FUKUSHIMA–The ruling Liberal Democratic Party invited Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba to speak about the state secrets protection bill, expecting support by a leader near the Fukushima nuclear disaster site to quell criticism against the legislation.
The party’s plan, however, backfired.
“I am afraid no clear bounds were established about what should be designated a state secret,” Baba told a hearing on the bill here on Nov. 25. He also said he cannot trust a government that tends to keep information under wraps.
In fact, all seven speakers at the hearing criticized the bill, saying its ambiguous wording leaves open the possibility of abuse and its harsh penalties could keep citizens in the dark about matters that directly affect their lives.
The ruling coalition, which railroaded the bill through a Lower House committee on Nov. 26, organized the hearing in the prefectural capital. Apart from speakers and politicians, only 50 members of the public could attend after obtaining admission tickets from Diet members.
Since the bill was submitted to the Lower House late last month, calls have grown for specific guidelines on what constitutes a state secret under the legislation.
But the ruling coalition and opposition parties failed to clearly define such state secrets in closed-door meetings and the debate at the Lower House’s special committee on national security.
The administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tried to reassure leaders of Fukushima Prefecture that the designation of state secrets will not concern information about nuclear power plants.
[…]
The government failed to quickly release data from the computer-simulated System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI). Much like a weather map, the system shows the predicted spread of radioactive materials following an accident.
Lacking the SPEEDI information, many Namie residents fled toward areas of high radiation levels during the evacuation.
Residents in Fukushima Prefecture are particularly worried about the concealing of information under the legislation, in light of the water leaks and other problems at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, as well as the decommissioning process that is expected to take decades to complete.
Japanese Emperor requests Fukushima rice
Image source : http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/noda/actions/201210/07fukushima_e.html
November 29, 2013
Jiji Presshttp://www.the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000830439
Rice harvested in the nuclear disaster-hit town of Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, has been delivered to the Imperial Palace at the Emperor’s request, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
Rice harvests resumed in the town this autumn after a three-year hiatus due to the meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.
The Emperor requested the Fukushima rice when Noriyuki Kazaoka, the agency’s chief, told him that the rice would be served at an eatery for agency staff from Wednesday, the agency said Wednesday.
“We want to have some, too, because the rice must have been grown with great effort,” the Emperor was quoted as saying.
Candu Energy eyes nuclear supply deal in Romania
November 28, 2013
http://business-review.eu/news/candu-energy-eyes-nuclear-supply-deal-in-romania/
Canada’s Candu Energy, a provider of nuclear energy equipment, said it was ready to deliver assets to Romania, amid the government’s plan to expand nuclear reactors in Cernavoda with support from Chinese companies.
Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned nuclear power producer, signed earlier this week a letter of intent with China General Nuclear Power Group on the constriction of two nuclear reactors.
“Candu Energy is ready to participate in the delivery of these two CANDU nuclear power plants,” said Ala Alizadeh, Candu energy senior vice president, marketing and business Development.
Romania already operates two CANDU 6 nuclear reactors that went into service in 1996 and 2007, respectively. Their output covers about 20 percent of Romania’s electricity consumption.
Ovidiu Posirca
IAEA says may need more money to help implement Iran nuclear deal
………. with respect to its inspectors’ role in checking compliance and this would take “some time,” Amano said, adding it was a complicated task that needed proper preparations.
“This (analysis) will include the implications for funding and staffing,” he separately told the IAEA’s 35-nation board.
About 10 percent of its annual 121-million-euro ($164 million) budget for inspections is already devoted to Iran. The agency has two to four staff in Iran virtually every day of the year, with some 20 dedicated to inspector activity there…..
VIENNA
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/28/uk-iran-nuclear-iaea-idUKBRE9AR0AN20131128
(Reuters) – The U.N. atomic watchdog will probably need more money to verify the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, its chief said on Thursday, and it would take some time to prepare for the task.
