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| Tweet Topic Started: April 11 2011, 02:28 PM (7,663 Views) | |
| Audi-Tek | August 22 2011, 02:35 AM Post #321 |
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Prince
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Fukushima zone likely off-limits for 'decades'![]() Parts of Fukushima prefecture have been left a no-go zone after a tsunami knocked out a local nuclear plant. The Japanese government says highly radioactive areas around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant will remain no-go zones for decades after the damaged complex is stabilised. Authorities say they plan to bring the stricken nuclear plant to a state of cold shutdown early next year. But with some areas near the complex continuing to show high levels of radioactive contamination, the government says it is unavoidable that some places will remain no-go zones. Japanese newspaper The Daily Yomiuri reports government sources have said it could be "several decades" before the area is considered safe to enter. For the first time, the government has released figures revealing that many communities within 20 kilometres of the complex have contamination levels up to 500 times higher than safety limits. The radiation readings were taken in 50 locations within a 20-kilometre radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant. Based on that data, the government has released estimates of the annual dose of radiation residents would be exposed to. It found that in one town, Okuma, people would receive a dose of 508 milisieverts per year - more than 500 times the acceptable limit. At more than half the locations it was more than 20 times the limit. Tokyo Institute of Technology's associate professor of radiobiology, Yoshihisa Matsumoto, says efforts to decontaminate the area will likely prove difficult. Reactors at Fukushima melted down in March after the earthquake and tsunami which killed tens of thousands of people knocked out back-up power plants at the site. Updated August 22, 2011 09:59:51 |
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| Audi-Tek | August 22 2011, 09:59 PM Post #322 |
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Prince
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Insight: Japan struggles to rebuild, leaving lives in limbo![]() A car drives past piles of wrecked vehicles, destroyed by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, in Rikuzentakata in this August 14, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files YAMADAMACHI/TOKYO (Reuters) – Sakari Minato has fixed up his house just enough for his family to move back in. The walls still have holes, the windows are temporarily sealed. You can still see the water marks on the outside of the home left by the March 11 tsunami that roared into this northeastern coastal fishing town at the speed of a freight train and bulldozed everything in its path. Minato doesn't know whether to spend the $100,000 needed to completely restore the house or move the family to higher ground away from the ocean. He still doesn't know whether the government will declare his part of town by the coast an uninhabitable tsunami zone. Five months after Japan's worst disaster in generations left more than 20,000 dead or missing, entire communities along the country's northeastern coast face a similar dilemma. They have cleaned up much of the rubble and mud, fixed up roads and restored power. Tokyo and local governments, however, have yet to come up with detailed plans and money needed to start the actual rebuilding. Every day of delay brings more agony for hundreds of thousands of survivors who cannot move on with their lives and makes it increasingly unlikely the economy will get a powerful jolt from the rebuilding effort any time soon. "Even if I get the house fixed, it could be the case that the national government ends up buying this area in two years because it's a tsunami-flooded district," said Minato, a 48-year-old auto dealer. "So we stopped fixing the house for now since it's good enough to live in." His family barely escaped the deadly waves and a fire that wiped out most houses in his neighborhood in Yamadamachi, a fishing town about 470 km northeast of Tokyo which lost nearly 800 of its 19,400 residents. When the disaster struck on March 11 government planners, economists and aid agencies looked back 16 years when a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit Kobe killing 6,400. The conclusion was that the triple blow of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami that reached heights of 15 meters (50 feet), and a nuclear plant meltdown crisis, eclipsed anything Japan had experienced in the past half a century. Yet Tokyo was expected to crank out a hefty emergency budget by August, allowing rebuilding to start in earnest in the second half of the year. Even as that timetable slipped, the government remained optimistic that reconstruction would kick in by the final quarter of this year. WISHFUL THINKING Today this looks like wishful thinking and reasons can be found both on Japan's northeastern Pacific coast and in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's government district. "Reconstruction would be a big boost to the economy ... But full-fledged rebuilding may need to wait until next year," said Takashi Onishi, professor of city and regional planning at the University of Tokyo. Onishi sat on the government's advisory panel on reconstruction and is helping the fishing towns of Kamaishi and Kesennuma in their reconstruction planning. Japan's steel industry initially counted on reconstruction to boost demand by 3-4 million tonnes over the next three years, but analysts have slashed their forecasts for next year and beyond by as much as half. About half of the estimated 22.6 million tonnes of rubble the tsunami left behind has been cleared and the government aims to remove most of the debris from residential areas by the end of this month. But out of nearly half a million people displaced by the disaster, 84,000 remain in evacuation centers, temporary housing or with relatives or friends. They will not move on until local authorities decide what they want to rebuild and what to move out of the danger zone. Once that is decided, Tokyo will draw up a national plan and allocate funds. "How much will the government help? Or big firms and reconstruction funds? We are reliant on them and the question is where is the money," said Katsutoshi Tomiyama, 70. His jazz café in the picturesque fishing town of Rikuzentakata was swept away and he hopes to reopen it in neighboring Ofunato, where he lives in temporary housing. Officials in Tokyo point the finger up north and vent their frustration with how slowly requests from local communities are trickling in. Some local officials admit they are overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. "Honestly speaking, this is the first experience for us as well and we are now fumbling our way to figure out what and how to move forward," said one official at a coastal town in Iwate prefecture. The town hopes to have a final reconstruction plan ready by the end of the year. Similarly in Rikuzentakata, where nearly 1,800 of its 24,250 residents are dead or still missing, officials aim to prepare a plan in November hoping to get money from the regular budget for the next fiscal year starting in April 2012 rather than this year's emergency allotments. That means that the bulk of the spending may be pushed back well into next year. "The national government has revealed a basic plan, but the details are not out yet," city official Takeo Banno said. The relocation of homes to safe areas, which is one of the focal points of the rebuilding, could take several years. "In three to five years, large-scale relocation of houses is likely to make headway," says Shogo Tsugawa, a senior government official in charge of rebuilding of Iwate prefecture. RE-THINKING AND REBUILDING To be fair, those dealing with the aftermath of March 11 face a task like none before and Prime Minister Naoto Kan was not exaggerating when he said Japan faced its biggest crisis since World War Two. Rebuilding what was damaged the way it was done after Kobe is not an option. Even before the disaster struck the Tohoku region was in trouble. Its fragmented fishing industry was struggling to stay afloat, agriculture dominated by small-plot farmers well past retirement age and its working population was shrinking at the fastest rate in all of aging Japan, having fallen more than 8 percent in the past 15 years. "We need to avoid just doing the recovery job to pre-quake conditions," said Ryutaro Kono, chief economist at BNP Paribas, who sat on the reconstruction panel. Among the proposals are consolidating the fishing business, giving tax breaks for investors and creating special economic zones. They also include relocating homes to more elevated areas and rebuilding ports and other tsunami-ravaged facilities. Aside from the sheer complexity of the challenge is the slow grind of the political process. The deeply unpopular and increasingly isolated Kan has struggled to pull together his divided party and get any sort of cooperation from an openly hostile opposition that controls the upper house of parliament. It took two months to get the first $50 billion batch of emergency spending out and another two to sign off on the next $25 billion installment, both earmarked for the initial relief, clean-up and temporary housing. More than five months after the catastrophe the main spending plan worth up to 13 trillion yen has yet to take shape and no clarity on how it will be financed. With Kan on his way out, it is anyone's guess when the "big budget" will be ready. "Government agencies need to work on the extra budget and next year's budget at the same time but there are limitations in terms of manpower," one finance ministry official said. TIMING MATTERS In contrast to exasperated residents, financial markets have been sanguine about signs of slippage in reconstruction timetable. Those who are now rethinking their growth assumptions beyond this quarter are more concerned about the strength of the yen and clouds gathering over the global economy. Some economists say their colleagues may be too complacent and point out that while rebuilding spending will come sooner or later, the timing matters too. Up to now, the base scenario has been that the serious money will start pouring in the final quarter of this year and early in 2012. That would boost sectors such as construction, steel and machinery at a critical time when the global economy may hit a soft patch and the upswing driven by companies restoring supply chains will have run its course. Now the risk is the big rebuilding effort will not come in time to act as a cushion. "Come the winter, seasonal factors may further delay construction projects," said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. "From October-December and beyond, the economy is likely to show visible impact from the yen's strength and if there is no lift from reconstruction, the economy's rebound is likely to peter out in the fourth quarter," Kumano says. While the economy may still get a reprieve if Japan's main export markets recover, those living in the belt of destruction on the coast can only wait or leave. Hiroki Haga, 63, whose newspaper delivery service in the coastal town of Otsuchicho was washed away by the tsunami, says the risk is that young people will pack up and look for work elsewhere. "The basics of how the town should be rebuilt are not ready. Our mayor died. No one can do anything." |
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| Audi-Tek | August 22 2011, 10:06 PM Post #323 |
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Prince
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Japan may rent off-limits land near Fukushima N-plant okyo, Aug. 22 (Jiji)--The Japanese government is considering renting land plots near the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as it plans to keep the areas off-limits for a long period of time, informed sources said Monday. "We need to take various measures if residents cannot return home for long," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said in a press conference the same day. "The possibility cannot be ruled out that there may be areas where residents cannot return for a long time. We feel really sorry for that," Edano said. The government plans to continue banning access to areas primarily within 3 kilometers of the plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501>, due to very high radiation levels. It will finalize the decision after checking detailed radiation monitoring data and the schedule of decontamination work, the sources said. Speaking to reporters Monday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan admitted that he is considering visiting Fukushima Prefecture on Saturday to give explanations to local government officials about the plan to keep some areas near the plant off-limits for a long time. The central government introduced a 20-kilometer no-entry zone in April due to concern about exposure to radiation leaking from the plant, which was heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. It plans to consider whether to lift the ban once the plant's crippled reactors are brought to a state of stability known as cold shutdown, but the 3-kilometer zone is likely to be an exception. (Jiji) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 22 2011, 11:13 PM Post #324 |
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Prince
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22 August 2011 - 22H02 Suicides stalk Japan disaster zone ![]() AFP - When Japanese farmer Hisashi Tarukawa watched the local nuclear plant blow up on television, he uttered a sentence that will forever chill his family: "Oh, no. It's over." Within days, the radioactive cloud from the Fukushima plant had forced authorities to ban some farm produce in Fukushima, where the 64-year-old had been growing rice and vegetables all his life. The next morning before dawn, on March 24, Tarukawa's son Kazuya found his father hanged by a rope from a tree above his vegetable field. "I rushed to the tree and talked to my dad, but his body was already cold," recalled grief-stricken Kazuya, 36, speaking at the family farm in Sukagawa, 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the crippled atomic plant. Tarukawa, a father of three, left no letter to explain why he took his life, but his bereaved family says he didn't need to. "I believe his suicide was an act of protest, like seppuku," said Kazuya, referring to the ritualised form of suicide once practised by Japan's samurai knights, known in the West also as harakiri. His family says Tarukawa had often spoken about the horror of radiation since he attended an annual ceremony in Hiroshima 23 years ago to mourn victims of the 1945 atomic bomb attack on the western Japanese city. "I don't want his death to have been in vain," said Kazuya, vowing to sue the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), both for the financial and the emotional damages to their family. The world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years ago was triggered by the powerful March 11 seabed quake and the massive tsunami it spawned, which took more than 20,000 lives along the Pacific coast. TEPCO has argued that the scale of the tectonic disaster could not have been foreseen. Critics say the utility ignored expert advice on just such a seismic threat while it assured the public that atomic power is safe. Fear and anger have grown in Japan, nowhere more than in the Fukushima region, where tens of thousands have had to flee their homes and where farmers, fishermen, hotel owners and others have lost their livelihoods. Hisashi's widow Mitsuyo recalled how her late husband was at first shocked when the quake destroyed his shed and warehouse, and how his sadness gave way to panic as the severity of the atomic disaster came into focus. "My husband was a strong man, but he gave in to the radiation," the 61-year-old woman said quietly, a slight tremor in her voice, as she stood before her husband's portrait on the Buddhist family altar. "I was so sad and I felt such deep regret, but if he is in heaven and at peace now, I would accept that," she said. The tragedy in the Turakawa family home is not an isolated case. Japan's government says that in June alone at least 16 people, mostly in their 50s and 60s, killed themselves because of despair over the triple calamity of the quake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. The numbers have heightened concern over a social scourge that was already a perennial problem in pre-disaster Japan. Every year more than 30,000 people take their lives in Japan, a rate lower only than in some ex-Soviet countries. Experts fear that the monumental grief brought to Japan on March 11 will worsen the