Rooftop solar power a boon for Japanese farmers
Japan’s Farmers To Benefit From Rooftop Solar Power http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3802 21 June 13, Japan’s farming sector is making the switch to solar power, with the nation’s agricultural body announcing plans to spend AU$93 million installing 30 megawatts of solar on the rooftops of livestock barns and distribution centres.
The project is the initial phase of a plan by Japan’s National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (or Zen-Noh, for short), and Mitsubishi, to ultimately provide 200 megawatts of solar power capacity on farming facilities nationwide by the middle of 2015. Continue reading
Groundwater near Fukushima found to have radioactive strontium 90
(includes video )Radioactive Strontium-90 found in groundwater near Fukushima nuclear reactor Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant reports a toxic substance in groundwater as the country’s new guidelines for nuclear reactivation are approved. NBCNews.com’s Dara Brown reports. By Arata Yamamoto, Producer, NBC News TOKYO, Japan – High levels of toxic Strontium-90 have been found in groundwater at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, its operator said Wednesday.
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), which has been struggling to clean up the plant, said nearly 30 times the permitted level of the radioactive isotope was discovered in a well dug last month outside the turbine hall of Reactor No.2.
The company said it had not detected any rise in the levels of Strontium-90 in sea water, and that it believed the substance was trapped during the initial 2011 nuclear fallout.
It plans to inject chemicals into the ground between the well and shore to prevent any leaks into the ocean…..
Japanese PM in Europe to market Japan’s nuclear reactors
Japan PM promotes nuclear exports at central Europe summit Global Post, 16 June 13 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a push on Sunday for his country’s nuclear technologies at a summit in Warsaw with leaders of four ex-Communist European Union countries, as part of his bid to boost the Asian powerhouse’s exports.
Abe recently unveiled plans to treble Japan’s infrastructure exports to 30 trillion yen ($300 billion, 225 billion euros) a year, a target that could not be reached without nuclear reactors.
At Japan’s first summit with the so-called Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — Abe sought to interest the four in Japanese nuclear technology.
“We stressed the necessity of strengthening cooperation, especially in the area of energy policy,” Abe told reporters.
A joint statement issued after the talks said “Japan welcomed the fact that private sectors of both sides demonstrated keen interest in concrete forms of cooperation in nuclear energy and safety”……
In his first visit to Europe since taking office in December, promoting his country’s nuclear technologies was high on his agenda for boosting overall Japanese exports….http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130616/japan-pm-promotes-nuclear-exports-at-central-europe-summit-0
Schoolground in Japan has high levels of radiation in fungus
Chilling Phenomena”: Fungus emitting radiation 70 times higher than nearby asphalt — “A boy sitting on that patch could do real damage to his gonads” http://enenews.com/chilling-phenomena-fungus-emitting-radiation-70-times-higher-than-nearby-asphalt-a-boy-sitting-on-that-patch-could-do-real-damage-to-his-gonads Title: Cleanup From Fukushima Daiichi: Technological Disaster Or Crisis In Governance?
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Author: Art Keller
Date: June 13, 2013
[…] One of the first demonstrations conducted by [Kevin Wang]’s team was at a Japanese school still in routine use. The contamination was widespread and included troubling accumulations of radiation in biological materials. While the asphalt driveway was contaminated, the grass next to it was four times as radioactive as the asphalt. The worst were the patches of fungus on the bleachers at the school’s baseball field, which had sucked-up radionuclides to such a degree that they were emitting radiation at 70-times the contaminated asphalt.
[Sam Engelhard, an industrial hygenist and certified radiation protection technologist] described the chilling phenomena of the fungus-turned-radiation-sponge as, “a remarkable example of biological amplification.”
