Anxieties in China over the safety of the nation’s nuclear power programme
China resumes nuclear power plant construction after a four-year freeze By Zhang Yu Source:Global Times Published: 2015-6-15“…China recently ended its pause for approvals of nuclear power plants put into place after the 2011 nuclear accident in Japan. This year, as many as eight nuclear power plants may be launched in China. Some experts are warning that this is going too fast with controversial technology…….
Since 2004, China has been approving projects using advanced nuclear power reactors, including US-based Westinghouse’s AP1000 and France-based Areva’s EPR (Evolutionary Power Reactor), many of which are now under construction. Dubbed generation III reactors, they are designed to withstand the crisis that damaged the Japanese nuclear plant.
Construction of these projects has not been smooth. Sanmen Nuclear Power Station in Zhejiang Province was expected to be the first nuclear power plant in the world that uses AP1000 technology. The first of the two reactors was scheduled to finish construction and start operation in November 2013, but construction is now over 18 months behind schedule. The plant won’t start operation until 2016 at the earliest, an official from China’s State Nuclear Power Technology, the company building the power plant, said in January.
The company has struggled to keep its schedule because of constant changes in design and new problems that emerged during tests, previous reports said.
In a statement by the economic planner of Zhejiang Province in 2013, its energy department said the delay has slowed down the province’s nuclear development and affected the power supply plan in Zhejiang. It has also undermined China’s overall plan to make AP1000 its major technology in new nuclear plants……..
She said hydroelectricity and other new energy means should be developed in inland areas. “Nuclear shouldn’t play an important role in China’s energy structure,” she said.
“The rapid speed of China’s nuclear expansion, and the direction it is expanding – to the most populous inland areas – is unprecedented…Besides, China’s nuclear industry has a tendency to exaggerate its achievements to the central government, so as to gain more funding,” He told the Global Times.
He also warns of a nuclear accident when the total number of nuclear power plants reaches 50 – the total number of nuclear plants built and under construction in China.
“According to past experiences, the likelihood of a disaster rises sharply after a country runs over 50 nuclear power plants, as is the case in the US and Japan,” he said……..http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/927146.shtml
Cs-134/137 density of plant port water keeps increasing since last week
Cs-134/137 density reached the highest level at 2 of those 4 points mentioned above, according to Tepco. The sampling date was 9/7/2015.
These 2 points are in front of water intakes of Reactor 1 and Reactor 2. Both of them are outside of underground wall to prove high level of contamination is still leaking to the sea.
Also, Cs-134/137 density in the south of these 2 points reached the highest level. This is also outside of the underground wall, but the density went up approx. 170 % of the previous highest reading. The newly highest Cs-134/137 density was 152,000 Bq/m3.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/2015/images/2tb-east_15090801-j.pdf
Source: Fukushima Diary
Cs-134/137 density of plant port water keeps increasing since last week
CSRP 2015 – The Fifth Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection
Beginning in March 2011, the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant catastrophe continues even now with no end in sight. We have sought out ways to reduce even a little, or possibly prevent, health effects due to radiation exposure. Whether radiation exposure leads to health effects, or what the potential health effects might be, has generated much interest in our society. However, up to now, no discussion has been openly carried out amongst scientists with various viewpoints. The nuclear power plant accident and the dispersed radioactivity exert influences over extensive social areas, affecting individuals as well as the society. What is called for now is societal decision-making regarding such influences for the purpose of radiation protecton, through discussions between the victims, the political decision-makers, the researchers, and the non-governmental organizations.
Currently, the exposed and the highly exposed human populations are either ignored by the government or they become inadvertent subjects of observation by scientists, while silently and helplessly observing incidences of illness creeping up within themselves. Epidemiological studies, deemed essential in putting public health into practice, are not cold science by any means. The purpose of epidemiological studies should include, in addition to the elucidation of frequency and causes of illnesses, the creation of frameworks to minimize health effects by reducing or preventing them. Furthermore, the true goal of epidemiological studies is for them to be utilized in reducing or preventing societal effects which could worsen the catastrophe.
What approaches are needed for science to become a survival tool for humans in the challenge of radiation protection? We shall think about this issue together at the Fifth Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection,
On Day 1 of the symposium, we will approach this issue from the diverse intellectual interactions between science and art.
