Why we must expose the true ugly nature of the nuclear industry
As I stood against sensationalists and repeated hoaxers, mostly Youtubers, who are only harming the antinuclear cause and the Fukushima victims cause, lately those people have sent me insults and threats of violence, calling me a pro-nuke shill hiding behind my D’un Renard alias,, and not showing my face etc. I presently became the focus of those people hate and slurs for calling their repeated hoaxes what it is: B.S., mental pollution, sensationalism and disinformation. I did it not to look for trouble, but because I believe truth is important, primordial, crucial.
Only by sharing the true facts, we will win, as true facts stand, stay.
B.S. flies high first but stinks later when it is quickly debunked
Consequently, for the first time, i will share publicly my personal story, why and how I awoke and became antinuclear.
A little about myself, I am Hervé Courtois, 60 years old, Picardie, France.
For 4 years and half I used a nom de plume “D’un Renard”, which in french means “from a fox”, because around my place there are many forests and many foxes which I could hear at night while blogging. I did not want to used my true identity because I wanted to protect the identity of my daughter in Japan when I started to blog on internet about the Fukushima catastrophe by fear of getting her in troubles with the Japanese government, and also by fear that Japanese government could bar me to enter Japan to visit my daughter. Few months ago I decided finally to use my real name.
I lived very long time in Asia, 37 years, in Japan, Korea, Hong-Kong and the Philippines, I came back home to France 6 years ago.
My 33 years old daughter, French-Japanese, lives in Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture, 50 kms South from the nuclear plant of Fukushima Daiichi. She was born in Paris in 1982, but grown up in Fukushima, she is 33 years old, unmarried, no children, does not want to give birth anymore by fear of possible tetragenic birth due to radioactive contamination thru her living environment and the contaminated food.
Three months after the start of the Fukushima catastrophe, I went to visit her there in Iwaki city, Fukushima for the full month of June 2011, to check how she was and how was the real situation there.
On location I was surprised how to find that the people on location who should be the most at risk were kept uninformed of the real situation and of the dangers for their health, for their life, by the Japanese government.
I became aware that there was then an imposed omerta on the media by the Japanese government. All media repeating the same tune, don’t worry be happy, there is no danger, the situation is under control. The reactors are now in cold shutdown.
I keep wondering how reactors having exploded could be in cold shutdown. Smelling a rat.
Most people I met were kept in dark of the real situation, informations were totally controlled, filtered, censored, twisted, the people lied to. Just as the french people in 1986 were lied to by their own government telling them that the Chernobyl plume was not coming towards France, that it would not reach France, that they were safe, most of the people not taking protection measures to regret it later with rampant thyroid cancer allover Eastern France.
When I came back from Japan to France, the most nuclearized nation in the world per square kilometer and per inhabitant, the nuclear industry Areva being owned by the State, the French government, of course the french media were also censored about Fukushima by the French government, telling to French people that the Fukushima disaster was over, that it had ended in March 2011, that it was nowall under control. I found at home the same omerta, that I had met in Japan.
I decided to search for informations on internet, search for knowledge, to learn about nuclear, so that I could better understand what was truly happening, what was hidden, unsaid, covered up, so that I could then inform my daughter and help her to know the facts, the dangers and how to protect herself.
My life changed and was never the same again, it became almost a full time occupation, many hours days and nights on internet to find informations and to share them to other people, discovering gradually the lies, what had been hidden about Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile islands and other hidden nuclear catastrophes, so many. I lost my innocence about nuclear.
I became angry and quite involved as an activist both on the net but also in real life. I became a a member of Sortir du Nucléaire France and of Greenpeace France,
On March 2012 I was the one to organize in Paris the 1rst year Fukushima Anniversary, a rally in front of the Paris main cityhall, with french antinuclear activists combined to some Japanese members of the Paris Japanese community, a Japanese TV crew coming to film our event.
Since the end of June 2011 up to now I continue to blog on the net on various blogs and on some Facebook antinuclear groups and pages that I founded.
I have therefore been following the Fukushima catastrophe day and night from the right beginning, and I am very well aware of the real dangers of Fukushima and of nuclear, my own blood and flesh French-Japanese daughter being one of the victims of nuclear in Fukushima, l will therefore continue to fight nuclear until it ends or until my last breath.
