3/11 evacuees’ refusal to vacate temporary housing causes reconstruction headache
SENDAI – At least 900 temporary housing units in 20 municipalities in the disaster-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima have not been vacated or demolished even though residents no longer have a dire need to stay in them, according to a survey.
If those dwellings are not razed, local governments cannot use the land to reconstruct their communities. But some residents have financial, emotional and other reasons preventing them from moving out, causing a headache for municipal officials.
The survey, released Wednesday, was of 46 municipalities that still provided rent-free temporary housing as of the end of July.
In Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered the greatest tsunami damage on March 11, 2011, 451 temporary housing units need to be vacated, while the town of Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, where evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear calamity stay, had about 160 such occupied units.
“I know it’s not good,” a man in his 20s said of the fact that he still lives in temporary housing despite having built a new home outside Ishinomaki.
He didn’t want to move out because he feared disaster would strike again, leaving him without a home.
“There are still many temporary housing units around and I don’t intend to move out anytime soon,” the man said. Ishinomaki still has about 7,200 such dwellings, the largest within the three disaster-hit prefectures.
In Sendai, where many permanent dwellings have been built, there were still 52 temporary units that need to be vacated, according to the survey.
A few families still live in temporary housing in Sendai despite the completion of a new public housing complex.
When a Sendai official called on them to ask why they hadn’t moved into the new complex, they said they were scared because the new housing had been built at a site that had been flooded by the tsunami.
The official didn’t pressure them further.
“But at some point, they need to move into permanent housing,” the official said.
The holdouts include elderly people living alone.
In one case in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, although the resident had moved to a nursing facility, there were no relatives who could help move the person’s belongings out of the temporary unit. In another case, an elderly resident died in a temporary unit and no one came forward to claim or dispose of the occupant’s belongings.
Financial constraints are also discouraging residents from moving out of temporary units.
An unemployed resident in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, has been reluctant to move out of the rent-free housing because the new public housing charges rent. Kuji officials have been unable to persuade the resident to apply for social welfare.
There were other cases in which temporary housing units were not vacated because they were being used for unauthorized purposes, including for storage or as hotel-like accommodations.
“There was a case in which the resident built a home outside the town but used the temporary housing to go to work in Onagawa,” said an official of Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture.
“Technically, they need to move out,” said one official. “But some cases are complicated and we have a hard time resolving them.”
Although municipalities have built new, permanent public housing complexes and have urged dwellers in temporary units to relocate to them, there are other hurdles in the way of razing or consolidating the remaining temporary units, including getting residents to relocate away from their current neighbors.
As of the end of July, there were still about 52,000 temporary evacuee housing units in Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi with an average vacancy rate of about 30 percent, and maintaining these communities and ensuring they remain secure are proving difficult.
Among the three prefectures, 10 municipalities have drawn up plans to reduce and consolidate the temporary housing units and seven are working out plans.
Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, has managed since spring to get more than 50 households to move to another temporary housing site, taking the time to explain the situation to each resident.
Officials at Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, held meetings in July and August to explain to temporary housing residents that some had to move to more consolidated units.
The city plans to reduce the temporary housing complexes from 92 to 23 by the end of 2017.
But the city has been forced to revise the plan because of delayed reconstruction work, which has irked residents of the temporary housing units who had hoped to move into better dwellings sooner rather than later.
Kyoji Nagaya, 62, had planned to build a new home on high ground, but construction won’t start for another six months or more. What he believed would be “temporary” housing turned out to be his residence for more than 4½ years.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve been disappointed,” said Nagaya. “I just have to wait.”
Source: Japan Times
Fukushima leaks radioactive water after Typhoon Etau busts drainage system
Typhoon Etau brought lashing rains, floods and storm winds to Japan. Tens of thousands of Japanese people have been ordered to leave their homes across the country.
Tokyo Electric Power CO. (TEPCO) informed the public today that hundreds of tons of radioactive water had leaked from the facility, but maintained that the incident posed no risk to the environment. Large quantities of contaminated water need to be stored in special reservoirs that were used to cool melted fuel rods from reactors at the TEPCO site, which was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
TEPCO had acknowledged the risk of the typhoon to the nuclear site on Tuesday, outlining the preventative measures it was taking.
“For heavy rains, TEPCO has standard procedures to install
rainwater guttering on the upper part of the water storage tanks and also to construct dikes around groups of tanks, which is applied to all of the recently added storage tanks,” said the statement adding that “the drainage systems on the premises are most active during heavy rains to keep the site from flooding.”
