exporter said. “Decontamination would be difficult if high radiation were measured (of vehicles for exports). This is why such vehicles are brought to auctions in Japan.”

If a dealer who purchased such a problem vehicle newly registers it, it may be sold under a license plate from a different area, making it difficult to trace it from the previously registered license plate number.

Previous license plates are not recorded on the automobile inspection certificate, and that information is not obtainable unless one goes to a transport ministry branch office.
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Retail outlet displays radiation levels of produce


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Levels of radioactive cesium are written alongside the price of fruits and vegetables at the Tokyo outlet of Cataloghouse. (Hikaru Uchida)


Instead of dietary fiber and calories, a retailer in Tokyo is displaying levels of radioactive cesium found in its fruits and vegetables, to alleviate any concerns about radioactive materials on produce.

Along with the price, the outlet, run by Cataloghouse Ltd. in Tokyo's Shinbashi district, displays the cesium level found in the fruit or vegetable.

If the radiation detection device installed in the outlet detects radioactive iodine or cesium in any produce, the figure is displayed next to the produce. The device can detect radiation levels of at least 10 becquerels per kilogram.

Kunihiko Takeda, a professor of engineering at Chubu University, said displaying the level is good for both the consumer and the retailer.

"Just saying 'it's safe' will only create a sense of distrust," Takeda said. "If there is a display, consumers can purchase items even from Fukushima (Prefecture) after they are convinced. That would also be for the benefit of producers."

A 37-year-old housewife who purchased grapes that were detected to have 22 becquerels of cesium said, "I am more assured because they conduct testing and display the results."

The outlet has a special corner where it sells produce from Fukushima Prefecture. The area features 22 fruits and vegetables produced by J-Rap Inc., a group of farmers in Fukushima, and sells rice produced by the group from before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Because consumers began avoiding vegetables grown in Fukushima Prefecture after radiation fallout from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, store officials decided to help the group by selling produce while displaying the radiation levels.

Customers are provided with a list of radiation level standards established by various nations. The list includes the figures for the Ukraine, which has established standards much stricter than those in Japan following the Chernobyl accident in 1986. For example, while the radiation levels for fruits and vegetables in Japan are 500 becquerels per kilogram, in the Ukraine the levels are 40 becquerels for vegetables and 70 becquerels for fruits.

Store officials are considering separating produce if levels exceeding those in the Ukraine are ever detected and displaying the produce as "within Ukrainian standards" and "within Japanese standards."

An official of the company that operates the outlet, said, "While in the end consumers will have to make the decision, there is a need to disclose information and provide customers with choices."

Many retail outlets are not displaying the results of tests or setting their own standards on the grounds that anything falling under the government standard is considered safe.

However, some companies that deliver produce directly to consumers are setting their own standards because members tend to have a greater interest in food safety.

Radishboya Co. delivers organic produce to members and has set its own standards from September that are one-tenth the government standards.

Another delivery company, Pal System Co., established standards from October that were one-fifth those of government standards. It will not deliver any produce that exceeds its own standards.
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Contaminated mushrooms bad news for picking season


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Long a fall tradition in Japan, mushroom-picking season is headed for a down year, after recent reports surfaced of high levels of radiation contamination in the fungi in Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures.

In one town in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, mushrooms picked in September were found to contain 28,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, far exceeding the safety limit of 500 becquerels per/kg.

Following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, mushrooms were similarly found to have been contaminated with radioactive materials.

Experts say cesium discharged from the Fukushima nuclear plant settled on fallen leaves on the ground, and wild mushrooms are believed to absorb cesium from the layer of foliage or from the soil.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the average Japanese consumes about 10 grams or less of mushrooms a day.

While many consumers are also raising fears about the safety of packed mushrooms sold on grocery shelves, government officials say those are safe since most of these are grown indoors.

Even with mushrooms grown in cultivation beds using sawdust and other ingredients, producers and sales companies check to make sure that the wood and rice bran, the nutritive substance, have not been contaminated from the accident at the Fukushima plant. Companies also conduct voluntary tests for radiation.

Shiitake mushrooms grown on tree logs outdoors are inspected before shipping.

Shipping restrictions were imposed in certain areas where high levels of radioactive contamination were suspected in wild shiitake mushrooms.

There are also reports by foreign researchers that 90 percent of cesium in wild mushrooms can be eliminated if boiled, according to Yasuyuki Muramatsu, a professor of chemistry at Gakushuin University and an expert in radiation in the environment.