I am opposed to all pro-nuclear and their paid shills, but I am also oppose to those irresponsable people who produce hoax after hoax about Fukushima to satisfy their attention-glory-narcissist craving and their donations milking. All those people in different ways are harming the truth, harming our antinuclear cause.
I never asked donations not wishing to become an activist for sale, I do it for the love of my daughter, and because it is right to do it, not for money nor glory.
Nuclear is more than bad, we will only win by exposing its its ugly real nature, the true real solid facts. We won’t win by spinning sensationalism or hoaxes, which only become ammunitions for the pro-nuke shills to discredit us and the true dangers of nuclear in the mind of the general public.
We need everybody to wake up and to get their hands on deck, to ban all kinds of nuclear, civil and military, allover the world, to free our planet from this evil criminal industry.
Say no to nuclear, say yes to renewable, clean, safe and getting cheaper everyday.
Best wishes to everyone.
Hervé Courtois, “D’un Renard”, from France
Source: Nuclear News
Why we must expose the true ugly nature of the nuclear industry
In front of the gates of Fessenheim Nuclear plant at the end of the day, Naoto is standing at the center, all the others are solid Fukushima Watchers and Antinuclear activists, friends.
European No to Nuclear Rally at Fessenheim Nuclear plant on March 9, 2014
At Fessenheim, Alsace, France
First 9 bridges upon the Rhine River, between France and Germany, were occupied, then all the people from the bridges regrouped to the Fessenheim Nuclear Plant, 9500 people participating.
The largest groundwater in Europe is located right under the Fessenheim Nuclear plant: the Rhine aquifer, nearly 80 billion cubic meter of water between Basel and Mainz, which provides 80% of the drinking water and more than half of the industry in that area. What would happen in the event of a serious accident?
The Honored guest of that day was Naoto Matsumura, for his heart and spirit in caring for the abandoned animals within the 20kms radius No Man’s Zone of Fukushima. The next day Naoto was delivering his Fukushima testimony at the Europen Parliament in Strasbourg city in front of all the European MPs.
It was a terrific feeling, meet again some old friends and making some new friends.
With Christian Roy, an antinuclear activist and my closest friend
that day occupying one of those night bridges on the Rhine river.
Former PM Naoto Kan says nuclear power makes little economic sense, must end
Although the first reactor in Japan to be fired up in two years went online last month, former Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Wednesday that Japan needs to seek a nuclear-free path.
This is a lesson the country has learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, said Kan, who was prime minister when the Fukushima No. 1 plant was hit by a huge quake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
“I’m absolutely sure that there will no longer be nuclear power by the end of this century. This is because it doesn’t make sense economically, and enough energy can be provided without it,” Kan said in a lecture to foreign residents in Tokyo.
While reactor 1 at the Sendai plant in Kagoshima Prefecture was restarted in August, Japan has survived the past few summers without nuclear power, Kan said.
He added that although the current government is still promoting nuclear power, Japan has seen an increase of renewable energy since the Fukushima accident, especially from solar panels.
He said nuclear power was believed to be a cheap source of energy, but it is actually expensive, considering the cost of decommissioning and managing nuclear waste.
Kan also shared his experience of visiting Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Finland, where a final nuclear waste repository is being constructed. There, he was told it would take 100,000 years for the radiation of nuclear waste to descend to the same level of the uranium that exists in the natural environment.
Using nuclear power, Kan said, means increasing the amount of dangerous waste that will trouble future generations, adding that this is why other former prime ministers such as Junichiro Koizumi and Morihiro Hosokawa are also voicing their wish to end Japan’s dependence on it.
Source: Japan Times
Japan lifts evacuation orders on irradiated towns in preparation for 2020 Summer Olympics
The Japanese government recently announced they are lifting a four-year evacuation order on a town located 10 miles from the Fukushima disaster site, allowing residents to return full-time if they so desire, according to reports.
The evacuation order was issued in 2011 for the town of Naraha, which was among seven municipalities that were forced to vacate following a 15-meter tsunami triggered by an earthquake, subsequently resulting in the meltdown of three of Fukushima’s Daiichi reactors.