Despite Tuesday’s statements asserting that the drainage system would protect the nuclear plant station and the operator company was ready to face the typhoon, today’s announcement would imply that TEPCO’s efforts weren’t enough
To deal with the new leaks, TEPCO said on Thursday that it was sealing off the seaside of the nuclear plant with an “impermeable wall” which would “play a crucial role” in preventing contaminated groundwater from reaching the ocean.
To deal with the new leaks, TEPCO said on Thursday that it was sealing off the seaside of the nuclear plant with an “impermeable wall” which would “play a crucial role” in preventing contaminated groundwater from reaching the ocean.
Source: RT
Japan: Typhoon Etau floods send hundreds of tonnes of contaminated Fukushima water into ocean
Flooding caused by Typhoon Etau has sent hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, a Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) spokesperson said. Rain overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, they added.
Tepco is storing massive quantities of contaminated water that was used to cool melted fuel in the reactors damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the site. In a statement regarding Typhoon Etau earlier in September, the company said the site was at risk from the storm.
“Typhoon No.18 (Etau) is expected to approach the central area of Japan’s honshu island and could affect Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station as well in the next few days,” it said. “To prepare for the heavy winds, the crane necks are lowered and all the equipment is secured with ropes and covers onsite as standard procedure for construction sites.
“For heavy rains, Tepco has standard procedures to install rainwater guttering on the upper part of the water storage tanks and also to construct dikes around groups of tanks, which is applied to all of the recently added storage tanks.”
Japan’s Meteorological Agency said large parts of the country remains either on a warning or emergency warning for severe weather, with Tochigi and Ibaraki at greatest risk. Fukushima prefecture, to the north of both Tochigi and Ibaraki, is at risk of heavy rain, with ground-loosening and inundation possible.
Etau has led to devastating floods in Japan, with several people reported missing and water levels at waist height in some areas. “This is a scale of downpour that we have not experienced before. Grave danger could be imminent,” forecaster Takuya Deshimaru said at an emergency press conference.
Nasa satellite images showed the storm as it moved across central Japan. The intense rainfall moved northwards over the main island of Honshu, with almost 12in of rain reported. The storm has now weakened and moved over the Sea of Japan, where it is expected to dissipate, but rain has continued to hit the country.
Tens of thousands of people have had to leave their homes, with dramatic footage showing floods sweeping away buildings and cars. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said officials are working hard to rescue people and aid those effected: He added: “The government will stand united and do its best to deal with the disaster… by putting its highest priority on people’s lives.”
Source: International Business Times
Another Fukushima worker died / No media coverage
On 9/9/2015, another Fukushima worker found dead, according to Tepco.
3 workers died in August. (cf, August’s 3rd worker died in Fukushima plant after the work of retained contaminated water beside Reactor 1 [URL])
At 12:45 of 9/9/2015, the subcontract worker was found losing consciousness in the toilet of entry-management building of Fukushima plant. The worker was to be in cardiopulmonary arrest state aprox. 10 minutes later.
At 15:10 of the day, the worker was confirmed to be dead at Iwaki Kyouritsu Hospital.
Any identity has not been disclosed about this worker. The dose level is not reported either.
At this moment, none of the mass media has covered this for some reason.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150909_13-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu-news/2015/1259686_6869.html
Source: Fukushima Daiichi
Fukushima Sensationalism and Hoaxes
During the past years and half following the ongoing Fukushima catastrophe I have said it repeatedly many times:
1. Sensationalism discredit the real gravity of the situation in Fukushima and of the living conditions of the Fukushima victims, it also discredits all the serious Fukushima Watchers and our anti-nuclear cause.
2. It is an insult to truth and to the real victims on location in Fukushima.
3. Fukushima and nuclear do not need any exageration, sensationalism, the plain truth as it is, is terrible, horrible enough.
4. Only by spreading the truth, the true facts we can mark solid points against the cover-up of the nuclear lobby and its servile media, only with truth and true facts we can help the Fukushima victims situation to be known, exposed and get them the help they rightfully deserve.
5. Therefore we should oppose both the nuke shills who minimize the truth about Fukushima and nuclear, and the sensationalists who discredit the Fukushima cause to the eyes of the general public with their wild lies about Fukushima.
For four years and half, I have been sharing, circulating information on internet thru 3 blogs and on Facebook on a few groups and pages.