Yukiya Amano also said Iran has invited the agency to visit the Arak heavy-water production plant on December 8, the first concrete step under a new cooperation pact aimed at clarifying concerns about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme.
Both agreements indicate how Iran is acting quickly to address fears about its nuclear programme after the election in June of a relative moderate, Hassan Rouhani, as new president on a platform to smooth its troubled relations with the world.
The International Atomic Energy Agency can mobilise expertise and staff from within the organisation for an increased workload in checking whether Iran is complying with the interim accord with the major powers to curb its nuclear programme, IAEA Director General Amano told a news conference.
But its budget is very tight, he added: “Naturally this requires a significant amount of money and manpower … I don’t think we can cover everything by our own budget.”
The Arak facility produces heavy water intended for use in a nearby research reactor that is under construction. The West is concerned that the reactor, which Iran has said could start up next year, could yield plutonium as fuel for atomic bombs once operational. Iran says it will make medical isotopes only.
Allow nuclear plants to replace thermal power plant sites: Atomic Energy Commission
According to safety norms, it is necessary to provide for ‘exclusion-radius’ which necessitates that people do not live in the radius of 1 km from the reactor, Sinha said.
28 Nov, 2013
MUMBAI: With public opposition to nuclear energy plants leading to land acquisition issues, Atomic Energy Commission chairman RK Sinha suggested that the government could allow it to use the sites earmarked for thermal plants to set up N-plants.
“Finding land for nuclear power plants is difficult today. We have lots of sites where coal-based projects are planned. There is uncertainty over coal availability or it’s becoming un-affordable and environmentally un-viable. Enough land and water are available at these sites, which can be used for setting up nuclear plants,” Sinha said at a nuclear energy summit here today.
Though this plan cannot be implemented immediately because of regulatory and safety regimes, there is a need to establish extraordinary levels of safety in new reactors to achieve this target, he added.
The NRC Knew Possibility of Elevated Thyroid Dose in Midway Island and Alaska By March 22nd
Uploaded on 5 Oct 2011
The NRC Knew Possibility of Elevated Thyroid Dose in Midway Island and Alaska By March 22nd 11 days after fukushima started! wow it took 3 months for the nuclear industry to admit a melt down even took place at fukushima.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAN8_UO8bTo&feature=youtu.be
Lucas W Hixson web site Enformable is one of the best for nuclear news http://enformable.com/2011/10/the-nrc-knew-possibility-of-elevated-thyroid-dose-in-midway-island-and-alaska-by-march-22nd-worked-to-keep-it-away-from-foia/
Typhoons spreading Fukushima fallout
Typhoons that hit Japan each year are helping spread radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the country’s waterways, researchers say.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-29/an-typhoons-spreading-fukushima-fallout/5124084
29 November 2013
A joint study by France’s Climate and Environmental Science laboratory (LSCE) and Tsukuba University in Japan shows contaminated soil gets washed away by the high winds and rain and deposited in streams and rivers.
“There is a definite dispersal towards the ocean,” LSCE researcher Olivier Evrard said Wednesday.
The typhoons “strongly contribute” to soil dispersal, he said, though it can be months later, after the winter snow melts, that contamination actually passes into rivers.
An earthquake-sparked tsunami slammed into the Fukushima plant in March 2011, sending reactors into meltdown and sparking the worst atomic accident in a generation.
After the accident, a large number of radioactive particles were flung into the atmosphere, dispersing caesium particles which typically cling to soils and sediment.
Studies have shown that soil erosion can move the radioactive varieties of cesium-134 and 137 from the northern mountains near Fukushima into rivers, and then out into the Pacific Ocean.
Last year, the radioactive content of Japan’s rivers dropped due to fairly moderate typhoons.
However, more frequent and fierce storms in 2013 have brought a new flood of caesium particles.
This is “proof that the source of the radioactivity has not diminished upstream” said Mr Evrard.