On Day 2, we will explore epidemiology as a science in addition to a general overview of radiation protection measures based on the latest biological findings.
Lastly, on Day 3, we will verify from societal aspects what language, law and ethics are necessary in order to put such measures into practice.
For more details and registration → http://csrp.jp/csrp2015/
Live streaming → http://csrp.jp/csrp2015/live
Tepco’s index-topping gains fueled by electricity shake-up
Japan’s reform of its energy market is proving a boon to investors in the company at the center of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster.
Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s shares have surged 59 percent in the six months through Tuesday’s close, making it the best performer on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average and the 174-member Bloomberg World Utilities Index.
Tepco, owner of the wrecked plant, is seen as an early beneficiary of government-backed power reform. By April, residential power customers will be able to choose their provider for the first time. And by 2020, utilities will be required to separate their transmission, distribution and retail businesses.
“Looking towards the electricity market reform to be completed by 2020, a company the size of Tepco is an attractive investment,” Mana Nakazora, an analyst at BNP Paribas Securities (Japan) Ltd., said by email.
While the company’s stock price has surged this year, it is still less than half of where it was before the Fukushima disaster. The shares fell 3.1 percent to ¥751 at the close of Tokyo trading on Tuesday. They closed at ¥2,153 the day before Fukushima, but have increased 55 percent since Tepco announced on May 1 that it will transition to a holding company beginning in April.
Tepco was rated new overweight on Tuesday with a target price of ¥1,000 a share by Yuji Nishiyama, an analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co.
Spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi declined to comment on the performance of the company’s stock.
For Tepco, a more open energy market in Japan offers the opportunity for growth at a company whose survival was in question just a few years ago. The Fukushima disaster put it on the verge of default, with the head of Japan’s biggest stock market telling the company to file for bankruptcy protection. Tepco was saved by a ¥1 trillion infusion from the government in 2012, the nation’s largest bailout since the 1990s.
The power company received ¥5.61 trillion from the state-backed Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corp. to deal with payouts to victims of the Fukushima meltdown, Tepco reported last month.
Under the April reorganization, Tepco’s nuclear operations will be placed into a holding company, while debt investors will be repaid from the funds of a spun-off power grid company.
Tepco’s probability of debt nonpayment has dropped to 0.309 percent from about 1.121 percent on Oct. 16, according to the Bloomberg default-risk model, which considers factors such as share prices and debt. The probability of debt nonpayment was as high as 6.156 percent in 2012.
“The company’s default risk has disappeared,” said BNP Paribas’s Nakazora.
The government’s power reform began this year with the creation of an organization to manage the nation’s supply and demand balance. Next year’s full retail liberalization, the second stage of the reform, will allow utilities to more freely expand outside their traditional regions. The government aims to remove rate regulations by 2020.
A drop in fuel costs saw Tepco increase operating profit threefold in the quarter ended June 30. The price of liquefied natural gas imported into Japan fell to a six-year low in June, while crude oil prices are near a record low.
“Investors expected first-quarter profits to have a big increase due to the drop in oil then liquefied natural gas,” Syusaku Nishikawa, a Tokyo-based analyst at Daiwa Securities Co., said by email.
Yet challenges remain. Liabilities related to the Fukushima disaster and Tepco’s responsibilities will continue to pressure the company’s credit quality in the long term, according to Mariko Semetko, a vice president at Moody’s Japan K.K., which rates the company’s outlook as negative.
Tepco, which operates the world’s biggest nuclear plant by capacity at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility in Niigata Prefecture, has yet to restart any of its nuclear reactors. Resuming operations at the facility would boost profit by as much as ¥32 billion a month, the company has said.
“The recent improvements in profitability are definitely a plus,” Semetko said by phone. “But the company hasn’t yet started its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant and there are a lot of uncertainties around costs related to Fukushima. With all of that in mind, we haven’t been able to stabilize the outlook yet.”
Source: Japan Times
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/09/business/corporate-business/tepcos-index-topping-gains-fueled-electricity-shake/#.VfBQvZeFSM8
Third ceiling panel removed from Fukushima reactor
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have removed half of the ceiling panels covering a damaged reactor building. The work is part of efforts to decommission the facility.
The No.1 reactor building was heavily damaged by a hydrogen explosion during the 2011 meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company installed a cover around it to prevent the spread of radioactive material.
