Accelerate water-purifying work at Fukushima plant to cut leakage risk
The volume of contaminated water continues to increase at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Efforts to deal with this problem must be reinforced.
TEPCO has compiled a new set of measures to deal with the radioactive water. The steps are aimed at reducing to nearly zero the contaminated water inside reactor buildings, the prime source of the tainted water.
Under the new measures, the contaminated water accumulated in the basements of reactor buildings is to be purified and then transferred to storage tanks. At the same time, facilities exclusively used for purifying the tainted water are to be doubled, and the existing storage tanks will be replaced with larger ones, increasing the overall storage capacity.
Meanwhile, the volume of groundwater to be pumped up from the wells near the reactor buildings is to be increased. This is aimed at reducing the flow of underground water into the buildings, thus preventing a vicious cycle of generating more tainted water.
If all goes well, the increase in the volume of contaminated water is expected to nearly stop by 2020. We hope TEPCO will realize this goal steadily.
The measures taken so far have centered on the construction of “ice walls,” to prevent groundwater from entering the reactor buildings by freezing the underground soil around the buildings. Because this step has failed to prove effective even more than half a year after the related facilities were put into operation, TEPCO decided to shift its priority measures.
The new measures will require the approval of the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Both TEPCO and the NRA must cooperate closely so that the necessary work will not be delayed.
Consider ocean release
The reactor buildings have, in effect, turned into storage facilities for contaminated water. The volume of tainted water totals about 68,000 tons. Although the amount of radioactive material contained in the water has declined markedly when compared to the amount immediately after the nuclear accident occurred, it still remains at a high level.
The large amount of contaminated water inside the reactor buildings carries a risk of radiation exposure, posing a serious impediment to the work to decommission the plant. If highly radioactive water starts leaking underground out of the buildings and into the sea, it will create a serious situation.
Even if new measures proceed smoothly, however, tasks remain. The volume of purified water to be stored in the tanks is expected to nearly double by 2020 to about 1.2 million tons. Not only will this entail a huge maintenance cost, but there is also a danger that the water will leak if the tanks are damaged by an earthquake or other factors.
Releasing purified water that has met the existing safety criteria into the sea must be seriously considered. The discharge of purified water into the ocean has been routinely conducted at nuclear power-related facilities both at home and abroad.
It is important for both the government and TEPCO to do their utmost to explain such a plan in detail in order to win the understanding of local residents concerned. Efforts should also be made to take measures to prevent groundless rumors from adversely affecting the fisheries industry and other sectors.
It is also necessary to continuously ascertain the effect of the ice walls. Although nearly 100 percent of the walls have already been frozen, groundwater is reportedly flowing through thin gaps in the walls. Rainwater seeping through the topsoil has also increased the amount of groundwater inside the buildings.
TEPCO is proceeding with work to fill the gaps in the ice walls. If the work proves effective, the goal of reducing to zero the increase in the contaminated water will be realized two years earlier than envisaged. We hope TEPCO will strenuously work to block the flow of groundwater into the buildings.
Japan’s defense chief stands by past statement on nuclear armament
A member of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force takes part in a joint military exercise. Japan’s defense chief is under fire for previously suggesting a nuclear strategy for the country, and for saying a military conscription policy would not violate Japan’s constitution.
TOKYO, Oct. 12 (UPI) — Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada is standing firm after opposition party politicians in Tokyo asked her to retract remarks on nuclear armament.
In an interview with Japanese magazine Seiron in March 2011, Inada had said that in the long term Japan should look into a nuclear strategy, the Tokyo Shimbun reported Wednesday.
Inada, who was appointed defense minister in August, was a lawmaker with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at the time and has served as a Cabinet member under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Shinkun Haku, a Japanese politician of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Inada’s past statement.
“That someone with such a personal opinion became the defense chief is a problem,” Haku said, while urging Inada to retract her previous remarks.
Japan is a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and relies on the U.S. extended nuclear deterrent.
But Inada said she has no plans to withdraw the statement because the remarks were made in the context of the situation at the time, according to the Japanese newspaper.
Inada also said she is not retracting remarks she made in the interview about implementing a military conscription policy because she “doesn’t think the draft violates the constitution.”
