Fukushima updates; Japan deserves better than this

[robdogbucky]

TEPCO denies nuke crisis compensation to kindergartens, nursing homes and clinics

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has refused to pay provisional compensation to kindergartens, nursing homes and health clinics affected by the ongoing crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, according to a document obtained by the Mainichi.

TEPCO, operator of the Fukushima plant, said it saw no need to pay provisional compensation to the facilities as they do not fall into the category of "small- and medium-sized companies" eligible for payments.

"Legally, school corporations, social welfare corporations and medical corporations do not fall under the category of small- and medium-sized enterprises," the utility explained. The company said it was not clear whether it would pay them the damages in the future, sparking a furious backlash for its infringement of the Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damages which obliges the company to pay compensation to all victims.

"We are fully aware of the need to pay provisional compensation to school corporations and other entities, and therefore we are now reviewing the scope of those eligible for the payments," TEPCO told the Mainichi...

(Mainichi Japan) July 16, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110716p2a00m0na016000c.html




Saturday, July 16, 2011

Glitch forces shutdown of nuclear reactor in Fukui
Emergency cooling system malfunction means cut in Kansai power supply
Kyodo

FUKUI — A reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture was to be manually shut down Saturday night due to a problem with its cooling system, operator Kansai Electric Power Co. said.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the problem with the plant's No. 1 reactor poses no environmental hazard.

The shutdown will affect the electric power supply in the Kansai region, and two more reactors run by Kepco are scheduled to be halted Thursday and Friday for regular inspections and maintenance.

This will mean eight out of 13 commercial reactors in Fukui Prefecture run by Kepco will be offline…

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110716x2.html



Radioactive cesium detected in Fukushima shiitake

Radioactive cesium exceeding the government standard has been detected in shiitake mushrooms grown indoors in 2 cities in Fukushima Prefecture, about 60 kilometers from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This is the first detection of radioactive cesium exceeding the standard in produce grown in greenhouses in the prefecture since the nuclear accident.

The Fukushima prefectural government says 1,770 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium was detected in mushrooms grown in Date City. The level is more than 3 times the provisional government limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram.

560 becquerels of radioactive cesium was detected in mushrooms from Motomiya City. At least 157 kilograms of shiitake mushrooms from the 2 cities were shipped from early July through Friday to Tokyo, a supermarket in Fukushima City, and a local farmers' market.

Fukushima officials are to ask the farmers to recall their produce and refrain from making new shipments while determining the cause.

Saturday, July 16, 2011 12:26 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/16_11.html



Restart schedule for idled nuclear reactors still in limbo

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency's draft plan for two-stage stress tests on Japan's nuclear reactors does not state how long the first stage of the assessments will take, making it impossible to predict when currently idled reactors can be restarted.

The government agency simply said timing for the restart of reactors idled for regular inspections or shut down in the aftermath of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant depends on the investigative reports to be submitted by nuclear plant operators. Furthermore, Prime Minister Naoto Kan and three Cabinet members will decide whether to allow any of the idled reactors to be restarted.

According to the nuclear agency, 19 nuclear reactors, including the No. 3 reactor at the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant operated by Kyushu Electric Power Co., will be subjected to first-stage tests. Second-stage tests will be conducted on 50 reactors including those subject to the first-stage tests as well as those under construction, but excluding those at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants and the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant.

Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) relies on nuclear power for nearly half of its power output, and four of its 11 nuclear reactors remain out of operation due to regular checks. The Osaka-based utility is almost ready to restart them, prompting the nuclear agency to say the idled reactors can undergo first-stage stress tests at an early date...

(Mainichi Japan) July 16, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110716p2a00m0na013000c.html




Lawyers join hands to stop nuclear power plants

Lawyers from around Japan are joining hands to take legal action to shutdown nuclear power plants. Over 50 lawyers from 20 prefectures that host nuclear plants convened in Tokyo on Saturday.

They decided to file a lawsuit to stop the resumption of reactor 1 at the Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture, which is about to be taken offline because of a malfunction. They will also file to prevent the restart of reactor 1 at the Takahama plant, which is undergoing regular inspections.

The lawyers intend to launch a procedure in autumn to stop the construction of the Oma plant in Aomori Prefecture. The project has been suspended since the March 11th disaster. Similar lawsuits have been rejected in the past, as courts ruled that safety measures did not present any flaws.

The lawyers argue that the government's current guidelines are seriously compromised, because they do not require plant design to assume an extended interruption of power supply.

Saturday, July 16, 2011 22:17 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/16_17.html



Livestock farmers dismayed by radioactive beef scandal

The government is considering banning shipments of beef cattle from Fukushima Prefecture in the wake of the revelation that a local cattle farm shipped 42 cows fed radioactive cesium-contaminated straw to Tokyo and several other prefectures.

About 4,000 livestock farming households in the prefecture have been struggling to overcome harmful rumors following the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, and the news of the radioactive beef came as a new shock.

The owner of the cattle farm in Asakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, which shipped the contaminated livestock, went to his barn to feed the more than 100 cows housed there on the morning of July 15. "I cannot ship these calves. I'm not sure if I can stay in the livestock business. I don't know what to do now," the farmer said dejectedly.