grim statistic as the hopelessness of life in crowded evacuation centres and temporary homes takes its emotional toll. According to a local media report, one 93-year-old evacuee with a disability in Fukushima killed herself in June, explaining in a suicide note to her family: "I would only slow you down. I will evacuate to the grave." Almost half a year on from the quake, the number of refugees stands above 87,000, including people from a 20-kilometre no-go zone around the radiation-leaking nuclear plant, according to Cabinet Office figures. Experts say many survivors are haunted by guilt over having lived while others died, or because they were unable to save loved ones -- feelings of complex grief that they say can spiral into chronic depression. "Not so many people think of killing themselves shortly after such a massive disaster, because they feel grateful to have survived," said Hisao Sato, head of Kumo No Ito, a suicide prevention and counselling group. "But as time goes by, people start to consider suicide as they face the reality, lose momentum and feel tired and discarded, while support from the outside diminishes. You can't live on hope alone." Sato, who fears suicide rates will rise, has been trying to help with monthly visits to counsel survivors in the tsunami-hit city of Kamaishi. Japan's government has said it is considering providing mental health care for victims who may be isolated in temporary housing and shelters. But psychiatrists warn that such programmes alone won't be effective unless victims are also given comprehensive and practical support, including financial aid and help with finding new jobs and homes. "Suicides do not decline only with mental health support," said Shinji Yukita, a psychiatrist and deputy director of the Saitama Cooperative Hospital in a neighbourhood north of Tokyo that is home to many evacuees. "Mental care can work when victims already have fundamental life support and physical medical care," Yukita said. Toshihiro Fujiwara, an official of the Iwate Suicide Prevention Centre, agrees: "This disaster was too big to be handled with ordinary support. We have to back victims in a multi-layered, comprehensive way." One of the survivors, Tsukasa Kanno, 59, says the toll of the disaster has weighed heavily on his town, Kamaishi, where more than 1,200 people were reported dead or missing near the coast. "I lost my house and my shops, but I was happy because all my family members survived," Kanno said. "But we have gradually started thinking about what's going to happen to us. I have felt burnt out, I couldn't see the future." Kanno said that, most worryingly, a gulf has opened between some people in the town who lost everything, and others whose lives and homes were spared. "It's as if heaven and hell exist in the same community." Click here to find out more! |
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| Audi-Tek | August 24 2011, 05:49 PM Post #325 |
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Prince
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Japanese find millions in lost tsunami cash - and return it![]() Japan Self-Defense Force personnel stand near some safes they retrieved from houses destroyed by the tsunami in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan in a photo taken on April 7, 2011. TOYKO – If disaster struck, and millions of dollars in cash turned up, do you think it would be returned to its rightful owners? In Japan, it was. During the four months since the giant tsunami struck Japan's northern coast, more than 5,700 safes containing approximately $30 million has been recovered from the three hardest hit prefectures, Japan’s National Police Agency recently announced. Remarkably – since residents of the tsunami zone have scattered across the country and even the world – 96 percent, or nearly $29.6 million in cash, has already been returned to its rightful owners, or if authorities feared the owner had died in the disaster, their closest relative. Detective job to find rightful owners The majority of the safes recovered in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima were collected by Japan’s Self Defense Force, police, and volunteers while combing through destroyed homes and buildings and clearing debris left behind by the devastating wave; some individuals also came forward with lost valuables. Masao Sasaki, with the Iwate prefectural police, said that determining who the money belonged to and then actually finding them proved to be a great challenge and often involved excruciating detective work. "In some cases, entire communities were completely washed away. Even if we had information on the address of the owner, there would be no building left, landlines were destroyed,” Sasaki explained. “So we went around to the various evacuation centers and started checking through the rosters." In Iwate prefecture alone, where more than 23,000 structures along the coast were destroyed, 2,400 safes containing a total amount of $10 million was collected. Incredibly, 91 percent of it has already been returned. Considering that up until June there were more than 330 evacuation centers in Iwate, and people were constantly moving to new locations, it was no small feat to return that much money. ![]() A survivor walks through debris caused by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture, in this March 18, 2011 file photo. “You can just imagine the difficult work involved in tracking down the owners,” Sasaki said. "In some cases where the owner was thought to have perished, we had to find the closest kin who could have been anywhere inside or outside Iwate. It’s not unusual for Japanese, especially the elderly, to keep cash at home. In particular, fishermen, who made up a large portion of the coastal population, traditionally preferred cash transactions and often even paid salaries in cash. Thankfully, many of the safes also held bank books, certificates of land rights, name chops (traditional stamps used in lieu of signatures on personal documents) or some other form of identification. But because they were drenched in mud and water, each item often had to be carefully cleaned and dried, at times using a shirt iron in order to extract useful clues. "It was important to be able to return these items properly cleaned, but our first and utmost priority was to find the owners and return their belongings as quickly as possible," said Sasaki. Asked how they were able to return 91 percent of the lost valuables, Sasaki said it was simply the laborious work and perseverance of the prefecture’s officers. Venturing into the nuke zone It was a tougher task in Fukushima prefecture, where extra precaution was required to reach some of the areas affected by the nuclear accident. When their officers entered the 12-mile-radius exclusion zone, they had to put on hazmat suits and equip themselves with survey meters so they could check the radiation levels. "It might have taken a little longer in Fukushima," said Yoshiyasu Sato of the local prefectural police headquarters. "We had to start from the outer perimeter of the exclusion zone and slowly work our way in.” But according to Sato, even though it took four months, the police have pretty much completed their task: they have already returned 96 percent of the $7.2 million found in some 900 safe boxes. And in the Miyagi prefecture they had an even greater rate of return. Over 2,400 safes were collected that contained approximately $13.5 million –amazingly 99 percent of that has been returned to its owners or closest kin. Almost done In Iwate, as they get closer to completing the task of clearing away the rubble, the number of safes and other belongings recovered has dropped. But, Sasaki said, “the collection is still not completely zero, the numbers have come down, but items are being turned in sporadically.” In total, if you included the money retrieved from lost wallets and purses, $48.3 million worth of cash was collected from the disaster zone. Out of that total amount, 85 percent has found its way to its rightful owners. While the sheer amount of cash collected and returned is astounding, it is also another reminder of the scope of the damage brought by the March earthquake and tsunami which claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people and completely wiped out at least 112,000 homes and buildings. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 24 2011, 05:54 PM Post #326 |
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Prince
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Evacuate FUKUSHIMA Part 1 - The whole international press have blackout the worst catastrophe in modern history. So this is a humble reminder of what really is going on in Fukushima and beyond today ! There is a crime against humanity happening right under our nose and all we can hear is a deafening silence. Please spread this video as much as you can ... in the name of humanity ! Thanks ! Video Link ...... http://vimeo.com/27982280 |
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| Audi-Tek | August 25 2011, 01:42 AM Post #327 |
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Prince
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Hokkaido town agonizes over permanent radioactive waste disposal, 'nuclear money'![]() Workers examine an underground tunnel of "Horonobe Underground Research Center,” where the Japan Atomic Energy Agency conducts research on disposal techniques. (Mainichi) High-level radioactive waste is the "nuclear garbage" left over in the form of spent fuel. Japan has still not determined a permanent disposal site for this waste, but back in the 1980s, Horonobe, a small town in Hokkaido, became the only municipality in Japan to offer to host a research center for the storage of radioactive waste. This June, the town once again wrangled over the problem of "nuclear plant money." Construction plans for a storage center in Horonobe were abandoned due to opposition from local residents and surrounding communities, and the town, the prefecture of Hokkaido and business operators eventually signed an accord that banned the introduction of radioactive materials. Today, Horonobe is the location of the "Horonobe Underground Research Center," where the Japan Atomic Energy Agency conducts research on disposal techniques. At a municipal assembly session on June 16, Akira Miyamoto, mayor of Horonobe, unleashed controversy by saying that the matter of "documentary investigation" regarding the construction of a permanent disposal site that is being solicited by the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is "an issue coming up for consideration." In exchange for hosting the Underground Research Center, Horonobe receives more than 100 million yen annually, a subsidy stipulated by the so-called "Three Power Laws." Consenting to "documentary investigation" will entitle the town to an additional subsidy of 1 billion yen per annum, expandable to a maximum of 2 billion yen. This is a tempting offer for a town with a budget that barely exceeds 4 billion yen. The mayor retracted his statement after criticism from local residents, but said: "An associated facility that makes efficient use of the Underground Research Center might still be considered." The above-mentioned accord forbids the selling or lend-leasing of the Underground Research Center to operators of permanent waste disposal businesses. Nevertheless, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO), which conducts such operations, mentioned in a business report last year that "joint research at the Underground Research Center is being considered." (The remark was deleted after protests from civic groups.) The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy has also stated that the accord does not exempt Hokkaido from the possibility of documentary investigations. The Underground Research Center held a meeting in July to explain the situation to local residents, who threw out questions like: "Can you assure us of the safety of a disposal site that has to last for 100,000 years, when they can't even contain the incident at Fukushima?" Yet both the national government and operators still show signs of wanting to proceed with permanent disposal operations. Rokkasho, a village in Aomori Prefecture, is the location of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and also of a temporary storage facility for nuclear waste. Aomori Prefecture has exchanged a pledge with the government stipulating that "Aomori Prefecture will not be used as a permanent disposal site" and the village says it will insist that the promise be kept. However, with a large-scale nuclear facility already in place, feelings in Rokkasho are somewhat different from those in Horonobe. One village assembly member said: "Lots of people are resigned to the idea, since they can't seem to find anywhere else to put it." The temporary facility presently stores 1,457 vitrified rods of high-level nuclear waste. The storage building itself is of concrete, and a former high-ranking official of the municipal government comments: "If a disaster or a terrorist incident happens here, the damage will be incomparably worse than in Fukushima. Even for temporary storage, an underground facility is needed. If it's the best thing for our country, we're resigned to our village being the final disposal site." Rokkasho went through a period of contention that split the village in two, but it decided to throw in its lot with national policy and accept the fuel reprocessing plant. Subsidies and property taxes have made the municipality so rich that it could afford to spend 2.3 billion yen in providing each of its 4,500 households with videophones. An official of Rokkasho's Commerce and Industry Association is angry about Prime Minister Naoto Kan's call to "shift away from nuclear power." "Petrochemical complexes and the nuclear-powered ship Mutsu -- the government keeps holding up these wonderful rose-colored projects, and then letting them come to nothing. We've been led around by the nose. Now they're saying: No more nuclear recycling. In that case, maybe we'll just have to insist that they remove all the waste they've left here." |
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| Audi-Tek | August 25 2011, 02:03 AM Post #328 |
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Prince
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TEPCO predicted 10m tsunami before disaster Japan's nuclear regulator says the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant predicted an over 10-meter-high tsunami in 2008, but failed to report its prediction to the government until just before the March 11th disaster. A spokesperson for the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told reporters on Wednesday that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, reported the prediction to the agency on March 7th. TEPCO says it made the estimation in 2008 when calculating the maximum tsunami height in the event of a very powerful earthquake near the plant. The maximum possible wave height originally assumed by TEPCO when it designed the plant was 5.7 meters. The agency says it ordered the company to submit a detailed report as quickly as it could and suggested the need to reform the facilities when the company provided the prediction. The agency's official in charge of nuclear disasters, Yoshinori Moriyama, says it takes seriously its failure to fully predict the possibility of a major tsunami before the disaster. TEPCO says it didn't mean to disclose the assessment since it was a tentative calculation for research purposes based on a simulation. Wednesday, August 24, 2011 20:07 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 25 2011, 04:31 PM Post #329 |
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Prince
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Classes resume in Fukushima after summer break Elementary school students head to a junior high school in Kawamata, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 25, 2011. Classes for the pupils resumed after a summer break at the junior high school that day as their original elementary schools are in Iitate, near the radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. (Kyodo) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 25 2011, 04:38 PM Post #330 |
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Prince
