EDITORIAL: Extent of suffering key to compensating Fukushima evacuees
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 12, 2011, the day after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck
An estimated 100,000 or so people are still living as evacuees as a consequence of the catastrophic accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.
This figure comprises about 18,000 evacuees who acted on their own initiative and fled from the 23 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture that are outside government-designated evacuation zones. They include people who lived in areas that are not covered by the government-supported compensation program.
The circumstances of their decisions to leave their hometowns are more or less similar to those of the people who fled from areas covered by the evacuation orders. Many of them were concerned about the health of their children or found it difficult to continue their businesses in the affected areas.
But compensation paid to these “voluntary evacuees” by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the crippled nuclear plant, ranging from 120,000 yen to 720,000 yen ($1,000 to $6,400) per person, was far smaller than the amounts received by residents of the evacuation areas.
On Feb. 18, a local court handed down a ruling that may open the door to greater relief for these evacuees.
The Kyoto District Court ordered TEPCO to pay about 30 million yen to a man and his wife for mental illnesses the husband suffered following their “voluntary evacuation” from the calamitous accident. The man, who is in his 40s, together with his wife and three children, filed a lawsuit against the utility seeking 180 million yen in damages, claiming he became unable to work because of mental and physical problems caused by the effects of the nuclear disaster.
Concerned about the possibility of his children’s exposure to radiation, the man decided to leave his home with his family. After they fled, the family stayed at hotels and lived in rented accommodation outside the prefecture.
As he had to live in unfamiliar surroundings, the man developed insomnia and depression. The district court acknowledged that the nuclear accident was the cause of these health problems.
Compensation payments to such voluntary evacuees are based on guidelines set by a central government panel addressing disputes over compensation for nuclear accidents. The guidelines say compensation payments should be based on three factors: increases in living expenses due to evacuation, mental damages and expenses incurred in fleeing and returning home.
TEPCO had paid a total of 2.92 million yen to the family based on the guidelines, but the family claimed the compensation was insufficient.
In its ruling, the district court argued that the guidelines only show “items and scope of damages that can be classified according to type.”
The ruling showed the view that damages with a causal link to the accident should be compensated for according to the circumstances involved. The basic principle for compensation espoused by the ruling is that the amounts of damages to be paid should be determined according to the circumstances of individual cases instead of being uniform and fixed.
Compensation payments to victims of the nuclear disaster, such as evacuees and affected businesses, come out of a 9 trillion yen treasure chest provided by the government to TEPCO.
With its management priority placed on its own early recovery from the consequences of the accident, however, the electric utility has been trying to terminate the payments as soon as possible and keep the amounts within the framework set by the guidelines. The company’s compensation policy has been criticized for failing to make the benefit of residents a primary consideration.
About 10,000 evacuees are involved as plaintiffs in damages suits filed with 21 district courts and branches around the country. This points to the high level of discontent with the compensation payments that have been paid out.
TEPCO should respond with appropriate sincerity to the demands of victims entitled to compensation and review its compensation policy and procedures.
The courts that are hearing these cases should hand down rulings that give sufficient consideration to the plight of the victims.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201602200024
TEPCO ordered to pay couple who ‘voluntarily’ fled Fukushima after nuclear disaster
KYOTO–The Kyoto District Court ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. to pay 30.46 million yen ($267,000) to a couple for mental illnesses the husband suffered following their “voluntary evacuation” from the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The district court’s unprecedented ruling on Feb. 18 said the accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant contributed to the insomnia and depression the husband developed after his family fled Fukushima Prefecture in 2011.
Although the plaintiffs did not live in a government-designated evacuation zone around the plant, the court said evacuating voluntarily is “appropriate when the hazard from the accident and conflicting information remained.”
The ruling was the first to award damages to voluntary evacuees, according to a private group of lawyers involved in lawsuits against TEPCO and the central government over the nuclear disaster.
The man, who is in his 40s, his wife and three children were seeking a total of 180 million yen against TEPCO.
According to the ruling, the husband and wife had managed a company that operated restaurants in Fukushima Prefecture. The family fled their home a few days after the nuclear accident started in March 2011 and moved to Kyoto in may that year.
The court acknowledged the man suffered severe mental stress because he had to leave his hometown and quit his position as representative of the company.
TEPCO had paid a total of 2.92 million yen to the family based on the central government’s compensation standards for residents who evacuated on their own.