However, some experts point out the necessity of continued study since the influence of cesium on the fallen leaves and soil is not known, raising concerns about the possibility that contamination could continue to have a prolonged effect beyond this year.
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Radioactive ash from incinerator nearing limit

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A large temporary storage tent for ash from radiation-contaminated waste is about to reach its limit in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture. (Eijiro Morii)


Radioactive ash is nearing capacity at an incineration plant in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, because disposal sites refuse to accept the waste.

About 493 tons of ash in 1,260 bags have piled up at six large storage tents on the premises.

Although a new storage tent is being set up on the site, no decision has been made on where to send the ash.

In July, high concentrations of radioactive cesium were detected in ash at the incineration plant. Shipping of the ash to waste disposal sites has since been suspended.

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Expert: Radioactive materials reached Kanto via 2 routes


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The Asahi Shimbun

Radioactive materials from the damaged Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant reached the Kanto region mainly via two routes, but they largely skirted the heavily populated areas of Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, an expert said.

Relatively high levels of radioactive cesium were detected in soil in northern Gunma and Tochigi prefectures and southern Ibaraki Prefecture after the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was damaged by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. But contamination was limited in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, where 22 million people live.

Hiromi Yamazawa, a professor of environmental radiology at Nagoya University, said the first radioactive plume moved through Ibaraki Prefecture and turned northward to Gunma Prefecture between late March 14 and the afternoon of March 15.

Large amounts of radioactive materials were released during that period partly because the core of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant was exposed.

"The soil was likely contaminated after the plume fell to the ground with rain or snow," Yamazawa said, adding that western Saitama Prefecture and western Tokyo may have been also contaminated.

Rain fell in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures from the night of March 15 to the early morning of March 16, according to the Meteorological Agency.

The second plume moved off Ibaraki Prefecture and passed through Chiba Prefecture between the night of March 21 and the early morning of March 22, when rain fell in a wide area of the Kanto region, according to Yamazawa's estimates.

He said the plume may have created radiation hot spots in coastal and southern areas of Ibaraki Prefecture as well as around Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture.

Yamazawa said the plume continued to move southward, without approaching Tokyo or Kanagawa Prefecture, probably because winds flowed toward a low-pressure system south of the Boso Peninsula.

"It rained slightly because the low-pressure system was not strong," said Takehiko Mikami, a professor of climatology at Teikyo University. "Contamination in central Tokyo might have been more serious if (the plume) had approached more inland areas."

According to calculations by The Asahi Shimbun, about 13,000 square kilometers, or about 3 percent of Japan's land area, including about 8,000 square kilometers in Fukushima Prefecture, have annual exposure levels of 1 millisievert or more.

Gunma and Tochigi prefectures have a combined 3,800 square kilometers with an annual exposure of 1 millisievert or more.

Among Tokyo's 23 wards, Katsushika Ward had the highest radiation level of 0.33 microsievert per hour, according to a science ministry map showing radioactive contamination for 12 prefectures.

The ward government has been measuring radiation levels in seven locations once a week since late May. It plans to take measurements at about 500 public facilities, such as schools and parks, in response to residents' demands for detailed surveys.

The Gunma prefectural government has measured radiation levels in 149 locations since September and has identified six northern mountainous municipalities with an annual exposure of 1 millisievert or more.

Earlier this month, the prefectural government asked 35 municipalities to decide whether radioactive materials will be removed.

High radiation levels were detected in Minakami, Gunma Prefecture, known as a hot spring resort.

Mayor Yoshimasa Kishi said the town could be mistaken as a risky place if it decides to have radioactive materials removed.

The science ministry's map showed that 0.2 to 0.5 microsievert was detected in some locations in Niigata Prefecture.

Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida said the figures were likely mistaken, noting that these locations have high natural radiation levels because of granite containing radioactive materials.

The prefectural government plans to conduct its own surveys of airborne radiation levels and soil contamination.

Many municipalities are calling for financial support for removing radioactive materials.

In Kashiwa and five other cities in northern Chiba Prefecture, radioactive materials need to be removed over an estimated 180 square kilometers of mainly residential areas.

The Kashiwa city government is providing up to 200,000 yen ($2,620) to kindergartens and nursery schools for removal work.