Tokyo is concerned about North Korea’s multiple provocations and Chinese vessels that have entered Japan-claimed waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands.
In early September, a Japanese command to “destroy” incoming North Korea missiles repeatedly failed when North Korea launched three ballistic missiles that landed west of Hokkaido.
North Korea’s provocations continue to have an impact on Japanese politicians, according to a recent poll conducted by television network NHK.
A survey of Japanese citizens conducted Oct. 9-11 showed support for Abe has fallen since early September, as North Korea provocations have subsided and the country has not engaged in further tests during a national anniversary on Oct. 10.
Support for Abe was about 60 percent in September, but that figure was down by about 7 percentage points, according to the NHK poll.”
How Pasadena-based cellist and Chernobyl survivor helps children in Japan
Cellist Marek Szpakiewicz will perform a recital with pianist Jiayi Shi at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa Oct. 15 to raise funds for a three-quarter sized cello for the Soma Children’s Orchestra in Fukushima, Japan.
He was only 16 in 1986, but Marek Szpakiewicz understood the impact of the nuclear reactor meltdown in Chernobyl. Though it was less than 400 miles away from his home in Lublin, Poland, his family was unable to leave. However, Szpakiewicz was a talented cello player, and in 1991 he won a scholarship to study at the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and later settled in Pasadena.
In 2011, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan kept Szpakiewciz glued to the news, moved by the survivor stories and the deaths of more than 15,800 people and recalling his own memories of Chernobyl.
“In Fukushima, there is a community there living, and they are affected by this, and we have stopped talking about it, but the kids are growing and we won’t know the consequences, we don’t know the amount of devastation,” Szpakiewicz said. “What can I do? I know music, so I can bring the music, and we know the power of music is just incredible.”
In 2012 El Sistema Japan formed the Soma Children’s Orchestra in Fukushima and Szpakiewicz immediately began lending his support. Two years later, when he spent a day with the orchestra in Japan, he noticed that mostly it was only older, bigger kids that played the cello. He also learned that one student, Risa Yoshida, was heartbroken when she’d had to give her up her half-sized cello to another child.
Szpakiewicz remembered a similar experience of his own.
“As a child, I was small and in Poland the funds are not so big and the school didn’t have the quarter-size (cello), the size I should start (with),” Szpakiewicz said. “So for a year I was practicing on the broom to practice my motions. Luckily, I was growing fast so the second year I could pick up the half-sized cello. I could finally have the cello at home from school and practice and that’s how my education started. So the pain of not having the instrument, I remember.”
In 2015, Szpakiewicz held a concert and was able to raise the money to provide Risa with a half-sized cello.
“Marek’s gift means a lot to our children in terms of ensuring a young girl’s access to quality music education,” said Yutaka Kikugawa, president of El Sistema Japan. “The new cello has broadened her horizon for music passage and made it possible for her to play the Beethoven’s 5th Symphony side-by-side with the Berliner Philharmonic in March 2016, which was certainly a lifetime experience for her.”
Szpakiewicz will perform a recital with pianist Jiayi Shi at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa Oct. 15, hoping to raise money this time for a three-quarter sized cello for the Soma Children’s Orchestra. Monrovia resident Shi also came to the United States to further her education. The two perform together often and will play selections by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Barber and Gershwin.
In addition to Chernobyl, Szpakiewicz lived through communist rule, which had its hold on Poland until 1989.
“From the moment I was growing up, the music was a hope for a better life,” Szpakiewicz said. “Music didn’t only play a tremendous role in my education, but my development, all the dreams and hopes that music provided for me.”
Arriving in Baltimore unable to speak a word of English, Szpakiewicz worked hard and then went on to USC, earning three degrees and a doctorate. In 2008 the U.S. government granted him permanent residency as an Extraordinary Ability Artist, and he landed a job teaching cello and serving as the director of chamber music at APU. This year he was also named an assistant professor.
“I feel the power of America, a country for foreigners. I came here, I feel so good here. My roots are in Poland, but this is my home now. This is my country,” Szpakiewicz said. “I always dreamt about coming to the States, that’s the country where I pictured myself as a child. With all the tragedy that happened in my life, I have no reason to complain because I feel privileged, I feel lucky and I feel that I have to share, so that motivates me, the kindness that I came and witnessed, so I want to pass it on.”
