Japan’s PM slams ‘cosy relationship’ between regulators and nuclear industry
Japan’s leader rips nuclear regulators – The Boston Globe, August 1, 2011 TOKYO – Japan’s prime minister criticized the country’s nuclear safety agency yesterday for allegedly trying to plant questions aimed at supporting atomic energy at public forums.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency was siding with the industry rather than acting as a regulator. He said that underscored a cozy relationship and the deep-rooted problem that must be corrected following the March 11 tsunami and the nuclear crisis. “NISA, which is supposed to check nuclear safety to represent the interest of the general public, provided support for the promoters. It was more than just a help, if true,’’ Kan said at an energy symposium.
Kan’s comment followed a government report showing NISA allegedly tried to manipulate public opinion at town meetings to promote nuclear power. Public support for nuclear energy has eroded since the March disaster that crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant….Japan’s leader rips nuclear regulators – The Boston Globe
Widespread radiation contamination being monitered by Japanese civilians
Shinzo Kimura, the radiation expert who quit the Health Ministry. Mr. Kimura has since done extensive testing to see if Mrs. Okoshi’s readings were right. He says they are — and that is bad news.
Doubting Assurances, Japanese Find Radioactivity on Their Own, NYTimes.com, 1 August 11, “……. starting in April, Mrs. Okoshi began using her dosimeter to check nearby forest roads and rice paddies. What she found was startling. Near one sewage ditch, the meter beeped wildly, and the screen read 67 microsieverts per hour, a potentially harmful level. Mrs. Okoshi and a cousin who lives nearby worked up the courage to confront elected officials, who did not respond, confirming their worry that the government was not doing its job.
With her simple yet bold act, Mrs. Okoshi joined the small but growing number of Japanese who have decided to step in as the government fumbles its reaction to the widespread contamination, which leaders acknowledge is much worse than originally announced. Continue reading
The huge extent of the nuclear radiation costs at Fukushima Prefecture
The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition Koide Hiroaki Introduction and translation by Sakai Yasuyuki and Norimatsu Satoko,1 August 11,“…….The government has also been forcing plant workers and local residents to sacrifice without making clear who is responsible. They have raised the radiation dose limit for the workers at Fukushima Daiichi. They have also raised radiation dose limits for local residents in deciding on compulsory evacuation.
Are they really allowed to do such things? I find myself at a loss when I think about the true scale of the damage caused by the Fukushima Daiichi accidents.If we apply the current Japanese law strictly, we would have to abandon an area that would be as large as the whole prefecture of Fukushima.
The only way to avoid this is to raise the radiation dose limit for residents, and that would mean forcing increased radiation exposure on residents.I think that primary industry will suffer tremendously. Agriculture and fishery among others will have difficulty selling their produce and their catch. Residents will be forced out of their homeland and their lives will be shattered.
Some say we should make TEPCO pay proper compensation. But no matter what they pay, or even if they pay to the extent that they go bankrupt, it will not be sufficient. Even if TEPCO goes bankrupt multiple times, it will not be enough. The damage from the accident will be so enormous that even the whole country of Japan going bankrupt might not pay for it. This of course is if they are really going to pay for the damage.
The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition :: JapanFocus
Nuclear free future is looking like a better commercial option for Japan
a welcome step toward moving away from reliance on centralised nuclear power production to a model of dispersed electricity producers linked by a high-tech “Smart Grid”…..
“The vested interests dominate a lot of the political process, but we are seeing a challenge from the local government level,” said Rikkyo University professor Andrew DeWit, adding that Son was also attracting interest from a range of companies and non-profits.
Sticking with nuclear could be costlier Japan option, By Linda Sieg, TOKYO Jul 26, 2011, TOKYO (Reuters) – Can Japan afford to go nuclear-power-free? The country’s atomic power industry and many big business clients say “No”, arguing the step would boost electricity bills and pollution and hasten the hollowing out of Japanese manufacturing.