The Daily News reports:
Officials have said radiation levels in Naraha have fallen to levels deemed safe following decontamination efforts.
But according to a government survey, 53% of evacuees from Naraha, which is 12 miles south of the plant, say they’re either not ready to return home or are undecided. Some say they have found jobs elsewhere over the past few years, while others cite radiation concerns. Some houses are falling down, and wild boars roam at night.
About 100,000 people from about 10 municipalities around the wrecked plant still cannot go home. The government hopes to lift all evacuation orders except for the most contaminated areas closest to the plant by March 2017 — a plan many evacuees criticize as an attempt to showcase recovery ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Other reports have raised concerns over dangerous radiation levels recorded in the area, as well as the town’s lack of infrastructure.
U.S. News and World Report states:
In the once-abandoned town, a segment of a national railway is still out of service, with the tracks covered with grass. Some houses are falling down and wild boars roam around at night.
Only about 100 of the nearly 2,600 households have returned since a trial period began in April. Last year, the government lifted evacuation orders for parts of two nearby towns, but only about half of their former residents have returned.
Source: Fukushimaz Watch
Sr-90 density rose up 155 percent of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2
From Tepco’s report released on 9/4/2015, the density of Strontium-90 increased to 155% of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2.
It was measured in groundwater gathered to pump up. The sampling date
was 8/3/2015, Sr-90 density was 2,800,000 Bq/m3. The previous highest reading was 1,800,000 Bq/m3, which was analyzed on 7/2/2015.
From the report of 9/15/2015 about the same area, the density of Mn-54, which has 310 days of a half-life, reached the highest reading of 680 Bq/m3 on 9/10/2015. 4 days later, it rose up to 970 Bq/m3 again.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15090401-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15091501-j.pdf
Source: Fukushima Diary
Sr-90 density rose up 155 percent of the previous highest reading in the seaside of Reactor 2
End the nuclear ‘safety myth’
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s final report on the March 2011 triple meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant puts the main blame on the then prevailing assumption that Japan’s “nuclear power plants were so safe that an accident of this magnitude was simply unthinkable.” Constant monitoring is needed to make sure the government, power companies and nuclear regulatory authorities aren’t falling into the same “safety myth” as they push to reactivate idled reactors that meet what is now touted as the “world’s most stringent” nuclear safety standards.
Last week, Kyushu Electric Power Co. began commercial operation of the No. 1 reactor of its Sendai nuclear power plant in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture — a little over a month after it became the first reactor idled since 2011 to be reactivated on the basis of the safety standards that were tightened in response to the Fukushima disaster. The utility plans to restart the plant’s No. 2 reactor as early as next month, and the Abe administration and the power industry are pushing to bring more idled plants back online once they have cleared the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s screening.
The regulatory system for nuclear power generation has been reformed since the 2011 crisis. The old Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which came under fire for the Fukushima debacle, has been replaced by the NRA, and new regulations introduced in 2013 require operators of nuclear power plants to beef up their defense against natural disasters such as major earthquakes and tsunamis. But while the NRA itself states that compliance with the new standards does not guarantee the plants’ safety, the government says the plants are ready for restart because they meet the NRA criteria. No one appears ready to take final responsibility for the plants’ safety.
The IAEA report, compiled by around 180 experts from 42 countries and submitted to an annual general conference of the United Nations nuclear watchdog this week, highlights the “assumption” held by Japan’s nuclear plant operators prior to 2011 that a crisis of that magnitude would not happen, which was never challenged by the government or regulatory authorities, leaving the nation unprepared for a severe accident.
The Fukushima power plant lost its emergency power supply after it was flooded by a 15-meter tsunami triggered by the magnitude-9 quake on March 11, 2011. The loss of power crippled its crucial core-cooling functions and led to the meltdowns in its three operating reactors. Citing Tepco’s failure to take precautionary action against such external hazards despite an estimate prior to the disaster that a powerful quake off Fukushima could cause a tsunami of roughly the same scale that hit the plant site, the report said “there was not sufficient consideration of low probability, high consequence external events,” partly because “of the basic assumption in Japan, reinforced over many decades, that the robustness of the technical design of the nuclear plants would provide sufficient protection against postulated risks.” This assumption led to “a tendency for organizations and their staff not to challenge the level of safety” and “resulted in a situation where safety improvements were not introduced promptly.”