Szpakiewicz has a full concert schedule, including a performance with Shi in Tokyo Oct. 29. There, the Soma Children’s Orchestra, along with Risa, will join him in the encore.
Data on nuclear studies, workers may have leaked from university
Hacked: a good news. Hopefully those hackers might release crucial important data, which would change us from Tepco B.S and Japanese government censored information.
OYAMA–Personal information and nuclear research, including studies concerning the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, might have leaked in a cyber-attack at the University of Toyama here, the school reported Oct. 10.
The leaked data could possibly affect 1,492 students, researchers and individuals from public organizations and companies who conduct joint studies with the institution’s Hydrogen Isotope Research Center.
“We apologize for causing great trouble to associated organizations,” said Yasumaru Hatanaka, the university’s vice president.
However, the research that might have leaked, such as studies on water decontamination at the Fukushima nuclear plant, had all been previously presented at academic meetings, so there was no breach in confidentiality, the university said.
No malicious use of the data has been reported since the data breach came to light in June.
According to the university, the cyber-attack targeted a computer operated by a part-time employee specializing in tritium research at the center.
An e-mail containing malware was sent to both the worker and a professor with the facility in November 2015. The professor did not open the e-mail, but the employee did, causing the computer to become infected with a virus.
As a result, the employee’s computer became remotely accessible, and it made connections with four outside servers between November and June. The university’s investigation showed that the computer sent large amounts of data to two of these servers.
A further analysis of the computer found indications that at least 1,000 archive files had been created between last November and February.
Considering their size, nearly all the data stored in the computer may have been compressed into these files. Similar archive files were created using a different method in March, the university said.
The university became aware of the cyber-attack after an outside organization warned the school about suspicious network activities made by the employee’s computer.
According to a wildlife journalist, even in Tokyo some animals suffer mutations
Already few weeks ago a Japanese friend mentioned to me that he noticed very few insects this summer in Tokyo. This article now corroborates it.
If the wild life around Tokyo is that affected, how about the health of the people living there?
Frog having one eye only (photo by Eiki Sato, from October 10, 2016)
Ravages in Tokyo from the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi 250km away.
The documentary film “Paradise Phantom” just came out. This documentary is about the stationary observations on animals by Eiki Sato, a wildlife journalist. The screening of this film took place at a movie theater in Suginami-ku, Tokyo on September 25, 2016.
Sato filmed for 170 hours various animals in the wild places of Tokyo, for example the banks of the Arakawa river, the fields near sports stadiums and Tokyo plants. These are real paradises for many living creatures, such as kestrels, shrikes, bats, frogs, dragonflies, even the gray beetles, animals that are not on the global red list threatened species.
The documentary shows that since two years animals with abnormalities are being observed . The cause of these abnormalities would be the accumulated radioactivity in the soil of Tokyo, according to Eiki Sato.
During his observations Eiki Sato found many types of deformities, due to mutations: Various insects affected with malformed or missing wing, or with curled wings, or abnormal eyes, unabling them to fly. Mosquito with bent spine, dragonflies with mishaped eyes unable to fly high. Birds with affected eyes, or feathers, unable to fly. Many also cannot reproduce, their population sharply decreasing.
http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/entame/entertainment/602104/
Nuclear-powwered USS Ronald Reagan to join U.S.-South Korean joint naval drills
The large-scale naval drills, known as Invincible Spirit, kicked off Monday and are due to run for six days, the South’s navy said in a statement.
On Monday, the allies carried out exercises involving ship-to-ground and submarine-to-ground cruise missiles with average flight ranges of up to 1,000 km, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
The exercises come just days after reports that the North may be making preparations for a sixth nuclear test or a long-range rocket launch…….
The reclusive nation [North Korea] also stoked concern in August when it claimed to have successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called that test “the greatest success” after the missile landed in Japan’s air defense identification zone, flying about 500 km — its longest test-flight by a weapon of that type.
The SLBM test has left the United States, South Korea and Japan worried that further developmental successes could give the North a difficult-to-detect weapon that would pose a serious security threat to all of them.