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Teachers urged to study radiation The Yomiuri Shimbun The government has shifted the budget allocated for promoting its nuclear power policy to organizing seminars to educate schoolteachers about radiation in light of the growing demand for education on radioactivity due to the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The government has started holding workshops on the issue, aiming to achieve participation of 1,400 teachers nationwide. Such workshops have been organized as part of training seminars for teachers to renew their teaching certificates. The workshops have attracted many teachers who are eager to acquire accurate knowledge about radiation in response to worries and misinformation on the subject. On Aug. 16, about 100 Tokyo middle and high school teachers used Geiger counters at a learning center for teachers in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. The 3-1/2-hour workshop includes lectures about radiation utilization and an experiment using a cloud chamber to observe the effects of radiation. "I understand radiation properly now because of the workshop," said Hiroyuki Okada from Mizuho No. 2 Middle School. "I can't teach students without having proper knowledge myself," said Toshiharu Sato of Minamisuna Middle School A total of 140 similar workshops will be organized nationwide, with 28 sessions scheduled in Tokyo and 11 other prefectures by Sept. 1. The administrative costs of 77 million yen are funded by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the category of so-called commission expenses for nuclear power education support projects. The authorities initially planned to hold seminars to improve understanding of the government's nuclear power policy but revised the content of the seminars to specialize in teaching basic knowledge about radiation. A senior ministry official said: "The workshops are designed to review our country's energy policy as [the current situation is] far from promoting the nation's nuclear power policy. On top of that, teachers hardly know about the subject." Among 448 universities and other facilities that were scheduled to hold summer lectures for teachers before renewing their certificates, at least 10 included workshops featuring radiation. By the end of this month, about 300 teachers are expected to have attended such workshops. This year, Kinki University reinstated such a workshop that had been canceled last year, and all 20 seats were filled. "Teaching everything from [the nature of] radiation to the fear of it will help reduce discrimination and prejudice over the issue," said Tetsuo Ito of the university's Atomic Energy Research Institute. (Aug. 25, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 25 2011, 04:39 PM Post #331 |
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Prince
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Govt wants to halve radiation levels in 2 years The Yomiuri Shimbun The government hopes to halve the level of atmospheric radiation in residential areas affected by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant within two years, it has been learned. It also plans to cut the exposure levels of children in those areas by 60 percent within the same period, government officials said. The targets will be stipulated in the government's basic policy on decontamination, to be officially decided at an upcoming meeting of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, the officials said. In the basic policy, the government is to define its own and local governments' roles in decontamination efforts. In no-entry zones and expanded evacuation zones, where annual cumulative radiation levels exceed 20 millisieverts, decontamination work will be organized by the central government. However, in areas where annual cumulative radiation levels are estimated at 20 millisieverts or less, local governments will be asked to handle decontamination. Some local governments have already begun decontamination of relatively highly contaminated areas under their own initiative. (Aug. 25, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 26 2011, 12:38 AM Post #332 |
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Prince
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No 'safe' threshold for radiation: experts![]() Experts question the use of terms such as 'safe exposure limits' when it comes to radiation exposure (Reuters: Kim Kyung-Hoon ) As Japanese authorities work to contain radiation at Fukushima, concerns have been raised about public communication on radiation risk. The US advocacy group, Physicians for Social Responsiblity, recently criticised press reports implying there is a safe threshold for ionizing radiation exposure. "As the crisis in Japan goes on, there are an increasing number of sources reporting that 100 mSv (millisieverts) is the lowest dose at which a person is at risk for cancer," says a statement from the organisation. "Established research disproves this claim," the statement continues. "According to the National Academy of Sciences, there are no safe doses of radiation. Decades of research show clearly that any dose of radiation increases an individual's risk for the development of cancer." Associate Professor Tilman Ruff of University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute for Global Health says there may be a threshold for some effects of radiation, but not for cancer. "There is unfortunately a continuing tirade of statements by self-interested parties and some official agencies ... implying a threshold for radiation exposure below which there are no adverse consequences," says Ruff, who is also a member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. Overplaying or underplaying risk? While some are concerned about the media downplaying the risk of radiation, others think the opposite is occuring. For example, the UK Science Media Centre says the media has been giving a much more dire impression of the seriousness of damage to the Fukushima power plant than scientists. Peter Burns, former acting CEO of Australia's nuclear safety agency, ARPANSA says the media lack scientific understanding and coverage has tended to overplay the health effects from small amounts of radiation. "It's probably been a bit over the top because of a lack of understanding about what the measurements really mean," says Burns, a former chair of United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). Dose and effect But on the question of whether there is a safe threshold for exposure to radioactivity, Burns agrees with Ruff. "There is no level below which we believe radiation effects can't occur," says Burns. He says the oft-cited effect 'threshold' of 100 millisieverts comes from the most statistically-significant results from studies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb survivors. According to international agencies, 100 millisieverts corresponds to a risk of serious cancer of less than 1 per cent. But Burns says there is other evidence that supports the adverse effects of low doses of radiation, including studies showing an increased risk in foetuses getting cancer later in life from a mother's one-off 10 millisievert medical scan. Risk comparisons Burns believes it is important to put radiation exposure into context given natural and other man-made sources of radiation we are exposed to. "We all get between 1 to 10 millisieverts a year - an average 2 to 3 millisieverts - from background radiation," says Burns. Air travel and CT scans are other common sources. Official limits for radiation in food and water are set in the context of such exposures. For example, the limit for nuclear workers is much higher than for the general public. Ruff says it's important to remember radiation limits like this are not levels below which there is no effect. "They're just a practical compromise between what's achievable and what's deemed an acceptable risk," he says. Ruff says it's also important to remember the impact of radiation is greater on the unborn, infants and children, especially girls, compared to adults. Contaminated water The World Health Organization recommends a limit of 10 becquerels of radioactive activity per litre of drinking water, equivalent to a dose of 0.1 millisieverts per year. After the Fukushima accident, the Japanese government set a maximum water contamination level of 300 for adults, 100 for infants and 3000 for emergency workers. Following news that Japanese tap water had become contaminated, one expert reportedly advised the Japanese government to prevent public alarm by giving more context when releasing such information. The expert, Professor Robert Gale of Imperial College London is reported in The Australian this week as saying he would be happy to drink the water, even if it exceeded the maximum contamination levels set by the Japanese government. "We live with radioactive water all the time," he was quoted as saying. Individual versus public health risk The Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) question Gale's position. "His position illustrates very neatly the divergence between individual and public health risk," says PSR's Dr Ira Helfand. "The risk to any one individual from drinking water with this much radiation is indeed very low. The problem comes when 40 million people in the Tokyo water district drink the water and get this much radiation." Helfand says if the risk of cancer from a low dose exposure is 1 in a million, an individual does not need to take any special precautions. "But if 40 million get this dose of radiation then 40 of them are going to get cancer," he says. "And they may also be getting radiation in the days ahead from increased levels of radiation in the air, and from radiation contamination of food." Helfand says it is reasonable to assure the public that they don't need to take individual action if the level of radiation is very low. "But we should not mislead them that the dose is 'safe' or 'no cause for concern' which is very different," he says. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 28 2011, 01:43 AM Post #333 |
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Prince
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Govt too hasty in deciding on prolonged evacuation The Yomiuri Shimbun The government has decided that people whose homes are in areas where there is believed to be severe radioactive contamination due to the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant will not be able to return for a long time. The areas in question are located in the no-entry zone that stretches over a 20-kilometer radius from the crippled nuclear complex. The areas' residents may be forced to stay away for 10 to 20 years. The government decided to keep the areas off-limits, and may lease or purchase plots of land there from their owners. A final decision will be made on the specific range of areas to be designated as highly contaminated after the opinions of the Fukushima prefectural government and concerned municipalities are heard, according to the government. There has been little progress in efforts to determine how much the areas in the affected regions have been contaminated. The government's decision was extremely abrupt, since it is unclear on what basis it decided residents likely cannot return home for such a long period. === Remove contamination first The government had previously said it would stabilize the nuclear plant around January next year and consider when to let residents in the exclusion zone return to their homes after that. Was the sudden decision to keep residents away for as long as 20 years meant to emphasize the danger of nuclear plants? The government must give a clear-cut explanation for its decision. About 78,000 people have been evacuated from the 20-kilometer no-entry zone. When people who lived within three kilometers of the plant briefly returned on Friday--for the first time since the crisis began--some said despondently they might be never allowed to return home again. Most important now is to make the greatest possible effort to eliminate radioactive contamination. The government should thoroughly address this task and make the contaminated areas as small as possible. It should consider whether to allow residents to return home during this process. Until this week, the government was unable to work out a policy for handling decontamination. It ultimately decided to take responsibility for decontaminating areas where the level of radiation exposure is believed to be in excess of 20 millisieverts per year. Decontamination in areas with lower radiation readings are set to be carried out in cooperation with concerned municipal governments and local residents. However, it has yet to develop the technology necessary for efficient and effective decontamination. An expert team for this purpose finally has been launched, and a preliminary experiment is underway in Date, Fukushima Prefecture. === Huge piles of debris The government must waste no time in securing personnel and funds for decontamination, while holding sufficient consultations with relevant municipalities. The decontamination operations will unavoidably generate huge amounts of radiation-contaminated soil and rubble. Efforts could stall if there are no temporary storage and permanent disposal sites. The Fukushima prefectural government has strongly demanded that disposal sites be located outside the prefecture. Goshi Hosono, state minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, has said explicitly that although temporary storage facilities are situated within the prefecture, permanent disposal sites will be located outside of Fukushima Prefecture. It is extremely hard, however, for the government to find municipalities outside the prefecture willing to accept radiation-polluted soil and debris. We urge the government to accelerate its efforts to find candidate sites for the disposal, to ensure there will be no delays that would dampen the prospects of residents returning home. The government must not use any more makeshift measures to handle the nuclear crisis, to prevent further disruption to the lives of the people affected. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 28 2011, 01:45 AM Post #334 |
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Prince
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Kan: Central storage plant planned in Fukushima Prime Minister Naoto Kan has informed the governor of Fukushima Prefecture of a plan to build a central storage plant to temporarily manage nuclear waste, including contaminated soil. At a meeting in Fukushima City on Saturday, Governor Yuhei Sato responded that he was troubled to hear about such a plan so suddenly. He asked the government to take responsible action, as the plan would be extremely serious for the prefecture and relevant municipalities that have suffered greatly from the nuclear accident. After the meeting, Kan told reporters that the government has no intention of making the plant a final facility. He said he needed to make the request in order to pave the way to begin carrying out decontamination. Sunday, August 28, 2011 02:15 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 28 2011, 01:46 AM Post #335 |
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Prince
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5 DPJ candidates explain their visions The five candidates running in the leadership race for the governing Democratic Party of Japan held a joint news conference at the National Press Club in Tokyo on Saturday. The winner of Monday's election is certain to become the next prime minister. The candidates are former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara; former Land and Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi; Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda; Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda; and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano. Maehara said the next government must do everything possible for the recovery of the disaster-hit areas and the handling of the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. He also said he will gradually decrease the country's reliance on nuclear energy. He said he wants to form a unity party so that the next government can come up with a strategy for the country's economic growth and diplomacy. Mabuchi said his government will tackle the Fukushima plant problem, which cannot be handled only by local efforts. He said he will fulfill his duty with determination and that he will create economic policies to overcome deflation. Kaieda said he knows best what to do with the nuclear plant problems because he has been involved since the beginning. He also said Japan must take the initiative on the global economy as there are concerns of increased instability. Noda said the next government must deal with economic growth and financial reforms. He said it must use reserve funds or introduce an economic package in a 3rd supplementary budget for this fiscal year to tackle the strong yen. Kano said the next government must consider reforming the tax system simultaneously with the social welfare system. He said a bill for that purpose must be compiled by next March. He also said he wants to unify the party. 398 DPJ Diet members, excluding 9 who have been disqualified, will cast ballots on Monday to choose the successor of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. The candidates will continue to lobby over the weekend as many party members are still undecided about who they will support. Sunday, August 28, 2011 02:15 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 28 2011, 02:04 AM Post #336 |