But some facilities have asked children's parents to help pay the costs because they cannot be covered by the municipal assistance.
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Fukushima Meltdown Has Led to 'World's Worst' Nuclear Pollution of the Sea


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After the tragic earthquake turned the world's eyes towards Japan, the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant kept them there. Reaction around the globe filled the entire spectrum--from ill-founded panic over drifting radiation in the United States to surprising nonchalance from myriad opinion-makers to outraged calls for policy change in Germany, Fukushima revived fears of nuclear power in the global zeitgeist. And those fears may find even more fodder here: A new report reveals that the disaster led to the "greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen," according to PhysOrg.

Fukushima's aboveground horrors are thankfully unlikely to rival those of Chernobyl--though the disaster was certainly still wrought with unspeakable tragedies. And some of those are in areas less visible to the evening news' camera lens: Throughout the disaster, unprecedented amounts of caesium 137 leaked into the Pacific, causing the worst nuclear pollution at sea in history.
PhysOrg reports:

From March 21 to mid-July, 27.1 peta becquerels of caesium 137 entered the sea, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said. One peta becquerel is a million billion bequerels, or 10 to the power of 15. Of the total, 82 percent entered the sea before April 8, through water that was pumped into the Fukushima's damaged reactor units in a bid to cool them down, it said.

"This is the biggest single outflow of man-made radionuclides to the marine environment ever observed," the gency said in a press release. Caesium is a slow-decaying element, taking 30 years to lose half of its radioactivity.

The IRSN notes that the caesium was quickly diluted as it was swept out to see, and only poses a major threat to sea life along the coast. But it's still difficult to predict what the impact of so much radioactive material entering the sea will be precisely, and the contamination is predicted to gravely impact local fish and mollusk populations.

In a scenario that's unfortunately reminiscent of the chemical dispersants blasted into the Gulf during the BP disaster, we're witnessing a large-scale, unintentional 'experiment' on marine ecosystems unfold in the Pacific.
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Visitors to Fukushima Noguchi hall down 60%

The Yomiuri Shimbun

FUKUSHIMA--The number of visitors to the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Hall in Fukushima Prefecture during the April-September period plummeted by 60 percent from a year earlier, apparently due to fears of radiation from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The hall, located in Inawashiromachi in the Aizu region, is looking into the possibility of seeking compensation from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant.

The hall displays the house where the famed bacteriologist was born, including the sunken fireplace where Noguchi (1876-1928) suffered a serious burn during his childhood. It also features some of his personal possessions, including tools used for his research.

It is a popular destination for holidaymakers visiting the region, with the annual number of visitors hitting a record high of 1,003,548 in fiscal 1976.

Although the hall is about 90 kilometers west of the crippled nuclear plant, the number of visitors during the half-year period from April to September dropped to 67,739.

This represents a fall of about 60 percent from the corresponding period last year, when the number of visitors was the third lowest since fiscal 1956--the year in which records began to be kept. If the current pace continues, the number of visitors for this fiscal year ending in March will fall short of even the record low of 163,020 posted in fiscal 1956.

The hall used to be visited by many tour groups, such as children on school trips during the spring to summer period, and groups of company employees visiting during the autumn holiday season. Since the March 11 disaster, the number of groups visiting the hall has dwindled, with individuals accounting for most of those who do come.

The number of people who visit Fukushima Prefecture for educational purposes, in the form of school trips or overnight study trips, has fallen sharply since the nuclear accident at the plant in March. There has also been a very large drop in the number of groups visiting the Aizu region.

According to a local association promoting tourism and products from Aizu-Wakamatsu, 43,074, students from 530 schools outside the prefecture made study tours to Aizu-Wakamatsu during the April-July period last year. This year, however, only 2,363 students from 29 schools visited the city during the same four-month period.
(Oct. 28, 2011)
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Kashiwa govt wants help with hotspot

Tadao Baba and Eiji Noyori / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

KASHIWA, Chiba--A radiation hotspot in Kashiwa has still not been decontaminated a week after radiation of 57.5 microsieverts per hour was recorded on a city-owned plot of land.

The city insists such a high level of radiation is beyond the level a local government can handle on its own, though it decided to conduct surveys to find other hotspots after many residents expressed anxiety over the issue.

The Kashiwa municipal government said last Friday that radiation of 57.5 microsieverts per hour had been detected about 30 centimeters below the surface of the plot of land. Its subsequent examination of soil at the location detected radioactive cesium of up to 276,000 becquerels per kilogram.