I have chosen up to now to ignore the rotten apples, but I cannot keep silent anymore when I do witness the harm they are doing to the Fukushima cause and to the anti-nuclear cause with their sensationalism, their repetitive hoaxes, their lack of integrity, of responsibility, their sensationalizing of Fukushima to draw attention so as to milk donations from good people but alas gullible not well informed.
The typical example of those few Youtubers sensationalizing Fukushima for self profit, transforming the Fukushima issue into a personal con-game is a man named Kevin Blanch.
For example last year Kevin Blanch made a video announcing that the spent fuel pool of the reactor 4 at the Nuclear plant of Fukushima Daiichi was on fire and had exploded, that the whole U.S. would be fried by the radiation plume released from that fire and explosion within few days, causing a panic and fear in numbers of people. Of course it was just bull. Another hoax of his, among his countless other lies and hoaxes.
His latest hoax, this year, on August 2015, after Japan restarted its first reactor at Sendai in Southern Japan on Kyushu Islnd, he took advantage of people’s attention about that restart to announce suddenly that that reactor was having a meltdown. Of course, not basis whatsover for his claim, just another made-up hoax of his. Multiple hoaxes for which during the past 4 years and half he never even once apologized , once those hoaxes in due time were debunked one after the other. Totally unrepentant, and always keeping on doing it.
That scoundrel is making a living from making sensationalism videos about Fukushima on Youtube, full of exaggerations, hyperboles, plain lies, hoaxes, promoting his self-importancy with the sole intent to fool the people about his pretended activism so as to milk donations from them, thus making Fukushima his personal lucrative con-game.
I feel sorry for the gullible people that he fools, that he takes advantage of, most of those people certainly well meaning and good hearted. But If only them I would not interfere with his con-game and his preys.
But people like him are robbing those donations from the people who really need it and who really deserve it : The real victims and the real activists on location doing the real job, helping the victims, organizing radiation measuring networks to measure the environment and the foods & beverages of the communities, providing measuring instruments to communities on locations, etc… The people who are crowdfunding, organizing health recovering spring and summer camps outside of Fukushima for the children of Fukushima in Japan or Hawaii, or in Australia or in various European countries, so that the Fukushima children may leave their daily contaminated environment to replenish their health for a few weeks in a non contaminated environment, to eat also there non-contaminated foods for a few weeks. Those times out are very crucial for the health of those children, for them to be ble to detox their young vulnerable organism, as it was proven before with the children of chernobyl by numerous studies.
Those few people like him on Youtube are not well-meaning citizens wishing to expose the Fukushima situation, to circulate the informations which are not well circulated by the mainstream media due to the nuclear lobby influence and its financial associates, such people are riding the Fukushima catastrophe, as vultures, to the detriment of the real victims and to the detriment of truth, for their own ego and greed.
Please people, don’t be victimized by con-men and their glib jive lies.
Spare your donations to help the real victims, and to help the real activists present on location to help the Fukushima victims.
From the father of a Fukushima girl.
Best wishes to you all.
Record rain overwhelming Fukushima’s nuclear station’s drainage pumps
Japan’s torrential downpour overwhelmed Fukushima’s drainage pumps sending hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific! Japanese flooding update, The Big Wobble , 10 Sept 15
Rainfall reached 600 millimetres in the area around Joso, with weather officials expecting at least 200mm more in parts of eastern Japan, including Fukushima, the site of the nuclear reactor crippled in 2011, before the downpour stops on Friday.
Report Says Floods May Pose Threat To Radiation Under Fukushima
The torrential downpour has exacerbated a contaminated water problem at the Fukushima nuclear plant as it overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, sending hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water flowing into the ocean, a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said.
The continuous torrent of rain water is complicating the already difficult situation in Fukushima where, according to an operator of the Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the drainage pumps are not able to evacuate all the water that is pouring into the plant, becoming contaminated and damaging the ‘surrounding environment.
Since 2011, the Tempco has been in charge of storing tons of radioactive water used to cool the reactors at the plant, destroyed by the tsunami……..TEPCO is storing huge volumes of water used to cool reactors that were sent into meltdown when a tsunami hit Japan in 2011……..
“This is a scale of downpour that we have not experienced before.