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Prince
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Hokkaido Elec. Power Co. to probe e-mail deception Hokkaido Electric Power Company admits that it urged employees to attend a symposium and express views in support of one of its nuclear energy projects. Officials from the utility, which covers Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, held a news conference on Friday about the 2008 symposium. The move comes after 2 other utilities in Japan admitted using similar forums to manipulate public opinion in favor of their nuclear projects. The symposium in Hokkaido was about a project involving plutonium-uranium oxide, or MOX, fuel at the Tomari nuclear power plant. The meeting was sponsored by the Hokkaido prefectural government and local governments of municipalities hosting the power plant. The utility said its public relations department sent out e-mails to nuclear power-related offices asking them to have as many people as possible attend the symposium and speak in favor of the MOX project. The company said it takes the case seriously, and that it will investigate how the public relations department came to take such action. It will also look into how many employees actually attended the symposium and the possible impact of any statements they made. Saturday, August 27, 2011 02:16 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 29 2011, 01:47 AM Post #337 |
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Prince
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Anger mounts in tsunami-hit areas over political power games![]() A family pray for victims of the tsunami and earthquake. AFP TOKYO — As Japan’s political elite readies for yet another leadership showdown on Monday, there is widespread anger about the Tokyo power games among survivors of the March 11 quake and tsunami disaster. Almost six months after the catastrophe, tens of thousands of people still live in crowded shelters and temporary homes, many mourning loved ones, fearful of radiation and without jobs, homes or a clear idea about their future. The government’s disaster response has drawn fierce criticism, forcing Prime Minister Naoto Kan to announce he will quit and setting off frantic jockeying among those eager to replace him at the ruling-party vote. “I’m disgusted with things over there,” said Ikuko Takita, who lives in a temporary home because the massive ocean wave took away her house in Ofunato, 420 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. “I feel like I’m watching events in another country,” said Takita, 60. Two years after the center-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) wrested power from the long-ruling conservatives promising a new style of people-first politics, she said: “I’m losing my hopes for the DPJ. “It looks like nothing will change, whoever becomes the next prime minister,” she told AFP by phone. The winner of Monday’s party ballot will become Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years—continuing a revolving-door leadership tradition where tearful resignations after about 12 months have become the rule. In Japan’s devastated northeast, many are crying out for a government that will take charge and change their lives for the better. Much of the tsunami rubble has been cleared, leaving vast empty mud fields, and fishing boats have again set out from hurriedly repaired ports to bring in the season’s first catches of tuna and other fish. But full recovery is expected to take years, and a glum mood has settled over towns where the displaced, their homes gone, endure quake aftershocks and are left worrying about the ongoing radiation crisis. “I feel like I’m still standing in the dark,” said Akio Ikuhashi, 61, who was forced to flee to Aizu, western Fukushima, because his house was located only three kilometres away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. “I didn’t do anything wrong, but I lost everything,” said Ikuhashi, who was made unemployed after the disaster and has since separated from his wife after the post-disaster stress took its toll on their marriage. “What will happen after Prime Minister Kan resigns?” he asked rhetorically, a sense of resignation in his voice. “Whatever happens will happen.” Shinji Sakuma, a Fukushima dairy farmer whose cows had to be slaughtered due to radioactive contamination fears, was furious about the politicians he sees as distant and disconnected from the reality of the disaster zone. “No way! Is this really the time for them to change the leadership without hearing from us?” said the 61-year-old. “I don’t care about who will be the next prime minister. Whoever it will be, please bring an end to the nuclear crisis and let us go home as soon as possible. That’s everybody’s view around here.” |
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| Audi-Tek | August 29 2011, 01:49 AM Post #338 |
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Prince
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5 candidates for PM promise to resolve nuclear crisis, revive economy TOKYO — The five candidates vying to become Japan’s next prime minister promised Sunday to resolve the country’s nuclear crisis and revive its battered economy, amid widespread public cynicism about a revolving door of leaders. Japan—which is set to see its sixth prime minister in five years—has fumbled recently to find leadership to tackle formidable challenges, including recovery from a massive earthquake and tsunami in March and the battle to bring a nuclear power plant sent into meltdown by the disasters under control. Even before the disasters hit, the nation was already ailing with serious problems such as an aging population and stagnant economy. None of the five candidates looking to replace Naoto Kan as prime minister is expected to win the needed majority 200 votes in balloting among legislators in the ruling Democratic Party in the first round of voting, set for Monday. If no one gets a majority, a run-off between the top two candidates would follow. The winner of the Democrats’ leadership vote is almost certain to become the nation’s next prime minister because the party controls the lower house of Parliament, which chooses Japan’s chief. Public interest has been stunningly low, underlining the rampant disenchantment with politics. A debate Sunday among the candidates was not carried live on any of the major TV networks. “In Japan these days, a prime minister who lasts even one year is a miracle,” said Minoru Morita, who has written several books on Japanese politics. He predicted more confusion ahead, including the ruling party possibly splitting in coming months. Japanese media reports said Sunday that Economy Minister Banri Kaieda, 62, had a slight lead over other candidates by securing the backing of the ruling party’s behind-the-scenes power broker, Ichiro Ozawa. But that could prove a pitfall in a run-off, as legislators may rally behind a rival to block Ozawa’s grip on power, according to Morita. Facing off against Kaieda are former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano and former Transport Minister Sumio Mabuchi. Maehara, 49, was initially considered the favorite until Kaieda won Ozawa’s backing. Maehara has technically violated election laws by accepting donations from foreigners—a problem that could bring him down if the opposition decides to pursue that in parliament. He stepped down as foreign minister earlier this year over that scandal. Legislators, therefore, may decide to support a relatively safe candidate such as Noda, said Morita. “Some lawmakers are extremely afraid of Mr Ozawa’s almost dictatorial power,” Morita told The Associated Press. Ozawa, 69, a veteran who began in the long-ruling and now opposition Liberal Democratic Party, is notorious for savvily engineering elections, sending novices to parliament, as well as dooming candidates to defeat. Ozawa is embroiled in a political funding scandal, though some say his trial is likely to end in acquittal, and his presence has hung like a shadow over the party leadership campaign. At Sunday’s debate at a Tokyo hotel, candidates appeared in agreement, all promising a revived Japanese economy and a resolution of the nuclear crisis in comments heavy on rhetoric but scant on concrete proposals. “I would like to use the recovery efforts in northeastern Japan as a springboard to achieve an overall revival of Japan,” Kaieda said, after invoking President John F Kennedy’s famous line about asking what you can do for your country, rather than what your country can do for you. No matter who wins, the new prime minister is expected to last barely a year because he would merely be serving out the term of Kan, who announced Friday that he would resign. Kan, 64, came to power in 2010 amid high hopes for his liberal and approachable persona. But by the time he stepped down, his popularity had plunged. Japanese are disappointed and frustrated by the apparent inept rule of the Democrats, who swept to power in 2009, ending a virtually continuous half-century rule by the Liberal Democrats and promising to help consumers, not just big business. Soichiro Tahara, who hosts TV shows and has authored books, noted that Ozawa remains a powerful shadow shogun and expressed doubts that the next prime minister will get much done. “Japan certainly isn’t headed to any bright future,” he said in a recent TV commentary. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 08:23 PM Post #339 |
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Prince
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Fukushima radiation spread as far as Romania Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear accident, which took place in Japan earlier this year, spread to most parts of the northern hemisphere, a new study shows. Rainwater and milk samples in Romania, a distance of over 10,000 km from Japan, contained traces of radioactive iodine in the days following the accident. The Fukushima nuclear disaster began on 11 March, with a series of equipment failures and nuclear meltdowns, following the magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami earlier in the day. It was the largest nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster and was assessed as level 7 (the highest level) on the International Nuclear Event Scale – a major accident with widespread health and environmental effects. So just how far did the radioactive plume travel? On the 27 March Romul Mărgineanu, from the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH) in Romania, and colleagues, began to collect samples of rainwater from Braşov and Slănic-Prahova. And on 5 April they also started to collect samples of sheep and goat's milk from the same regions. The samples were all taken to the IFIN-HH's underground laboratory at the Unirea salt mine in Slănic-Prahova, for analysis. Inside this ultra-low radiation environment the levels of iodine131 and caesium137 were measured, using a high resolution gamma-ray spectrometer. None of the samples contained caesium137 at detectable levels. However, iodine131 was present at up to 0.75 Bq per litre in rainwater, and up to 5.2 Bq per litre in milk. "The level of I-131 in sheep and goat milk was higher than in rain water due to bioaccumulation," explains Mărgineanu. "Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a toxic substance – chemical or radioactive – at a rate greater than that at which the substance is lost." Such levels were two to three orders of magnitude below any intervention limits, for example the limit set for drinking water in Japan was 300 Bq per litre for adults and children and 100 Bq per litre for infants. In this case weather conditions played a role in keeping the radiation levels low. In the weeks following the accident Romania only experienced very light rain; had the rain been heavier more radiation may have been precipitated out. The results are published in Environmental Research Letters. Without a doubt, the findings demonstrate that the Fukushima radioactive plume travelled over 10,000 km, and suggest that detectable levels of radiation reached almost all parts of the northern hemisphere. "Obviously, the lesson we have to learn from nuclear accidents, either minor or major, is that we have to improve safety conditions and to come up with new solutions which have to cope with the identified new risks," said Mărgineanu. And indeed this is exactly what seems to be occurring now, with most countries reassessing the safety of their nuclear power plants in light of the accident. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 08:37 PM Post #340 |
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Prince
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Radioactive Cesium Found In Wide Areas Around Japan Fukushima Plant Published August 30, 2011 TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- The first comprehensive survey of soil contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant showed that 33 locations spread over a wide area have been contaminated with long-lasting radioactive cesium, complicating Japan's effort to clean up the disaster-hit region, the government said Tuesday. The survey of 2,200 locations within a 100-km radius of the crippled plant found that those 33 locations had cesium-137 in excess of 1.48 million becquerels per square meter, the level set by the Soviet Union for forced resettlement after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Another 132 locations had combined amount of cesium 137/134 over 555,000 becquerels per square meter, the level at which the Soviet authorities called for voluntary evacuation and imposed a ban on farming. Cesium 137 has a half life of 30 years, meaning that its radioactive emissions will decline only by half after 30 years and affect the environment over several generations. Cesium 134 is considered somewhat less of a long-term problem because it has a half-life of two years. The Health and Labor Ministry separately said that it may again lower the radiation exposure limit for workers at the plant from 250 millisieverts per year to 100 millisieverts, a level that is applied to other nuclear plants in Japan in emergency situations. The higher level had been set in March as an emergency level only for workers at Fukushima Daiichi. On Tuesday, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO) said that a 40-year-old worker died of acute leukemia after working for seven days at the plant. The amount of cumulative radiation exposure of the worker was 0.5 millisievert, far below the legal limit. Tepco said that his death is unlikely to be related to his work at the plant. Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 08:47 PM Post #341 |
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Prince