The report also pointed to the deficiencies in Japan’s nuclear regulatory system behind the Fukushima disaster. “The regulation of nuclear safety in Japan at the time of the accident was performed by a number of organizations with different roles and responsibilities and complex interrelationships. It was not fully clear which organizations had the responsibility and authority to issue binding instructions on how to respond to safety issues without delay,” it said. “The regulations, guidelines and procedures in place at the time of the accident were not fully in line with international practice in some key areas, most notably in relation to periodic safety reviews, re-evaluation of hazards, severe accident management and safety culture.”
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, in his foreword to the report, says Japan’s regulatory system has since been reformed to meet international standards, with regulators given clearer responsibilities and greater authority. Whether the new plant safety standards are the world’s most stringent or not, plants that meet the standards are supposed to withstand much greater levels of external hazards and be better able to respond to emergencies than before.
Still, complacency under the new standards would risk reviving the same safety myth rebuked in the report. Questioning whether the tightened standards are sufficient could be branded as demanding zero tolerance of risks and thereby unrealistic. However, as the IAEA report points out, it was an “unlikely combination of events” that hit the Tepco plant, and the utility’s unpreparedness for such a situation that resulted in the 2011 disaster.
We need to consider whether the tendency to dismiss low-probability risks as “small enough” — as was, for example, the risk of Kyushu Electric’s Sendai plant being hit by a volcanic eruption when the go-ahead was given for its restart — is acceptable from the viewpoint of preventing severe accidents at nuclear plants in the future.
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/09/14/editorials/end-nuclear-safety-myth/#.Vfjrx5eFSM9
TODAY SEPT. 17, 2015 ABE’S LAW WAS DICTATED BYPASSING THE DUE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
Remarkable report from our friend Laurent Mabesoone (青眼 マブソン) in Japan explaining to us what took place today at the Diet (Parlement) of Japan.
Translated by Hervé Courtois (D’un Renard)
Abe’s law, which should allow Japan to conduct an offensive war abroad at the side of an allied country – in fact, the USA (a law judged unconstitutional by all serious experts) would pass in front of the Senate, after being passed thanks to an expeditious procedure last July 15th before the Diet.
On this occasion, the senators of the opposition parties (Fukuyama for the Democratic Party Minshuto, Koike for the CCP, Taro Yamamoto, etc …) wanted to do everything possible to make the debates last long. This is because the character very confused and very risk of this law (which challenges the constitutional basis of the country since World War II).
But also because the Abe government would be required to revote the law in plenary session of the Diet, if the ratification by the Senate would take place 60 days after July 15th. In this case, as Abe would not get 2/3 of the votes in plenary session in the Diet, the law could fall in the water …
The limit for the vote in the Senate was this week. So the opposition parties have done everything to delay, with an unpublished heroism – they felt lifted by the huge crowd that rallies everyday and night in front of the Diet and elsewhere in Japan (youth movement “SEALDs”, among others, who have finally expanded our movement, which was antinuclear at its foundation …).
Yesterday evening, the few women senators from the opposition parties have worn pink headbands and form a women’s wall (a “no kabe onna”, to prevent the President of the Special Committee of the Senate to go to the hall of parliament. They had the clever idea to shout “Sekku hara” (sexual harrassment) every time the police touched them to clear the way. This held until 0:30, and the session had to be postponed to this morning 9:00.
This morning, surprise: the government announces that the law will not be voted in plenary session of the Senate, but in a special commission expeditious manner (as it was done in the Diet in July, that is by just asking members of that commission sho support the law to stand up … an incredibly expeditious procedure for a law of this importance, and an unreliable procedure).
So the opposition had the idea to file a censure motion against the President of the Committee (Mr. Konoike), which would delay one day. They intended afterwards to file a motion against the government, which would help to exceed this week time limit, and to maybe drop the law.
Each opposition MP was brilliant, taking his/her time (since this morning until 5:00 p.m. It was broadcasted live on NHK). Taro passing last (15: 30-17: 00: a full speech, taking the whole American policy since the Pacific War until the Iraq war and the problems with China, etc …).