The U.S. and its Asian allies have responded to the North’s tests by showing off their own military muscle.
Late last month, the U.S. and South Korea conducted joint naval exercises in the Sea of Japan after Washington earlier in the month flew two supersonic bombers over the South — with one landing on the Korean Peninsula for the first time in 20 years.
One of the bombers also flew the closest a B-1B strategic bomber had ever flown to the border between the North and South. It was the second time in less than a month that the U.S., which has about 28,500 troops in South Korea, had flown bombers over the country. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/10/10/asia-pacific/u-s-south-korean-joint-naval-drills-kick-off-nuclear-powered-uss-ronald-reagan-set-take-part/#.V__uQeV97Gg
North Korea on track to ramp up its nuclear weapons
US think tank warns North Korea could develop up to 100 nuclear weapons by 2020 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/us-think-tank-warns-north-korea-could-develop-100-nuclear-weapons-by-2020-1585557 Rand Corporation says Pyongyang is testing nuclear missiles that can threaten targets across the Pacific Ocean. By Ananya Roy October 10, 2016 A US-based think tank has estimated that given the pace of North Korea’s nuclear programme, Pyongyang could have enough fissile material to develop up to 100 nuclear weapons by 2020. The organisation has warned ahead of the US presidential elections that the new administration would face major challenges from the East Asian country, highlighting the need to review its policy on Pyongyang.
In its latest report, Rand Corporation – an American nonprofit global policy think tank – said that Japan and South Korea are “losing faith in the US nuclear umbrella”. The think tank warned that it was upset as Washington failed to constrain North Korea’s nuclear programme, which has led to the two US allies to call for “independent nuclear arsenals”. Rand Corporation noted that the new administration that takes charge in Washington following the 8 November election would have to focus on tackling the growing security threats in the Korean peninsula.
“During the next four to six years, Pyongyang will possess a nuclear force of sufficient size, diversity, reliability, and survivability to invalidate our regional military posture and war plans by holding at risk key bases and amplifying the risk to allies.
“The most recent open-source estimates suggest North Korea may already have enough fissile material to build between 13 and 21 nuclear weapons; by 2020, it could possess enough for 50 to 100. The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea] can already deliver nuclear weapons by aircraft or ship and perhaps by theater ballistic missiles; it is now testing nuclear-capable missiles that could threaten targets across the Pacific Ocean, including the continental United States. “Current estimates suggest a number of these nuclear-tipped missiles—long-range, road-mobile, and submarine-launched—could be operational between 2020 and 2025,” the report warned.
It further stated: “A DPRK nuclear force approaching 100 weapons with multiple delivery means likely poses an unacceptable threat to US and South Korea [or the Republic of Korea, ROK] security, as well as a serious proliferation threat.”
The foreign policy think tank stressed that the incoming US administration will have to face “critical policy questions” involving what measures need to be taken to stop North Korea’s Kim Jong-un from pursuing their nuclear programme; what should the US do if provocation continues and what should be done if South Korea initiates a counterforce attack or begins developing its own nuclear force.
China’s plan for small floating nuclear reactors carries potentially devastating risks
Could China build the world’s smallest nuclear power plant and send it to the South China Sea?
Nuclear plant under development could fit into a shipping container and make a small island economically viable, CNBC, Stephen Chen, 11 Oct 16 SCMP A top mainland research institute is developing the world’s smallest nuclear power plant, which could fit inside a shipping container and might be installed on an island in the disputed South China Sea within five years.
Although the small, lead-cooled reactor could be placed inside a shipping container measuring about 6.1 metres long and 2.6 metres high, it would be able to generate 10 megawatts of heat, which, if converted into electricity, would be enough to power some 50,000 households……The research is partially funded by the People’s Liberation Army.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Technology, a national research institute in Hefei, Anhui province, say they hope to be able to ship the first unit within five years.
“Part of our funding came from the military, but we hope – and it’s our ultimate goal – that the technology will eventually benefit civilian users,” Professor Huang Qunying,a nuclear scientist involved in the research, said.
The Chinese researchers admit their technology is similar to a compact lead-cooled thermal reactor that was used by the navy of the former Soviet Union in its nuclear submarines in the 1970s.