Grave danger could be imminent,” forecaster Takuya Deshimaru told an emergency press conference. Etau, which smashed into Japan on Wednesday, moved out into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) by the end of the day, but a wall of rain continued to lash the country……http://www.thebigwobble.org/2015/09/japans-torrential-downpour-overwhelmed.html
Fukushima nuclear plant under threat from epic flooding
ABC: “Epic flooding in Japan threatening Fukushima… Serious concerns about nuclear power plant in flood zone” — Hundreds of tons of contaminated water have already flowed into ocean — Torrential downpours overwhelm site — Worst rains to hit area in past 50 years (VIDEO)http://enenews.com/abc-epic-flooding-japan-threatening-fukushima-serious-concerns-about-nuclear-power-plant-flood-zone-hundreds-tons-contaminated-water-flowed-ocean-torrential-downpours-overwhelm-site-video
Mainichi: Typhoon causes injuries, cancelled trains and flights, radioactive water leak… [TEPCO] announced on Sept. 9 that rainwater contaminated with radioactive materials had leaked from the plant’s drainage system into the ocean. The heavy rains brought on by Typhoon Etau exceeded the capacity of a transfer pump… This is the seventh time of possible or confirmed leaks of radiation-contaminated water since the utility began transferring the water from canal to canal in April… TEPCO says it does not know how much contaminated water leaked into the ocean, and is currently analyzing the concentration of the radioactive matter in the leaked water.
ABC News transcript: Epic flooding in Japan threatening the Fukushima plant… Serious concern this morning about a nuclear power plant in the flood zone… Torrential downpours [are] raising concerns about the Fukushima power plant… Reports that these heavy rains may overwhelm the site’s drainage pumps.
Reuters: A spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) told the Guardian hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water have flowed into the ocean from the Fukushima nuclear plant… Rainfall reached 500 mm around Joso, NHK said, with weather officials expecting at least 200 mm more in parts of eastern Japan, including Fukushima, the site of the nuclear reactor crippled in 2011, before the downpour stops on Friday.
AFP: Japan flags grave danger from floods and water tainted by Fukushima nuke plant radiation— Tens of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate across Japan today as heavy rain pounded the country, sending radiation-tainted waters into the ocean at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant… The torrential downpour has also exacerbated a contaminated water problem at the Fukushima nuclear plant as it overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power said.
Weather Channel: JMA issued landslide warnings parts of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, including areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that suffered a catastrophic meltdown after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. According to the Mainichi Shimbun, a national newspaper, the heavy rain caused contaminated water from the site to run off into the Pacific Ocean for several hours early Wednesday.
UPI: More radioactive water has leaked out from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant… The heavy rain has caused additional leaks at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where the site’s drainage pumps were overwhelmed — causing radioactive water to leak into the Pacific Ocean.
Telegraph: The huge rains also exacerbated a contaminated water problem at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant as it overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, sending radiation-tainted water into the ocean.
Guardian: The heavy rain, which is expected to spread north on Friday, has also caused additional leaks of radioactive water at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant… The meteorological agency warned that heavy rain would continue in the northeast, including Fukushima prefecture, until early Friday morning.
Bloomberg: The storm caused contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant to leak into the ocean… Contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility leaked into the Pacific Ocean at about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, company spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi said by phone, adding that company is still investigating the leak.
ABC Australia: Fukushima tainted water flows into ocean… weather officials [are] expecting at least 200mm more in parts of eastern Japan, including Fukushima, the site of the nuclear reactor crippled in 2011, before the downpour stops on Friday. The torrential downpour has exacerbated a contaminated water problem at the Fukushima nuclear plant as it overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps, sending hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water flowing into the ocean, a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said.
ABC News: In addition to the clear danger facing residents, Japanese authorities are particularly concerned about the flooding, given its proximity to one of the country’s biggest nuclear power plants, Fukushima — damaged by the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami… “The torrential downpour is threatening safety at the Fukushima nuclear plant, closed since the 2011 disaster, as it has overwhelmed drainage pumps at the site’s contaminated water treatment facility,” a Japanese government official told ABC News.
NPR: Floodwaters also “overwhelmed the drainage pumps at the Fukushima nuclear plant,” Japan Times reports, citing a Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman who said the flooding sent “hundreds of tons of contaminated water” into the ocean.
Prensa Latina, Sep 10, 2015: Typhoon Etau Causes Leak of Radioactive Water in Fukushima — Typhoon Etau originated leaks of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant in Japan… Leaks occurred in dams located around the tanks storing liquid used to cool the reactors. With this leak, there have been seven detected since last April when a pumping system was implemented to prevent radioactive waste emanating from the reactor to flow in a place away from the plant.