All speeches were broadcasted live (well, NHK is trying to show that it was doing its job for a change!), It was watched live throughout Japan.
Yamamoto Taro was particularly appreciated on all social networks – having his way to “buy time” while marking strong points…. As examples:
“the Iraq war was declared illegal by the International Court of The Hague, at that time, Japan was on the side of the US, in a passive way – for constitutional reasons, but the Iraqis have already been disappointed by Japan during that time”
or” To follow a country that sustains its economy with illegal wars, is to also transform Japan in an economy that depends only of war ”
or” the Japanese military are not things that one moves for the economic interests of the US or Japan. They are human beings. If you want to participate in an offensive war with the US, Abe, go yourself to the front line, please. It is you who has promised this Constitutional reform to the American military last year! ”
(Abe was away until the last moment …).
At 17:00 the Vice President of the Committee (Mr. Sato, former commander of PKO troops in Iraq in 2003! …) forced Yamamoto Taro to end his speech. And immediately, the sameVice-President requested the vote on the censure motion against the President of the Commission.
Without surprise, the motion was rejected, but all of a sudden, the NHK mutes the sound ( 5:50 in the video), posting subtitles claiming that “the exchanges that follow are not transcribed” (???).
We saw then the president of the commission, the PM Abe and his Minister of Defence finally entering into the room, escorted by policemen, the President announcing that the vote on the law would take place immediately in reduced session!
Opposition senators, revolted (they counted immediately file a further motion against the government) have rushed to the desk of the president. YamamotoTaro was the first in line, naturally, asking for time to file another motion. They were ignored,
In an incredible noise and turmoil, the president of the commission, invisible and inaudible, probably stammered that the law was passed! Indeed, the LPD senators stood up more or less two or three times. Just after they are already stood up a first time, Abe came out !! (He fled?) …
There it is, it has been done … Japan is not a pacifist country anymore. It can make war again!
The trial record of the meeting (published on twitter by Koike of the PCF) specifies that the law was fully read, there was 5 questions and a regulatory vote: gross lie perfectly verifiable on the video).
In short, Taro has been the last Japanese MP (Senator) to express himself in a democratic framework. Now we know that Abe is ready to to do ANYTHING!
Experts guessing about meaning of North Korea’s renewed nuclear threat
North Korea’s renewed nuclear threat keeps experts guessing, Guardian, Julian Borger, 15 Sept 15
Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons complex relaunch seen as sabre rattling – or the prerequisite for another nuclear test. North Korea’s announcement that it had revamped and relaunched its nuclear weapons complex a day after threatening new launches is meant to signal a renewed determination to build long-range nuclear missiles.
The statement on state media on Tuesday warned that US hostility would be met with “nuclear weapons at any time”. However, while many anticipate that the regime will try to launch a satellite with long-range missile technology on 10 October to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers party, few are less certain on how significant the announcement really is.
One western expert described it as being of little practical importance since it could be seen as no more than a morale-boosting exercise for the regime, while another said it could presage a fourth nuclear test by the Pyongyang regime. The North Korean nuclear complex at Yongbyon contains a 5 megawatt reactor, capable of producing plutonium as a byproduct, and a newly extended plant for enriching uranium. Both have the capacity for producing weapons-grade fissile material for a bomb, and the announcement, attributed to the director of the nation’s atomic energy institute, said that both had been “rearranged, changed or readjusted and they started normal operation”.
David Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said that trying to estimate what is really going on in Yongbyon from satellite imagery can be a guessing game.
“There is heat coming from the enrichment plant, but that’s not direct evidence that it is functioning. They could just have the heat on,” he said.
He added: “We will have to wait to see if there are signs of normal operation. We could see water being discharged and steam coming off the turbine.”
Albright said that although there were signs that the North Koreans had not been able to get the reactor to work at full capacity, it was still capable of producing three to four kilograms of plutonium a year, once the spent fuel had been reprocessed – enough for a single warhead. He added that it is likely the regime had mastered the science of making warheads small enough to put on missiles…….. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/north-koreas-renewed-nuclear-threat-keeps-experts-guessing
395 bags of tainted material washed away in floods
Japan’s Environment Ministry says nearly 400 bags of weeds and other waste contaminated with radioactive materials were washed into a river during a torrential rain in Fukushima.