Airborne radiation of 2 microsieverts per hour was recorded one meter above the ground--the same level detected in Iitatemura, Fukushima Prefecture, which was designated part of the expanded evacuation zone after the beginning of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

On Sunday, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said Kashiwa's hotspot was likely caused by the Fukushima crisis.

Since Monday, the municipal government has been receiving more than 200 calls every day, mainly from local residents asking officials to measure radiation at their houses or conduct decontamination as soon as possible.

The plot of land in question used to be the site of a city-run housing complex. Recently residents had used it for recreational activities. The plot was flattened by leveling a slope in a hilly area. It comprises a field, a paved pedestrian walkway and a street gutter that is 30 centimeters wide and 30 centimeters deep.

The high level of radiation was detected in the soil near an L-shaped corner in the gutter, of which a nearby 50-centimeter-long section was found to be damaged.

Takao Nakaya, head of the ministry's Office of Radiation Regulations, said it was highly possible the high level of radiation was caused by water containing radioactive cesium seeping into the soil over a long period.

After the outbreak of the nuclear crisis, clouds containing cesium spread over a widespread area, causing relatively high levels of radiation at many locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Kashiwa is just north of Tokyo.

"If the damage to the gutter caused [the hotspot in Kashiwa], it won't be surprising if similar levels of radiation are detected in other places," said Tsutomu Tohei, professor emeritus at Tohoku University.

If radioactive cesium adheres to the surface of soil or a leaf, it tends to remain there, Tohei said. However, rainwater may bring cesium that was previously scattered over various places to a particular spot, such as a gutter. If such cesium accumulates for a long time, the radiation level would become higher than in surrounding areas.

The Kashiwa municipal government has decided to examine all other plots of land owned by the city. In addition, the city will implement similar measures for private properties beginning next month, examining the premises of residents who make such requests or lending residents measuring devices.

However, the municipal government has yet to establish a framework to systematically find other hotspots. It has only covered the recently discovered spot with uncontaminated soil and blue tarpaulin sheets.

"It's difficult to find a company to decontaminate [the site] given the extremely high level of radiation," a city government official said. "The situation is more than we can handle as a local government."

The municipality has started discussions with the Environmental Ministry and Cabinet Office, asking the central government to take responsibility for determining the cause of the hotspot and the exact amount of contaminated soil, as well as decontaminating the location.

The hotspot was first discovered by a man living in the neighborhood who always carries a dosimeter.

Frustrated by the slow response of local governments to the radiation problem, many citizens and organizations are checking radiation levels in their neighborhoods on their own. These efforts will likely lead to the discovery of many more hotspots.

However, people may get different figures at the same spot depending on their examination methods or specific dosimeters.

Kiyoshi Nomura, associate professor at the University of Tokyo, said people do not have to worry too much about localized radiation.
(Oct. 28, 2011)
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Fukushima Fallout Was Almost Twice as Bad as Official Estimates, New Study Says


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Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant, March 14, 2011 DigitalGlobe via Getty Images

This spring’s nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant released almost double the amount of radiation the Japanese government has claimed, according to a new analysis. The authors say the boiling pools holding spent fuel rods played a role in the release of some of the contaminants, primarily cesium-137 — and that this could have been mitigated by an earlier response.

Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Air Research examined radiation monitoring stations throughout Japan and the rest of the globe, extrapolating their findings from initial radiation-release estimates. They say the amount of cesium-137, a long-lived isotope that persists in the atmosphere, was about twice as high as the Japanese government’s official estimate. That number (3.5 × 1016  bequerel, for those of you keeping track) is about half the emission from Chernobyl.
he researchers also say about 20 percent of the total fallout landed over Japan, but the vast majority fell over the Pacific Ocean. (The effects of this fallout on fisheries and aquatic wildlife are still being determined.)

The Fukushima Daiichi power plant, you’ll recall, shut down after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that wracked Japan March 11. The tsunami knocked out backup power needed to keep the plant’s six reactors cool, and the active reactors overheated, venting hydrogen gas in a series of explosions. These explosions started fires and also exposed a pool containing spent fuel rods from reactor No. 4. The rods started heating up, releasing a radioactive isotope called cesium-137, among other radionuclides.