Wang said it more bluntly, “A boy sitting on that patch to watch a baseball game could do real damage to his gonads.” […] Full report here
Japan’s government ignoring nuclear phaseout policy, and public opinion
Energy report skips nuclear phase-out Japan Times, KYODO JUN 15, 2013 Japan’s annual energy report released Friday barely refers to the fact that the previous government upheld a goal to phase out nuclear powerin the 2030s, reflecting the pro-nuclear stance of the current government.
The latest Energy White Paper covers a period between last August and around March, during which the previous government led by the Democratic Party of Japan compiled a new energy strategy in light of
the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The most controversial part in the strategy was a pledge to “devote all policy resources to enable zero nuclear power plant operation in the 2030s,” but the white paper does not use the phrase in explaining
the strategy…….
The zero-nuclear goal shows up in the white paper once, but only as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s quoted statement, which criticizes the energy strategy for stirring concerns and distrust among the local
governments hosting nuclear plants and businesses.
The goal, if maintained, would have marked a massive shift in Japan’s
decades-long promotion of nuclear power……
The white paper also touches on a poll conducted by the previous
government seeking to gauge public opinion on energy policy, but does
not mention that the government at that time concluded that at least a
majority of the people are hoping for a society that does not rely on
nuclear power.
Of the 50 commercial reactors, only two, in western Japan, are online.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/15/business/energy-report-skips-nuclear-phase-out/#.UbzfVudwo6I
Radiation levels high – 45 miles from Fukushima nuclear reactors
Experts: Shock during first trip to Fukushima — Radiation levels so high far away from reactors that full protection suit would be used in U.S., yet people were walking around — “Contamination far more widespread than most understand” http://enenews.com/experts-shock-during-first-trip-to-fukushima-radiation-levels-so-high-far-away-from-reactors-that-full-protection-suit-would-be-used-in-u-s-yet-people-were-walking-around-contamination-far
Title: Cleanup From Fukushima Daiichi: Technological Disaster Or Crisis In Governance?
Source: Fairewinds Energy Education
Author: Art Keller
Date: June 13, 2013
[…] Shortly after arrival on their first trip to Japan, the group headed for Shirikawa, a city 45 miles west and a few miles south of the Daiichi nuclear plant. [Sam Engelhard, an industrial hygenist and certified radiation protection technologist,] was shocked as soon as he unpacked his radiation sensor gear and turned it on. Here they were almost 50 miles from the accident site and in the opposite direction of the prevailing winds, and the crew’s radiation alarms immediately started going off.
“The radiation levels we were seeing were 1,000 times background, higher in spots,” Engelhard said. “If we had been working on a site this contaminated in the US, we would have been fully suited up in radiation protection suits, gloves, and respirators. Yet people were walking around and going about their business, with no idea of how contaminated everything around them was.” […]
[Kevin Wang of Califonia-based company PowerPlus] believes the Fukushima radiological contamination far more widespread that most Japanese understand. “One thing I heard so often during my trips to Japan that it became a mantra, was that ‘Fukushima is a Japanese problem and we have to fix it ourselves.’ So far, I haven’t seen any evidence that the government is taking the right steps to fix things. Instead, the wounded pride of government officials, and a lack of understanding at the urgency of the problem, prevented Japan from taking the steps they needed to.” […]
Scrap all Fukushima prefecture nuclear reactors, says Governor
Fukushima Governor Seeks Scrapping Of All Nuke Reactors RTT News6/12/2013 The Japanese government has been asked to scrap all nuclear reactors in the Fukushima prefecture, where one of the two nuclear power plants had a disastrous accident two years ago, displacing tens of thousands of residents.
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato met with Economy, Trade & Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Tokyo on Wednesday and handed over a letter raising the demand, Japanese media reported.
Sato said Fukushima was aiming for sustained regional development without relying on nuclear power, and it wanted the government to take responsibility in decommissioning all reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear plants….. http://www.rttnews.com/2134682/fukushima-governor-seeks-scrapping-of-all-nuke-reactors.aspx?type=gn&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=sitemap
New York giant bank to invest $3b in Japan renewable investments
Goldman eyes $3b in Japan renewable investments SMH, 14 June 13, Goldman Sachs, the New York-based bank planning as much as 300 billion yen ($3 billion) in renewable energy investments in Japan, is eyeing offshore wind power after building up holdings in more established clean energy sources such as solar.