The utility argued that its payments were appropriate because they were based on guidelines set by a central government panel addressing disputes over compensation for nuclear accidents. The guidelines dictate uniform and fixed payments for residents who left areas outside designated evacuation zones.
However, the district court said these guidelines “simply show a list of damages that can be broken down and the scope of damages.”
The court concluded that compensation amounts should instead reflect the personal circumstances of evacuees in nuclear accident-related cases.
It ordered TEPCO to compensate the couple for the period through August 2012, when radiation levels dropped to a certain level and information on the nuclear accident became more stable and accurate.
Specifically, the court said the husband and wife are entitled to part of the monthly remuneration of 400,000 yen to 760,000 yen they had received each for having to suspend their business following the nuclear accident.
But the court dismissed the damage claims of the couple’s three children, saying their compensation was already covered by TEPCO’s payments.
About 10,000 evacuees are involved in 21 damages suits filed in Fukushima Prefecture, Tokyo, Osaka and elsewhere.
An estimated 18,000 people from Fukushima Prefecture are still living in voluntary evacuation, according to the prefectural government.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201602190066
Tepco to compensate couple for damages from voluntary Fukushima evacuation
The Kyoto District Court has ordered the operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to pay about ¥30 million to a couple for economic and health damage caused by their decision to voluntarily flee the radiation in Fukushima Prefecture after the disaster.
The husband lost his job and developed a mental illness during the ordeal.
This is believed to be the first time a court has found Tokyo Electric Power Co. liable for damages stemming from a voluntary evacuation after the plant’s triple core meltdown, which was triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011.
The ruling is expected to affect similar lawsuits filed by voluntary evacuees across the country.
According to the Fukushima Prefectural Government, as of the end of October, some 18,000 people in 7,000 households who lived outside the designated evacuation zone remain evacuated outside Fukushima.
The sum awarded is also far more than the ¥11 million proposed by a government-established center that mediates out-of-court settlements for nuclear accident compensation cases. The settlement program is called ADR.
The center is for people who are not covered by Tepco’s direct compensation scheme. The ADR program is also aimed at reaching conclusions more quickly than through Tepco. Some 18,000 applications for settlement have been made, out of which 13,000 cases have been resolved. But the amount awarded through ADR tends to be small, experts say.
Hideaki Omori, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the ruling “set an example that there is no need to give up when evacuees do not feel satisfied with the sum” presented by the dispute resolution center.
The couple — who had moved twice before settling down in the city of Kyoto in May 2011 — had sought ¥180 million in damages.
The plaintiffs, who are in their 40s, expressed relief after the ruling.
“We are relieved that we will be financially alright for a while, but we still can’t imagine our future life,” they said in a statement released through their lawyers.
According to the written complaint, the husband became unable to work because he developed pleurisy (a respiratory disease) and depression after the evacuation. Their children also experienced emotional distress from being harshly treated by classmates because they came from Fukushima Prefecture.
The court also showed for the first time that such compensation should be extended for evacuation through the end of August 2012, rejecting claims for damages after that.
The court cited the gradual fall in radiation levels in the city of Koriyama, where the couple originally lived before the disaster, concluding that from September 2012 on, the levels were not serious enough to damage health.
After three reactors experienced meltdowns during the disaster, residents within 20 km of the nuclear plant and some areas beyond were ordered to evacuate. Many others also fled at their own discretion and remain in temporary housing.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/02/18/national/crime-legal/first-tepco-told-compensate-couple-damage-stemming-voluntary-fukushima-evacuation/#.VsbzN-bzN_l
Court orders TEPCO to compensate evacuees
Court orders TEPCO to compensate evacuees
A court has ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company to compensate a family who chose to flee after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The Kyoto District Court issued the ruling on Thursday and told the utility to pay about 30 million yen, or over 260 thousand dollars.
The plaintiffs evacuated from Fukushima to Kyoto Prefecture and elsewhere on a voluntary basis.
They were seeking compensation of nearly 1.6 million dollars. They say they could not work since the accident due to insomnia, depression and other stress-related health problems.
The court said it’s reasonable that the plaintiffs voluntarily evacuated, as information on the danger of the unprecedented disaster had not been revealed.
The court also said the plaintiffs had to evacuate from familiar surroundings and that this caused considerable stress and illnesses.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20160218_31.html
TEPCO ordered to pay damages for voluntary evacuation from Fukushima
KYOTO — A court has ruled that the operator of the disaster-struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex is liable for damages stemming from voluntary evacuation by residents in Fukushima Prefecture, believed to be the first ruling of its kind.