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Made-in-Fukushima products still shunned amid radiation fears![]() A product's surface is measured for radiation at a free service in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. (The Asahi Shimbun) After struggling for months to repair production lines hammered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, a Saitama Prefecture-based maker of plastic containers threw in the towel. The damage had been overcome at its plant in Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, one of the company's main production centers. But it could not cope with consumer fears that its products, including lunch boxes, were contaminated with radiation spewed from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. "It will be difficult to restart the plant until the nuclear accident comes to an end," said a company official. However, the nuclear crisis will continue for at least a few more months. Radiation fears in Japan and overseas show no signs of abating. And the central government has yet to act on calls from Fukushima Prefecture to establish industrial safety standards that could help prevent "groundless rumors" from devastating the bottom lines of local manufacturers. "Under the current situation, we find it very difficult to assert that a product is safe if even the slightest trace of radiation is detected," a Fukushima prefectural government official said. "We hope the central government will set clear radiation safety standards (for industrial products) and take steps to make the safety (of Fukushima products) known to audiences both at home and abroad." The Saitama company decided not to retart the plant because demand has plummeted for its products, especially those used to contain food. The maker has transferred operations to other factories and reassigned more than 100 workers. Without any safety guidelines for industrial products, local companies are trying to reassure customers by displaying the results of radiation tests on their products. But their efforts are not paying off. From March 11, when the nuclear crisis started, to Aug. 24, manufacturers in Fukushima Prefecture lost at least 30 business deals because of radiation fears, the prefectural association of commerce and industry said. According to the association's reports, some clients threatened to scrap business transactions with Fukushima manufacturers that did not relocate their production facilities further away from the 30- to 50-kilometer radius of the stricken nuclear power plant. Others asked manufacturers to measure radiation levels on the materials they used. One manufacturer in the prefecture reported that online orders for its products from the Kanto area around Tokyo have dried up. The reluctance to buy products made in the disaster areas is regarded as a form of "rumor-caused damage," which is eligible for compensation, according to criteria set by a government-appointed panel to settle disputes over compensation for the nuclear accident. However, the criteria are not legally binding. And the actual decisions on compensation in such cases are left to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima plant, which is already struggling under a mountain of compensation claims. Since April, Fukushima Prefecture, the Tohoku regional bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the municipal governments of Fukushima, Iwaki and Minami-Soma, where many factories are located, have been offering free radiation measuring services. Products submitted by companies are checked for radiation at six facilities. So far, the products of about 860 companies have been tested. The companies receive official reports on the measurements that can be shown to their customers. There has not been a single case in which the radiation level on the surface of a product far exceeded the level at the measurement site, according to the Fukushima prefectural government. The Food Sanitation Law sets safety standards concerning radiation levels for vegetables and other farm products, seafood and drinking water. The law empowers the government to suspend shipments of such products or impose restrictions on their consumption. But there are no such safety standards for industrial products, and the government cannot ban their shipments. The European Union in April advised its member countries to carry out radiation checks on industrial products imported from Japan, according to the Cabinet Office. But there has been no notable movement to establish radiation regulations for industrial products in Japan. The industry ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said that setting such safety regulations for exports, imports and domestic distribution of all kinds of industrial products would be a herculean task. "Since industrial products are used in a wide variety of ways--some are used in contact with human skin while others are buried under the ground--it would take a lot of time to set separate standards for each product category," a NISA official said. Fukushima Prefecture is home to many manufacturers of such products as information and telecommunications equipment, electronic parts and auto parts. The prefecture's shipments of industrial products were worth 4.725 trillion yen ($61.58 billion) in 2009, the largest figure among the six prefectures in the Tohoku region, according to the industry ministry. Shipments from Fukushima Prefecture in 2010 were expected to grow to around 5.4 trillion yen as local industries were recovering from the global recession triggered by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008. However, the disaster struck, and the prefecture's industrial shipment index plunged to 86.1 in June from 100.6 in February. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 08:49 PM Post #342 |
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Prince
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Experts say Fukushima residents should have taken iodine tablets People living near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant should have taken iodine tablets to protect them from radioactive fallout, according to a member of an advisory panel of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan. Gen Suzuki, who heads a clinic at the International University of Health and Welfare, told a meeting of the Japanese Association for Medical Management of Radiation Accident (JAMMRA) in Saitama on Aug. 27 that 40 percent of people tested for internal exposure to radiation may have needed iodine tablets. The Japanese government has not instructed any residents to take iodine tablets since the start of the nuclear crisis. "Reviewing the results of external radiation exposure tests on residents (conducted on March 17 and 18, several days after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake), I believe they should have taken iodine tablets at least once," he said. Breathing and eating is believed to have exposed the thyroid glands of people living close to the stricken plant to relatively high levels of radioactive iodine, but iodine-131--which has a half-life of eight days--is the only iodine that has been measured in internal radiation tests because it has a long life compared with other iodines. Yoshio Hosoi, professor of Hiroshima University, said exposure to shorter-lived iodines should be taken into account. "Even iodine-132, which has a half-life of only two hours, needs to be considered (as a substance to be measured)," Hosoi said. According to a March 16 analysis on the air outside a 30-kilometer radius of the plant, radioactive iodine-132 and substances that would turn into iodine-132 in about three days accounted for at least 70 percent of airborne radiation. The analysis was conducted by RIKEN, an independent administrative institution on scientific research, and other organizations. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 08:56 PM Post #343 |
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Prince
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REBUILDING THE FUTURE: As reconstruction sputters, urban planners step up: Miyagi, Japan It's been five months since the Great East Japan Earthquake ravaged many of the towns and villages of Tohoku, but serious discussions about future reconstruction and revitalization appear to be stuck in bureaucratic quicksand. In other words, very little progress has been made to get things moving forward. Approximately 980 people were reported either dead or missing from the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture. Still now, nearly half a year after the quake, the town remains littered with rubble and is eerily quiet due to a dearth of people. Call it a modern-day "ghost town." Bunichi Miura, 57, was back operating his gasoline station two days after the earthquake. He is growing increasingly impatient. "With no prospect of revival in sight, residents are steadily leaving the town," he complained. "There is no one left to talk to about what kind of town we should work at rebuilding." Meanwhile, urban planning experts from abroad are focusing their attention on helping rebuild stricken areas of the Tohoku region. Yoshihiro Hiraoka, a professor in the Faculty of Project Design at Miyagi University, and researchers and graduate students from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with whom he is connected, went to Minamisanriku and began efforts aimed at creating proposals for reconstruction. Shun Kanda, a professor at MIT who came to the town in mid-July, is considering a five-year reconstruction plan. "In recent years, large-scale natural disasters have been occurring all over the world, and how to reconstruct and revive afflicted areas has become a major topic of discussion among urban planning specialists," Kanda said. "I would like to propose building a community where people come together naturally that is created by local residents and not left up to the government." On July 24, Harvard University lecturer Miho Mazereeuw and her students, who had been living in Minamisanriku for about two months, presented a plan containing their revitalization ideas to local residents. The plan was full of options, including new locations for communities, fisheries facilities and other town functions. It was based on careful research into the town's history, industrial base, culture and other characteristics, and also took into consideration factors such as the types of trees dotting the landscape and the kind of fish that could be caught in the bay. Masami Chiba, 55, a fisherman who interacted with Mazereeuw, said, "I am most happy with the fact that the people who came from overseas researched the history of the area and listened to the voices of the local people." In July, the Miyagi Prefectural Government announced its second blueprint for revitalization, which incorporated reconstruction plans for various places within the prefecture. However, Chiba felt "both the national and prefectural governments say they will reflect the wishes of local residents in their plans, but in the end they are put together in a top-down manner." Chiba, who lost both his house and oyster farm to the tsunami and is now living in temporary housing, said, "I can live a little longer in these temporary conditions if the plan (for reconstruction) is one that can provide some hope." Progress in discussions about town reconstruction is influenced by conditions in local areas. According to a representative from a volunteer organization who started working in the stricken area immediately after the earthquake: "Compared with Iwate Prefecture, the damage in Miyagi is significantly greater. There are even some towns and villages that have had their local government offices washed completely away. Because of such differences, we are seeing discrepancies in the speed of reconstruction. |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 09:01 PM Post #344 |
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Prince
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Simulation shows radiation may have reached 15 prefectures![]() A simulation map indicates areas where cesium-137 from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant fell from March 11 to March 29. High levels are marked in red. (Provided by Toshimasa Ohara) Radioactive iodine and cesium from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant likely spread across a wide area encompassing Tohoku, Kanto and parts of Chubu, according to a simulation by the National Institute for Environmental Studies. The results of the study are expected to provide a basis for information used in decontamination efforts and other quake-related projects. "The simulation data does not necessarily reflect actual measurements," said Toshimasa Ohara, head of the institute's Center for Regional Environmental Research. "We want the data to be used as reference figures and indicators of where to measure radiation levels, especially in areas where the results indicate high levels." Taking into account weather conditions, such as wind directions and rainfalls, Ohara estimated the amount of nuclear substances from the plant that had fallen on the ground and in nearby waters from March 11, when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, until March 29, the date the radiation fallout was believed to have mostly eased off. The results indicate the possibility that 13 percent of leaked iodine-131 and 22 percent of released cesium-137 fell on soil in 15 prefectures. Cesium-137 was estimated at high levels in spots scattered across a broad area, including Shizuoka, Nagano and Niigata prefectures. In early May, the science ministry published the results of the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI) to estimate the spread of radiation from the plant. Many of SPEEDI's radiation monitoring locations recorded values close to the ones estimated by Ohara's simulation project. But the SPEEDI measurements were largely limited to an area close to the plant. After radioactive cesium was detected in tea leaves in Shizuoka, Kanagawa and other prefectures, calls from the public intensified for assessments covering a much wider area. The simulation map can be found on the National Institute for Environmental Studies' website in Japanese at (http://bit.ly/qImVbY). |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 09:05 PM Post #345 |
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Prince
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Bland Noda the next 'ordinary prime minister'![]() Yoshihiko Noda bows after being elected president of the Democratic Party of Japan on Aug. 29. (Teruo Kashiyama) Even Yoshihiko Noda, who is set to become Japan's next prime minister, has described himself as bland. Noda, 54, was elected president of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan on Aug. 29, winning a runoff against economy minister Banri Kaieda, 62, who was supported by party heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa. Noda will be chosen prime minister in a Diet session on Aug. 30. He will be Japan's sixth leader in five years. Despite Noda's rise to the pinnacle of Japanese politics, even his close allies acknowledge that charisma is not his strong point. "He will not lead to a spike in TV ratings," said a smiling Yoshio Tezuka, 44, a Lower House member who belongs to the DPJ group headed by Noda. But Tezuka explained why members of the Noda group are so loyal to their leader. "After I lost in the 2005 Lower House election and was in a state of despair, he met me in a bar in Tokyo two days later and listened to my complaints," Tezuka said. In the September issue of the monthly magazine Bungei Shunju, Noda laid out his vision of government. The future prime minister also admitted he was far from Mr. Excitement, writing, "I am, so to speak, an ordinary man." Noda was born in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, to a father who was a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force and a mother whose family operated a farm. His first encounter with politics came when he was a student at Waseda University in Tokyo. He put up campaign posters for what was then the New Liberal Club. At that time, he looked up to writer Takashi Tachibana, who broke the story about the shady financial ties of then Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. Noda wanted to become a journalist like Tachibana, and he was even offered a job at a major media organization. However, he changed his career plans when he saw an advertisement for the opening of Matsu(censor)a Seikei Juku, an institute of government and management founded by Panasonic Corp. founder Konosuke Matsu(censor)a. In 1980, Noda joined the first class at the institute. Among his colleagues were Ichiro Aisawa, 57, a Lower House member with the Liberal Democratic Party, and Yasutomo Suzuki, 53, mayor of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. After serving two terms in the Chiba prefectural assembly, Noda ran in the 1993 Lower House election under the Japan New Party banner and won his first term. He moved to Shinshinto (New Frontier Party), but in the 1996 Lower House election, when single-seat districts were introduced, Noda lost in the No. 4 district by just 105 votes to an LDP opponent. One reason for Noda's defeat was the split in the opposition vote because Takayuki Kojima also ran. Kojima's son Yoshio is a comedian known for prancing around on TV programs in tight swimming trunks. Noda made a comeback in the 2000 Lower House election with the DPJ and has never looked back. Although he ran in the DPJ presidential election in 2002 when he was 45, few people seem to remember his campaign. He poked fun at himself at that time, saying the seal Tama-chan, seen swimming in the Tamagawa river, was more well-known to the public. A mid-level lawmaker said of Noda: "He uses polite language even to his aides. While that makes him likable to party elders and those in the opposition parties, he is also considered someone easy to manipulate because he is so humble." Noda served as senior vice minister under Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii after the DPJ won the 2009 Lower House election and took control of the government. Although he gained exposure after becoming finance minister under Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Noda still could not erase his bland image. He is proud of the fact that he has been giving speeches in front of train stations in Chiba Prefecture over the past 24 years. "If you want to study English near a train station, go to Nova. But if you want to hear a speech near a train station, that would be Noda," he said at an Aug. 18 speech in a Chiba hotel, referring to a now-defunct English conversation school chain. When he was asked about his plans to form a grand coalition with the LDP and New Komeito, Noda used the title of a popular TV drama of yesteryear, saying, "I will propose to the two parties 101 times." Holding a black belt in judo, Noda loves to watch bouts involving the fighting arts. A DPJ source said Noda often took reporters with him when he was DPJ Diet Affairs Committee chairman to watch pro wrestling matches. His appearance indicates that he loves to eat and drink. While some say he has slimmed down since becoming finance minister, there are also confirmed reports that Noda's dietary habits are similar to that of middle-aged salaried workers, with a typical night involving a meal at a Korean barbecue restaurant, followed by drinks at a number of izakaya bars, topped off with a bowl of ramen noodles. He has also been seen with his aide and security personnel shoveling down a beef bowl at a chain restaurant. His elder son is in his second year at medical school at a national university while his second son attends a private high school in Tokyo. His wife, Hitomi, is six years younger. Local sources said she was an ordinary homemaker. Even when her husband was busy running in the DPJ presidential election, she continued with her volunteer work in the disaster areas of the Tohoku region. His bland personality and personal magnetism felt by those close to him make Noda similar in many ways to another prime minister who was first described as "cold pizza"--Keizo Obuchi. Before his sudden death in 2000, Obuchi of the LDP saw his public support ratings rise after becoming prime minister because of his personality. Noda will likely also inherit another term used to describe Obuchi: "the ordinary prime minister." |