However, China would probably be the first nation to use such military technology on land.
While these “baby” reactors would able to generate large quantities of electricity and desalinate huge supplies of seawater for use as fresh water, they have also attracted serious environmental concerns.
If any one of them were to suffer a catastrophic problem, the radioactive waste would affect not only the countries nearby, but also spread around the world via the region’s strong sea currents…….
The lead-cooled reactor is part of China’s efforts to develop new-generation reactors for its rapidly expanding nuclear energy sector. Other technological approaches, such as molten salt reactors and high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, are also under rapid development thanks to generous government funding.
China also has been considering building small floating nuclear power plants using conventional technology to generate electricity for the South China Sea islands.
A marine environment researcher at the Ocean University of China, in Qingdao, Shandong province, has warned that the inevitable discharge of hot, radioactive water from a nuclear plant into the ocean might alter the ecological system of an entire region around an island.
“Many fish and marine creatures will not be able to deal with the dramatic change of environment caused by massive desalination and the rise of sea temperatures caused by a nuclear reactor,” said the researcher, who declined to be named.
“If a nuclear disaster happened in the South China Sea, it would not have an immediate effect on people living on the mainland owing to it being a great distance away,” the researcher said.
“But the radioactive waste would enter the bodies of fish and other marine creatures and likely end up on our dining tables. Sea currents could also carry the waste to distant shores,” she said.
Before putting any nuclear power plant on a remote South China Sea island, the Chinese government should consider not only its political, military or economic benefits, but also carry out comprehensive scientific evaluations on its potential environmental impact, the researcher said. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/11/could-china-build-the-worlds-smallest-nuclear-power-plant-and-send-it-to-the-south-china-sea.html
Newborn baby deaths significantly increased in areas radioactively polluted by Fukushima nuclear disaster
Increases in perinatal mortality in prefectures contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan A spatially stratified longitudinal study
China going allout to market nuclear reactors to Asia, Europe, Africa and Middle East
China’s nuclear plant makers seek new markets along the ancient Silk Road into Asia, Europe, Africa and Middle East SCMP, 04 April, 2016
‘One belt, one road’ policy for financing and support for infrastructure projects is helping nuclear plant constructors expand into overseas markets………The policy was first proposed in 2013 to promote infrastructure construction deals overseas along with goods and services trade along the ancient Silk Road from China to Europe and along the ancient maritime trade route linking China to southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The state is offering financing at a time when China’s economy grew at the slowest rate in 25 years and its industry faces severe overcapacity problems.
Beijing has encouraged local firms to become involved in infrastructure projects in southeast Asia, Europe and Africa. Chinese nuclear reactor builders are a growing force in the global nuclear industry.
“The export of nuclear reactors will become one of the key pillars for executing China’s one belt, one road strategy,” Zheshang Securities analyst Zheng Dandan said………
Three Chinese state-backed firms are actively pursuing opportunities to export their reactor construction expertise, especially in developing nations that do not have their own construction capabilities.
Beijing-based projects developer China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) chairman Sun Qin was quoted by state media China News Service last month as saying that 80 per cent of the up to 300 new reactors projected to be built by 2030 globally could be in ‘one belt, one road’ nations.
CNNC wants to build 30 reactors in such nations, and will use Argentina as a base to develop the South American market, Algeria for reaching out to the greater African market and Pakistan where it is building a project to develop the Asian market, Sun was reported as saying.
State Power Investment, formed via the merger of one of the nation’s “big five” power generators China Power Investment and general contractor State Nuclear Power Technology last year, is also pursuing overseas projects.
It has partnered with the US nuclear technology powerhouse Westinghouse to negotiate a potential deal to build a nuclear power project in Turkey. It has also pursued opportunities in South Africa.
Shenzhen-based projects developer China General Nuclear Power is working towards winning potential projects in Britain, Kenya and southeast Asia. It won one bid to build a plant in Romania.
The mainland leadership has made the globalisation of Chinese firms a key part of its economic reform plans, looking to establish the nation as a major provider of value-added and high-end goods and services. In a series of articles this week, the South China Morning Post examines the key industries targeting overseas expansion, beginning with the nuclear power industry.