The Kyoto District Court on Thursday ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) to pay about 30 million yen in damages to a couple in which the husband lost his job and developed mental illness after the family voluntarily fled in the wake of nuclear disaster triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The sum the court awarded to the couple in their 40s is also much bigger than the 11 million yen proposed by a government-established center to mediate out-of-court settlements for nuclear accident compensation.
The plaintiffs said the ruling “set an example that there is no need to give up when evacuees do not feel satisfied with the sum” presented by the dispute resolution center. The couple, who have evacuated to the city of Kyoto, sought about 180 million yen from TEPCO in the lawsuit filed in 2013.
According to the ruling, the husband was managing a company before he and his family fled Fukushima in the wake of the nuclear disaster. The husband then developed sleeping problems and suffered from depression before becoming unable to work around May 2011.
Presiding Judge Masayuki Miki determined that the nuclear accident “was one of the main reasons” that the husband suffered mental and other problems. He also found that the financial loss the couple faced was the consequence of the accident.
Of the amount TEPCO was ordered to pay, about 21 million yen in damages is associated with lost employment income and expenses due to evacuation, the ruling said.
Another 1.7 million yen is compensation for being “forced to move to a land with no ties with Fukushima Prefecture which they were familiar with,” the court said, adding that they “lost a stable life.”
During the triple reactor core meltdown disaster, residents living within 20 kilometers of the TEPCO nuclear plant and some areas beyond were ordered to evacuate. Many others also fled from their homes at their own discretion.
http://www.japantoday.com/smartphone/view/national/tepco-ordered-to-pay-damages-for-voluntary-evacuation-from-fukushima
Criticism of Government Being Airbrushed Out News Shows Anchors Away
FOR a decade, millions of Japanese have tuned in to watch Ichiro Furutachi, the salty presenter of a popular evening news show, TV Asahi’s “Hodo Station”. But next month Mr Furutachi will be gone. He is one of three heavyweight presenters leaving prime-time shows on relatively liberal channels. It is no coincidence that all are, by Japanese standards, robust critics of the government.
Last year another anchor, Shigetada Kishii, used his news slot on TBS, a rival channel, to question the legality of bills passed to expand the nation’s military role overseas. The questioning was nothing less than what most constitutional scholars were also doing—and in private senior officials themselves acknowledge the unconstitutionality of the legislation, even as they justify it on the ground that Japan is in a risky neighbourhood and needs better security. But Mr Kishii’s on-air fulminations prompted a group of conservatives to take out newspaper advertisements accusing him of violating broadcasters’ mandated impartiality. TBS now says he will quit. The company denies this has anything to do with the adverts, but few believe that.
The third case is at NHK, the country’s giant public-service broadcaster. It has yanked one of its more popular anchors off the air. Hiroko Kuniya has helmed an investigative programme, “Close-up Gendai”, for two decades. NHK has not said why she is leaving, but colleagues blame her departure on an interview last year with Yoshihide Suga, the government’s top spokesman and closest adviser to Shinzo Abe, the prime minister.
Mr Suga is known for running a tight ship and for demanding advance notice of questions from journalists. In the interview Ms Kuniya had the temerity to probe him on the possibility that the new security legislation might embroil Japan in other countries’ wars. By the standards of spittle-flecked clashes with politicians on British or American television, the encounter was tame. But Japanese television journalists rarely play hardball with politicians. Mr Suga’s handlers were incensed.
It all shows how little tolerance the government has for criticism, says Makoto Sataka, a commentator and colleague of Mr Kishii’s. He points out that one of Mr Abe’s first moves after he returned to power in 2012 was to appoint conservative allies to NHK’s board. Katsuto Momii, the broadcaster’s new president, wasted little time in asserting that NHK’s role was to reflect government policy. What is unprecedented today, says Shigeaki Koga, a former bureaucrat turned talking head, is the growing public intimidation of journalists. On February 9th the communications minister, Sanae Takaichi, threatened to close television stations that flouted rules on political impartiality. Ms Takaichi was responding to a question about the departure of the three anchors.