EFE: Contaminated water from Fukushima leaks into sea due to typhoon Etau — The Fukushima plant… has been found to be leaking contaminated water into the sea following heavy rainfall in the region caused by typhoon Etau, a spokesperson of Fukushima’s operator confirmed to EFE Thursday… The leaks have been caused in the embankments around the tanks where highly radioactive water is stored after they are used to cool the reactors…
USA Today: Tens of thousands of people are ordered to flee homes across Japan as heavy rain pounded the country, sending radiation-tainted waters into the ocean at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
Kyodo: Heavy rains whose severity was described as occurring once in 50 years were observed in… Fukushima Prefecture.
CNN: Fukushima prefecture, which was devastated by the 2011 tsunami, saw more than 30 centimeters (1 foot) of rain in 48 hours — the heaviest downpour there in 50 years, NHK said.
Scrutinising Japan’s government PR about The Reopening Of Nahara Fukushima
The Reopening Of Nahara Fukushima, What The Press Failed To Mention, Simply Info September 9th, 2015 The press has widely reported the reopening of Nahara as the government uses it as a PR tool. Much of the reporting focused on issues such as the lack of stores, services or schools. This is a distraction from the very real pressing concern of the radiation levels and uncertain status of the town’s decontamination efforts.
Nahara has been plagued with problems and high radiation levels yet the government has characterized the town as being “safe”. Nahara was the site of Fukushima Daiichi debris findings in 2013. ……..
Asahi Shimbun discovered illegal practices were being used in the decontamination work being done in Nahara in 2013. Nahara currently houses large stockpiles of radioactive soil and debris as seen in this photo. The town is part of the long term consolidated storage plan where contaminated soil from around Japan is being collected and stored near Fukushima Daiichi.
Nahara’s city water supply was found to have 18,700 bq/kg of cesium in the soil in the bottom of the reservoir. In May of 2014 Nahara officials demanded that the central government decontaminate Nahara to pre-disaster levels. Nothing further was reported on this to show any response to these requests………
Recent soil sampling done by Iwaki Radiation Measuring Center with the help of a former Fukushima Daiichi worker who collected the samples found alarmingly high radiation.
Soil samples in Nahara were found as high as:
52500 bq/kg cesium 137 & 134 combined
34790 bq/kg cesium 137 & 134 combined
26480 bq/kg cesium 137 & 134 combined……..http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=15023
Cs-134/137 density of plant port water keeps increasing since last week
Cs-134/137 density reached the highest level at 2 of those 4 points mentioned above, according to Tepco. The sampling date was 9/7/2015.
These 2 points are in front of water intakes of Reactor 1 and Reactor 2. Both of them are outside of underground wall to prove high level of contamination is still leaking to the sea.
Also, Cs-134/137 density in the south of these 2 points reached the highest level. This is also outside of the underground wall, but the density went up approx. 170 % of the previous highest reading. The newly highest Cs-134/137 density was 152,000 Bq/m3.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15090801-j.pdf
Source: Fukushima Diary
Cs-134/137 density of plant port water keeps increasing since last week
CSRP 2015 – The Fifth Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection
Beginning in March 2011, the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant catastrophe continues even now with no end in sight. We have sought out ways to reduce even a little, or possibly prevent, health effects due to radiation exposure. Whether radiation exposure leads to health effects, or what the potential health effects might be, has generated much interest in our society. However, up to now, no discussion has been openly carried out amongst scientists with various viewpoints. The nuclear power plant accident and the dispersed radioactivity exert influences over extensive social areas, affecting individuals as well as the society. What is called for now is societal decision-making regarding such influences for the purpose of radiation protecton, through discussions between the victims, the political decision-makers, the researchers, and the non-governmental organizations.
Currently, the exposed and the highly exposed human populations are either ignored by the government or they become inadvertent subjects of observation by scientists, while silently and helplessly observing incidences of illness creeping up within themselves. Epidemiological studies, deemed essential in putting public health into practice, are not cold science by any means. The purpose of epidemiological studies should include, in addition to the elucidation of frequency and causes of illnesses, the creation of frameworks to minimize health effects by reducing or preventing them. Furthermore, the true goal of epidemiological studies is for them to be utilized in reducing or preventing societal effects which could worsen the catastrophe.
What approaches are needed for science to become a survival tool for humans in the challenge of radiation protection? We shall think about this issue together at the Fifth Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection,
On Day 1 of the symposium, we will approach this issue from the diverse intellectual interactions between science and art.