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| Audi-Tek | August 30 2011, 09:21 PM Post #346 |
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Prince
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Officially Declared Nuclear Nightmare Dr. Mark Sircus, Contributing Writer Nothing good about the nuclear news at the end of August as we have official recognition (finally) of what is going on in Japan and thus what is threatening the rest of the world, especially the northern hemisphere. It is now being said that the amount of radioactive cesium that has leaked from a tsunami-hit nuclear plant is about equal to 168 of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II, Japan’s nuclear agency said Friday the 26th. That’s like dropping one nuclear weapon a day since the beginning of this disaster and this is what they have been calling safe, no problem, don’t worry about it, go home and go to sleep. Dr. Chris Busby tells us in the above video that he himself went to Japan with very sophisticated equipment and found areas in Tokyo that were 1,000 times higher than the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. The report said the damaged plant has released 15,000 tera becquerels of cesium-137, which lingers for decades and could cause cancer, compared with the 89 tera becquerels released by the U.S. uranium bomb. Now tell me who in their right mind would be comfortable being downwind of that? The answer to that one is very tragic and sad—millions are too comfortable and many more millions are simply unaware because they are not being told by their governments or the mainstream press. But today that finally changes! A person can still squirm around this one with all their rationalizations, but you can now count them—each nuclear explosion worth of radiation being pumped into the environment day after day after day. The National Institute for Environmental Studies said its simulation of aerial flow, diffusion and deposition of the two isotopes released from the tsunami-hit plant showed their impact reached most of Japan’s eastern half, ranging from Iwate in the north to Tokyo and central prefecture (state) of Shizuoka. Both Iwate and Shizuoka are more than 180 miles (300 kilometers) away from the plant. Tokyo is Finished Time is running out for the 35 million people in the Tokyo metropolitan area and, in fact, in a year or two all of northern Japan will become quite uninhabitable for there is no way for them to stop the process once the fissioning materials work their way down into the earth and the water table below, which they have already done. (See my recent essay “The China Syndrome”.) As radiation levels rise, some sanity has surfaced in Japan as the government lowered back down the radiation exposure limits for children to below one millisievert per year while at school. Following the accident, in a move that prompted outrage, Japan raised the exposure limit for both adults and children from one to 20 millisieverts per year, matching the maximum exposure level for nuclear industry workers in many countries. Parents in Fukushima have since been calling on the government to lower limits at school, claiming that children face a higher risk from radiation-linked cancers and other diseases than adults, which of course is absolutely true. Radiation experts agree that children are at greatest risk from cancers and genetic defects because they are still growing, are more prone to thyroid cancers, and because they will have more time to develop health defects. The news services continue to misrepresent the situation. “Areas surrounding Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could remain uninhabitable for decades,” Reuters reported, when in reality it will be thousands of years at best. A brutal way of saying this is that the nuclear lobby is, all by itself, proving to be the undoing of the human race. But the British are still going to sing hail to the queen and the royal family, who are deeply wed to the uranium industry. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex “is still leaking low levels of radiation,” when it is still leaking high levels of radiation. “It could take more than 20 years before residents could safely return to areas with current radiation readings of 200 millisieverts per year, and a decade for areas at 100 millisieverts per year.” Someone is having a nuclear wet dream with these assumptions. Too many have swallowed hook, line and sinker the “safe, low-level, no harm, nothing to worry about” pronouncements in the press, so much so that they actually believe it. Humanity is stuck with Fukushima and all by itself it will badly pollute the north and, perhaps after some time, the south of our world as well. video link ..... http://youtu.be/dmwfKDllHMU Newly released neutron data from three University of California San Diego scientists confirms Fairewinds’ April analysis that the disaster continues to contaminate the surrounding environment and upper atmosphere with large doses of radioactivity. In a new revelation, the NRC claims that the plutonium found more than one mile offsite actually came from inside the nuclear reactors! If such a statement were true, it indicates that the nuclear power plant containments failed and were breached with debris landing far from the power plants themselves. The bad idea of burning the radioactive materials (building materials, trees, lawn grass, rice straw) by the Japanese government will cause radioactive cesium to spread even further into areas within Japan that have been previously clean and across the Pacific Ocean to North America. Until very recently we in the West were considered barbarians by the Japanese. Perhaps when they burn these materials, knowing where some of that radiation is going, they are thinking of the old days. The real point here is that we are in trouble—serious trouble and we have not even begun to deal with this in our minds or hearts. We let the politicians lead us and now we see how high the price for that will go. Governments Do Not Serve the People Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced his resignation. Mr. Kan has been criticized for failing to show leadership after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and ensuing nuclear crisis. The 64-year-old’s resignation had been widely expected, and comes amid tumbling public support. Kan is responsible more than anyone else for the government’s actions. As the disaster continues to unfold through the months and years to come it would not surprise me if Kan is shamed to the point of being invited to commit ritual suicide in Japanese fashion for his betrayal of the Japanese people. Early on in the disaster, Toshiso Kosako, a Tokyo University professor, became senior nuclear adviser to Kan, then quickly resigned saying the government had ignored his advice and failed to follow the law, and had only taken ad hoc measures to contain the crisis at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. The Japanese government has yet to grasp the severity of the contamination within Japan, and therefore has not developed a coherent plan to protect its people from harm. Some say that without a cohesive plan, the radioactivity will continue to spread throughout Japan and around the globe further, but then again we might have to face the reality that there is nothing governments and industry can do now to mitigate the disaster. Are People Dying Already? I have already reported on increasing death rates for children under one year of age both on the east and west coasts of America and in western Canada. Some authorities have been bragging and waggling about the lack of deaths from this overblown disaster. But anyone who believes the authorities about anything these days needs to have his head examined. A Japanese medical doctor recently sent me a translation of a blog in Japanese that talked about someone who lost three of his colleagues in two days. His translation stated that, “They were all involved in moving cars out of the evacuated areas early on at the request of evacuated families before the area became restricted. They were 32, 34, and 44, and first two died on August 9 and the third on August 10, all of heart attacks. (Not sure if it was really heart attacks or arrhythmia, since there was no autopsy done and the bodies were cremated.) There has been a middle-aged woman who was involved in a pet rescue, and she died of acute leukemia about a week after diagnosis in early August. She went to Fukushima at least once to pick up her relative’s dog that had been rescued, and she has a lot of family from Fukushima, so she might have been exposed to radioactive particles carried by those who had been exposed. She also seemed like the type of person who did not have good health to begin with.” It is like vaccine deaths—so many of the sudden-infant and shaken-baby deaths can be blamed on anything but the real cause, which stems from the totally obnoxious toxins in vaccines. With the multiple vaccines given to children today, for them it’s like stepping into a boxing ring and having a hailstorm of punches delivered to their vulnerable young bodies. Video link ...... http://vimeo.com/28014740 |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 12:24 AM Post #347 |
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Prince
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TEPCO finds possibly active faults near Fukushima Tokyo Electric Power Company suspects there are 5 active faults near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that could affect the crippled plant if they cause a tremor. TEPCO made the discovery after the Japanese government requested utilities and nuclear agencies to reexamine faults around nuclear plants. The directive followed a strong earthquake on April 11th from a fault thought to be inactive, 50 kilometers from the Fukushima plant. TEPCO said on Tuesday that geological deformations were observed for the first time at 5 faults, suggesting they are active. The utility will continue drilling to investigate the conditions, though the firm believes any tremors would be within the quake-resistance standard. Besides TEPCO, two nuclear agencies reported 9 faults near their nuclear facilities in Ibaraki Prefecture that could be active. Wednesday, August 31, 2011 06:16 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 12:26 AM Post #348 |
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Prince
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Radiation limit to be lowered for Fukushima staff Japan's health ministry will restore the cumulative radiation exposure limit for emergency workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to the original 100 millisieverts this autumn. The current limit is 250 milisieverts. The ministry raised the exposure limit soon after the nuclear accident in March to secure enough time for workers at the plant to bring the situation under control. At a news conference on Tuesday, Health Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa said he wants to return the legal limit to the previous level by autumn. The ministry says 103 workers who started at the plant just after the accident have been exposed to cumulative radiation of more than 100 millisieverts. But it says all staff who began work from April on have been exposed to less than 100 millisieverts. Based on the reduced exposure, the ministry has concluded that there is no longer a need to maintain the higher provisional radiation limit. Tuesday, August 30, 2011 13:52 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 12:31 AM Post #349 |
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Prince
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Paddy decontamination method tested Japanese researchers have begun testing a method for removing radioactive substances from paddies in an evacuation zone near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The National Agriculture and Food Research organization is conducting the test in Iitate Village, more than 30 kilometers northwest of the troubled plant, at the request of the government. On Tuesday, the researchers used a power shovel at a paddy to break up about 3 centimeters of surface soil that had been hardened with a solidifier. The soil was then collected using a vacuum hose. The researchers are to check the remaining soil for radiation to determine the effectiveness of the method. Before the test, the level of radioactivity at the paddy was 12,000 becquerels per kilogram of soil, or more than double the limit at which planting is prohibited. The head of the researchers said they will analyze data from the test to determine whether the method can be used to help resume farming in the area. Tuesday, August 30, 2011 18:22 +0900 (JST) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 08:40 PM Post #350 |
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Prince
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Japan earthquake 'increases likelihood of Tokyo disaster' The likelihood of a massive earthquake directly beneath Tokyo has significantly increased thanks to the March 11 disaster in northern Japan. Scientists at the Tokyo Earthquake Research Institute said there was evidence that pressures on the tectonic plates that meet below the city have changed, raising the possibility of two or more focal points on the plate boundaries shifting simultaneously. That would result in an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3, they estimate. And while that magnitude is smaller than the level-9 quake that struck of the northeast coast of Japan nearly six months ago, the impact on a densely populated and built-up area could be catastrophic. "We estimate that 10,000 people would die and the economic loss would be around $1 trillion," Naoshi Hirata, a researcher at the institute, told The Daily Telegraph. That estimate may be on the conservative side, however, given that around 18,000 people died in the March 11 earthquake and the tsunami that it triggered. "Even before March, we estimated that there was a 70 per cent likelihood of a major earthquake affecting Tokyo at any time within the next 30 years," said Hirata, who is also a member of the government's Earthquake Research Committee. "That is a very high probability and effectively means that there will be a major disaster here, although we cannot at the moment make a more accurate prediction of when it might strike," he said. "All we can say is that individuals, companies, schools and the national and local governments should be prepared," he said. The scientists found that the March earthquake has had an affect on all the plates that sit beneath the Japanese islands, one of the most seismically active regions of the world, while there has also been a steep increase in the number of earthquakes since March, both those large enough to be felt by humans and those that can only be detected by seismic instruments. Residents of Tokyo would usually expect to feel one or two earthquakes a month, but that has risen to an average of six a month. Since March 11, there have been more than 500 tremors felt across Japan. The last major earthquake to strike Tokyo was in September 1923, when the magnitude 7.9 Great Kanto Earthquake rattled eastern Japan for 10 minutes and led to the deaths of as many as 140,000 people. Edited by Audi-Tek, August 31 2011, 08:45 PM.