Political pressure on the press is not new. The mainstream media (the five main newspapers are affiliated with the principal private television stations) are rarely analytical or adversarial, being temperamentally and commercially inclined to reflect the establishment view. Indeed the chumminess is extreme. In January Mr Abe again dined with the country’s top media executives at the offices of the Yomiuri Shimbun, the world’s biggest-circulation newspaper. Nine years ago, when Mr Abe resigned from his first term as prime minister, the paper’s kingpin, Tsuneo Watanabe, brokered the appointment of his successor, Yasuo Fukuda. Mr Watanabe then attempted to forge a coalition between ruling party and opposition. Oh, but his paper forgot to alert readers to all these goings-on. The media today, says Michael Cucek of Temple University in Tokyo, has “no concept of conflict of interest.”
It has all contributed to an alarming slide since 2011 in Japan’s standing in world rankings of media freedom. Mr Koga expects a further fall this year. He ran afoul of the government during his stint as a caustic anti-Abe commentator on “Hodo Station”. On air last year he claimed that his contract was being terminated because of pressure from the prime minister’s office. His aim, Mr Koga insists, was to rally the media against government interference. Yet TV Asahi apologised and promised tighter controls over guests. Now Mr Furutachi is quitting too. The government is playing chicken with the media, Mr Furutachi says, and winning.
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21693269-criticism-government-being-airbrushed-out-news-shows-anchors-away
More than 1,100 water storage tanks at Fukushima plant … and counting
Storage tanks to contain radioactive contaminated water continue being constructed at Fukushima
February 13, 2016 By Satoru Semba
The construction of large steel tanks on the site around Fukushima nuclear power plant to store highly contaminated water running through the nuclear site continues. There is a planned further construction of 20 more steel containers which are expected to store 30,000 tons of contaminated water. In addition to the steel tanks that are being constructed with no end in site, there are more than 9 million large black vinyl bags piling up in neat rows around the site filled with radioactive contaminated soil that has been scraped off the surface around the nuclear plant. Heavy rain during September, 2015 around the area of Fukushima caused flooding and swept more than 700 of these bags containing Fukushima-contaminated soil and grass into local rivers. Many of these bags are still unaccounted for with some spilling their radioactive content into the water system.
OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture–From the air, the rows of different colored water storage tanks at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant resemble a giant integrated circuit board.
As the fifth anniversary approaches of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that unleashed the nuclear catastrophe, the stricken facility is fast running out of space to position the tanks holding highly contaminated radioactive water.
As of Feb. 12, there were 1,106 massive water tanks on the premises.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, constructed the tanks to store radiation-contaminated water that has been accumulating at the plant since the disaster unfolded in March 2011.
The utility plans to construct 20 more water storage tanks to accommodate 30,000 tons of water that is expected to be generated in the remaining months of 2016.
As the tanks occupy much of the parking lots, green spaces and vacant areas, TEPCO has no choice but to build new tanks in the narrow alleys between the huge containers.
The accumulation of contaminated water has been a persistent problem at the plant, which is only in the very early stages of decommissioning, a process that will take 30 to 40 years.
Storage tanks to contain radioactive contaminated water continue being constructed at Fukushima
Speakers raise issues haunting Fukushima in finance panel public hearing
KORIYAMA, Fukushima Prefecture–To a central government committee meeting here on Feb. 17, hotel operator Shoko Yamazaki aired out her frustrations at the restart of nuclear power plants in Japan.
“Nuclear power plants in the nation were restarted with very little thought when the nuclear crisis in Fukushima has not even been settled,” said Yamazaki, whose hotel is in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. “Have we learned nothing from Fukushima?”
Yamazaki was one of the invited speakers who spoke of their concerns for a region still feeling the devastation caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster of March 2011 in the hearing held by the Lower House Budget Committee.
The prefecture was chosen for the second time since the catastrophe for the special regional hearing as “March 11 will be the fifth anniversary (of the disaster), a landmark year,” said Wataru Takeshita, former reconstruction minister and head of the committee.
The opinions of four speakers recommended by both the ruling and opposition parties were heard at the hearing, which was held as part of the committee’s budget deliberation for the upcoming fiscal year.
Hiromi Watanabe, one of the public speakers, said it was urgent that the region rid itself of bad publicity from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crisis that unfolded in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.
“It continues to haunt not just agriculture and tourism, but various industries as well,” said Watanabe, the head of the Fukushima Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He also urged the central government to put a stop to population decline and improve transportation in the region.
Meanwhile, Hajimu Yamana, the chairman of the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp., said, “Findings on the cause of the nuclear accident and studies on its effects on population migration can be considered research for the reconstruction of Fukushima. It will become valuable information for the entire world.”
