Reply #6: Monitoring for radiation now an activity for regular people [View All]

[robdogbucky]

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011


Taking matters into their own hands

Monitoring for radiation now an activity for regular people

By JUNKO HORIUCHI

Kyodo
FUKUSHIMA — A radiation measurement station in the city of Fukushima is drawing people skeptical about government information on the nuclear crisis and keen to find out quickly if their food is safe.

The station, set up by a citizens' group, boasts a German device to check radiation. It is one of the projects in this city about 50 km from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant aimed at helping people get their own scientific information.

Takenori Chiba, a machinery company employee from Miharu, around 40 km from the stricken plant, brought 500 grams of potatoes and 500 grams of onions to the station asking the staff to test them for radioactivity.

"I can't sit around waiting for the government or the municipal authority to do something for us. I wanted to act on my own," Chiba, 37, said. "The station is very helpful because even though I was concerned about the contamination around my house I didn't know what to do..."

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110804f1.html



Industry minister sacks 3 top officials to end cozy ties over nuclear power policy

Industry minister Banri Kaieda, under pressure to put an end to cozy ties between government regulators and utilities over Japan's nuclear power policy, announced on Aug. 4 plans to sack three high-ranking officials in charge of nuclear policy.

The government is also considering separating the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in an attempt to restructure METI through a virtual total overhaul.

The three officials facing the axe are METI Administrative Vice Minister Kazuo Matsunaga, NISA Director General Nobuaki Terasaka and Tetsuhiro Hosono, director general of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the safety myth about nuclear energy and METI came under fire for its handling of the nuclear disaster...

(Mainichi Japan) August 4, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110804p2a00m0na013000c.html





TEPCO struggling to treat contaminated water at crippled nuclear plant

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is struggling to treat a massive amount of water contaminated with radioactive substances at its crisis-stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

The problems stem from persistent instability in a system that went into full operation on July 2 to purify highly radioactive water and use it to cool down the plant's reactor cores. As a result, the amount of radioactive water in the reactor buildings and other areas of the plant grounds is in fact increasing.

The water purification and recycle system must be stabilized to bring the crippled power plant under control if the evacuation orders issued in areas around the plant are to be lifted anytime soon.

"The number of technical problems has decreased, but we still can't say operations have been stabilized," Junichi Matsumoto, deputy head of TEPCO's nuclear power division, told a news conference on Aug. 3...

(Mainichi Japan) August 4, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110804p2a00m0na010000c.html