Cesium-137 emissions peaked three or four days after the quake and tsunami, remaining high until March 19, according to this new study. That’s the day authorities started spraying water on the spent-fuel pool at reactor unit 4, the researchers note. “This indicates that emissions were not only coming from the damaged reactor cores, but also from the spent-fuel pool of unit 4 and confirms that the spraying was an effective countermeasure,” they say. This contradicts Japanese government reports claiming the pools released no radiation, as Nature News points out.

Nature News says the disparity between the Japanese government’s totals and this new study, led by atmospheric scientist Andreas Stohl, can be explained at least in part by the data set. Japanese researchers used monitoring stations in their country, whereas Stohl used monitoring stations throughout the world, which captured much of the radiation that blew over the Pacific and toward North America.
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Search goes on for Miyagi tsunami victims



SENDAI--An intensive search for people missing since the March 11 tsunami has started in Miyagi Prefecture, and although Japan Coast Guard captain Hirofumi Onodera knows the possibility of finding bodies is fading, he refuses to give up hope.

There is a deeply personal element to the search efforts of Onodera: His mother and eldest son are among the about 2,000 people from hard-hit Miyagi still missing 7-1/2 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

"I'll never give up until we find all the missing people," Onodera, 48, said.

Since July, the number of recovered bodies has dipped under 100 a month. In October, just 10 had been found as of Tuesday.

About 80 percent of the bodies recovered since August have been found at sea. But when winter arrives, the chillier water temperatures will make it harder for divers to continue searching. With time running out, the Miyagi Coast Guard Office and the Miyagi prefectural police began Wednesday a concerted search along the coast from Kesennuma to Onagawacho. About 20 searchers will use underwater robots, sonar and helicopters until Nov. 9.

Onodera, the captain of the patrol vessel Sasakaze at the Kesennuma Coast Guard Station, said his crew had recovered many bodies off the city. However, fewer bodies have been found recently. Many of those still missing now lie on the seabed or have been swept far from shore.

Onodera's 73-year-old mother, Masuko, and 16-year-old son, Yuki, who was a first-year student at prefectural Kesennuma High School, have been missing since March 11. They apparently evacuated to a shrine on higher ground near their home, but the shrine was engulfed by the tsunami.

Soon after the earthquake struck, Onodera went to the patrol vessel and urged people to evacuate. When he returned home in the evening, not a trace of his house remained; it had vanished in the tsunami.

About 10 days later, Onodera returned to work. Whenever he and his crew found bodies of tsunami victims--some of them still in houses that had been swept out to sea--Onodera prayed they were not his mother and son.

Oct. 13 was Yuki's birthday. Onodera bought a birthday cake and placed it in front of a photo of his son in his room at a dormitory for public servants.

Yuki belonged to the table tennis club of a high school that has sent many graduates to prestigious universities. He had practiced hard until late in the evening every day.

Partly at the urging of his relatives, Onodera submitted notices of his mother's and son's death in August, and held a funeral for them. Onodera thought this would bring some closure to his anguish.

But even now, Onodera still goes to the coast on his days off in the hope of finding his mother and son. "Deep down, I still want to believe they are alive," Onodera said.

Off Kesennuma's Sugino(censor)a fishing port, 15 divers in wet suits with oxygen tanks on their backs recently splashed into the water.

Kei Sato, 45, a captain in the prefecture's riot police squad, took part in the search. "We want to find as many bodies as possible and return them to their families," he said.

Autumn will soon turn to winter in the Tohoku region. From his own personal experience, Onodera knows what the families of the thousands of missing people are going through.

"I understand exactly the pain bereaved family members are feeling," he said.

Onodera headed out again on the Sasakaze, continuing his search..
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Stress test shows Oi reactor tough enough



The idled No. 3 reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture can withstand earthquakes and tsunami more powerful than originally assumed, according to the stress tests results submitted to the nuclear regulatory agency Friday by the plant's operator.

The submission by Kansai Electric Power Co. is a key step in the process to possibly restarting the reactor, which has been suspended for regular checks.

The primary stress test showed the reactor in Oicho can withstand an earthquake 1.8 times stronger and a tsunami four times higher than previously assumed, according to KEPCO, which submitted the report to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

In the two-step stress tests, reactors currently suspended for regular checkups are subject to primary evaluations. All other commercial reactors, except ones at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear plants, must undergo secondary evaluations.

The decision on whether to restart the Oi reactor will be made by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three other ministers in several months, after the agency determines the veracity of the test results.