Yoshiharu Saito, a senior member of the disaster victim support group Fukushima Fukko Kyodo Center (Fukushima reconstruction communal center), talked about the central government’s plan to lift the evacuation orders on all regions except “difficult-to-return zones” by March 2017.
“The wishes of residents who want to return home should be granted, but at the same time we hope for the central government to assist those who are unable to do so,” Saito said.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201602180062
Research center to use atomic-bomb studies to rebuild Fukushima communities
The presidents of Nagasaki University, Hiroshima University and Fukushima Medical University sign the agreement to establish a joint research center on the impact of low-level radiation doses and related themes in Hiroshima on Feb. 17.
Universities in Fukushima Prefecture and the atomic-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will deepen collaboration on radiation exposure studies and expand a research network to help rebuilding efforts around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.
Hiroshima University, Nagasaki University and Fukushima Medical University will establish a joint research center in Hiroshima in the 2016 academic year, which starts in April.
The education minister approved plans for the center last month, and the facility will be operated on government funds.
Hiroshima University and Nagasaki University both have core facilities that have conducted decades-long studies on radiation. The two schools have dispatched researchers to the Fukushima Medical University since April 2011 for studies on the health effects of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in March that year.
The three universities are expected to build research networks and expand cooperation at the new center.
“The study of low-level radiation exposure is growing urgent,” Mitsuo Ochi, president of Hiroshima University, said Feb. 17, when the university presidents signed the agreement to set up the center.
“We would like to fulfill our mission to contribute to Fukushima’s rebuilding efforts based on the results of basic research conducted by our university.”
The center will solicit research themes from across Japan in 10 areas, including assessments of the impact of low-level radiation doses on patients, development of methods to diagnose internal radiation exposure in patients, treatments of patients, and radiation protective agents.
Scientists who respond to the center’s request are expected to work together with researchers of the three universities.
The research center is also expected to cooperate with the Fukushima prefectural government on a program that assesses possible correlations between diseases and radiation doses.
In addition, it plans to offer advice on training people who are tasked to provide health care to those exposed to radiation.
The project also envisages providing assistance for workers who are exposed to radiation levels beyond expectations during the decommissioning of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201602180036
Something is wrong here
By Fonzy (6th testimony)
I hesitated longtime to mention the following anecdote, because I do not want to talk about the false informations or hoaxes that often are told just to scare people. Also I am lacking there statistics or precise data. However, I now tell myself it’s time to talk, especially to make known to those who live far away and do not know what happens here every day. In short, it is the increasing number of the so-called “urgent sick” on public transports.
What is an “urgent sick”? It is someone who had a pretty severe discomfort or fainted on the train.
Indeed, for at least a year or two. transportation is often disturbed in Tokyo because of “an urgent sick” rescue,
Japanese trains have long had a reputation for being punctual. Alas, it was the Japan of yesteryear.
Now, there are daily trains that are late because of unplanned stops to take care of the sick.I quote the tweets of @ Charley charleycharley7 that counts the number of people who tweet “urgent sick” in the Kanto, Chubu and Tohoku regions (Eastern Japan).
The total number of tweets “urgent sick ” | daily average
2015
mi-February 209 13,9
March 497 16,0
April 671 22,3
May 668 21,5
June 725 24,1
July 724 23,3
August 664 21,4
September 730 24,3
October 855 27,5
November 843 28,1
December 921 29,7
2016
January 872 28,1
These are not official data. Finally, these are just tweets. Everyone does not tweet soon as he finds an urgent sick on the train. It is therefore possible that the same patient was tweeted by several people. Still, it’s serious to me. Now there are some who think that eight hundred is not a significant figure given the total population of the regions. However, I say this is significant because I had never heard of “urgent sick” in my life. It’s been thirty years that I travel by train to Tokyo, but only since last year or the year before that I hear on the train often enough as an announcement
‘We are sorry that our train is delayed because of an urgent sick’ .I also add that there are many people who share my opinion.
I recently saw a man of about sixty years who was lying on the dock. He was not unconscious, but required aid to an employee of the station, the hand on the chest.
It was the Shin-Osaka station, about 800 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Yes, there are also cases in Western Japan. According Charley @ charleycharley7 on 1 February 2016, there were twenty to five tweets of the urgent sick in the East, against only eight in the West. It’s very little, but it exists.