About Fukushima
If in 2010 there was one birth and one death every 28 seconds in Japon, beginning 2014 there was one death every 25 seconds and a birth every 31 seconds: a differential of 2 seconds per year, this seems little yet it is significantly faster than in Ukraine.
Fukushima is much more severe, because there were 4 reactors instead of one, and the reactor 3 was using plutonium MOX, with at proximity a dense population. If the wind was favorable three days out of 4, it was also unfavorable 1 day out of 4.
The first 6 months of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in 2011, Tepco and the Japanese government were putting a lid on informations inside Japan, then gradually that omerta was broken by the people sharing informations on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.
However, a language barrier remained. As of today there is a lot of informations in japanese circulated inside Japan, about radiation and contamination, about health issues, etc. Unfortunately those informations are not getting translated from japanese to english, due to the shortage of capable translators. As a result almost none of those important informations are getting outside of Japan reaching the outside world to teach the people everywhere the scale of the disaster and how it affects all those people lives.
The only informations coming out in english are those in the articles of the Japanese main stream media which are strongly under government influence when not just plain censorship, therefore publishing very sanitized informations, and the Western main stream media which are either under the nuclear lobby financial influence, or lacking the indepth details.
Not to mention the nonsense sensationalism of some of the American websites or Youtubers, produced only to increase visitors traffic and donations, which deals only in hyperboles, exaggerations, when not just plain lunacy.
The overall result is that we have an ongoing nuclear catastrophe now for 5 years and half, affecting millions of people on location in Japan, which outside of Japan most of the people are not aware, as it had not happened, was not happening.
The two main reasons being:
1. The sanitizing of information by the main stream media owned by the same financial interests which own the nuclear industry.
2. The language barrier which hinders the real facts, the real details to spread out of Japan.
And thanks to the continuous ignorance about the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe, us not being capable to learn from it, its human tragedy, its harmful consequences to health and environment, it is like the whole world is ready for another new nuclear catastrophe, accepting it to come.
Why can’t we learn from our mistakes…
I wish to thank here Mochizuki Cheshire Iori of the Fukushima diary blog, Nancy Foust of Fukuleaks, and Pierre Fetet of the Fukushima blog, for their efforts year after year during the past 5 years and half to inform about Fukushima, those persons have accomplished an excellent and tremendous job, with integrity and no nonsense. My respect to you.
http://www.fukushima-blog.com/
Credit to Xavier Nast for the population statistics.
Japan Political Pulse: ‘Operation Tomodachi’ members need support amid radiation fears
Many readers have offered support for a lawsuit filed by former U.S. servicemen and others claiming they were affected by radiation during “Operation Tomodachi,” a U.S. Armed Forces operation to assist Japan in the wake of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. These readers reacted to last week’s installment of the Japan Political Pulse column that mentioned former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s activities to support the lawsuit.
It has not yet been proven if there is a causal relationship between so-called second-hand exposure to radiation and health problems. Critics say emotional support for those who claim their health was affected by indirect exposure to radiation without scientific proof is irresponsible. Emotional support is important but objective facts should also be clarified.
Eight former U.S. soldiers who participated in Operation Tomodachi (friend) launched the lawsuit in California in December 2012. The number of plaintiffs has since surpassed 450.
In March 2011, 16 U.S. military vessels engaged in the operation, including the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, were exposed to radiation off Fukushima Prefecture. These vessels and the servicemen aboard them were engaged in the operation amid a radioactive plume from the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs have been suffering from such illnesses as leukemia, testis cancer, colon bleeding, ringing in their ears and a decline in eyesight since they returned home after participating in the operation.
They are suing Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the nuclear plant, Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd., and other Japanese and U.S. atomic power station manufacturers, demanding that a 1 billion dollar (some 100 billion yen) fund be set up to help the plaintiffs receive medical examinations and treatment.
The plaintiffs are hoping that their suit will be tried in the United States, while TEPCO is demanding that the case be heard in Japan.
In June 2015, TEPCO’s appeal over the jurisdiction over the trial was accepted, and a state appeal court is deliberating on the matter.
The aforementioned development of the case is based on interviews with former Prime Minister Koizumi, who met with some of the plaintiffs, and officials at the Foreign Ministry and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. TEPCO declined to comment on the matter on the grounds that the trial is ongoing.
