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Special radiation limit for infants food in Japan

Japan plans to set special radiation limit for infant food Mainichi Daily News, TOKYO (Kyodo) 26 Nov 11 — Japan’s health ministry on Thursday proposed categorizing food and drink products in four groups, including one for infant foods, in setting tougher radiation standard levels.

While the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been working to lower the upper limit on radioactive cesium exposure to 1 millisievert per year from the current provisional level of 5 millisieverts, it has decided to give special consideration to infants who are more vulnerable to radiation than older people.

The other three categories are ordinary food, milk and drinking water. Most foods will be categorized as ordinary food and be put under unified supervision, while milk, drinking water and infant foods, including powdered milk and baby foods, will be examined separately…. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111125p2g00m0dm020000c.html

November 27, 2011 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

Radiation lingering in homes in Fukushima district

Decontamination work at homes in Fukushima not going well as radiation lingers Mainichi Daily News, 25 Nov 11 FUKUSHIMA — Work to decontaminate homes and yards in a district here is not proceeding as hoped, as radiation levels persist and decontamination workers worried about their health stay away.

The city began decontamination work in the Onami district on Oct. 18. Located in the mountains in the eastern part of the city, it has been heavily affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, with radiation in rice over the nation’s provisional limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram detected, leading to a ban on rice shipments.

Although monitoring of six homes where decontamination was carried out found an average drop of 70 percent in radiation in front of entrances and on gravel parking spots, there was only a 30 percent drop for roofs and a 25 percent drop for asphalt in the yard. Furthermore, there was only a 22 percent drop for second floor interiors.

The city has suggested that the low effect on the roofs may be due to radiation from the surrounding forests, where decontamination has not been carried out. As for the asphalt, radioactive material tends to stick to it and remain even after being washed, so the city has decided to try removing the top layer of the asphalt.

Originally, there was a plan to complete decontamination work on all 367 households in the district by the end of the year, but decontamination work is now expected to take much longer. Thirty-three companies were originally planned to take part, but due to fears about worker safety, most canceled and only two companies joined the work when it started in October. Since then contracts have been planned for 19 new companies, but the number is still 12 short of the original figure….

“Estimated costs for the decontamination work per home by companies differ from 800,000 yen to 1.7 million yen, so it has taken time to sort out contracts. Some companies have also shifted to reconstruction work,” explained a city official. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111124p2a00m0na014000c.html

November 25, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Uncertainty on Japan’s nuclear power plants

Japan nuclear plant ops (Takahama No.2 to go offline) Nov 24, 2011 (Refiles to add year in table for Kyuchu Genkai No.4 reactor) Reuters – Kansai Electric Power Co said on Thursday it would start four months of regular maintenance on the 826 megawatt No.2 reactor at itTakahama nuclear plant in northwest Japan on Friday as planned.

    When the facility is shut, only 10 reactors will be online in Japan with a
capacity of 9,038 MW, leaving just 18 percent of the nation's total nuclear power
capacity in use. 	
    Public fears about nuclear safety sparked by the Fukushima radiation crisis have
prompted the nation's nuclear watchdog to require utilities to conduct stress tests as a precondition for restarting reactors stopped for routine maintenance.	
    But it is unclear when the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency or the government will approve the stress test reports or when approval will be given by local
authorities for reactor restarts. 	
    Japan, the world's third-biggest nuclear power user, has 54 reactors for
commercial use, with a total generating capacity of 48,960 MW.	
    In the table below, capacities are shown in megawatts. "P" represents a planned regular inspection shutdown and "U" an unplanned shutdown..... http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL3E7L708120111124

November 25, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Fukushima area – 5.9 magnitude earthquake

Magnitude-5.9 quake hits near Japan nuclear site, USA Today 24 Nov 11TOKYO (AP) – A strong earthquake struck Thursday morning near the Japan nuclear power plant hit by a powerful tsunami earlier this year. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.9 quake struck shortly before 4:30 a.m. local time. It hit 62 miles (101 kilometers) east of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The quake struck at a depth of 23 miles (37 kilometers).

The quake struck 151 miles (244 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue a tsunami alert. Similar quakes have struck in the region since a March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake…

The region lies on the “Ring of Fire” — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around thePacific Rim. About 90% of the world’s quakes occur in the region.http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-11-23/japan-earthquake-1123/51372658/1

November 24, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Japanese government pays up big to keep TEPCO nuclear utility afloat

TEPCO gets 120 bil. yen as government insurance over nuclear crisis Mainichi Daily News, 23 Nov 11 TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crisis-stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant, said Tuesday it has received 120 billion yen from the government under an existing insurance program for nuclear accidents.

The funds will be used by the company to pay massive compensation to people and companies affected by the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years. The utility, known as TEPCO, has separately received 558.7 billion yen from a state-backed funding entity.