Otherwise, as we see from time to time there are those who sleep like a log on a bench, on a platform or on the ground. I hear the siren of the ambulance every day, even every three or four hours .We have had since the beginning of the year four or five bus drivers who lost consciousness (one causing a serious accident that killed 15 people). This is not normal, but now the abnormal becomes almost normal here, although no evidence is linking this to radiation …
Update 16 February 2016
Adding a screenshot of tweet
Translation: “Around me there are more and more people who die or are ailing But it seems that on the train also now there are many.” Urgent sick “, here is the graph of the number of people had discomfort on trains in 2015. “
Comment
Reading this new testimony of Fanny, I remembered that I had written on the subject of health in late 2011 an item, “The effects of the Fukushima disaster on health.” At that time, I was surprised by statistical data on the evolution of three infectious diseases, pneumonia (Mycoplasma Pneumonia), acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis and the diseases of hand-foot-mouth.
So I looked again the graphics provided by the Infectious Disease Surveillance Center (Infectious Desease suveillance Center (IDSC), dependent on the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID)), based in Tokyo .
http://idsc.nih.go.jp/idwr/kanja/weeklygraph/index-e.html
The site still exists, I will again distribute these graphs, updated in 2012, only to realize that, of the three infectious diseases which had increased in 2011, two remained of concern because of the increase in 2012. Another pneumonia, Chlamydia pneumonia was also up in 2012.
Hemorrhagic acute conjunctivitis in red: back to normal in 2012
Hand, foot and mouth diseases in 2012 in red: the value exceeds before 2011
Pneumoniae (Chlamydia Pneumonia): increase in 2012
Pneumoniae (Mycoplasma Pneumonia): strong increase in 2012
Finally, I noticed another infectious disease that had not progressed in the right direction in 2012, is infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Infections by respiratory syncytial virus: increase in 2012
Data for 2013, 2014 and 2015 are also available on another page of the site, harder to find, and this time only in Japanese. From the Infectious disease whose evolution was worrying in 2011 or 2012, remain today only of concern the hand-foot-mouth diseases with higher rates in 2013 and 2015 than in 2011, and the infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus
Hand, foot and mouth diseases: a new significant increase in 2015
Infections by respiratory syncytial virus: increase in 2014 and 2015
.
With the return to the normal average of hemorrhagic acute conjunctivitis and pneumonia, we would have liked to see a general improvement but two other infectious diseases now have a worrying development, exceeding the rate of the last 10 years: streptococcal pharyngitis and the fifth disease (the Erythema Infectiosum.).
Strep throat infections ( streptococcal pharyngitis),
Fifth disease (Erythema Infectiosum Infections),
Is there a link between the actual contamination, even at low doses, and the weakening of the immune system of the Japanese, especially children? These graphics alone can not prove it. However, they do not reflect a healthier population since 2011. This is also what led a doctor from Tokyo to relocate and encourage patients to live in western Japan.
http://www.save-children-from-radiation.org/2014/07/16/a-tokyo-doctor-who-has-moved-to-western-japan-urges-fellow-doctors-to-promote-radiation-protection-a-message-from-dr-mita-to-his-colleagues-in-kodaira-city-t/
Furthermore, in Fukushima Prefecture was detected an increase of about 30 times the number of thyroid cancer among young people aged 18 and under in 2011. This increase is not normal, as confirmed the Japanese epidemiologist, Professor Toshihide TSUDA University of Okayama.
Pierre Fetet
Source: Fukushima Blog
http://www.fukushima-blog.com/2016/02/ici-ca-ne-va-plus.html
Translation Hervé Courtois (D’un Renard)
NRA AFTER 5 DAYS CHANGES ITS DECISION
On the February 11th the NRA for safety reasons said no to Tepco starting the freezing of its Fukushima Daiichi ice wall, now 4 days later on February 15th the NRA says yes.
How could Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority change its mind that way so rapidly about a matter regarding safety…..
NRA decided to reduce 70 percent of radiation monitoring posts in Fukushima
THEY REALLY THINK THAT WE’RE STUPID, EVEN IF IT IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE JAPANESE PEOPLE
On February 10, 2016 The NRA (Nuclear Regulation Authority) declared that from April 2017 it will discontinue 2500 of its 3600 radioactivity monitoring terminals in the Fukushima Prefecture.
The NRA says it’s due to lack of budget and resources.
The 2500 to be removed terminals are located in public institutions including schools.
The NRA states that there has been no significant change in radioactivity recently detected.
While all radioactivity measurements have been increasing in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant, how can someone responsible says that there is no significant change?
On 2/10/2016, NRA (Nuclear Regulation Authority) announced they are going to abandon 2,500 of 3,600 radiation monitoring posts in Fukushima prefecture from April of 2017.
