JAPAN UPDATE

[AsahinaKimi]

Tropical Storm Talas Bears Down On Japan

As of 6:00 p.m. Tokyo time on Thursday, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Talas had maximum sustained winds of 55 knots (100 kilometres per hour) and gusts up to 70 knots (130 kilometres per hour). The storm was located roughly 405 nautical miles (750 kilometers) south of Kyoto, Japan.

The JTWC described Talas as a somewhat puzzling storm, stating, “The upper-level analysis continues to reveal an unusual upper-level pattern with an upper low over the centre and anticyclonic flow around the periphery.”

Different models of the storm were in poor agreement, but the JTWC forecast that Talas would likely travel northward and weaken as it passed over Japan.

http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/atmosphere/storm/tropical-storm-talas-bears-down-on-japan/35649.html
http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/91740.php

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.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110831004982.htm

Noda set to be sworn in, name cabinet

TOKYO —

New Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is due to be sworn in on Friday and name a cabinet with which he hopes to drive a fragile post-quake recovery forward and build party unity.

Noda was elected Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years Tuesday, inheriting the daunting challenges of disaster recovery, a nuclear crisis, a soaring yen and a ballooning public debt.

His predecessor Naoto Kan resigned after 14 months in office under fierce criticism of his administration’s handling of the atomic crisis.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/noda-set-to-be-sworn-in-name-cabinet

Solitary holdout refuses to leave Fukushima nuclear zone

TOMIOKA —

Vines creep across Tomioka’s empty streets, its prim gardens overgrown with waist-high weeds and meadow flowers. Dead cows rot where they were left to starve in their pens. Chicken coops writhe with maggots, a sickening stench hanging in the air.

This once-thriving community of 16,000 people now has a population of one.

In this nuclear no-man’s land poisoned by radiation from a disaster-battered power plant, rice farmer Naoto Matsumura refuses to leave despite government orders. He says he has thought about the possibility of getting cancer but prefers to stay—with a skinny dog named Aki his constant companion.

more
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/solitary-holdout-refuses-to-leave-fukushima-nuclear-zone

Global protests held against Japan's dolphin hunt

WASHINGTON —

Demonstrators protested outside of Japan’s embassies around the world on Thursday to urge an end to its killing of dolphins, criticizing the bloody annual hunt as wantonly cruel.

In Washington, some two dozen people stood in front of the embassy holding signs to passing traffic including, “Dolphins Want to Live.”

Activist Kerri Shaw attached to her body a screen showing footage from “The Cove,” the Oscar-winning documentary that threw a spotlight on the hunt.

Katie Arth, an organizer with rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said that the dolphin hunt was motivated in part by a profit motive as animals are sold to perform in aquariums around the world.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/global-protests-held-against-japans-dolphin-hunt

Japan holds first national quake drill since tsunami

TOKYO —

Japan on Thursday conducted its first national earthquake drill since the March 11 disasters that left 20,000 dead or missing and triggered a nuclear crisis.

Police supervised traffic at some 100 points in central Tokyo while passengers were guided to safe zones from train stations in a simulation of a post-quake scenario in which all rail and subway services are suspended.

Announcements warning passengers that tests were taking place throughout the day were made in stations, while 1,500 people took part in a drill in the morning on the roof of a Tokyo department store.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japan-holds-first-national-quake-drill-since-tsunami

Kyushu Electric halts another reactor for checkup

Kyodo

KAGOSHIMA — Kyushu Electric Power Co. halted the No. 2 reactor at its Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture early Thursday for a three-month scheduled check, meaning only 12 of Japan's 54 commercial reactors are now in operation.

The suspension means four of the utility's six reactors serving Kyushu are now offline.

It remains uncertain when they will resume operations, given new safety assessment requirements introduced due to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis and the scandal over an email campaign by the utility seeking to show support for reactors.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110902a2.html

Nadeshiko thank world for quake aid

Kyodo

Japan began airing a video message Thursday featuring members of the World Cup-winning women's soccer team, nicknamed Nadeshiko, to thank the world for its support following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

In two clips, one lasting about 30 seconds and the other three minutes, members of the soccer team also ask viewers to visit Japan, saying the nation "has its spirit back again."

The government plans to air the video messages in more than 20 countries through local broadcast stations and to show it at receptions hosted by Japanese diplomatic missions abroad, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The video messages also feature a song by the popular band GReeeeN, based in Fukushima Prefecture, which has been hit hard by the nuclear crisis. The epic victory of the soccer team, whose nickname comes from a pink-frilled carnation symbolizing grace and beauty, came on the heels of March 11.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110902a6.html

Groundwater around Fukushima nuke plant to be protected by underground steel barrier

Construction of an underground barrier at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to prevent leaking radioactive materials from reaching ground water will begin this year and be completed in about two years, plans released on Aug. 31 revealed.

The plans, announced by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), include use of a workboat and a temporary pier by the plant to speed up construction. According to the utility, the barrier will be built of between 600 and 700 22-meter-long steel sheet piles driven into the ground and stretch some 800 meters. The approximate 10-meter space between the steel barrier and the existing dike will also be filled with concrete.

Simulations conducted using benign substances that mimic the properties of radioactive materials showed the barrier at the coastal plant would stop the dangerous materials from reaching the ocean. The barrier is expected to last for 30 years.

more
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110901p2a00m0na008000c.html

Radioactive ash to be solidified with cement under gov't plan

Ash left after the incineration of radioactive earthquake and tsunami debris should be solidified with cement and stored at a waterproof disposal site, according to a government notification sent to municipalities on Aug. 31.

The Environment Ministry notification applies to ash with radiation levels of between 8,000 and 100,000 becquerels -- a byproduct of incinerating disaster debris contaminated during the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis -- and stored by municipal governments at temporary disposal sites.

more
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110901p2a00m0na006000c.html

Researchers develop cheap, easy method for cesium-tainted soil cleanup

Scientists at a national research institute have announced the development of technology to extract nearly all radioactive cesium from contaminated soil.

The technology, revealed on Aug. 31 by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), involves mixing the contaminated soil with a low-acidity solution. The solution draws out the cesium, which is then taken up by a granulated pigment lining the solution container.

more
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110901p2a00m0na011000c.html



In this March 24, 2011 file aerial photo, taken by a small unmanned drone and released by Air Photo Service, the damaged Unit 4 of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is seen in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. (AP Photo/ Air Photo Service)

TEPCO eyes removing melted fuel after filling reactors with water

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that it plans to take out the melted nuclear fuel from inside the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant after repairing the reactor containers and filling them up with water.

But the plant operator did not go further into details, only saying that the plan, unveiled during a meeting of a government panel on nuclear energy policy, is just "an image at the current moment."

more..
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110901p2g00m0dm011000c.html

[Dragonfli]

1. Thank you for the comprehensive update nt

[AsahinaKimi]

2. You are welcome

I will post these once in a while..

[malaise]

3. K & R

:hi:

[AsahinaKimi]

5. hi hi bebe!

[WillyT]

4. K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

:grouphug:

:hug:

:hi:

[AsahinaKimi]

6. I will post these everyone once in a while..

[mod mom]

8. Thank you. rec'd

[AsahinaKimi]

10. you are most welcome

I am glad you are pleased. Yorokonde kurete ureshii desu.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Remember folks some Du'ers are in the eye of the Typhoon

so all jokes, can them!

Thanks

[AsahinaKimi]

12. Is kinda like a Yakov Smirnoff joke?

what a country!

[Generic Other]

9. Much appreciated!

News seems sparse at times.

[AsahinaKimi]

11. Thanks

I will try to do this more often in the future. Seems time marches on in Japan!