Japan Renewable Energy Co. was set up by Goldman in August after Japan began offering above-market rates to producers of clean energy. The incentives, or feed-in tariffs, have spurred investments in renewables, setting Japan on course this year to become one of the world’s largest solar markets by annual installations.
The company sees offshore wind as promising, Shigeru Yasu, a representative director at Japan Renewable Energy, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. Geothermal and biomass power also hold potential, he said……..
Five-year investment
Japan Renewable Energy plans in the next five years to invest as much as 50 billion yen directly into clean energy projects with capital provided by GS Infrastructure Partners. It will take as much as 250 billion yen of loans for project financing, Takahisa Nakagawa, also a representative director at Japan Renewable Energy, said in the interview. The investments and loans will amount to about 1,000 megawatts of clean energy, he said……..
Japan is set to overtake Germany as the world’s largest solar market, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said last month……. http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/goldman-eyes-3b-in-japan-renewable-investments-20130614-2o7uo.html#ixzz2WFD29I8D
Groundwater radiation problems at Fukushima No 1 nuclear complex
Tepco again corrects water radiation level JAPAN TIMES , 14 JUNE 13 KYODO Tokyo Electric Power Co. has issued another correction for groundwater radiation at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex and now says that it’s only a tenth of what it announced earlier this month.
The correction Wednesday was the second the beleaguered utility has issued for groundwater data. Tepco is locked in a battle with water and is desperately seeking fishermen’s consent to divert or dump the least-tainted portions of it into the Pacific Ocean to prevent it from mixing with highly radioactive water accumulating in the reactor buildings.
When it runs out of storage space, the tainted water will flood the premises and the environment, making the decommissioning process incredibly difficult.
Tepco said in May that the level of radioactive cesium in a sample of Fukushima No. 1 groundwater was so low it could not be detected. On June 3, however, the utility said the sample contained 0.61 becquerel per liter. This was then reversed Wednesday to a maximum of 0.055 becquerel. Other radioactive substances were not mentioned.
All of the figures are below Tepco’s upper limit for releasing groundwater: 1 becquerel per liter.
But the latest correction could deal another blow to Tepco’s efforts to dump the water by further damaging its already low credibility.
The radioactive water accumulating at the plant is a natural result of the makeshift cooling apparatus set up to keep the fuel from melting again. The water perpetually injected into the three reactors is leaking through holes created by the crisis and flooding each building.
Attempts to drain the water will be limited by Tepco’s rapidly shrinking storage space, and the penetration of the groundwater is only exacerbating the situation. …. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/14/national/tepco-again-corrects-water-radiation-level/#.Ubu_mudwo6I
Japanese Red Cross Society radiation limits for emergency workesr
Red Cross radiation limit for relief workers too low, say critics Asahi Shimbun, By YURI OIWA June 13, 2013 The Japanese Red Cross Society has established a guideline for medical workers that sets an accumulated radiation dose limit of 1 millisievert for relief activities, although experts have said the ceiling is too low to allow workers to provide ample assistance to disaster victims.
“Radiation doses above 1 millisievert have no health effects,” said Yasushi Asari, a professor of emergency medical care at Hirosaki University. “There is no need for medical workers to use that threshold.”
Masahito Yamazawa, director-general of the Red Cross nuclear disaster preparedness task force, said during in-house discussions there were arguments for and against the 1-millisievert threshold. But the Red Cross determined that a 1-millisievert limit would still allow its workers to engage in relief activities in zones with high radiation levels because each relief mission usually lasts only up to a week, Yamazawa said.
One millisievert is the legal annual dose limit for members of the public during normal times.