NRA states this is due to the limited resource such as budget and equipment.
2,500 posts to be removed are situated in public facility including schools.
NRA comments no significant change has been detected recently. However, the monitoring posts were also observed to become “under maintenance” occasionally.
Sources
https://www.nsr.go.jp/disclosure/committee/kisei/00000110.html
NRA decided to reduce 70 percent of radiation monitoring posts in Fukushima
Little progress made in securing land for interim storage facilities for radioactive soil
With thousands of bags of radioactive soil piling up, less than 1 percent of the land needed for interim storage facilities in Fukushima Prefecture has been acquired even a year after the project started.
The mountain of paperwork in finalizing the real estate transactions and insufficient manpower are the main factors behind the slow progress.
That, in turn, could affect plans to have Fukushima residents return to their homes after evacuation orders are lifted.
Because the interim storage facilities have not yet been completed, thousands of bags of contaminated soil are stacked up in the open in parts of Fukushima. Until those bags are moved to the interim storage facilities, local residents may not be willing to return because of the high radiation levels being emitted from the contaminated soil.
The Environment Ministry and local governments in Fukushima Prefecture are continuing with work to remove soil contaminated with radioactive materials. As of the end of September 2015, a total of about 9 million cubic meters of such contaminated waste were being temporarily stored in about 115,000 locations around Fukushima. Government officials estimate that a total of 22 million cubic meters of contaminated soil will eventually be collected.
That soil will all be moved to the interim storage facilities to be constructed in the Fukushima towns of Okuma and Futaba where the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is located. Total land of about 16 square kilometers will be acquired for the interim storage facilities.
Plans call for leaving the contaminated soil at the interim facilities for a maximum of 30 years before processing it somewhere outside of Fukushima Prefecture.
Land registration records contain the names of 2,365 individuals as owners of the land and buildings where the interim storage facilities will be constructed. However, as of the end of January, Environment Ministry officials have signed contracts with 44 landowners, or just 2 percent of the total. In terms of land, those contracts only covered about 0.15 square kilometer, which does not even total 1 percent of the total land that needs to be acquired.
Environment Ministry officials are trying to push ahead with appraising the land, but they face a mountain of problems as well as other issues unique to the Fukushima situation. In terms of land, about 10 percent is owned by individuals whom ministry officials have been unable to contact.
But in terms of the names on the land records, ministry officials have been unable to contact about 990 individuals, or about 40 percent of the total. Some of the people on the land records may be deceased, meaning that those with inheritance claims could run into the thousands.
Moreover, the lack of land appraisers with background about the Fukushima situation has meant that negotiations often have taken longer than expected. Some landowners also are hesitant about selling off land that has been in the family for generations, even if there are no prospects of returning to the family plot anytime soon because of the high radiation levels in the community.
In March 2015, the Environment Ministry began a trial project by leasing some of the projected land for the interim storage facilities and transporting in contaminated soil. Over 11 months, about 36,000 cubic meters of soil were hauled there, but that only represents about 0.2 percent of the expected total.
Environment Ministry officials are unable to put together a specific plan for full-scale transporting of the contaminated soil to the interim storage facilities because in fiscal 2016 only about 1 percent of the total land needed for the interim storage facilities will likely be acquired.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201602140022
Radioactive Cs in the estuary sediments near Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Cs-137 of estuary sediment impacted by the FDNPP was measured.
Physical and chemical properties were measured also.
Increasing radioactivity was observed from surface to bottom.
90% of the Cs-137 was strongly bound to clay minerals in the estuary sediments.
Cesium-137 is being transported from contaminated paddy fields to the estuary.
The migration and dispersion of radioactive Cs (mainly 134Cs and 137Cs) are of critical concern in the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP). Considerable uncertainty remains in understanding the properties and dynamics of radioactive Cs transport by surface water, particularly during rainfall-induced flood events to the ocean. Physical and chemical properties of unique estuary sediments, collected from the Kuma River, 4.0 km south of the FDNPP, were quantified in this study. These were deposited after storm events and now occur as dried platy sediments on beach sand. The platy sediments exhibit median particle sizes ranging from 28 to 32 μm. There is increasing radioactivity towards the bottom of the layers deposited; approximately 28 and 38 Bq g− 1 in the upper and lower layers, respectively. The difference in the radioactivity is attributed to a larger number of particles associated with radioactive Cs in the lower part of the section, suggesting that radioactive Cs in the suspended soils transported by surface water has decreased over time.