On Day 2, we will explore epidemiology as a science in addition to a general overview of radiation protection measures based on the latest biological findings.
Lastly, on Day 3, we will verify from societal aspects what language, law and ethics are necessary in order to put such measures into practice.
For more details and registration → http://csrp.jp/csrp2015/
Live streaming → http://csrp.jp/csrp2015/live
Tepco’s index-topping gains fueled by electricity shake-up
Japan’s reform of its energy market is proving a boon to investors in the company at the center of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster.
Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s shares have surged 59 percent in the six months through Tuesday’s close, making it the best performer on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average and the 174-member Bloomberg World Utilities Index.
Tepco, owner of the wrecked plant, is seen as an early beneficiary of government-backed power reform. By April, residential power customers will be able to choose their provider for the first time. And by 2020, utilities will be required to separate their transmission, distribution and retail businesses.
“Looking towards the electricity market reform to be completed by 2020, a company the size of Tepco is an attractive investment,” Mana Nakazora, an analyst at BNP Paribas Securities (Japan) Ltd., said by email.
While the company’s stock price has surged this year, it is still less than half of where it was before the Fukushima disaster. The shares fell 3.1 percent to ¥751 at the close of Tokyo trading on Tuesday. They closed at ¥2,153 the day before Fukushima, but have increased 55 percent since Tepco announced on May 1 that it will transition to a holding company beginning in April.
Tepco was rated new overweight on Tuesday with a target price of ¥1,000 a share by Yuji Nishiyama, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co.
Spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi declined to comment on the performance of the company’s stock.
For Tepco, a more open energy market in Japan offers the opportunity for growth at a company whose survival was in question just a few years ago. The Fukushima disaster put it on the verge of default, with the head of Japan’s biggest stock market telling the company to file for bankruptcy protection. Tepco was saved by a ¥1 trillion infusion from the government in 2012, the nation’s largest bailout since the 1990s.
The power company received ¥5.61 trillion from the state-backed Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp. to deal with payouts to victims of the Fukushima meltdown, Tepco reported last month.
Under the April reorganization, Tepco’s nuclear operations will be placed into a holding company, while debt investors will be repaid from the funds of a spun-off power grid company.
Tepco’s probability of debt nonpayment has dropped to 0.309 percent from about 1.121 percent on Oct. 16, according to the Bloomberg default-risk model, which considers factors such as share prices and debt. The probability of debt nonpayment was as high as 6.156 percent in 2012.
“The company’s default risk has disappeared,” said BNP Paribas’s Nakazora.
The government’s power reform began this year with the creation of an organization to manage the nation’s supply and demand balance. Next year’s full retail liberalization, the second stage of the reform, will allow utilities to more freely expand outside their traditional regions. The government aims to remove rate regulations by 2020.
A drop in fuel costs saw Tepco increase operating profit threefold in the quarter ended June 30. The price of liquefied natural gas imported into Japan fell to a six-year low in June, while crude oil prices are near a record low.
“Investors expected first-quarter profits to have a big increase due to the drop in oil then liquefied natural gas,” Syusaku Nishikawa, a Tokyo-based analyst at Daiwa Securities Co., said by email.
Yet challenges remain. Liabilities related to the Fukushima disaster and Tepco’s responsibilities will continue to pressure the company’s credit quality in the long term, according to Mariko Semetko, a vice president at Moody’s Japan K.K., which rates the company’s outlook as negative.
Tepco, which operates the world’s biggest nuclear plant by capacity at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility in Niigata Prefecture, has yet to restart any of its nuclear reactors. Resuming operations at the facility would boost profit by as much as ¥32 billion a month, the company has said.
“The recent improvements in profitability are definitely a plus,” Semetko said by phone. “But the company hasn’t yet started its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant and there are a lot of uncertainties around costs related to Fukushima. With all of that in mind, we haven’t been able to stabilize the outlook yet.”
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/09/business/corporate-business/tepcos-index-topping-gains-fueled-electricity-shake/#.VfBQvZeFSM8
Third ceiling panel removed from Fukushima reactor
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have removed half of the ceiling panels covering a damaged reactor building. The work is part of efforts to decommission the facility.
The No.1 reactor building was heavily damaged by a hydrogen explosion during the 2011 meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company installed a cover around it to prevent the spread of radioactive material.
The utility is now removing the cover so it can clean up debris inside the facility. Two of the 6 ceiling panels that make up the cover were removed between late July and early August.