Under the civil discovery system established by U.S. law, those involved in civil lawsuits can be forced to disclose evidence. Those who refuse to comply could be imprisoned or slapped with a huge fine for contempt of court. Critics say TEPCO demands that the suit be tried in Japan for this reason.
One cannot help but wonder what the company does not want to be exposed. There is a possibility that documents carrying information on the cause of the nuclear plant accident, TEPCO’s initial response to the disaster and observed data on aerial radiation levels — which is different from what the utility has explained — could be hidden. However, this is just a presumption without basis.
There is also an amicus curiae (court adviser) system, under which individuals or organizations appointed by courts provide information or express opinions on legal matters relating to individual court cases.
A former legislator has phoned the Mainichi Shimbun and raised questions about last week’s installment of this column, which quoted a magazine article as saying that an adviser from the Japanese government stated that U.S. forces are responsible for servicemen’s exposure to radiation while engaging in Operation Tomodachi.
Law360, a U.S.-based website specializing in information on legal affairs, lists the “Government of Japan” as the entity to which one of those who appeared in the oral proceeding on the lawsuit on Sept. 1 as court advisers belongs.
A senior official of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy said, “The government isn’t aware of such a figure.” However, it would be no surprise if an adviser were to appear in court and develop a persuasive legal theory to pursue ways to evade legal responsibility on behalf of defendants.
Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs who examined plaintiffs’ assertions in 2014 at the request of U.S. Congress, stated there is no objective evidence that the plaintiffs’ health hazard was caused by their exposure to radiation.
The March 13, 2016 issue of Stars and Stripes, a U.S. daily specializing in U.S. military information, covered Woodson’s report along with a comment by Shinzo Kimura, associate professor of radiation hygiene at Dokkyo Medical University, that the possibility that the plaintiffs’ symptoms were caused by their radiation exposure cannot be ruled out.
There is a long way to go before the causes of the plaintiffs’ illnesses can be clarified. However, there is no denying that many people are suffering from illnesses after participating in Operation Tomodachi.
Donations to a fundraising drive launched by former Prime Minister Koizumi are accepted at the Tokyo-based Johnan Shinkin Bank. Koizumi will deliver a speech on the matter at a lecture meeting in Tokyo on the evening of Nov. 16. Those who want to listen to his speech are required to make reservations by calling the Japan Assembly for Nuclear Free Renewable Energy at 03-6262-3623. The admission fee of 10,000 yen per person will be fully donated to former U.S. soldiers who are suffering from illnesses.
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20161011/p2a/00m/0na/019000c
Active Volcanoes Endanger Japan’s Operating Nuclear Power Stations: Mount Aso Awakened Explosively; Sakurajima Already Awake
Japan’s Mount Aso volcano erupted explosively on Saturday, 8 Oct., 2016, and volcanic “ash was falling as far as 320 km (200 miles) away, … Kyushu Electric Power Co said the eruption had no impact on its Sendai nuclear plant, which is about 160 km (100 miles) south of Mount Aso“(Reuters, 8 Oct. 2016). Sendai nuclear power station has two reactors online. The other nuclear power station online is Ikata, with one reactor operating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japan
Volcano locations exported from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Japan
With a change in wind direction ashfall from Mount Aso and/or Sakurajima could endanger Japan’s operating reactors. As can be seen on the map, Ikata Nuclear Power Station is closer to Mount Aso, and Sakurajima to Sendai Nuclear Power Station. Ash plume forecasts for both appear at the bottom of this post.
Disruptions due to a major volcanic eruption, as well as ashfall could lead to nuclear meltdown: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/official-volcano-evacuation-warning-near-re-opened-nuclear-reactors-in-japan-volcanic-ashfall-could-lead-to-meltdown-spent-fuel-pool-collapse/
“Japan’s Mount Aso volcano erupts, no injuries reported
Posted:Sat, 08 Oct 2016 07:41:33 -0400
TOKYO (Reuters) – Mount Aso, a volcano on Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu, erupted early on Saturday, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said, spewing volcanic ash 11,000 meters (7 miles) into the sky. http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/environment/~3/DLFdmJfALl4/us-japan-volcano-idUSKCN12804E
“Mount Aso, a volcano on Japan’s Kyushu island, has been erupting sporadically for decades. Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program lists 38 separate eruptions since 1950, with the most recent beginning on December 8, 2014. All of these eruptions have occurred at Naka-dake, a cinder cone located within Aso’s massive caldera.”