TEPCO submitted a request on Oct. 24 for the payment of 120 billion yen, the maximum compensation amount set by a contract between the government and TEPCO for an accident at one nuclear power plant…. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111123p2g00m0bu031000c.html

November 24, 2011 Posted by | Japan, politics | Leave a comment

Radioactive caesium on nearly 10% of Japan’s land

Nearly a tenth of Japan contaminated  Almost eight per cent of Japan’s land area has been covered by radioactive caesium from the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. ABC Nes  22 Nov 2011  Mark Willacy, North Asia correspondent Japan’s Science Ministry says nearly 10 per cent of the country’s land has been contaminated by radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

It says more than 30,000km², or eight per cent of the country’s land area, has been blanketed by radioactive caesium.
The Ministry says most of the contamination was caused by four large plumes of radiation spewed out by the Fukushima nuclear plant in the first two weeks after meltdowns after the March earthquake and tsunami.

The Japanese Government says some of the radioactive material fell with rain and snow, leaving the affected areas with accumulations of more than 10,000 becquerels of caesium per square metre. http://abcasiapacificnews.com/stories/201111/3373127.htm

November 23, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Continuing crisis of Fukushima, and of the global nuclear industry

In particular, scientists believe the accident resulted in the atmospheric release of over 35,000 terabecquerels’ worth of caesium-137 – or some 42 percent of what was released during the 1986 catastrophe at Chernobyl. Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope that has a half-life decay period of around 30 years and is capable of causing gene damage after prolonged exposure…..

Also contrary to government claims, researchers believe that a great amount of caesium-137 was discharged from the spent nuclear fuel storage ponds, which were in significant distress during the crisis as the cooling systems failed to supply water to the ponds, leading to heat accumulation and exposure of the fuel rods.

A chronicle of nuclear decay: Over half a year later, what have we learnt from Fukushima? MOSCOW – Eight months since the fateful March of 2011, one of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophes that enflamed Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has ceased to be the stuff of front-page frenzy. We will likely still see radioactive goods and food products popping up on the store shelves around the world, reminding us of the terrors of nuclear energy, but for many, the panic caused by the threat of contamination spreading silently in a far-off country has become yesterday’s news. But does it mean that the problems of Fukushima – and, indeed, of the global nuclear power industry – are soon to be over? Not by a long shot.
Bellona, Vladimir Slivyak, 22/11-2011 – Translated by Maria Kaminskaya
Clearly, even a cursory look at the latest developments will tell us it will be a very long time before the tragedy in Japan is safely forgotten. Continue reading →

November 23, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Japanese seismologist predicted nuclear earthquake disaster

Disregard for the science extended to a government panel started in 2001 to revise seismic engineering standards for Japan’s nuclear plants, said Ishibashi. He quit the panel after five years of debate that he called rigged and unscientific…..

an article on Hamaoka published in the October 1997 issue of Japan’s Science Journal that reads like a post-mortem of the Fukushima disaster: A major quake could knock out external power to the plant’s reactors and unleash a tsunami that could overrun its 6-meter
defenses, swamping backup diesel generators and leading to loss of cooling and meltdowns.

Vindicated Seismologist Says Japan Still Underestimates Threat to Reactors, Bloomberg, By Jason Clenfield – Nov 21, 2011, Dismissed as a “nobody” by Japan’s nuclear industry, seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi spent two decades watching his predictions of disaster come true: First in the 1995 Kobe earthquake and then at Fukushima. He says the
government still doesn’t get it….
Haruki Madarame, now head of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission, from dismissing Ishibashi as an amateur when he warned of a “nuclear earthquake disaster,” a phrase the Kobe University professor coined in 1997. Ishibashi says Japan still underestimates the risk of operating reactors in a country that has about 10 percent of the world’s quakes. Continue reading →

November 23, 2011 Posted by | Japan, safety | Leave a comment

Fukushima: 11 evacuated cities and towns, but their people will vote in elections

All of the parties and groups involved in the Fukushima assembly election said last month that they wanted nuclear power to be phased out……

For as long as they remain uninhabitable and their residents dispersed, the future of the contaminated areas will be clouded by uncertainty. …

Japan’s nuclear disaster towns hold remote local elections Guardian UK, 20 Nov 11 Evacuated residents from Okuma and Futaba in Fukushima plant exclusion zone ballot for regional assemblies from afar  They have been deserted for eight months, and could stay that way for years, their former inhabitants now scattered around north-east Japan.