The plastic bags contained weeds, branches and soil from cleanup work in Iitate Village in the prefecture. The area was contaminated by fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
The bags were being stored on farmland near a river temporarily.
The ministry says that of the 395 bags that were washed away, 314 were recovered. But about half of them were torn, and their contents were empty.
Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki noted on Tuesday that the grass and branches in the bags had been collected recently and had relatively low radiation levels. He suggested that the possibility they will affect the environment is low.
He added that his ministry will work to recover the remaining bags and implement measures to prevent a recurrence.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150915_24.html
Tepco started discharging contaminated groundwater beside crippled reactor buildings
Tepco started discharging the contaminated groundwater to the Pacific on 9/14/2015, Tepco reported.
It was discharged for nearly 6 hours in daytime. The reported volume of contaminated water was 838 tons.
The discharged water was pumped up from 20 of 41 wells called “sub-drain” situated beside crippled reactor buildings 1 ~ 4.
10,800,000 Bq/m3 of Cs-134/137 and 16,000,000 Bq/m3 of Tritium were measured from the water pumped this August. Tepco announced they purified water before discharging, however unremovable nuclide Tritium still remains in water. 390,000 ~ 600,000 Bq/m3 of Tritium was detected from “filtered” water from third party organization’s analysis.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/archive-j.html?video_uuid=q2f3u22p&catid=69619
http://www.tepco.co.jp/decommision/planaction/sub-drain/index-j.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259086_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259171_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150902_07-j.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259687_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259973_6818.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2015/1259923_6818.html
Source: Fukushima Diary
[Video] Tepco started discharging contaminated groundwater beside crippled reactor buildings
850 tons of ‘decontaminated’ Fukushima water dumped into ocean
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) that operates the crippled nuclear plant released its first 850 tons of filtered radioactive groundwater by sundown on September 14. This is a part of TEPCO’s “subdrain plan” that was approved in late July after a year-long battle with local fishermen who opposed the release fearing that it would pollute the ocean and contaminate marine life.
A third party panel has given the green light to the release after confirming that the radioactive content was below measurable limits, according to The Japan Times. TEPCO allows one becquerel of radioactive cesium per liter of decontaminated groundwater, three becquerels for elements that emit beta rays and up to 1,500 becquerels for tritium, which cannot be removed with existing technology.
Monday’s batch measured 330 to 600 becquerels per liter, TEPCO said, citing analyses conducted by the company and an outside organization.
TEPCO has yet to deal with remaining 680,000 tons of water that was used to cool the reactors during the 2011 meltdown.
“The risk that you run is that you have all these tanks full of water,” Dale Klein, the chairman of a committee created to prevent possible meltdowns, told AFP. “The longer you store the water, the more likely you are going to have (an) uncontrolled release,” he said. Klein added that he hopes the supplies will be released from storage in the next three years.
TEPCO, much criticized for handling the tsunami-triggered meltdown at Fukushima No.1 reactors, is running behind schedule on a project to build a huge underground ice barrier – the “ice wall” – around Fukushima plant as it tries to stop groundwater from reaching the reactor building basements.
In addition, flooding from Typhoon Etau caused new leaks of contaminated water to flow from the Fukushima nuclear power station into the ocean last week. The incident came after a rush of water overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps.
Source: RT
https://www.rt.com/news/315350-fukushima-decontaminated-water-ocean/
Tepco dumps treated groundwater in Pacific to ease toxic water buildup at Fukushima No. 1
This article was removed from the Japan Times website certainly due to censorship. Maybe someone did not like something said in it or its style. Luckily i had already copied it early when it came out and before they deleted it.
FUKUSHIMA – Tepco on Monday discharged into the ocean filtered groundwater taken from wells around the damaged reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in an effort to curb the buildup of toxic water.
The project has been touted as one of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s key measures in tackling the contaminated water problem.
Some 300 tons of untainted groundwater seeps into the buildings each day, where it mixes with water made radioactive by keeping the damaged reactors cool.
By pumping up groundwater through 41 wells and discharging it into the sea after treatment, the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. hope to halve the amount flowing into the reactor buildings.