Tsukuba University has completed a number of studies on Fukushima since November 2011.
Scientists “concentrated mostly on the direct fallout from Fukushima yet this is another source of radioactive deposits” that must be taken into account, he warned.
Coastal areas home to fishermen or where people bathe in particular face a potential risk.
Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from around the Fukushima plant following the disaster and nearby villages and towns remain largely empty as residents fear the risks of radiation.
The delicate process of decommissioning the site is expected to take decades.
AFP
At Fukushima hearing, all speakers criticize state secrets bill via Asahi Shimbun
Japan cracks down on” leaks” after scandal of Fukushima nuclear power plant
“Why do we need another law,” asks Taro Yamamoto, an independent politician. “What the government is truly trying to do is increase the power of the state.”
State secrecy law carrying threat of 10-year jail term criticised as attack on democracy but PM denies trying to gag press
In April 2011, while Fukushima’s fires still smouldered, journalists scrambled to find sources who could shed any light on the nuclear crisis.
In a car park 25 miles south of the plant, a nervous maintenance worker on a rare break told The Independent that conditions onsite were chaotic and dangerous. Workers were exhausted; nobody at the top seemed to know what they were doing.
Nearly three years later, Japan’s parliament is set to pass a new state secrecy bill that critics warn might make revealing such conversations impossible, even illegal. They say the law dramatically expands state power, giving every government agency and ministry the discretion to label restricted information “state secrets”. Breaching those secrets will be punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Arnie Gundersen – talks about those who helped during the Fukushima Daiichi disaster
Fairewinds Energy Education’s Arnie Gundersen talks to us about those who helped during the Fukushima Daiichi disaster and how thankful we are for them.
4:57 mins
http://fairewinds.org/podcast/giving-thanks
MESSAGE TO THE WORKERS OF FUKUSHIMA
To the workers of Fukushima.
To the first to intervene at the most terrible moments of the nuclear disaster
To those who – day after day – are up against an ever-worsening situation
To those who will have to replace them for many years to come.
To their families and loved ones
This is a message of gratitude and sympathy from France.
You may not be able to rely on your employers or your political leaders to treat you properly, but this doesn’t mean you have to face these formidable problems on your own, only being rewarded by criticism in the press.
This may only be a meagre consolation to you, but we want you to know that many thousands of kilometers away, complete strangers, ordinary citizens like you are thinking of you and are grateful for your courage and your dedication.
You are important people who deserve every respect, given the responsibilities you are constantly shouldering, without recognition or reward.
Who can criticize the worker who unplugged the wrong pipe, pressed the wrong button or caused a tank to overflow, when training, precise instructions and means of control are so scarce?
Who can blame the worker who falls into depression when he is confronted by difficult working conditions that endanger his health and his life?
There are probably, throughout the world, millions of people like us who are on your side and count on you, who offer you their trust and moral support, and who don’t forget you exist.
We don’t know you personally, but like you, we are human beings and citizens of the Earth. We cannot do much to help you, but we want to say thank you for what you do, thank you for the risks you are taking for us all. You have our heartfelt support.
Thank you, “Fukushima 50” and all the brave people who from the very beginning of the disaster did not hesitate to risk their lives to prevent an even more dire situation.
Thank you to all these people whose name will never get mentioned but who contribute each day to the colossal task of keeping the radioactive peril at the Fukushima plant in check.
May our moral support and our thoughts reach you, your loved ones, and the families of the victims who have lost their health and their lives in this permanent battle.
Beverly Findlay-Kaneko (L) and Setsuko Kida, mid-interview on Nuclear Hotseat
Nuclear Hotseat Podcast
The Activist Voice of the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Produced and Hosted by Libbe HaLevy
THIS WEEK’S NUCLEAR HOTSEAT: www.NuclearHotseat.com/Blog
(CLICK TO ACCESS):
Nuclear Hotseat is the weekly international news magazine keeping you up to date on all things anti-nuclear. Produced and Hosted by Three Mile Island survivor Libbe HaLevy, each podcast contains the week’s international nuclear news, at least one expert interview, ways to protect physical health of yourself and your loved ones from the dangers of radiation exposure, and activist opportunities.
