Japan and Fukushima updates July 19

[robdogbucky]

Govt bans beef cattle shipments from Fukushima

Japan's government has suspended all beef cattle shipments from Fukushima Prefecture for fear of widespread radioactive contamination caused by the troubled nuclear plant.

The government's nuclear disaster task force ordered the suspension on Tuesday.

The health ministry says rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium in amounts exceeding a government standard was fed to cattle at farms in Fukushima, Yamagata and Niigata prefectures.

The ministry says 648 head of cattle were shipped from the farms, and that beef from the cattle was distributed to 35 prefectures...

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 20:01 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_h21.html




Typhoon Ma-On's threat increases

Published: July 19, 2011

TOKYO, July 19 (UPI) -- Typhoon Ma-On, already near category 2 strength, Tuesday threatened Japan, which is recovering from the March 11 quake-tsunami devastation, forecasters said.

The large and powerful storm, with maximum winds of 95 mph recorded Monday afternoon, could make a landfall as early as Tuesday local time in southern Japan, Accuweather.com said.

At 6 p.m. Monday local time, Ma-on was about 270 kilometers (168 miles) southeast of Tanegashima island in the Kagoshima Prefecture on the southwest tip of Kyushu Island, traveling northward at about 18 mph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, Kyodo News reported.

Accuweather.com said some strengthening was possible as the storm neared Japan. The report said the storm was not expected to be in the direct path of the U.S. military base on Okinawa, but the region would experience strong winds and heavy rainfall over the weekend...

http://www.upiasia.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/07/19/Typhoon-Ma-Ons-threat-increases/UPI-25351311054160/




Cattle farmers seek compensation

Cattle farmers in Fukushima Prefecture affected by the suspension of local beef shipments are calling for compensation from the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company.

Morio Yokoyama raises about 70 head of cattle at his farm in the town of Aizubange, some 120 kilometers west of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Yokoyama said the situation is very frustrating because it's unclear when he will be able to resume shipment of his cattle.

He called for an inspection of all cattle stock, and said that if any are found to be inedible, the government and the utility should be responsible for removing them from distribution and compensating farmers.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 18:38 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_25.html



Govt to define "cold shutdown"

The second-stage target to bring the nuclear disaster under control will involve achieving a cold shutdown, under which the disabled reactors are to be cooled down to about 100 degrees Celsius or lower.

The Japanese government is due to make this clear on Tuesday when it releases a revised plan to contain the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The government has so far failed to specify what a cold shutdown entails. It now plans to define the term as bringing reactor-bottom temperatures to about 100 degrees or lower, and substantially reducing the public's radiation exposure by controlling the release of radioactivity...

...It remains unclear, however, when the lifting would come, as the government still hasn't decided on benchmark levels of radiation that it deems safe enough for people to return to the restricted zone.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 09:42 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_08.html





Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Typhoon may spare Fukushima

Bloomberg, Kyodo

Typhoon Ma-on slowed Tuesday as it approached southwestern Japan and was forecast to pass south of Tokyo on Wednesday night on a track that would take it away from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The eye of the storm, categorized as "strong" by the Meteorological Agency, was about 745 km southwest of Tokyo at 11 a.m. Tuesday, the weather bureau said.

"Its progress has slowed while the wind speed remains the same," agency official Shunichi Yamaguchi said. "The outlook is for the typhoon to head east off Tokyo's coast, meaning it will not impact Fukushima and the northeast areas directly."

In the village of Umaji, Kochi Prefecture, rainfall topped 800 mm in a 24-hour period, marking the highest level there on record, according to the agency...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110719x2.html




Fake report helped justify need for atomic energy commission.

BY KAZUO YAMAGISHI STAFF WRITER

2011/07/19

Documents show that the central government was not upfront from even before moving into nuclear energy in the 1950s and used a fake report in deciding on the administrative structure to be used in the nuclear energy field.

The report was compiled by the first fact-finding mission sent abroad by the central government between December 1954 and March 1955 to look into how foreign governments administered nuclear energy.

Although the United States was the only nation that had established a commission for nuclear energy, the report stated that many nations had such a commission and recommended that Japan also establish such a body to oversee the administration of nuclear energy.

A document compiled by the science and technology ministry contains a statement by a late official of the former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) admitting to the false entries in the report...

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201107180285.html





Tick tock

[robdogbucky]

1. U.S. Navy Downgrades Ma-on as Storm Bears Down on Southern Japan

U.S. Navy Downgrades Ma-on as Storm Bears Down on Southern Japan
July 19, 2011, 1:19 PM EDT

By Akiko Nishimae

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Ma-on weakened to a tropical storm as it moved on a course that will take it over central Japan today, passing south of Tokyo before heading out to sea, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.

The storm was about about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southwest of Tokyo at 12:50 a.m. local time today, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its website. Ma-on was moving north-northeast at 10 kilometers per hour with winds blowing at 139 kilometers per hour, the agency said.

The storm may reach Wakayama prefecture in central Japan this morning and be west of Hachijo island, 290 kilometers south of Tokyo by midnight before continuing out to sea, the agency said.

An earlier forecast indicated the storm may pass over Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant by July 21. The JMA maintained warnings for heavy rains and landslides for Tokyo and Fukushima 220 kilometers to the north, it said on the website...


http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-07-19/u-s-navy-downgrades-ma-on-as-storm-bears-down-on-southern-japan.html