Local governments that host the power plant also need to give their consent to restarting the reactor. Consequently, it remains unclear whether the reactor will be operating again by the end of this year, even though demand for electricity will rise as winter sets in.

KEPCO became the first utility to submit results of a stress test to the government since the tests became mandatory for all reactors in July in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

According to KEPCO's report, the Oi No. 3 reactor can withstand an earthquake with 1,260 Gal, 1.8 times larger than the assumed 700 Gal. A Gal is a unit of acceleration of gravity.

The reactor and its pipes can withstand a tsunami 11.4 meters high, comfortably exceeding the assumed height of 2.85 meters, the report said.

Even if all alternate current power sources are lost, it will be possible to keep cooling the reactor core for 16 days.

Emergency safety measures carried out on the agency's orders after the Fukushima No. 1 plant accident increased the reactor's ability to stand up to serious disasters, it said.

The agency, which is under the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, will discuss the results with nuclear experts and decide how veracious they are.

After the Nuclear Safety Commission screens the test results, Noda; Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano; Goshi Hosono, state minister for conclusion of the nuclear disaster; and Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura will decide whether to restart the reactor. The International Atomic Energy Agency will cooperate in this process.

"We'll make a political decision on whether to allow the resumption of operations after taking into consideration whether local residents and the general public agree to and understand the restart," Edano said at a press conference after the day's Cabinet meeting.

The Fukui prefectural government is reluctant to allow the reactor's restart, so it is unclear whether it can be put back online anytime soon.

Only 10 commercial nuclear reactors are operating in Japan, about 20 percent of such reactors in the nation. At the end of February, when winter power demand peaks, just two will be in operation because the others will be turned off for regular inspections.

Nuclear power accounted for 50 percent of KEPCO's total power generation in 2010, the highest proportion of all utilities in Japan. If Osaka-based KEPCO cannot restart idled reactors quickly, areas under its jurisdiction could face severe power shortages..
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Govt to cap radiation limit / Report recommends lifetime exposure of no more than 100mSv



A report by the Cabinet Office's Food Safety Commission has recommended a person's ***ulative lifetime radiation exposure from food should be limited to about 100 millisieverts.

The report compiled Thursday covers possible effects on health from internal exposure from food containing radioactive substances.

Based on the report, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will begin considering individual regulatory figures for foods.

It is likely the new limits will be stricter than interim limits, hurriedly implemented shortly after the crisis began at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The new figures will be set following discussions with the Radiation Council of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.

In the commission's draft compiled in July, the 100 millisievert limit was considered as a lifetime figure for both internal and external exposure to radiation.

But the final report set the limit only on internal exposure, saying effects of external exposure would be minimal in current conditions, based on opinions from the public after making the draft in July.

Presuming a person's life span is 100 years, the person's radiation exposure should be less than one millisievert a year.

The current interim limit for radioactive cesium alone is up to five millisieverts a year, making stricter limits a near certainty.

The report pointed out effects of radiation exposure on children are more serious than those on adults, but did not present specific figures for children.

Over whether effects on children will be reflected in the new figures, the commission said it is an issue that should be discussed by the health ministry and other government authorities.

Though the commission's report will likely toughen regulations on food, it is not easy to erase fears regarding food safety among the public.

Kikuko Murakami, 60, representative of Bonyu-chosa Boshi Shien Network, a citizens' group that has conducted research on breast milk, said, "High percentages of radioactive substances have been detected in breast milk from mothers living in areas with high radiation levels.

"I don't understand why the effects of external exposure were separated," she said.

Hideaki Karaki, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo and an expert on food safety, said, "The report fails to explain how risky the 100 millisieverts figure is in real terms."

"It's necessary to make better efforts to help the public easily understand all the risks," he said.

Many farmers also felt the government should disclose more information and provide concrete numerical figures to better convince consumers.

Wataru Narahasi, 61, a rice farmer in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, said, "I want the government to explain what levels will negatively impact health in an easier-to-understand way."

Rice Narahashi harvested this year was found to have "less than minimum detectable levels" of radioactive substances. But he said local agricultural cooperatives have surplus rice because consumers tend to avoid rice produced in Fukushima Prefecture.

Tetsuro Oikawa, a 42-year-old rancher breeding Maesawa-gyu beef cattle in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, said consumers have shunned local brands due to fears of contamination.

"Though I'm dissatisfied with the government's flip-flopping, stricter numerical limits will allow consumers to understand the safety of our products," Oikawa said...
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Financial fallout from Fukushima disaster embittering victims.