On Monday, Tepco released some 850 tons of filtered groundwater — part of some 4,000 tons pumped up last year on a trial basis and stored in tanks — after confirming that radiation levels were below measurable limits.
Tritium, which cannot be removed with existing technology, measured 330 to 600 becquerels per liter, well below the legally allowable limit of 1,500 becquerels, the utility said, citing analyses conducted by the company and an outside organization.
Fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture had long opposed releasing the water over concerns it would pollute the ocean and contaminate marine life, but signed off on the plan in August.
In exchange, the fishermen demanded among other things that Tepco and the government continue paying compensation for as long as the nuclear plant damages their business.
Tepco is running behind schedule on a project to build a huge underground ice wall at the site, another key measure to prevent groundwater from reaching the reactor building basements.
Source: Japan Times
Partially Decontaminated Groundwater release starts at Fukushima Daiichi. Sept 14, 2015
TEPCO releases first batch of decontaminated Fukushima groundwater to sea
Tokyo Electric Power Co. was set to release 850 tons of treated radioactive groundwater into the sea off the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by sundown on Sept. 14.
The discharge marks the first release under the utility’s “subdrain plan,” an additional measure conceived to help diminish the build-up of contaminated groundwater at the crippled facility.
TEPCO began discharging water after a third-party panel confirmed that the radioactive content was below the standard set by the utility.
The plan utilizes subdrains, which are essentially wells set up around the main buildings of the power plant to collect groundwater flowing into the complex. Once the groundwater has been pumped from those wells, it undergoes decontamination in a special facility for release into the ocean after being checked for radioactive content.
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations gave the green light to the operation on Aug. 11, and TEPCO began pumping in earnest on Sept. 3.
The release of the first batch of decontaminated groundwater, which had been stored in a tank since last year, started around 10 a.m. The water collected from Sept. 3 will be released in a few days.
TEPCO’s standard is set at 1 becquerel of radioactive cesium per liter of decontaminated groundwater, 3 becquerels for elements that emit beta rays and 1,500 becquerels for tritium–a substance which is very hard to treat.
As for now, the utility plans to pump 100 to 200 tons of groundwater daily, but will increase the volume to 500 tons if it does not encounter any problems with the decontamination facilities.
TEPCO believes the subdrains can halve the approximately 300 tons of daily groundwater buildup at the plant. However, the utility is uncertain how many months it will take to see whether this holds true.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509140069
Partially Decontaminated Groundwater release starts at Fukushima Daiichi
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has started releasing groundwater into the sea pumped up from around reactor buildings. The water is decontaminated and monitored before releasing.
The government and Tokyo Electric Power Company say the release is aimed at reducing the daily production of radioactive wastewater by half. The work began at around 10 AM on Monday.
300 tons of contaminated water has been produced daily in the damaged reactor buildings due to flow-in of groundwater.
By evening the operator plans to release some 850 tons of groundwater. This is from the 4,000 tons it has already pumped up from wells around reactor buildings since August last year. The groundwater has been cleaned to permissible radioactive levels.
Workers will continue to release the stored water for 3 more days this time.
Municipalities and local fishermen worry about possible effects on the environment if something goes wrong. The government and the Tokyo Electric Power say they will conduct strict monitoring of the discharge.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150914_22.html
Japan: call by former Prime Minister Koizumi for a national anti nuclear movement
Koizumi calls for national movement to lead fight against nuclear power,September 13, 2015 HE ASAHI SHIMBUN by Shinichi Sekine and Takashi Funakoshi
Although he has no plans to return to national politics, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tells the electorate not to lose hope in the campaign against nuclear power. In an exclusive interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo, Koizumi called for a national movement to steer Japan away from nuclear plants. “We should patiently continue to make efforts toward such a movement,” he said on Sept. 9. “It is worth our efforts.”
In the first interview Koizumi, 73, has granted to a media outlet since he stopped down as prime minister in September 2006, the theme was nuclear power. The former prime minister denounced the Abe administration for pushing to rely on nuclear energy despite the 2011 Fukushima disaster, calling the recent restart of a nuclear power station “wrong.”
“Japan will be all right even if all its nuclear power plants are abandoned right now,” he said.