The utility then halted the work to monitor radiation levels and check the conditions of the debris. Since no abnormalities were found, workers removed a 3rd panel on Tuesday using a remote-controlled crane.
TEPCO says there’s been no change in radiation levels around the reactor buildings. It says measurements taken before the work on Tuesday showed that wind blowing inside the cover was weaker than expected.
The utility plans to finish dismantling the cover by around late next year.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150908_21.html
Groundwater to be released into the sea on Monday
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant plans to start releasing groundwater from around reactor buildings into the sea next Monday.
The government and the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, are to formally decide on the discharge date on Wednesday. The water has already been decontaminated.
Officials hope the move will help to curb the accumulation of radioactive wastewater in the reactor buildings. The contaminated water is increasing at a rate of 300 tons a day as the groundwater flows in.
The officials plan to first release some 4,000 tons of water pumped up from the wells around the buildings on a trial basis since August last year.
They say they will continue to pump up water and release it after removing radioactive materials.
Later this week, the utility also plans to resume the construction of steel walls along the coast to stop the groundwater seeping directly into the sea.
The construction work has been suspended until the release of the groundwater becomes possible.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150909_05.html
Can Towns Near Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Plant Recover?
” There are more decontamination workers than townspeople. It’s like we’ve been taken over,” says carpenter Koichi Takeda, who evacuated to nearby Iwaki City and was in town to help a friend clean her house.
He has a number of clients renovating their houses in Naraha, but most of them are undecided about whether they will actually return. “It’s like keeping a vacation home here,” he said.”
A few signs of life are returning to this rural town made desolate by the Fukushima nuclear disaster four-and-a-half years ago: Carpenters bang on houses, an occasional delivery truck drives by and a noodle shop has opened to serve employees who have returned to Naraha’s small town hall.
But weeds cover the now rusty train tracks, there are no sounds of children and wild boars still roam around at night. On the outskirts of town, thousands of black industrial storage bags containing radiation-contaminated soil and debris stretch out across barren fields.
This past weekend, Naraha became the first of seven towns that had been entirely evacuated to reopen since the March 11, 2011, disaster, when a tsunami slammed into the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, causing meltdowns and a massive radiation leak.
The town’s viability is far from certain, and its fate will be watched closely by authorities and neighboring towns to see if recovery is indeed possible on this once-abandoned land.
Just over a tenth of Naraha’s population of 7,400 say they plan to move back soon, and only a few hundred have actually returned, most of them senior citizens. Schools won’t reopen for another two years, and many families with children are staying away due to concerns about radiation levels, which authorities say are below the annual allowable limit. Residents are given personal dosimeters to check their own radiation levels if they want.
One thing that won’t change is the town’s dependence on the nuclear industry — only this time it will involve dismantling damaged reactors, not building and running them.
An economic revival plan centers on a giant 85 billion yen ($700 million) facility that is being built on the edge of town to research, develop and test specialized robots and other technology — part of the government’s “Innovation Coast” plan to turn the disaster-hit region into a hub for nuclear plant decommissioning technology.
The complex will include mock-ups of sections of the wrecked Fukushima reactors to train workers on robot operations. Dismantling the Dai-ichi plant and removing its melted reactor cores will take about 40 years, the government estimates.
The facility is expected to draw hundreds of workers, and the town also seeks to host laborers to decontaminate buildings and outdoor areas in the area. Naraha is also home to a second nuclear power plant — Fukushima Dai-ni — that barely survived the tsunami but may be scrapped due to local opposition to its restart. So it may also be dismantled.
Returning residents are determined to make a go of it, but they wonder if the town will survive economically — and mourn that it will never be the same cozy place it was five years ago.
“There are more decontamination workers than townspeople. It’s like we’ve been taken over,” says carpenter Koichi Takeda, who evacuated to nearby Iwaki City and was in town to help a friend clean her house.
He has a number of clients renovating their houses in Naraha, but most of them are undecided about whether they will actually return. “It’s like keeping a vacation home here,” he said.
Source: ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/towns-japans-fukushima-nuclear-plant-recover-33597508
INSIGHT: Failing to see dangers of nuclear power right under one’s nose
Fifty-three months after the fateful nuclear disaster, the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture has become the first in Japan to resume after all were taken offline for safety inspections.
But the restart callously disregards the lives of so many people who were uprooted from their irreplaceable ancestral land, jobs, families and friends by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.
Inspections of nuclear facilities certainly became more stringent after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But that is no guarantee of their safety. An “unforeseeable” event may occur at any moment, and the cost will be too tragically enormous for anyone to grasp.