Among the nuclear experts interviewed by Nuclear Hotseat in its first two years:
- Arnie Gundersen, nuclear engineer, head of Fairewinds Energy Education
- Dr. Helen Caldicott, founding President, Physicians for Social Responsibility
- Dr. Janette Sherman and Joseph Mangano, authors of “An Unexpected Mortality Increase in the United States Follows Arrival of the Radioactive Plume from Fukushima: Is There a Correlation?”
- Karl Grossman, Journalist, host of “Enviro Close-Up”
- Daniel Hirsch, Nuclear Policy Lecturer, UC Santa Cruz
- Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- Mochizuki Iori, blogger, Fukushima Diary
- Nuclear Whistleblowers
- …and many more.
Beverly Findlay-Kaneko (L) and Setsuko Kida, mid-interview (via Skype) on Nuclear Hotseat. Setsuko is holding a book of photographs on Fukushima by Munesuke Yamamoto that is banned from bookstores in Japan.
INTERVIEW IN JAPANESE HERE:
第127回のリビーハリビーのニュークリアホットシートは福島第一原発避難民木田節子さんへのインタビューです。 このリンクは日本人の為に日本語のみに編集したものです。 木田さんには原発事故発生時の経験や日本の原子力政策に反対する声を上げることになった経緯や今回のアメリカ訪問についてお話ししていただきます。 彼女は活動家のネットワークからの要請を受け、福島第一原発事故直後に空母ロナルドレーガンの乗組員が高レベルの放射線被曝をし健康被害を受けたとして東 京電力を訴えている件で彼らを支援するためにやってきました。
http://lhalevy.audioacrobat.com/download/aa5dde9a-7fbf-4ca7-9b8e-b877a9b8b7b7.mp3
INTERVIEW: Setsuko Kida, a “nuclear refugee” from Fukushima, lived midway between Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daiini when the nuclear disaster began in 2011. She’s been in the U.S. to support the sailors of the USS Ronald Reagan in their lawsuit against TEPCO for health-destroying radiation contamination from Fukushima. She tells a harrowing story of events in the immediate aftermath of the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, then gives us a picture of activism in Japan in the face of presumed passage of the Secrecy Act.
NUMNUTZ OF THE WEEK: Sir Paul McCartney? Yep!
Many thanks to nuclear-news and FacebookFukushima311watchdog 日本の皆様へ,お願いがあります。
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Last post
http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/
A sad loss – Bloggers ill health closes down Fukushima news blog!https://nuclear-news.net/2013/11/26/a-sad-loss-bloggers-ill-health-closes-down-fukushima-news-blog/#comments
Japan State Secerts Law Passes Lower House | Will This Finally Be The Breaking Point?
Published on 27 Nov 2013
Will this finally be enough to anger Japanese people enough to take on the ruling powers directly?
Ryan from Tokyo
References:
Japan secrecy law stirs fear of limits on freedoms
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/japan-…
Japan crime: Why do innocent people confess?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20…
A sad loss – Bloggers ill health closes down Fukushima news blog!
Op Ed by Arclight2011
26 November 2013
Owing to the loss of the Fukushima Appeal Blog because Mia has some health difficulties to attend to, I would like to thank Mia on behalf of Christina and myself and I presume the readers of this site for her dedication to translating Japanese blogs and articles so that we in the west and Japan could appreciate her Japanese perspective .
In fact I would like to thank many of the bloggers (English speaking and other) that have strived to get the facts from a country that is slowly slipping into a police state, where freedom of speech is now illegal.