The utility is now removing the cover so it can clean up debris inside the facility. Two of the 6 ceiling panels that make up the cover were removed between late July and early August.
The utility then halted the work to monitor radiation levels and check the conditions of the debris. Since no abnormalities were found, workers removed a 3rd panel on Tuesday using a remote-controlled crane.
TEPCO says there’s been no change in radiation levels around the reactor buildings. It says measurements taken before the work on Tuesday showed that wind blowing inside the cover was weaker than expected.
The utility plans to finish dismantling the cover by around late next year.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150908_21.html
Groundwater to be released into the sea on Monday
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant plans to start releasing groundwater from around reactor buildings into the sea next Monday.
The government and the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, are to formally decide on the discharge date on Wednesday. The water has already been decontaminated.
Officials hope the move will help to curb the accumulation of radioactive wastewater in the reactor buildings. The contaminated water is increasing at a rate of 300 tons a day as the groundwater flows in.
The officials plan to first release some 4,000 tons of water pumped up from the wells around the buildings on a trial basis since August last year.
They say they will continue to pump up water and release it after removing radioactive materials.
Later this week, the utility also plans to resume the construction of steel walls along the coast to stop the groundwater seeping directly into the sea.
The construction work has been suspended until the release of the groundwater becomes possible.
Source: NHK
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150909_05.html
Can Towns Near Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Plant Recover?
” There are more decontamination workers than townspeople. It’s like we’ve been taken over,” says carpenter Koichi Takeda, who evacuated to nearby Iwaki City and was in town to help a friend clean her house.
He has a number of clients renovating their houses in Naraha, but most of them are undecided about whether they will actually return. “It’s like keeping a vacation home here,” he said.”
A few signs of life are returning to this rural town made desolate by the Fukushima nuclear disaster four-and-a-half years ago: Carpenters bang on houses, an occasional delivery truck drives by and a noodle shop has opened to serve employees who have returned to Naraha’s small town hall.
But weeds cover the now rusty train tracks, there are no sounds of children and wild boars still roam around at night. On the outskirts of town, thousands of black industrial storage bags containing radiation-contaminated soil and debris stretch out across barren fields.
This past weekend, Naraha became the first of seven towns that had been entirely evacuated to reopen since the March 11, 2011, disaster, when a tsunami slammed into the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, causing meltdowns and a massive radiation leak.
The town’s viability is far from certain, and its fate will be watched closely by authorities and neighboring towns to see if recovery is indeed possible on this once-abandoned land.
Just over a tenth of Naraha’s population of 7,400 say they plan to move back soon, and only a few hundred have actually returned, most of them senior citizens. Schools won’t reopen for another two years, and many families with children are staying away due to concerns about radiation levels, which authorities say are below the annual allowable limit. Residents are given personal dosimeters to check their own radiation levels if they want.
One thing that won’t change is the town’s dependence on the nuclear industry — only this time it will involve dismantling damaged reactors, not building and running them.
An economic revival plan centers on a giant 85 billion yen ($700 million) facility that is being built on the edge of town to research, develop and test specialized robots and other technology — part of the government’s “Innovation Coast” plan to turn the disaster-hit region into a hub for nuclear plant decommissioning technology.
The complex will include mock-ups of sections of the wrecked Fukushima reactors to train workers on robot operations. Dismantling the Dai-ichi plant and removing its melted reactor cores will take about 40 years, the government estimates.
The facility is expected to draw hundreds of workers, and the town also seeks to host laborers to decontaminate buildings and outdoor areas in the area. Naraha is also home to a second nuclear power plant — Fukushima Dai-ni — that barely survived the tsunami but may be scrapped due to local opposition to its restart. So it may also be dismantled.
Returning residents are determined to make a go of it, but they wonder if the town will survive economically — and mourn that it will never be the same cozy place it was five years ago.
“There are more decontamination workers than townspeople. It’s like we’ve been taken over,” says carpenter Koichi Takeda, who evacuated to nearby Iwaki City and was in town to help a friend clean her house.
He has a number of clients renovating their houses in Naraha, but most of them are undecided about whether they will actually return. “It’s like keeping a vacation home here,” he said.
Source: ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/towns-japans-fukushima-nuclear-plant-recover-33597508
INSIGHT: Failing to see dangers of nuclear power right under one’s nose
Fifty-three months after the fateful nuclear disaster, the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture has become the first in Japan to resume after all were taken offline for safety inspections.