But the Fukushima nuclear disaster is galvanising a coalition of safety-conscious voters and future-minded companies who increasingly believe that Japan cannot afford to stick with the status quo if it wants to be globally competitive. Continue reading
Japanese govt hid the radiation risks from the public
The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition Koide Hiroaki Introduction and translation by Sakai Yasuyuki and Norimatsu Satoko, 1 August 11,”.……I believe disclosing accurate information is the only way to avoid panic. That way people would trust the administration and the government. However, the Japanese government acted in the opposite way. They consistently hid information, repeatedly saying that the situation was not critical. The government spent more than 10 billion yen in the last 25 years to develop the radiation dispersion simulation system called SPEEDI (the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information), but they hid the simulation results from the public and did not let local residents know the risks….”
The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition :: JapanFocus
Anger in Japan,as nuclear regulator’s hypocrisy is revealed
the Chubu Electric scandal features the direct involvement of the nuclear safety agency, the government body responsible for overseeing nuclear power plant operations. This cannot be seen as anything but an attempt to distort public opinion….
The revelation that the government attempted to manipulate a public symposium on a pluthermal power-generation project in 2007 has confused and angered people living near nuclear power plants….
‘Credibility shot to pieces’ / Latest utility scandal also sullies govt nuclear safety agency The Yomiuri Shimbun, 29 July 11, An attempt by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to stifle public opposition to a plutonium-thermal power generation project at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant during a 2007 community symposium is the latest scandal to involve a nuclear power project. Continue reading
Japanese nuclear regulator’s deceptive role in promoting nuclear power
UPDATE: Japan’s Nuclear Regulator Admits It Tried To Sway Public Opinion On Nuclear Plants By Kosaku Narioka and Toko Sekiguchi, Dow Jones Newswires; JULY 29, 2011,
— Japan’s nuclear regulator behind efforts to falsely suggest public support for nuclear power
— At least two utilities say they were asked to take part in secret efforts
— Admission comes as government releases energy strategy that reduces dependence on nuclear power
— PM Kan says that scandal brings into question the agency’s very existence
TOKYO (Dow Jones)--The Japanese government disclosed Friday that its primary nuclear regulator tried to manipulate public opinion at public forums around the country to promote nuclear power, findings that further damage the industry's already tattered reputation. Continue reading
School shuts up Fukushima teacher on radiation risks
Fukushima Teacher Muzzled on Radiation Risks, Bloomberg, By Takahiko Hyuga – Jul 28, 2011 As temperatures soared to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on a recent July morning, school children in Fukushima prefecture were taking off their masks and running around playgrounds in T-shirts, exposing them to a similar amount of annual radiation as a worker in a nuclear power plant.
Toshinori Shishido, a Japanese literature teacher of 25 years, had warned his students two months ago to wear surgical masks and keep their skin covered with long-sleeved shirts. His advice went unheeded, not because of the weather but because his school told him not to alarm students. Shishido quit this week.
“I want to get away from this situation where I’m not even allowed to alert children about radiation exposure,” said Shishido, a 48-year-old teacher who taught at Fukushima Nishi High School. “Now I’m free to talk about the risks.”…..
Radiation Exposure About a fifth of the 1,600 schools in Fukushima are exposed to at least 20 millisieverts of radiation a year, the Network to Protect Fukushima Children from Radiation said, citing the most recent government readings in April. That’s the limit for an atomic plant worker set by theInternational Commission on Radiological Protection.
More than three-quarters of the schools receive radiation readings of 0.6 microsievert per hour, said the network, a group comprising 700 parents. That’s 10 times more than the readings in Shinjuku, central Tokyo, on average….. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-28/fukushima-teacher-muzzled-on-radiation-risks-for-school-children.html
The human cost of Fukushima cleanup – high radiation to 1600 workers
Fukushima workers to be exposed to high radiation, 774 ABC Radio Melbourne, Mark Willacy, 28 JULY 11, The Japanese government has estimated 1,600 nuclear workers will be exposed to high levels of radiation while battling to stabilise the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The estimate is contained in a newly released Japanese government document, which includes concerns about the safety of dozens of other nuclear reactors.
It warned that with so many nuclear workers at Fukushima exposed to such high doses of radiation, they may not be able to work at other plants in the coming months.