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 08:48 PM Post #351 |
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Prince
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Japan and earthquakes in numbers Japan has suffered from earthquakes for centuries. Here is a guide by numbers: 140,000 people killed in Tokyo and surrounding regions in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake 2.5 miles beneath parts of Tokyo is the closest the fault line between two key tectonic plates is located beneath the capital 3 tectonic plates above which Tokyo sits: the Eurasian plate, the Philippine Sea plate and the Pacific plate Around 26 percent of Japan’s population resides in the Greater Tokyo region 6 earthquakes felt a month by Tokyo residents on average since March 11 quake — compared to one or two before. 684 — the year of the Great Hakuho Earthquake — the first recorded in Japan — whose 8.0 magnitude plus tremors triggered a large tsunami 186 miles from Tokyo is what’s known as the Boso Triple Junction — the exact spot where three tectonic plates meet 120 earthquakes hit Tokyo — then known as Edo — in the run up to the major 1855 Ansei Edo earthquake, claiming more than 6,000 lives 500 plus tremors have been felt across Japan since March 11 |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 08:54 PM Post #352 |
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Prince
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Life After Fukushima USC Researcher Studies Plants and Animals Affected by Japanese Nuclear Disaster Remember Fukushima? The nuclear disaster that befell Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power station following this spring’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami no longer dominates the headlines, at least in this country, but that doesn’t mean the crisis is over. Unknown quantities of contaminants were released during the Fukushima meltdown, and the failed reactors might still be emitting potentially dangerous contaminants to this day. Meanwhile, evidence suggests that some of the more volatile contaminants already out there might still be on the move, propelled this way and that by wind, rain and other seasonal weather patterns. Luckily, the scientific community doesn’t decide its course based solely on today’s headlines. The news cycle has moved on — at least for now — but researchers concerned with the disaster’s long term ecological and health impacts are just getting started. One of those researchers is University of South Carolina biologist Timothy Mousseau. Back in April, Free Times spoke with Mousseau about his ongoing research at Chernobyl, where he and French colleague Anders Moller have spent more than a decade studying the genetic effects of long-term radiation exposure on plants and animals living in the contaminated zone. At that time, Mousseau also expressed a keen interest in visiting Japan as quickly as possible to collect data about the ongoing disaster — data that could then be used in comparative studies with data he and Moller have already gathered in the Ukraine and Belarus. Last month, at the invitation of researchers from universities in Nagasaki and Fukushima, Mousseau and Moller (accompanied by scientists from Nagasaki University, the University of Tokyo and Fukushima University) visited the affected Japanese areas. During their weeklong trip — which was financed largely by German biotechnology firm Qiagen — Mousseau and company took readings and gathered samples of flora and fauna in the region. In the process, the longtime Chernobyl researcher also got a feel for the evolving situation on the ground in Japan, which he characterizes as very sensitive. “Things seem to be heating up even more in Japan as the realization concerning potential long-term impact sinks in with scientists and the general population,” Mousseau says. For the most [part] there’s a reluctance to discuss possible scenarios because of the potential for hysteria and the potential for panic. They want to avoid that.” “The bottom line is we had a significant event and it seems possible there will be significant health and environmental impacts down the road,” he goes on to explain. “The country is suffering from the tsunami issues, the earthquake issues, the energy crisis resulting from all these nuclear power plants being shut down. On top of all that, we have this other contamination issue lurking in the shadows. It hasn’t fully hit the public consciousness yet, but it will.” Mousseau is reluctant to discuss many of his team’s findings, citing not only the potential for misinterpretation or overreaction but also the relative uncertainty regarding the true levels of specific contaminants. The precise nature of those contaminants and how much impact they might have on the local ecology and local populations is still unclear. “It’s very clear that large quantities of radioactive cesium and iodine were released. That has been reported,” Mousseau explains. “What we’re still not entirely sure of is how much of these other less volatile materials were also released, including the strontium and uranium and some of the other materials that are heavier and less likely to be dispersed.” Mousseau’s primary research focuses on the long-term impacts of low-level radiation exposure in general — and how this can affect local plant and animal populations over time. By studying the aftermath of the Fukushima event alongside the aftermath of the event at Chernobyl, his team hopes to answer some of the more persistent questions concerning the mutagenic effects of long-term, low-level radiation exposure. Until now, Mousseau says, it has been somewhat difficult to determine which mutations at Chernobyl resulted from the event itself, which resulted from chronic acute exposure to contaminants over time and which are, in fact, the result of accumulated multi-generational exposure. “We haven’t really been able to address that because what we see in Chernobyl is 25 years later, which is at least 25 generations for most of the insects and birds,” he says. “With Japan, in terms of the birds and some of the plants, we can actually start to tease apart some of the direct effects of this first-generational exposure. In the case of the bird populations, we can also look at the birds’ parents and chart the changes from the pre-event population versus the post-event generation. We can start to disentangle these different effects from each other.” As he explains, the levels of radiation in some areas within the Chernobyl Zone are “relatively low — 10 to 100 times what you would find as natural background radiation.” “So how do you get the responses like we’ve seen at Chernobyl when the relative doses are so low?” Mousseau asks. “The answer may be that it’s not the acute exposure; it’s not the response in a single generation. It’s the fact that because the dose is low it doesn’t kill them. Many individuals actually survive to reproduce — with mutations that can be passed on to the next generation.” |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 08:57 PM Post #353 |
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Prince
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34 spots top Chernobyl evacuation standard![]() Soil at 34 spots in six Fukushima Prefecture municipalities has been contaminated with levels of radioactive cesium higher than the standard used for forcible evacuations after the Chernobyl disaster, it has been learned. According to a soil contamination map submitted at a study meeting of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, six municipalities recorded more than 1.48 million becquerels of cesium 137 per square meter--the standard used for forced resettlement after the 1986 Chernobyl accident. The 34 spots are in no-entry and expanded evacuation zones around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The data reinforces comments outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan made Saturday. "There's a possibility that residents of some areas will be unable to [return and] live there for a long period of time," he said. According to the survey, the six municipalities were Okumamachi, Futabamachi, Namiemachi, Tomiokamachi, Iitatemura and Minami-Soma. The ministry checked soil contamination levels in about 2,200 locations around the nuclear plant. The spot with the highest concentration of cesium 137 as of June 14--about 15.45 million becquerels per square meter--was in Okumamachi, a town in the heart of the no-entry zone. When levels of cesium 134 were added to the measurement, the level of the two radioactive isotopes reached about 29.46 million becquerels at that location. More than 3 million becquerels of cesium 137 were detected in 16 locations in Okumamachi, Futabamachi, Namiemachi and Tomiokamachi. The highly contaminated spots extend northwest from the nuclear plant. The survey was conducted to pinpoint levels of radiation exposure by residents in municipalities around the plant. (Aug. 31, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 08:58 PM Post #354 |
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Prince
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TEPCO announces compensation details The Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Electric Power Co. has announced compensation details to be paid to people affected by the crisis at the utility's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. TEPCO will pay 120,000 yen per month for causing psychological damage to residents forced to evacuate under the government's order, according to the criteria released Tuesday. It also stipulates methods to calculate transportation and accommodation fees for evacuated residents as well as payments for companies and people engaged in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries businesses. TEPCO expects between 400,000 and 500,000 households and companies will be eligible for the compensation. The utility plans to start accepting requests from Sept. 12 and begin payments in early October. The criteria were based on an interim guideline compiled on Aug. 5 by the government's Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation. On an individual level, TEPCO will pay: -- 5,000 yen per trip when the person evacuated within the prefecture. -- up to 8,000 yen per night for accommodation. -- 15,000 yen for each radiation screening test. -- difference in pre-crisis and current income. For example, if a family of four--a couple and two children--with a monthly salary of 270,000 yen before the crisis lost their jobs, were ordered to evacuate from their house to a school gym within the prefecture and then moved to a temporary housing unit, the family would receive 4.51 million yen for the period up to the end of August. To companies, schools, hospitals and agricultural, forestry and fishery businesses, TEPCO will pay compensation for business loss due to the evacuation, shipment bans as well as losses caused by harmful rumors. The compensation covers the period between March 11 and the end of August. Subsequent compensation requests will be accepted every three months. TEPCO will send an application form to people who will need to attach documentation to prove damages--such as an income-tax return, tax certificate or receipts--to the utility. TEPCO will make a payment after the deduction of temporary payments the utility paid to the requesting person. TEPCO has made temporary payments totaling 112.2 billion yen to about 150,000 people from 56,000 households and companies. To handle payments, TEPCO will increase the number of employees providing consultation and processing payments to 6,500--more than five times the current number--by October. A government organization to facilitate payment for nuclear-related damages will be established soon to cover the utility's compensation fund with delivery bonds. In return, TEPCO reimburses the contribution from its annual profit to the organization. TEPCO expects to pay about 200 billion yen a year. Meanwhile, there is no clear way to decontaminate soil in the affected area nor is there a way to determine the condition of radiation-contaminated property left in houses in the no-entry zone. Because of this, a TEPCO spokesperson said it is not clear how much the utility will have to pay or when the company will finish compensation payments. (Sep. 1, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 08:58 PM Post #355 |
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Prince
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Quake resistance work needed at 23,000 public school buildings The Yomiuri Shimbun Nearly 23,000 buildings at public primary and middle schools around the country, except for the three quake-hit prefectures in Tohoku, are not sufficiently earthquake resistant or have not been checked for earthquake resistance, the education ministry has said. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry announced recently the status of earthquake-resistance repairs and construction on public schools in Tokyo, Hokkaido and 42 other prefectures as of April 1. The ministry was unable to examine buildings in the three prefectures due to the aftermath of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake. The ministry earlier announced that all public primary and middle school buildings in the country will be earthquake resistant by the end of fiscal 2015. Out of 116,397 buildings, including main school buildings and gymnasiums, 22,911 buildings, or about 20 percent, are insufficient in terms of being earthquake resistant, or have had no earthquake-resistance examinations. Of those, 4,614 buildings were categorized as highly likely to collapse in an earthquake with an intensity of upper 6 or more, according to the ministry. Out of the 44 prefectures examined, 80.3 percent of buildings are equipped with sufficient earthquake resistance, up seven percentage points from one year ago, marking the largest ever year-on-year increase. While prefectures such as Shizuoka (98.2 percent), Kanagawa (97.7 percent) and Aichi (95.5 percent) have quite high earthquake-resistance retrofit rates, the figures were much lower in Hokkaido (69 percent) and six other prefectures such as Hiroshima (59.1 percent), Yamaguchi (61.7 percent) and Ibaraki (64.1 percent). There are 35 cities, including some ordinance-designated special cities, that have 100 or more buildings with insufficient earthquake resistance or had undergone no earthquake-resistance examinations. Kitakyushu had 460 such buildings, while Sapporo had 267. The 35 cities have 6,089 such buildings, or 27 percent of the 22,911 buildings. (Sep. 1, 2011) |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 09:13 PM Post #356 |
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Prince
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Nuclear reform will be uphill slog![]() Not good: Gray smoke rises March 21 from unit 3 of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. TEPCO/AP Reactor restart push seen conflicting with bid to create a true atomic watchdog The Washington Post In a bid to restore public confidence, the government has unveiled plans to reform the nuclear regulatory agency, separating it from the ministry in charge of promoting atomic power. But critics say it is only the first and easiest of many necessary reforms, and whether the additional changes are actually made will be a key test of Japan's willingness to transform the collusive government-industry culture that thrived before the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear emergency. The Cabinet's outline, released earlier this month, for creating a competent safety agency to replace the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency sets out several of the challenges. Too few people at the current agency know much about nuclear engineering, and agency officials parachute frequently into industry jobs, dissolving the border between regulator and operator. No matter the structural changes, experts say, the government can't establish a muscular agency without taking aim at these problems. But attempts to do so will draw resistance from the powerful Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which still determines energy policies, and from politicians who favor the traditional model of government-private sector cooperation. Already leaders in both the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party are pushing for a restart of the country's reactors, and Yoshihiko Noda, who won Monday's DPJ presidential race to replace Naoto Kan as prime minister, has shown Kan's reformist zeal. Critics fear that changes to the nuclear regulator will only go far enough to convince the public of improvements, but that they won't lead to a sweeping overhaul. The government has already decided against creating an independent agency to enforce safety, akin to the nuclear watchdogs in the U.S. and France. Instead, the new agency will be under the jurisdiction of the Environment Ministry, where the government says it is better-suited to communicate during a crisis under the guidance of a Cabinet minister. The Environment Ministry, though, has a history of favoring nuclear power, which it views as helping meet carbon dioxide targets. "The most important thing is that the top officials at the agency or the director of the agency should be independent from politics," said Tetsunari Iida, a former nuclear engineer who now directs the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies. The new regulatory body, tentatively named the Nuclear Safety and Security Agency, also has a personnel problem. The bureaucratic tradition calls for senior officials to shuffle between jobs every two or three years, undercutting any attempt to build expertise. NISA's departing director general, Nobuaki Terasaka, has switched positions six times in the past decade, handling everything from the budget to the gas industry. He has an economics degree. Among the existing NISA leaders during the current crisis, only one official, Koichiro Nakamura, who has a nuclear engineering degree from the University of Tokyo, warned publicly in the initial days of the crisis about the possibility of a meltdown. Nakamura's remarks came on March 12. He was soon reassigned. The lower levels of the watchdog agency are populated either by people who don't know much about the nuclear industry or by those who used to work for it. Even in April, NISA hired an employee from a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima No. 1 facility, and promptly assigned him to the troubled plant. METI official Shigeaki Koga said that those who don't have industry backgrounds often come to the agency as nuclear laymen; they receive their educations by going to the plants and receiving training from the operators. "It's a big national project" to build a new generation of experts, said Koga, a sharp critic of Japan's resistance to reform. "One of the difficult tasks will be how to select the top officials and managers." In its outline for the new agency, the Cabinet has called for a transformation of the "organizational culture" and suggested a "no-return-rule" to prevent transfers from the regulation side to the industry side and vice versa. It also suggests the creation of a nuclear safety training academy. But in the short term, the new agency will depend largely on the same officials now at NISA. "We will probably need to send people to the (U.S.) NRC and other regulatory bodies overseas to learn from them," Iida said. For outsiders, Japan's nuclear watchdog mechanism has long been a target for criticism, but such criticism has rarely led to action. After a 2007 earthquake hit the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture, resulting in a radiation leak, the International Atomic Energy Agency advised that Japan separate NISA from METI, the promoter of nuclear energy. The advice was ignored. In the wake of the March 11 disaster, both NISA and the Nuclear Safety Commission (a panel that audits and supervises NISA) have drawn criticism internationally for their failure to push for tsunami preparedness at the nuclear plants. More recently, officials at two power utilities described NISA's efforts to manipulate public opinion at symposiums in 2006 and 2007; the agency tried to mobilize attendees to speak out in favor of nuclear power — a sign of the regulator's willingness to drown out antinuclear voices. "The government wants to reactivate the reactors no matter what," Koga said. "And the underlying motivation for this new agency is to create an atmosphere to restart the reactors." |