But the restart callously disregards the lives of so many people who were uprooted from their irreplaceable ancestral land, jobs, families and friends by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.
Inspections of nuclear facilities certainly became more stringent after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But that is no guarantee of their safety. An “unforeseeable” event may occur at any moment, and the cost will be too tragically enormous for anyone to grasp.
Why does the government not want to face up to that fact in earnest? And what about the public, which is allowing the government to move in that direction? While I was furious about these issues, I had the chance to attend a preview of a movie. Seeing it was like getting smacked up the side of the head.
Titled “Tenku no Hachi” (The Big Bee), the action epic, which features an act of terrorism on a nuclear plant, is based on a work of fiction by Keigo Higashino, a best-selling author.
To my surprise, the work both fully and scrupulously presented all the major problems of nuclear power generation that came under the public spotlight after the Fukushima disaster, such as the vulnerability of spent nuclear fuel storage pools, the fictional nature of the safety myth about nuclear power and the merciless way nuclear plants are being forced on depopulated communities in exchange for subsidies.
The original book was written 20 years ago.
Higashino has commented on the work as follows: After his initial plan for it, he spent five years conducting a lot of research on the issue. He was filled with confidence when he finished writing the novel, but received no reaction at all. He thought that, obviously, his work was being ignored on purpose.
If somebody was purposefully “ignoring” the work, who was it?
I WAS PART OF ‘NUCLEAR VILLAGE’
I encountered the issue of nuclear power generation for the first time 27 years ago, when I was a reporter based in The Asahi Shimbun’s Takamatsu bureau in Kagawa Prefecture.
An “output modulation test” was staged at Shikoku Electric Power Co.’s Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture.
A nuclear reactor continues to generate electric power at constant levels day and night, so there is a nighttime surplus of electricity. The test was conducted to raise and lower output levels to enhance efficiency.
Opponents of nuclear power generation reacted angrily to what they argued was a “dangerous” experiment. Thousands of people arrived from all parts of Japan to stage a boisterous protest outside Shikoku Electric’s head office in Takamatsu on the day of the test.
A senior colleague of mine, who had been engaged in a student movement, appeared excited, as he said he was seeing a protest for the first time in a long while. However, local residents gave a chilly reception to the abrupt emergence of the hippie-like band of protesters, which was an uncommon sight.
“What are we supposed to do when all these outsiders suddenly show up and tell us this and that?” went the typical refrain.
I was, frankly, also fed up with the protesters.
The general thinking at the time was: “Japan has great technology. Speaking of possible accidents won’t get you anywhere. After all, modern life is impossible without nuclear power. ”
The anti-nuclear agenda was an unrealistic argument being made by only a few, and was less than catchy as far as news reporting was concerned.
No sooner did I write a halfhearted article about the protest than I returned to covering the police beat–making morning and evening calls to the homes of police detectives in a desperate bid to learn about hidden cases they were pursuing.
That was the way to scoop the competition and enhance my standing at the newspaper. I never attempted, then or afterward, to look into the dilemma of nuclear power generation, although I would have had access to, if only I had sought, a trove of public documents and other materials.
I didn’t even know how many nuclear reactors Japan had, and in which parts of the country, when I was confronted by the Fukushima disaster.
If our eyes are clouded and we are only eager to read the situation and act smartly, we don’t see anything even if something important is hanging right under our noses or if hints are tossed out in our direction.
We use the phrase “nuclear village” to refer to a community of people who rely on benefits generated by the nuclear power industry, which actually represents a major national project. It is exactly those people that created the safety myth and ended up causing the latest disaster. Higashino may have had the nuclear village in mind as the culprit for ignoring the presence of his book.
After all, I was also possibly a member of the nuclear village. I relied on the safety myth as an excuse for looking away from the sorrow and dilemma of those whom nuclear plants were being forced upon, taking the convenient availability of electric power for granted and continuing to scoff at a deluge of alarms.
I was part of the group of people who ignored Higashino’s work, which he had produced with all his might and competence.
LOOKING AT WHAT I SHOULD LOOK AT
One phrase has long stuck in my mind.