The government has raised the radiation exposure limit so workers can remain at the Fukushima site. It says the workers will be subject to more than 50 millisieverts of radiation, which is defined as a high level. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-28/fukushima-nuclear-workers-radiation/2813460/?site=melbourne
The radiation danger in seafoods
even at those low quantities the radioactive elements may pose a danger when concentrated in seafood,…..fish have been known to accumulate as much as 100 times the amount of pollutants in the environment,
Japan Scientists Say Sea Radiation Tests May Miss Seafood Threat, SF Gate,July 26 (Bloomberg) –– Japan’s government has to release more data from ocean radiation tests to accurately assess the contamination threat to seafood, according to a statement by the Oceanographic Society of Japan. Continue reading
Cancer in nuclear workers even though radiation exposure was low
The current guidelines for workers’ compensation due to radiation exposure only certify leukemia among various types of cancer. In these cases compensation is granted only when an applicant is exposed to more than 5 millisieverts of radiation a year
Nuclear plant workers developed cancer despite lower radiation exposure than legal limit, Mainichi Daily News, Japan) July 27, 2011 Of 10 nuclear power plant workers who have developed cancer and received workers’ compensation in the past, nine had been exposed to less than 100 millisieverts of radiation, it has been learned. Continue reading
Always a most dangerous nuclear plant – Fukushima
SPECIAL REPORT-Fukushima long ranked Japan’s most hazardous nuclear plant One of 5 worst nuclear plants in world for exposure to radiation
* Tepco prioritised cost-savings over radiation standard
* Tepco says old plants like Fukushima have high radiation
* Foreign workers used to avoid exposing staff to high radiation
* Improvements made at Fukushima before disaster hit
By Chisa Fujioka and Kevin Krolicki, TOKYO, July 26 (Reuters) – Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant ranked as one of the most dangerous in the world for radiation exposure years before it was destroyed by the meltdowns and explosions that followed the March 11 earthquake. For five years to 2008, the Fukushima plant was rated the most hazardous nuclear facility in Japan for worker exposure to radiation and one of the five worst nuclear plants in the world on that basis. The next rankings, compiled as a three-year average, are due this year. Reuters uncovered these rankings, privately tracked by Fukushima’s operator Tokyo Electric Power, in a review of documents and presentations made at nuclear safety conferences over the past seven years…..
As Japan debates its future energy policy after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, a Reuters review of the long-troubled record at Fukushima shows how hard it has been to keep the country’s oldest reactors running in the best of times. It also shows how Japan’s nuclear establishment sold nuclear power to the public as a relatively cheap energy source in part by putting cost-containment ahead of radiation safety over the past several decades. …..http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/26/idUSL3E7IE3Z920110726—
Japanese media self censorship on Fukushima nuclear crisis
Journalist Takeharu Watai warned that many media organizations have been indulging in what appears to be “self-censorship” in covering the no-go zone around the crippled nuclear power station and its premises due to various constraints.
Symposium critical of media coverage on nuclear plant crisis, Mainichi Daily News, Japan) July 26, 2011, A symposium themed on nuclear power plants and the media was held in Tokyo on the heels of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Continue reading
Japan about to censor Internet news on nuclear radiation?
On June 17, 2011 the Japanese Parliament passed “The Computer Network Monitoring Law” . Prof. Ibusuki of Seijo Univ. Law Dept. comments that “The Computer Network Monitoring Law will enable the police to monitor anyone’s internet activity without restriction.”…
The question is, will METI draw the line at “clarifying” erroneous information, or will it act to clamp down and suppress sources of information that it finds inconvenient?
New Japan Law Cleanses Bad Nuclear News, UK PROGRESSIVE, THEODORA FILIS | JULY 24, 2011 Friday, July 15, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (METI) – Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, opened a call for bids (tender) regarding the “Nuclear Power Safety Regulation Publicity Project”, for contractors to monitor blogs and tweets posted about nuclear power and radiation……. Continue reading
How USA conned Japan into developing nuclear energy
U.S. used atomic power cooperation to remedy Japan’s ‘ignorance’, Mainichi Daily News, Japan) July 24, 2011, TOKYO (Kyodo) — The United States used atomic power cooperation with Japan in the 1950s to ease the Japanese public’s aversion to nuclear weapons and remedy their “ignorance” about nuclear power, declassified U.S. papers showed Saturday. Continue reading
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