But the towns of Okuma and Futaba, located in the shadow of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, have shown that civic life must go on, even in the wake of a major nuclear accident. In one of the more surreal episodes of world democracy, tens of thousands were eligible to vote on Sunday for regional assemblies and mayors in towns that have all but ceased to exist. Continue reading →

November 21, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011 | Leave a comment

The hidden nature of cancer caused by ionising radiation

Future cancers from Fukushima plant may be hidden, Google News, By MALCOLM RITTER, 21 Nov 11 “……The idea that Fukushima-related cancers may go undetected gives no comfort to Edwin Lyman, a physicist and senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that advocates for nuclear safety. He said that even if cancers don’t turn up in population studies, that “doesn’t mean the cancers aren’t there, and it doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.” Continue reading →

November 21, 2011 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

Japan’s anti nuclear Occupy movement determined to make Japan nuclear free

Tokyo “Occupy Industry Ministry.” The nuclear situation in Japan does have a wealth dimension,
Many of the nuclear plants are in the country’s poorest regions, so the risk they pose to locals is underestimated.
Anti-nuclear protestors sit tight at Japanese ministry, BUSINESS RECORDER NOVEMBER 18, 2011 TAKEHIKO KAMBAYASHA Anti-nuclear activist Tadao Eda says he and other citizens will continue their sit-in at the Industry Ministry for as long as Japan is running nuclear power stations despite the ongoing crisis at a damaged plant in the north-east.

“Japan needs drastic changes in energy policy by scrapping all the nuclear reactors,” Eda says from his tent erected in a corner of the ministry’s grounds two months ago. “We won’t allow the government to restart idled reactors” after they are shut down for maintenance, he says.

All of Japan’s 11 reactors still in operation, are scheduled to be shut down for servicing by April, he says. If the government withholds permission for them to restart, Japan would be free of nuclear power. Continue reading →

November 19, 2011 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | 1 Comment

For the first time, Japan bans radiation contaminated rice

Japan issues ban on Fukushima rice contaminated by radiation, Vancouver Sun, AFP November 17, 2011 TOKYO — Japan on Thursday announced its first ban on rice produced near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant after samples showed
radioactive contamination well above legal limits.

The findings will further worry nervous consumers, already fretting over the safety of domestic produce, despite its previous solid safety reputation. Authorities in Fukushima prefecture say rice produced near the stricken atomic power plant contained caesium they measured at 630 becquerels per kilogram (2.2 pounds). The government safety limit is
500 becquerels.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura ordered Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato to restrict shipments of rice from Onami — from where the samples were sourced — according to an agricultural ministry
official…..
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said Thursday it had detected radiation in fish sold at Japanese supermarkets, although radiation levels were still well below the government safety limit of 500 becquerels.
According to its own research carried out between October 12 and November 8 in eastern Japan, 47.3 becquerels of cesium per kilogramme were discovered in cod while traces of radiation were also found in other fish, including tuna.  http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Japan+issues+Fukushima+rice+contaminated+radiation/5726394/story.html#ixzz1e6mhWM7x

November 19, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

TEPCO executives’ delusion that nuclear business will go on as before

the biggest policy threat to the nuclear industry is local. Since the disaster, Japanese mayors and governors have been blocking utilities from restarting reactors that have shut down

Anti-nuclear mood melts Tepco’s hopes of normality FT.com By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo, 16 Nov 11,  Call it fortitude or fantasy, but executives at Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the owner of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, still talk of the meltdowns at three of the facility’s reactors in March as a merely temporary setback for their business.

“The sooner we get back to normal, the better,” Toshio Nishizawa, Tepco’s president, recently told the Financial Times. “Whatever happens, our core business will not change.” Continue reading →

November 16, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

iPhone radiation counter to go on sale in JapAn

Japanese firm makes iPhone radiation counter, SMH 16 Nov 11 A Japanese company has unveiled a cheap Geiger counter for the iPhone to enable people worried about the Fukushima nuclear accident to check their environment for radiation.

The probe, 14 centimetres long by 5cm wide, connects to the iPhone and the screen displays radiation readings in combination with a special app such as the Geiger Bot.

The device was developed on the initiative of a young researcher who wanted to make a cheap and easy-to-use Geiger counter available following the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl…..

The first models for iPhones will go on sale in the next few days priced at Y9800 ($124).
…. http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/japanese-firm-makes-iphone-radiation-counter-20111116-1ni5z.html#ixzz1dvFz1SO7

November 16, 2011 Posted by | Japan, technology | Leave a comment

Escalating costs of Japan’s nuclear safety plans

Japan’s Nuclear Safety Steps May Cost 19 Billion Yen Per Reactor, Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) –– Additional safety measures required at Japan’s nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster may cost 19.4 billion yen ($252 million) per reactor, the government said.

Emergency measures such as maintaining cooling at a 1,200- megawatt nuclear station are estimated to cost about 11.8 billion yen, a committee under the National Policy Unit said in a report today. Other costs include steps to secure emergency power generators and improve external sources of electricity and 1.3 billion yen to prevent explosions and equip workers with radiation-protection gear in a severe nuclear accident…..The additional safety measures will increase the cost of building a nuclear reactor by about 5 percent, according to calculations based on data provided in the report. The committee estimates the cost of constructing a reactor at 420 billion yen, assuming a rate of 350,000 yen per kilowatt and a capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts….. http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LUOVUT07SXKX01-5QP1VSJAM1CAG2877DDVS9EV6H

November 16, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

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