I visited a community last year that lies about a 10-kilometer radius from the disaster site. Its deserted landscapes that were frozen in time and were silently tumbling away appeared so eerie that a lump formed in my throat as I realized the exorbitant price of an affluent life.
I blurted out to a local resident who was guiding me around, “Can you forgive Japan for moving to restart its nuclear reactors, oblivious of a disaster of this magnitude?”
The resident remained silent for a while and then muttered, “If nobody changes, nothing will probably ever change.”
Will I be able to change? Will I be able to keep myself separate from the popular sentiment of the time, refuse to conform to the general trend, look at what I should look at and say what I should say?
Source: Asahi Shimbun
Overflowing from a Drainage Ditch into the Sea
Contaminated rain water overflowing from a drainage ditch into the sea at Fukushima Daiichi on September 7, 2015.
毎日新聞映像グループ
Evacuation order lifted for Fukushima town
The evacuation order has been lifted for the town of Naraha in Fukushima prefecture, allowing residents to permanently return to their homes there. Naraha, located within 20 kilometres of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, is the first of seven municipalities that were fully evacuated to have its order removed.
The town’s entire population of 8011 people were evacuated on 12 March 2011, the day after a large earthquake and tsunami struck the nearby Fukushima Daiichi plant. The loss of power at the plant led to core meltdowns at three of the plant’s six units, resulting in the spread of radioactive materials across the area.
The municipality was redesignated as a zone being prepared for the lifting of the evacuation order in August 2012, which meant that residents were allowed to enter the town during daytime hours.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced that, following decontamination and reconstruction work, as of midnight on 5 September residents of Naraha were free to return to their homes.
The government aims to lift all evacuation orders by March 2017, except for certain areas where radiation levels are expected to remain high.
Source: World Nuclear News
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Evacuation-order-lifted-for-Fukushima-town-0709154.html
Japan Reopens Town 12 miles from Fukushima Daiichi, Govt Says Radiation is at Safe Levels.
Noraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto, rear left, plants a tree with children of Naraha residents during an event in Naraha, Fukushima
More than four years after the 7,400 residents of the Japanese town of Naraha were evacuated after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant melted down in the wake of a devastating tsunami, the government is allowing people to return.
Following several years of decontamination, Naraha is the first town in the area to allow residents to return. It was evacuated in March 2011 after the Fukushima plant was smashed by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami near Sendai, setting off the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
The central government has said radiation is at safe levels.
“The clock that was stopped has now begun to tick,” Naraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto said at a ceremony attended by about 100 people. Naraha is “at the starting line at last,” he told reporters.
But, according to The Associated Press, a survey indicates that 53 percent of the evacuees from the town, about 12 miles south of the nuclear plant, “say they’re either not ready to return home permanently or are undecided. Some say they’ve found jobs elsewhere over the past few years, while others cite radiation concerns.”
The Japan Times reports: “To address lingering radiation concerns, dosimeters will be handed out and 24-hour monitoring will be conducted at a water filtration plant. Also, tap water will be tested at households worried about radioactive contamination.”
Source:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/05/437792215/japan-reopens-town-shuttered-by-fukushima-nuclear-disaster
“Tainted Water Flows Into Sea For Sixth Time From Fukushima No. 1” : Wow, 6 times only? Do you believe this?
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said rainwater contaminated with radioactive substances flowed Monday into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant through a drainage ditch.
This is the sixth time that radioactive water has made its way into the sea from the plant, which was heavily damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Tepco had raised the height of the weir in the ditch’s outlet from 70 cm to 85 cm, but it failed to prevent the latest outflow.
It occurred between 2:55 a.m. and 4 a.m., according to Tepco. The amount of outflow and the level of water contamination was unknown as of Monday evening.
Rainwater in the drainage ditch was to be transferred by pumps to a separate ditch leading to the plant’s port. Although eight pumps were operating at full capacity from 2:51 a.m., they were unable to catch up with the accumulation of rainwater due to heavy rain, allowing contaminated water to flow over the weir, Tepco said.
The company plans to complete its work by the end of March to close the drainage ditch’s outlet and make a new one inside the plant’s port.
Source: Japan Times
EDITORIAL: Each Fukushima water leak weakens faith in Japan’s food safety
Wholesalers check fish at a market in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
Japan’s dispute with South Korea over its import restrictions on Japanese seafood imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster is now going to the World Trade Organization.