LETTER FROM JAPAN: IN AUTUMN last year, Katsuzo Shoji (75) was quietly farming rice, vegetables and a small herd of cattle in the picturesque village of Iitate. Today, he lives in a two-room temporary house 35km (22 miles) away with his wife Fumi (73).

His herd has been slaughtered, his farm abandoned to weeds. He is unlikely to earn a working income again, let alone return alive to the home that has been in his family since the 1880s.

Shoji’s story is just one of at least 80,000 from the irradiated prefecture of Fukushima, home to the disabled Daiichi nuclear power plant, which has been leaking radiation since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami knocked out its cooling system.

Most of those people were hastily evacuated from the immediate 20km (12.4-mile) vicinity of the crippled plant and the heavily irradiated towns and villages such as Iitate outside the zone, leaving behind all they had.

How is plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co to adequately compensate the victims of the planet’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years? The government estimated this week that Tepco’s final compensation bill could top four trillion yen – more than €37 billion.

Many observers believe this is a gross underestimate: who is to pay the cost of decommissioning the Fukushima plant, for example, or cleaning up irradiated land that the government said this week could stretch to an area larger than the size of greater Tokyo?

For families like Shoji’s, such questions are very real. Since the disaster began, his family has been given just one million yen (€9,342) from Tepco, and another 300,000 yen for each family member in moving fees.

Shoji is applying for four million yen in final compensation for his farm but only expects to get half that. Standing in the way of even that modest sum is a 60-page compensation claim form accompanied by an explanation booklet 160 pages long. “We’ve spent days toiling over it and still have no idea what to do,” he says.

So complicated is the application process that a reported 3,000 people have been calling a Tepco hotline every day to ask questions or complain since the documents were sent out on September 12th. Many victims suspect that the company is making it deliberately difficult to deter all but the most dedicated, a charge it denies. Tepco says it is responding to those complaints by boosting the number of officials who explain the compensation process from 280 to 900.

Most analysts believe Tepco has no chance of footing the entire compensation bill without going bankrupt. In the summer, it announced plans to sell off properties and other assets to raise more than 600 billion yen.

It has so far paid out about 160 billion yen to households, businesses, fishermen and farmers like Shoji. But that amount is a drop in the bucket compared to the final cost of putting Shoji and thousands of others back on their feet.

Thousands of farmers are out of work. Hundreds of fishermen around the Fukushima coast have been banned from taking their boats out to sea because of the fear of contaminated fish. A few go out trawling for debris washed out by the March 11th tsunami, a job that earns them roughly €109 a day from the government. Some hope that, if they do enough to clean the sea up, they will be able to fish again.

Those who have managed to wade through Tepco’s application have found plenty to make them upset. Tepco wants the claimants to attach detailed evidence about properties and assets, and many understandably don’t have it.

A clause demands that victims waive the right to reject the size of the eventual compensation package once they sign off on the document. Following protests, the company has promised “flexibility” in dealing with claims but no cut in the length of the compensation forms.

Economy minister Yukio Edano, who was chief government spokesman through the worst of the Fukushima disaster, waded into the controversy this week. “I am a lawyer but, even as a lawyer, the content is difficult to read through immediately,” he said, adding that he found it “natural” that the victims were upset at the compensation process.

Shoji and his wife read about all this in the newspapers in their prefab bungalow, when they’re not whiling away the days wondering what will happen to them. “We’re the victims and Tepco is the perpetrator, but I get no sense at all of the company being guilty,” he says. “If I think about it, it makes me very sad, so I just try to focus on the future.”.. www.irishtimes.com
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TEPCO asks for US$13b aid for Fukushima.

TOKYO : Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on Friday asked Japan's government for a reported $13 billion to help pay compensation for the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

"Today, we, Tokyo Electric Power Company, applied to the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation for financial support," TEPCO said in a statement.

The company did not reveal the amount of cash it asked for and said the figure would remain secret until it was approved by the government.

However, media reports put the figure at up to one trillion yen ($13 billion).

The utility is looking to receive the first tranche from a government-backed aid body so it can avoid having a negative net worth on its April-September balance sheet, local media reported.

The Yomiuri daily reported that TEPCO needed a trillion yen "for the time being", indicating that the embattled company may go cap in hand to the government for more help later.

The utility also submitted an emergency business plan to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and trade minister Yukio Edano, who supervises the energy industry, it said.