The Big Energy oil and nuclear corporations in Japan, USA, Canada, Australia, France and the UK (largely supported but the media) who have lied and prevaricated all the way through this ongoing disaster and it has been the alternative news groups and individuals that have shone a light onto the seedy side of this buisness.
We have seen the rejection of solar, wind and thermal by Japan as shown in the recent oil report I posted yesterday, the denial of health effects with the support of the Science Media centre in the UK, that is directed by the Department for the environment and Climate Change (The UK government), that use industry supported Proffessors that will only admit to the psychological impacts of the disaster on the seriously affected populations of Fukushima and Myagi Prefectures.
So, thank you Mia for all your hard works over the last two years!
I will list but a few of her posts and encourage you all to research her blog as it is an excellent insight to one bloggers perception of this “hidden” disaster from a Japanese perspective.
Mia has also translated English to Japanese so her countrymen could share these articles that would otherwise not be seen by the Japanese speakers.
Good luck with the future Mia
And a word from Christina (The owner of this blog) about our fellow blogger and contributer, Mia;
“A temporary farewell to a brilliant blogger
The website http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/ Fukushima Appeal 福島アピール has been running for nearly 2 years now. It is a unique and brilliant site, giving news and insights on the situation at Fukushima.. Now the author is unwell, and needing time off. But we look forward to recovered health and the resumption of posts before too long.
Not only are these posts completely on the ball, well written and timely, but also,with posts in both English and Japanese, readers are given a special view, not provided by any other website.”
TEPCO -Workers deaths are not reported 報道されない原発作業員の死亡について
…“She said that there have been so many workers dead without being reported. Some died during the 2 days break, some didn’t turn up the next morning and were found dead…. Those who died haven’t been measured for how much exposure they got. Tepco doesn’t count and report the dead unless they die during their work hours.” …
Posted by Mia
Fukushima: 100 babies with polydactyly are on the waiting list for operation 福島在住の夫婦、震災以降「多指症」の赤ちゃん誕生。受診すると「多指症の子の手術がいっぱいで100人待」
UNSCEARが被曝による健康被害はなかったという報告を出そうとしている！ UNSCEAR is going to publish a report that says there is no health hazards after the Fukushima disaster!
French System For Cleaning Fukushima Water Blamed For Leukemia, Polluted Beaches In Europe フランスによる福島原発汚染水の浄化システムは、ヨーロッパでは（多数の）白血病を生じさせ、浜辺も汚染してしまっている。
Rapid increase in thyroid cancer in Fukushima kids – cover-up of causes 福島の子供たちに甲状腺がんが急増―その原因を隠蔽
Mushrooms and Lake fish contaminated in Chubu area (West of Kanto area) 長野県のきのこ類、群馬県のわかさぎが、放射能汚染されている
The Japanese Government announced in Fukushima “No More Repeating of Decontamination”, “Giving up reducing to 0.23uSv/” 自己管理を提案 福島で政府説明会 再除染応ぜず
Even Belgian delegates got mad at Upcoming UNSCEAR Report ベルギー代表団でさえ怒った9月に出るUNSCEAR国連科学委員会報告書
The IAEA promotes nuclear in a “sceptical” India
Published on 25 Nov 2013
Walk The Talk with Yukiya Amano, Director General, IAEA
Published On: March 23, 2013
Yukia Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) talks to Shekhar Gupta about nuclear power continuing to be an important option for many countries, the Fukushima disaster in Japan, and more.
INDIA’S NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS KEEP DYING MYSTERIOUSLY
Indian nuclear scientists haven’t had an easy time of it over the past decade. Not only has the scientific community been plagued by “suicides,” unexplained deaths, and sabotage, but those incidents have gone mostly underreported in the country—diluting public interest and leaving the cases quickly cast off by police.
By Joseph Cox 2013 Nov 25
http://www.vice.com/read/why-are-indi…
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
World Nuclear Power. Reactors 1951-2026, 75 Years of Nuclear Power.
Interactive Map– https://dv.worldnuclearreport.org/
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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