Sequential chemical extractions showed that ~ 90% of 137Cs was strongly bound to the residual fraction in the estuary samples, whereas 60 ~ 80% of 137Cs was bound to clays in the six paddy soils. This high concentration in the residual fraction facilitates ease of transport of clay and silt size particles through the river system. Estuary sediments consist of particles < 100 μm. Radioactive Cs desorption experiments using the estuary samples in artificial seawater revealed that 3.4 ± 0.6% of 137Cs was desorbed within 8 h. More than 96% of 137Cs remained strongly bound to clays. Hence, particle size is a key factor that determines the travel time and distance during the dispersion of 137Cs in the ocean.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716301541
Arnie Gundersen Speaking Tour in Japan N°1
On The Road Again…Japan Speaking Tour Series No. 1
Fairewinds’ Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen is hitting the road yet again for his third speaking tour of Japan! It will be five years in March since the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi began and the Japanese public continues to search for the truth about nuclear risk and honest answers to their energy future as they face their current government’s push to restart Japan’s atomic reactors. By invitation from various organizations and public interest groups, Arnie will be presenting to communities throughout Japan including those who live in the shadow of atomic reactors, plutonium reprocessing plants, and proposed atomic waste dumps. Join the Fairewinds Crew as we explore some of the key issues that will be discussed during the tour.
http://www.fairewinds.org/podcast//on-the-road-againjapan-speaking-tour-series-no-1
More than 1,100 water storage tanks at Fukushima plant … and counting
OKUMA, Fukushima Prefecture–From the air, the rows of different colored water storage tanks at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant resemble a giant integrated circuit board.
As the fifth anniversary approaches of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that unleashed the nuclear catastrophe, the stricken facility is fast running out of space to position the tanks holding highly contaminated radioactive water.
As of Feb. 12, there were 1,106 massive water tanks on the premises.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the plant, constructed the tanks to store radiation-contaminated water that has been accumulating at the plant since the disaster unfolded in March 2011.
The utility plans to construct 20 more water storage tanks to accommodate 30,000 tons of water that is expected to be generated in the remaining months of 2016.
As the tanks occupy much of the parking lots, green spaces and vacant areas, TEPCO has no choice but to build new tanks in the narrow alleys between the huge containers.
The accumulation of contaminated water has been a persistent problem at the plant, which is only in the very early stages of decommissioning, a process that will take 30 to 40 years.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201602130025
Environment minister withdraws radiation remark, apologizes to Fukushima residents
Environment Minister Tamayo Marukawa retracted her remark about the government having “no scientific grounds” for its radiation decontamination target in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, saying she wanted to rebuild trust with local residents.
As the minister in charge of overseeing the decontamination efforts in Fukushima Prefecture, Marukawa, 45, said Feb. 12 she wants to “sincerely apologize to residents in Fukushima.”
During a speech in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, on Feb. 7, she labeled the government’s long-term goal of reducing radiation levels near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to an annual dose of 1 millisievert or less as having “absolutely no scientific grounds.”
A local newspaper, The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, picked up the story and reported her comments on Feb. 8, which she promptly denied having made.
At Diet sessions on Feb. 9 and 10, Marukawa stated that she had “no recollection of using such wording” in the speech.
Nevertheless, she told the news conference on the evening of Feb. 12 that she had decided of her own volition to “retract the remark in order to maintain a relationship of trust with residents in Fukushima.”
Marukawa went on to say that the government’s decontamination target is “indeed scientific in the sense that it was set as a result of thorough discussions by scientists.”
Her acknowledgment of making the faux pas will likely prompt the opposition camp to go on the offensive during Diet sessions in the coming week. For the time being, at least, Marukawa is standing firm. She said she has no intention of stepping down and wants to continue fulfilling her duties.
The decontamination goal was set by the Democratic Party of Japan-led government of the time on the basis of recommendations by the International Commission on Radiological Protection in the aftermath of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima plant triggered by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
After the newspaper covered her remarks, Marukawa told reporters on Feb. 8 that she did not remember using such wording as “scientifically ungrounded.” She repeated the plea at Lower House Budget Committee sessions on Feb. 9 and 10.
During a regular news conference after the Feb. 12 morning Cabinet meeting, the minister finally acknowledged the possibility of making the remark.
She eventually retracted the comment later the day after obtaining a memorandum of her speech and confirming the content with attendants.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201602130023
1 This Month
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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