ERUPTION AT MOUNT ASO Credit: NASA Earth Observatory by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from USGS. Caption by Adam Voiland. Date: January 13, 2015 Visualization Date: January 15, 2015
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=85090
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/volcano/
Asosan
Volcanic Ash Fall Forecast (Scheduled)
Issued at 05:00 JST, 09 October 2016 Japan Meteorological Agency: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/ashfall/scheduled_503.html
Sakurajima Aug 19 2010 NASA
Sakurajima
Volcanic Ash Fall Forecast (Scheduled)
Issued at 05:00 JST, 09 October 2016 Japan Meteorological Agency
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/ashfall/scheduled_506.html
Source :
Videos of the 6th Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection October 7 – October 10, 2016
Videos of the symposium to be watched at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/csrp-en
From the Reality of Chernobyl and Fukushima
Date: Friday, October 7 – Monday, October 10, 2016
Venue: Main Hall, Fukushima Gender Equality Centre 1-196-1 Kakunai, Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, 964-0904
The Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection (CSRP), a politically, financially, ideologically and religiously independent non-profit organization, has been committed to keeping to minimum the damages on health and environment caused by the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 11, 2011.
CSRP has been inviting administrative officials, researchers, NGOs, member experts of governmental inquiry commissions and international organizations working on radiation protection, etc. Since around the 3rd CSRP, this approach has started to bear fruit, because scientists and other stakeholders with different positions and paradigms began to share the same table of discussion, thus gradually making possible constructive exchange of views.
In the course of this approach, however, we began to encounter a new challenge that may concern the premise of the CSRP; the deeper we got into scientific discussion, the higher the hurdle for participation got for the general public, especially for younger generations. Also, the diversity of voices were to be alienated from pointed scientific discussions that are decisive for the decision-making of the radiation protection of the general public. This lead us to some interrogations : “Isn’t ‘science’ given too much importance in decision-making?”; “Is ‘science’ the only way for citizens to bring today’s situation under their power?”
While always continuing to examine new scientific findings with respect to health, environmental and social impacts of low-dose exposure, we added the theme of “Between Art and Science” to the 5th symposium last year, exposed various art works inspired by nuclear power and nuclear disasters, and organized a panel discussion with artists and scientists. This was the CSRP’s new attempt to question “science” and “scientificity” with a view to reexamining the relationships between science, art and philosophy before and after the modernity. The 6th CSRP of this year, held in the city of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Pref., will collaborate with the Institute of Regional Creation by Arts, the University of Fukushima, to cosponsor the Fukushima Biennale 2016. We hope this new attempt will bring new visions to the participants.
As a place to learn and make full use of new findings exploring the effects of low-dose radiation exposure accumulating day by day, and to think together about the rights of people facing the consequences of the nuclear accident and about what epidemiology and public health should do in order to minimize the damage, we open the 6th Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection.
Resuming Monju reactor operations may cost over ¥540 billion
The cost of resuming operations at Japan’s trouble-plagued Monju prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor is estimated to top ¥540 billion ($5.2 billion), the science ministry says.
The estimate was presented Friday at a meeting of government and private-sector officials who discussed the fate of the reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.
More than ¥1 trillion ($9.7 billion) has been spent on Monju, but it has only operated for a total of 250 days in the past 20 years due to a series of problems, including a leak of sodium coolant.
The government is considering options, including decommissioning the reactor. It plans to make a decision by the end of this year.
The ministry said the costs may far exceed ¥540 billion if the safety screening process by regulators is lengthy. The estimate does not include expenses for decommissioning the reactor.
The science ministry wants Monju to be maintained while the industry ministry is opposed to the idea.
Opposition to keeping Monju in place is expected to grow if a massive amount of money is needed for it to go back online.
The meeting brought together science minister Hirokazu Matsuno and industry minister Hiroshige Seko as well as nuclear industry executives, including Satoru Katsuno, chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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