Yamazawa added that allowances were also made for the fact that its medical relief squads include clerical workers.
“We have created the guideline out of a positive desire to help victims during a nuclear disaster,” Yamazawa said. “We will use it as a platform for further improvements if the need arises.”
Japanese Red Cross relief units fulfilled a total of 900 missions in communities ravaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. However, initially they were unprepared for a nuclear disaster, and that created a vacuum of relief squads in Fukushima Prefecture during the early stages of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Red Cross officials said they learned from that experience and decided to create the new guideline for nuclear disaster relief activities.
The guideline says relief squad members should carry dosimeters and iodine tablets at all times, and retreat to safety whenever they are in danger of being exposed to more than 1 millisievert in accumulated radiation. It also says relief workers should keep clear of zones that are off-limits to residents……
Fukushima’s nuclear reactors – still on the brink of disaster
Australia’s very right wing and pro nuclear newspaper made a little mistake in publishing this one. Perhaps the editors didn’t read it properly. The headline is completely misleading!
Fukushima nuclear reactor back from the brink BY:RICK WALLACE, TOKYO CORRESPONDENT , THE AUSTRALIAN June 13, 2013 ”……..More than 1500 radioactive spent fuel rods sit immersed in water in the open-air pool, which is located about 30m above the ground in what’s left of the reactor No 4 building.
The rods are extremely volatile and, unlike the fuel in the reactors, are not surrounded by any containment structure. If exposed, they can spontaneously combust, creating a tragedy nuclear workers say would put 2011 – the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 – in the shade.
Asked about other risks and challenges to the recovery process at Fukushima, Mr Takahashi cited removal of the melted nuclear fuel from the reactors and the ongoing build-up of contaminated water. “There are many difficult processes and among all of them the removal of the damaged fuel is the most difficult because no country has experience in doing this,” he said.
“The other main difficulty is treatment of the water and preventing the inflow of incoming water, and then we need to treat and dispose of the waste from that water.” Fukushima Daiichi is dotted with more than 300 giant tanks to store this water, each one holding some 1000 tonnes. TEPCO says it wants to expand its storage capacity to 700,000 tonnes and is digging underground tanks, too.
The company is also trying to lower the water table around the plant by digging wells to stem the entry of groundwater into the subterranean spaces of the reactors and minimise the outflow of contamination.
Each day, more than 3000 workers travel to Fukushima Daiichi to work, braving high radiation levels. Much of the debris at the plant has been cleared, although crumpled cars and trucks still dot the side that fronts the ocean. Pumps, and pipes that snake throughout the site, are keeping the situation stable for now but it’s readily apparent a huge amount of decontamination work remains before workers can turn to the task of decommissioning the reactors themselves.
Readings during yesterday’s press visit peaked at 1500 microsieverts near the reactor No 3 building. Standing in this spot for about 13 hours would give a person the 20 millisievert dose deemed as the trigger for evactuating civilians on an annual basis…..
The tour follows a series of embarrassing episodes for TEPCO, including a blackout that shut down cooling to the fragile plant for several hours.The company also recently revealed there had been a leak in one of the steel tanks storing radioactive water, and it had found radioactive cesium leaking into the groundwater near the plant. .http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/fukushima-nuclear-reacto
Uncertainty over the location of melted nuclear fuel in Fukushima reactors
Asahi: Locations and condition of melted Fukushima fuel unknown — Mainichi: 450 tons of scattered radioactive rods… unknown where holes in reactors are… plans may be delayed http://enenews.com/asahi-locations-and-condition-of-melted-fukushima-fuel-rods-unknown-mainichi-450-tons-of-scattered-radioactive-material-unknown-where-holes-in-reactors-are-plans-may-be-delayed-further
Asahi Shimbun, June 11, 2013: The workers have yet to gain a grasp of the locations and condition of the fuel debris. They have yet to develop extraction equipment and determine removal methods.