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| Audi-Tek | August 31 2011, 10:25 PM Post #357 |
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Prince
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Radioactive cars to return to Japan Published 9:31 PM, 31 Aug 2011 A Russian judge has ordered the return to Japan of five used cars because they are radioactive, the Interfax news agency reports. Government inspectors in the Pacific port city Nakhodka found the cars' exteriors had been exposed to radioactive materials and were emitting unsafe levels of gamma and beta rays. It was not possible to determine how the cars had been irradiated, the report said. Russian border troops in June identified six vehicles emitting radiation at three to six times safe levels, and subsequently ordered their return to the Japanese port of Toyama. The used cars were part of a 170-vehicle shipment imported by a businessman on the Russian Pacific coast island of Sakhalin, according to news reports. Russia's government in March ordered intensified radiation checks of imported Japanese goods after an earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear power station. Japanese-made used cars are extremely popular in Russia's Far East because of their low price and the availability of spare parts |
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| Audi-Tek | September 1 2011, 08:45 PM Post #358 |
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Prince
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Nuclear Crisis - Radioactive Sewage (Fertilizer) In Japan Environmental experts in Japan are warning of a new nuclear crisis, and they say it can be blamed entirely on the government. Tests have revealed radiation in areas well outside the danger zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant. Video Link........ http://youtu.be/WxCeC0MZaZw |
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| Audi-Tek | September 1 2011, 08:47 PM Post #359 |
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Prince
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Thursday, Sep. 1, 2011 Tepco plans to flood reactors, extract fuel Kyodo Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that it plans to remove the melted nuclear fuel from inside the crippled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant after repairing the reactor containers and filling them with water. But the utility did not give further details, only saying the plan, unveiled during a meeting of a government panel on nuclear energy policy, is just "at a concept stage at the moment." The process is expected to start with the removal of radioactive substances inside the buildings housing the reactors, which would be followed by repair work on the primary containment vessels. Workers are then expected to fill each primary containment vessel with water to a level above the fuel and open the lid of the inner pressure vessel containing the fuel. Flooding the primary containment vessel with water is a method Tepco tried to employ in the past to cool the fuel in a stable manner, but it gave up such efforts as one container appeared to be leaking massive amounts of contaminated water that had been injected into the reactor. Tepco said it believes flooding the container is necessary before removing the fuel because water would help block radiation, allowing workers to pinpoint the position of the melted fuel. The process would take place without stopping the water currently being injected into the crippled reactor cores via a water circulation system created after the crisis started, Tepco said. But it noted it may have to seek alternatives because "advanced technological development" will likely be required. |
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| Audi-Tek | September 1 2011, 08:52 PM Post #360 |
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Prince
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Fukushima Is Continually Blasting All Of Us With High Levels Of Cesium, Strontium And Plutonium And Will Slowly Kill Millions For Years To Come Fukushima is now far and away the worst nuclear disaster in all of human history. Chernobyl was a Sunday picnic compared to Fukushima and the amount of cesium-137 released at Fukushima this year so far is equivalent to 168 Hiroshima bombs. The crisis at Fukushima is far, far worse than you have been told. We are talking about multiple self-sustaining nuclear meltdowns that will not be fully contained for years. In an attempt to keep people calm, authorities in Japan (and around the rest of the world as well) have lied and lied and lied. Over the months that have passed since the disaster began, small bits of the truth have slowly started to come out. Authorities are finally admitting that the area immediately surrounding Fukushima will be uninhabitable indefinitely, and they are finally admitting that the amount of radioactive material that has been released is far higher than initially reported. It is going to take the Japanese years to fully contain this problem. Meanwhile, Fukushima will continue to blast all of us with high levels of cesium, strontium and plutonium and will slowly kill millions of people around the globe for years to come. These days, the mainstream media does not talk about Fukushima much. The reality is that there have been a whole lot of other disasters for them to talk about. But just because Fukushima is a nightmare that is playing out in very slow motion does not mean that it does not deserve our full attention. To get an idea of just how nightmarish Fukushima has turned out to be, just consider the words of nuclear expert Steven C. Jones…. By way of comparison, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occured in 1986 in the Ukraine, Russia- heretofore the worst nuclear disaster on record- burned for 10 days and cumulatively killed an estimated 1 million people worldwide. The Fukushima, Japan nuclear disaster has 5 nuclear reactors burning, 2 in partial meltdown and 3 in full meltdown- and they’ve ALL been uncontrollably burning since March 11th. Its been over 3 months and this nuclear disaster remains completely out of control. In fact, some industry estimates cite the possibility that these meltdowns will be contained (optimistically) in 1-3 years, at the very earliest. The amount and intensity of the radioactive fallout from this particular nuclear disaster will assuredly kill hundreds of millions of people worldwide over time. Japan itself is, of course, the epicenter of this radioactive contamination that has spread out from these reactors. Keep in mind that radioactivity from the Chernobyl disaster deeply contaminated 77,000 square miles. So if Fukushima is many times worse, what does that mean for us? Just recently, authorities in Japan confessed that the amount of cesium-137 released by Fukushima is equivalent to 168 of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima. The following is a brief excerpt from a recent article in the Telegraph…. Japan’s government estimates the amount of radioactive caesium-137 released by the Fukushima nuclear disaster so far is equal to that of 168 Hiroshima bombs. I am no nuclear expert, but shortly after the Fukushima disaster began I postulated that much of northern Japan would be rendered uninhabitable by all of this radiation. Well, it turns out that authorities in Japan have finally reached the same conclusion. According to the New York Times, the Japanese government is acknowledging that large areas around the Fukushima nuclear facility may be uninhabitable for decades…. Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday. So what is the big deal? Unfortunately, most people do not have any concept of just how dangerous nuclear contamination can be. At this point, the vast majority of people living in the northern hemisphere have been exposed to radioactive material from Fukushima. We can’t see them, but radioactive particles can do an insane amount of damage. We can breathe them in, we can eat them in our food and we can even absorb them through our skin. Once trapped inside our bodies, these particles can slowly “bake” us for years and years. The following is from an opinion piece by Helen Caldicott in the Guardian…. Internal radiation, on the other hand, emanates from radioactive elements which enter the body by inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption. Hazardous radionuclides such as iodine-131, caesium 137, and other isotopes currently being released in the sea and air around Fukushima bio-concentrate at each step of various food chains (for example into algae, crustaceans, small fish, bigger fish, then humans; or soil, grass, cow’s meat and milk, then humans). [2] After they enter the body, these elements – called internal emitters – migrate to specific organs such as the thyroid, liver, bone, and brain, where they continuously irradiate small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha, beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years, can induce uncontrolled cell replication – that is, cancer. Further, many of the nuclides remain radioactive in the environment for generations, and ultimately will cause increased incidences of cancer and genetic diseases over time. One of the most dangerous radioactive elements being released at Fukushima is strontium. Strontium accumulates in the bones and in the teeth. It is also known to cause cancer in humans. It has been estimated that approximately 80 percent of the strontium that was released during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster entered the food cycle. Considering the vast amount of strontium that has been released at Fukushima, that is a very frightening statistic. The following is what NHK World recently had to say about the levels of strontium that are being found around Fukushima…. The utility detected up to 480 becquerels of radioactive strontium 90 per kilogram of soil. That’s about 100 times higher than the maximum reading recorded in Fukushima Prefecture following atmospheric nuclear tests carried out by foreign countries during the Cold War era. TEPCO reported detecting 2,800 becquerels of strontium 89 per kilogram of soil at the same location. Once you absorb strontium, it will stay in your bones for the rest of your life. Just consider what Dr. Russell Blaylock recently told Newsmax.… When we look at Chernobyl, most of West Germany was heavily contaminated. Norway, Sweden. Hungary was terribly contaminated. The radiation was taken up into the plants. The food was radioactive. They took the milk and turned it into cheese. The cheese was radioactive. That’s the big danger, the crops in this country being contaminated, the milk in particular, with Strontium 90. That radiation is incorporated into the bones and stays for a lifetime. So would you like to have radioactive material in your bones that affects your health for the rest of your life? It may have already happened to you and you wouldn’t even know it. Other deadly radioactive elements that are being released at high levels at Fukushima include iodine, cesium, uranium and plutonium. Large amounts of these radioactive particles have already been absorbed in the soil and in the water in the United States. Large amounts of these radioactive particles have also entered our food chain. As the years go by, a whole lot of Americans are going to get sick and die and they will never even know that it was Fukushima that caused it. Remember, just because you cannot see these radioactive particles does not mean that they aren’t incredibly deadly. Just check out what nuclear expert Steven C. Jones recently had to say about plutonium…. To give one an example of how lethal radiation is, one pound of plutonium evenly distributed into everyone’s lungs would kill every man, woman and child on Earth. There are literally “tons” of radioactive plutonium (among other radioactive elements) that have been released into the air and ocean environments since March 11th. Another critical fact to remember is that radioactive plutonium, for example, remains lethal (killing life) for thousands years as it has a half-life of 24,000 years. Some other radioactive elements such as uranium have a half-life of 4.47 billion years. That is the scary thing with many of these radioactive elements. Now that they have been released, many of them will be with us for as long as we live, for as long as our children live and for as long as our grandchildren live. Yes, things are much worse than you have been told. Up until now, the Japanese government has insisted that those living outside the 20 kilometer exclusion zone are safe. But is that really the case? According to Reuters, Greenpeace has found incredibly high levels of radiation at schools up to 60 km away….. Greenpeace said on Monday that schools and surrounding areas located 60 km (38 miles) from Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power plant were unsafe for children, showing radiation readings as much as 70 times internationally accepted levels. In addition, a recent Japan Times article noted that high levels of cesium have been discovered at 42 incineration plants in seven different prefectures in Japan…. High levels of cesium isotopes are cropping up in dust at 42 incineration plants in seven prefectures, including Chiba and Iwate, an Environment Ministry survey of the Kanto and Tohoku regions shows. Also, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal stated that incredibly high levels of cesium-137 have been found up to 100 km away from the Fukushima nuclear facility…. The first comprehensive survey of soil contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant showed that 33 locations spread over a wide area have been contaminated with long-lasting radioactive cesium, the government said Tuesday. The survey of 2,200 locations within a 100-kilometer (62-mile) radius of the crippled plant found that those locations had cesium-137 in excess of 1.48 million becquerels per square meter, the level set by the Soviet Union for forced resettlement after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Japanese authorities said. Remember that Tokyo is only about 250 km away from the Fukushima nuclear facility. So what happens if high levels of cesium start showing up in Tokyo? According to some sources, things have already gotten very serious in Tokyo. Dr. Chris Busby recently traveled to Japan with some very sophisticated testing equipment and found one sample in Tokyo that had levels of radioactivity that were higher than the exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl during that nuclear disaster. But things are much worse for those living much closer to Fukushima. High levels of cesium have been detected in the urine and in the breast milk of those living in the region surrounding the facility. All over the area there are reports of people coming down with the symptoms of radiation sickness. The truth is that the “evacuation area” should be far, far larger than it is now. Just consider what Mike Adams of Natural News recently had to say about what recent tests have shown…. One soil sample taking 25 kilometers away from Fukushima showed Cesium-137 exceeding 5 million becquerels per square meter. This level, of course, makes it uninhabitable by humans, yet both the Japanese and U.S. governments continue to downplay the whole event, assuring their sheeple that there’s nothing to worry about. By their logic, since all the people are sheeple anyway, as long as the area is safe enough for sheep, it’s also safe enough for the human population. A lot of people in Japan are going to die, and frustrations are rising. According to an article in The Independent, a lot of Japanese feel totally abandoned by their government at this point…. It is the fate of people outside the evacuation zones, however, that causes the most bitter controversy. Parents in Fukushima City, 63km from the plant, have banded together to demand that the government do more to protect about 100,000 children. Schools have banned soccer and other outdoor sports. Windows are kept closed. “We’ve just been left to fend for ourselves,” says Machiko Sato, a grandmother who lives in the city. “It makes me so angry.” But just because you don’t live in Japan does not mean that you are not in danger. The Fukushima nuclear facility sits right on the Pacific Ocean. When nuclear material gets released into the air at Fukushima, the first time much of it will encounter land is when it reaches the United States. Also, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of tons of highly radioactive water has been released into the Pacific Ocean at Fukushima. What this is going to do to our oceans nobody knows for sure. But according to the Los Angeles Times, the seawater near Fukushima has been found to be incredibly radioactive…. Tokyo Electric Power Co. had said Tuesday that it had found iodine-131 at 7.5 million times the legal limit in a seawater sample taken near the facility, and government officials instituted a health limit for radioactivity in fish. Other samples were found to contain radioactive cesium at 1.1 million times the legal limit. All of this radioactive water is going to circulate all over the globe. It is going to be a nightmare that is never going to end. Just because the mainstream media is not talking much about all of this radiation does not mean that it is not affecting the United States…. *Radiation from Fukushima has been detected in seaweed in Puget Sound. *Radiation from Fukushima has been detected in the drinking water in numerous states. *Radiation from Fukushima has been discovered in milk in numerous states. *Very high levels of radiation continue to be detected in rainwater in the northwest United States. This is a slow motion nightmare that is going to play out for years and years. Some nuclear experts claim that it could be up to 50 or 100 years before any of the nuclear material at the Fukushima complex will cool down enough to be removed from the facility. Right now there is no viable solution to what is going on at Fukushima, so it will continue to blast all of us with high levels of radiation and will slowly kill millions of people around the globe for years to come. Former nuclear industry insider Arnold Gundersen recently put it this way…. “With Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and now with Fukushima, you can pinpoint the exact day and time they started,” he said, “But they never end.” This is a nightmare that will be with us for the rest of our lives. Millions are going to get sick and untold numbers of people are going to slowly die. |
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2:10 AM Jul 11