Why does the government not want to face up to that fact in earnest? And what about the public, which is allowing the government to move in that direction? While I was furious about these issues, I had the chance to attend a preview of a movie. Seeing it was like getting smacked up the side of the head.
Titled “Tenku no Hachi” (The Big Bee), the action epic, which features an act of terrorism on a nuclear plant, is based on a work of fiction by Keigo Higashino, a best-selling author.
To my surprise, the work both fully and scrupulously presented all the major problems of nuclear power generation that came under the public spotlight after the Fukushima disaster, such as the vulnerability of spent nuclear fuel storage pools, the fictional nature of the safety myth about nuclear power and the merciless way nuclear plants are being forced on depopulated communities in exchange for subsidies.
The original book was written 20 years ago.
Higashino has commented on the work as follows: After his initial plan for it, he spent five years conducting a lot of research on the issue. He was filled with confidence when he finished writing the novel, but received no reaction at all. He thought that, obviously, his work was being ignored on purpose.
If somebody was purposefully “ignoring” the work, who was it?
I WAS PART OF ‘NUCLEAR VILLAGE’
I encountered the issue of nuclear power generation for the first time 27 years ago, when I was a reporter based in The Asahi Shimbun’s Takamatsu bureau in Kagawa Prefecture.
An “output modulation test” was staged at Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture.
A nuclear reactor continues to generate electric power at constant levels day and night, so there is a nighttime surplus of electricity. The test was conducted to raise and lower output levels to enhance efficiency.
Opponents of nuclear power generation reacted angrily to what they argued was a “dangerous” experiment. Thousands of people arrived from all parts of Japan to stage a boisterous protest outside Shikoku Electric’s head office in Takamatsu on the day of the test.
A senior colleague of mine, who had been engaged in a student movement, appeared excited, as he said he was seeing a protest for the first time in a long while. However, local residents gave a chilly reception to the abrupt emergence of the hippie-like band of protesters, which was an uncommon sight.
“What are we supposed to do when all these outsiders suddenly show up and tell us this and that?” went the typical refrain.
I was, frankly, also fed up with the protesters.
The general thinking at the time was: “Japan has great technology. Speaking of possible accidents won’t get you anywhere. After all, modern life is impossible without nuclear power. ”
The anti-nuclear agenda was an unrealistic argument being made by only a few, and was less than catchy as far as news reporting was concerned.
No sooner did I write a halfhearted article about the protest than I returned to covering the police beat–making morning and evening calls to the homes of police detectives in a desperate bid to learn about hidden cases they were pursuing.
That was the way to scoop the competition and enhance my standing at the newspaper. I never attempted, then or afterward, to look into the dilemma of nuclear power generation, although I would have had access to, if only I had sought, a trove of public documents and other materials.
I didn’t even know how many nuclear reactors Japan had, and in which parts of the country, when I was confronted by the Fukushima disaster.
If our eyes are clouded and we are only eager to read the situation and act smartly, we don’t see anything even if something important is hanging right under our noses or if hints are tossed out in our direction.
We use the phrase “nuclear village” to refer to a community of people who rely on benefits generated by the nuclear power industry, which actually represents a major national project. It is exactly those people that created the safety myth and ended up causing the latest disaster. Higashino may have had the nuclear village in mind as the culprit for ignoring the presence of his book.
After all, I was also possibly a member of the nuclear village. I relied on the safety myth as an excuse for looking away from the sorrow and dilemma of those whom nuclear plants were being forced upon, taking the convenient availability of electric power for granted and continuing to scoff at a deluge of alarms.
I was part of the group of people who ignored Higashino’s work, which he had produced with all his might and competence.
LOOKING AT WHAT I SHOULD LOOK AT
One phrase has long stuck in my mind.
I visited a community last year that lies about a 10-kilometer radius from the disaster site. Its deserted landscapes that were frozen in time and were silently tumbling away appeared so eerie that a lump formed in my throat as I realized the exorbitant price of an affluent life.
I blurted out to a local resident who was guiding me around, “Can you forgive Japan for moving to restart its nuclear reactors, oblivious of a disaster of this magnitude?”
The resident remained silent for a while and then muttered, “If nobody changes, nothing will probably ever change.”
Will I be able to change? Will I be able to keep myself separate from the popular sentiment of the time, refuse to conform to the general trend, look at what I should look at and say what I should say?
Source: Asahi Shimbun
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