Mainichi,, June 11, 2013: Uncertainty over the location of melted fuel inside the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant continues to cast a shadow over plans to remove the fuel at an early date […] Reactor Nos. 1-3 at the plant contained a total of 1,496 rods of nuclear fuel in their cores. […] Each fuel rod weighs about 300 kilograms, and a high level of technical expertise would be required when undertaking a remote control operation to cut up and retrieve clumps of scattered radioactive materials weighing a combined 450 tons or thereabouts. […] the cores of reactors at the Fukushima plant have holes, and the task at hand is finding which parts have been damaged […] In a news conference on June 10, a representative of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy said that bringing forward the plans would be dependent on developing technology, and suggested that the plans might even end up being delayed. […]
State of melted fuel at Fukushima plant unknown — Worker: “We opened the Pandora’s box” — Journalist: “We’re headed toward a real crisis”
Akie Abe – Japan’s anti nuclear “ opposition party within the family.”
Akie Abe, His “Anti-Nuclear” Wife JUNE 12, 2013 In Japan, wives aren’t part of the show. Back in the day, they walked a few feet behind their husbands. Old couples can still be seen progressing down the sidewalk in that manner. In politics, wives still aren’t part of the show – though recently, they’ve been seen deplaning with their husbands when they alight in Western countries, even holding hands while waving to photographers.
But when a wife suddenly invites herself to the show, and not demurely behind or next to her husband, but vocally at the opposite end of where he stands, it causes a stir. In particular if she takes on the nuclear power industry. Continue reading
“I am anti nuclear” says Akie Abe, wife of Japan Prime Minister
Japan’s first lady says she is ‘anti-nuclear’ Capital News, By AFP | June 11, 2013 TOKYO, – The wife of Japan’s pro-business Prime Minister Shinzo Abe does not like nuclear power and would rather her husband’s government did not try to export it, she said in a speech.
In comments that appear to run against the grain of government thinking, which is increasingly moving towards switching mothballed reactors back on, Akie Abe said Japan should press on instead with renewables. “I feel bad that Japan is trying to sell nuclear power plants overseas because I am anti-nuclear,” she said in a closed-door speech last Thursday at an event organised by a non-profit group that supports farming communities….. despite vocal public opposition, the prime minister has said he wants to restart units when they are proven safe.
And his recently-unveiled bid to treble Japan’s infrastructure exports to 30 trillion yen ($300 billion) a year as part of an effort to boost the economy, will almost certainly have to include nuclear reactors……
After talks in Tokyo on Friday, Abe and French President Francois Hollande said they would cooperate in developing nuclear power technologies and promoting the sector’s exports to emerging economies. http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2013/06/japans-first-lady-says-she-is-anti-nuclear/
Decommissioning Fukushima nuclear reactors will take 50 years at the very least
Stricken nuke plant struggles on, Yahoo 7 Finance, AAP Jun 10, 2013 “……Experts, including even the most optimistic government officials, say decommissioning Fukushima Dai-ichi will take nearly a half-century.
TEPCO acknowledges that the exact path to decommissioning remains unclear because an assessment of the state of the melted reactor cores has not yet been carried out. Since being brought under control following the disaster, the plant has suffered one setback after another.
A dead rat caused a power blackout, including temporarily shutting down reactor-cooling systems, and leaks required tons of water to be piped into hundreds of tanks and underground storage areas.
The process of permanently shutting down the plant hasn’t gotten started yet and the work up to now has been one makeshift measure after another to keep the reactors from deteriorating.
Thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods that are outside the reactors also have to be removed and safely stored. Taking them out is complex because the explosions at the plant have destroyed parts of the structure used to move the rods under normal conditions. The process of taking out the rods, one by one, hasn’t even begun yet. The spent rods have been used as fuel for the reactors but remain highly radioactive…….”.http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/stricken-nuke-plant-struggles-000105277.html
1 This Month
Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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