The plan outlines cost cuts, asset sales and other restructuring steps required to help it meet compensation costs -- estimated by a government panel at 4.5 trillion yen by 2013 -- and secure further state help.

Edano will look at the details of the request and the business plan before deciding on whether to approve it in early November, news reports said.

TEPCO's woes began when the magnitude-9.0 quake and massive tsunami of March 11 knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant, sparking meltdowns, a series of explosions and the release of huge amounts of radiation into the environment.

Tens of thousands of people remain evacuated from homes and businesses in a 20 kilometre (12 mile) no-go zone around the plant and in pockets beyond. Fully decontaminating those areas is expected to take decades.

The task of restoring towns and villages even in lightly polluted zones is complicated, with high costs and logistical difficulties over where to store soil contaminated with radioactive material.

Radioactive hotspots have also been found hundreds of kilometres away from the Fukushima Daiichi plant in parts of Tokyo and Yokohama, with rainfall and wind patterns blamed for the uneven dispersal.

The disaster has soured the mood among the Japanese public over nuclear power, with many worried about the health effects of the technology, which until March had provided a third of resource-poor Japan's electricity.

A government panel earlier this month said that TEPCO would have to cut 7,400 jobs and slash costs by $33 billion over the next 10 years to help pay damages for the nuclear accident.
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TEPCO unprepared for the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi: a continuing story

The nuclear industry is constantly reassuring the public that its reactors are safe. But, as the nuclear disaster in Japan continues to unfold, the evidence mounts that these assurances frequently can’t be trusted at all and that in Japan in particular, the nuclear industry and the government have failed in their duty to protect the Japanese people.

Media reports on this week's publication of Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) manuals said the documents show that ‘the utility's lack of preparedness for an emergency’ was ‘a major factor leading to the meltdowns after the March 11 quake-tsunami’, so it’s no wonder the company had previously refused to make the full documents public. It was Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency that demanded disclosure.

This sounded terribly familiar to us…

In July 2007, the Chūetsu offshore earthquake shut down TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in western Japan. The quake turned over containers of nuclear waste, causing a release of radioactivity into the atmosphere. Radioactive water leaked inside several of the reactor buildings, some of it reaching the Sea of Japan.

According to Japan’s Daily Yomiuri, ‘it was discovered that TEPCO did not thoroughly survey faults near the [Kashiwazaki-Kariwa] nuclear plant and its earthquake-resistance measures were insufficient’. This was after the company admitted in 2002 to deliberately falsifying safety reports and covering up a large number of incidents at its reactors. The scandal, dating back to the 1980s and through the 1990's, showed TEPCO’s failure to conduct vital safety inspections at their nuclear reactors.

So we see that TEPCO has a long history of being wholly unprepared for emergencies and ignoring safety concerns. Not only that, Japan’s nuclear watchdogs have failed time and time again to ensure that TEPCO lived up to rigorous and vital safety standards. And now media are reporting evidence of government organisations that should be regulating the nuclear industry attempting to manipulate public opinion in its favour.

Even worse, ‘there are no legal requirements to re-evaluate site related (safety) features periodically,’ as the Japanese government told the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2008. In October this year, a report showed that TEPCO had known since 2008 that the Fukushima Daiichi plant was vulnerable to a tsunami but hid the findings and did nothing to improve the plant’s defences or emergency planning. They weren’t legally obliged to..

The catastrophic safety failures at Fukushima are a direct result of cost and corner cutting by TEPCO and disgraceful failure to regulate effectively by the government. It’s symbolic of the systematic failures of the nuclear industry and governments worldwide to ensure proper safety levels are strictly followed. Given the scale of destruction a nuclear disaster presents what we have seen in Japan is a shameful failure of leadership, accountability and respect for the lives of others.

Now we hear that the amount of radiation released by the Fukushima reactors was double that claimed by the government. Japan’s Prime Minister Noda should announce that Japan’s nuclear experiment has failed utterly and immediately abandon any plans to restart old reactors or to complete any partially-built ones.

We must never forget that while TEPCO and the government enjoyed its cosy relationship and ignored safety warnings. Given the siting of the Fukushima plant in a fault zone, thedisaster that has devastated the lives of thousands of people was inevitable. Japan will be living with the terrible consequences of this deceit for a very long time.
Why is cloud 9 so amazing ? What is wrong with cloud 8 ?
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