While in office from 2001 to 2006, Koizumi, of the Liberal Democratic Party, had promoted nuclear power generation in line with previous governments’ policy. Koizumi, however, had a dramatic change of heart in the wake of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011, pointing to the potential danger of nuclear plants.
Last year, he actively campaigned in the Tokyo gubernatorial election for former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on a primarily anti-nuclear platform. Hosokawa placed third in the race, behind winner Yoichi Masuzoe, who was backed by the ruling LDP.
Koizumi said the costs of bolstering the safety of nuclear power stations in quake-prone Japan would prove massive, citing powerful temblors in recent years such as the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-oki Earthquake and 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
“Nuclear power plants are not safe,” he said. “If additional precautions are taken (to help prepare nuclear facilities for a giant quake), it will cost a huge amount of money.”
The former prime minister also hit back at the government’s argument that continuing with nuclear power will be a step in the right direction in terms of addressing global warming, given it does not emit carbon dioxide while generating electricity.
“Nuclear power is not clean at all,” he said. “It is obvious that nuclear power also generates ‘nuclear waste’ (highly radioactive waste), which is more dangerous than carbon dioxide (that is spewed by thermal power plants).”
Koizumi criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for “being influenced by promoters of nuclear power” and pressing ahead with the restart of a nuclear power plant……… http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201509130042
Iodine-131 detected from dried sewage sludge in Funabashi city of Chiba
From this May to June, Iodine-131 was measured from dried sewage sludge according to Funabashi city government of Chiba.
They collect the samples from 2 sewage plants in the city. This May, 38 Bq/Kg of Iodine-131 was measured from one of the plants. This June, 19 Bq/Kg of Iodine-131 was also detected from the other plant.
Cs-134/137 was also detected. 12 Bq/Kg of Cs-137 was measured from the former sample. 91 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 was measured from the latter sample.
They don’t analyze other nuclides. Regarding this detection of Iodine-131, Funabashi city government has not made any comment.
Related article.. I-131 detected from dehydrated sludge of sewage plant in Gunma [URL]
http://www.city.funabashi.chiba.jp/machi/gesui/0001/gesui-odei27.html
Source: Fukushima Daiichi
Iodine-131 detected from dried sewage sludge in Funabashi city of Chiba
Nearly 70,000 evacuees still living in shoddy temporary housing
Temporary housing in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture
Tens of thousands of evacuees from the earthquake and tsunami disaster in 2011 are still living in temporary shelters designed to last only two years.
Most of the 68,000 evacuees are from the hardest-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
Temporary prefabricated housing was erected hastily because so many people lost their homes and livelihoods in the magnitude-9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing towering tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan.
Under the central government’s system to help victims of natural disasters, such prefabricated homes are to be used, in principle, for just two years.
The scale of the disaster led to delays in constructing more permanent public housing for those made homeless.
Many of the communities devastated by the tsunami in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures are trying to build new public housing units for disaster victims on higher ground, but that is proving difficult because the coastal areas are so flat.
In the case of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995, all evacuees had left temporary housing and were relocated in 25,000 public housing units just five years after the disaster.
It has been estimated that 29,501 public housing units need to be built for the victims of the 2011 disaster. But as of July, only 11,000 units had been completed.
Officials say construction of all the needed public housing will likely not be completed until fiscal 2018.
Many of those still living in the temporary housing units are senior citizens or those on low incomes who face difficulties in finding other housing on their own.
That is one reason there has only been a 40 percent decrease in the number of evacuees from the peak figure in March 2012. About 199,000 people are still living as evacuees.
About 10 percent of those in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures living in temporary housing either said they were unsure where they would go after leaving those units or local government officials could not confirm the intentions of the evacuees.
In Fukushima Prefecture, about 20,000 evacuees live in temporary housing units. Because nine local communities are still covered by evacuation orders due to the Fukushima nuclear accident that was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami disaster, about 70,000 residents are unable to return to their homes.
In a related development, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency updated its figures on the number of dead and missing from the 2011 disasters to 21,955 as of Sept. 1 against 18,554 on Sept 12, 2012. It said the number of fatalities includes those who died while living as evacuees.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201509120035
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