He had obtained the radioactive cesium-contaminated rice plant straw in a trade with an organic rice growers union in the nearby city of Shirakawa for barnyard manure...

(Mainichi Japan) July 16, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110716p2a00m0na015000c.html

[AndyTiedye]

1. They Need to Assume that Everything Within 100 Miles of Fuku is Contaminated Until Proven Otherwise

It is obviously far, far, worse than they are admitting. All this food contamination proves it.

[robdogbucky]

2. And the radiation in the urine of 45% of the Fukushima kids tested

Or more internal radiation in folks they choose to test than they ever thought. Or the radiation found in whales 650 km away. Or the radiation in cars shipped to Vladivostok, Chile, Amsterdam. Or the waste treatment plant radiation they found in Tokyo. Or the radiation in the tea in all directions about 500 km surrounding Fukushima.

Etc., etc., etc. And those are only the stories that we know about.

With paid liars advocating nuke power plants locally when proposed, with the industry/government alliance ensuring the continuation of nuke power in the future, the removal or political smearing of any elected official that opposes nuke power plants in Japan as too dangerous, it is a dire situation that will require tremendous will and determination by the people that this affects.



Tick tock

[aquart]

3. Is there one thing you would feel confident buying from Japan now?

This is part of an email from a friend in Japan, sent on my birthday, June 30:

Not safe.....
This accident is worse than CHERNOBYL and there, people were evacuated at 300 kilos around which will translate to all of Tokyo and Yokohama.....and either 500 or 600 kilos were labelled UNDER SUPERVISION AREA,-Osaka is just under 600 kilos around 580 where the house I live is....
Japan is a small country....not like USA or USSR.....

[robdogbucky]

4. No there isn't

But buying something is a choice, an elective, something I will be able to live without. I fear getting things from Japan, over a long period of time, that I do not have a choice about and that I do not want to get.

Will be curious to see what comes of the testing they have begun up in the Puget Sound area:





Radiation levels and locations to be mapped in Puget Sound by helicopter

OLYMPIA - Lessons from the nuclear incidents in Fukushima, Japan show the value of a project to measure background radiation levels in several parts of the state. A low-flying helicopter will gather radiological readings this summer, starting next week around Puget Sound.

Radiation detection equipment mounted in a helicopter will measure “gamma emitters” like cesium and radioactive iodine — materials that would likely increase in a radiation emergency. This kind of material releases X-rays, or gamma radiation, a type that can be easily measured from the helicopter. State radiation experts expect to find natural radioactivity and material produced by licensed radioactive material users such as hospitals.

The helicopter will fly a grid pattern at an altitude of about 300 feet to collect data. Mapping the normal amounts and location of radioactive material will provide a baseline for comparison to assess contamination if there were a nuclear incident like the events in Fukushima. Sampling in that area of Japan after the nuclear reactors were damaged produced radiation readings, but there was no baseline for comparison so it was unclear how much higher the levels had grown.

The Washington State Department of Health is overseeing the project as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Remote Sensing Laboratory Aerial Measurement System conducts the flyover. The project has been in planning since 2009 and is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security...

http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2011_news/11-105.htm



Discuss

[robdogbucky]

5. Nuke workers toiling under intense heat

Nuke workers toiling under intense heat

Kyodo


Workers are struggling under intense heat at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, with as many as 31 having fallen sick with heatstroke symptoms as of Friday, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.

While the utility has taken steps to ease working conditions, such as by shifting work hours, the measures have apparently been insufficient. Perspiration begins to build up inside masks, for instance, within seconds of putting them on. Workers also appear to feel pressured and refrain from taking sufficient breaks for fear of slowing down work to contain the crisis.

Mitsuo Sakamoto, 57, of Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, is operating heavy machinery to remove rubble in a room several meters away, controlling it through a TV monitor as the machine picks up highly irradiated rubble and moves it to containers.

Because of manpower shortages, he said he works 3½-hour stretches without a break...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20110717a4.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes_news+%28The+Japan+Times+Headline+News+-+News+%26+Business%29

[robdogbucky]

6. I hope this good news story endures

Govt,TEPCO:1st goal attained in stabilization plan

The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company are set to announce that they have completed the first step of a plan to cool the nuclear reactors at the utility's Fukushima Daiichi plant.

In a joint assessment to be announced on Tuesday, the government and TEPCO say they have steadily reduced the amount of radiation leaking from the plant, the first target in the plan outlined in mid-April, within the original 3-month deadline.

They will reveal that the reactors and storage pools for spent nuclear fuel have been stably cooled, and radiation levels have been declining in the surrounding air and seawater.

But problems remain with the system to purify contaminated water, which is seen as one of the biggest hurdles. The system is operating at about 70 percent capacity. In addition, work has yet to begin on covering the damaged reactor buildings.

Sunday, July 17, 2011 05:51 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/17_02.html



Japan so needs to have some good news now. Like the Womens' Soccer team and this potentially small step forward.

[somone]

7. Recommended