Following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, South Korea banned imports of some marine products caught in waters off Fukushima and seven other prefectures, mainly areas along the Pacific coast between Aomori and Chiba prefectures. Then in autumn 2013, Seoul expanded the scope of the ban to include all marine products from these prefectures.
The Japanese government responded to the move by criticizing the measure for “lacking a scientific basis.”
Tokyo has been demanding that the measure be withdrawn while cooperating with Seoul’s investigations. But the two countries have failed to resolve their disagreements, and Japan has asked the WTO to set up a dispute-settlement panel comprising experts from third countries to rule over South Korea’s import ban.
More than a dozen countries and areas have barred imports of all or part of Japanese-made foods, but the government has singled out South Korea because the country has expanded its restrictions.
The WTO tends to be regarded as dysfunctional because of the lack of progress in the global trade-liberalizing talks under its auspices. But the world trade watchdog has at least been performing its dispute-settling functions.
Japan has been making active use of the WTO’s ability to settle trade disputes.
Over the past several years, Tokyo has filed complaints with the WTO over China’s restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals and Ukraine’s emergency restrictions on automobile imports, for instance. These actions have produced certain positive results for Japan.
Japan’s diplomatic relations with South Korea remain strained over some long-standing territorial and history-related rows. But both countries should not allow these problems to affect the ways they deal with economic issues like trade disputes.
Tokyo and Seoul need to continue talks to seek an early solution to the dispute even while the WTO’s panel is hearing the case.
Four-and-a-half years after the accident, coastal areas of Fukushima Prefecture, where the disaster-stricken nuclear power plant is located, are still subject to restrictions on shipments of certain kinds of fish. Even for the fishes not covered, fishermen in these areas are allowed to catch and sell them only on a “trial basis.”
A system has been established to ensure that farm, forestry and fishery products made in areas directly affected by the disaster as well as surrounding regions are shipped only after they have passed the safety standards in radiation tests. But consumers have shown a tendency to avoid all food products from these areas.
In cases of fishery products, only small-scale fishing operations and limited sales of products have been conducted to gauge the reactions from consumers.
The South Korean government says it has expanded the import curbs in response to leaks of radiation-contaminated water from the Fukushima plant.
With the South Korean public deeply worried about food contaminated with radioactive materials, the step was aimed at preventing confusion among consumers in the country, according to Seoul.
The scope of the import restrictions and the means involved may be open to dispute. It should be noted, however, that in both South Korea and Japan, food safety from a scientific viewpoint doesn’t necessarily reassure consumers.
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has been plagued by leaks of polluted water. Local fishermen have lodged protests every time such an incident occurs.
It must not be forgotten that every leak of contaminated water makes consumers even more unwilling to put their faith in the safety of products from the areas.
The only way to restore the public’s trust in the safety of food is to ensure there will be no more leaks of contaminated water nor any exacerbation of the nuclear accident. The food trade dispute with South Korea should serve as a reminder of the absolute need to achieve these most basic nuclear safety goals.
Source: Asahi Shimbun
Tepco Dumps Radioactive Water in Ocean To SAVE Ocean
Tepco Dumps 10,000 Bq Per Liter Tritium Ocean Release Ice wall 2015 https://youtu.be/0fP6iV0_47s
TEPCO releases statement saying they will pump up highly contaminated groundwater for release into the sea. Tepco will constantly check measurements while releasing minimally treated radioactive water into the ocean. The WHO standard says 10,000 BQ of “Tritium” Per Liter is OK. Tritium cannot be filtered or distilled. Half life like 12.5 years could be around 300 years to go back to barely detectable levels. It’s doubtful the Ice wall will ever create a seal to contain radioactivity.
Music: https://youtu.be/31Y103Q1lZs
Not to mention the tanks are not seismicly qualified and are only expected to last a short time. Many have already been leaking. They are running out of physical space to install more and more tanks.
Fukushima Daiichi NPS Prompt Report 2015
Fukushima Daiichi NPS Prompt Report (Sep 02,2015)
Recent topics: SUBDRAIN & GROUNDWATER DRAIN OPERATIONS SET TO BEGIN AT FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI, SHOULD LEAD TO FURTHER PROTECTION OF THE OCEAN
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-…
For more information about the operation of the subdrain and groundwater drain: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision…
For more information on the seaside impermeable wall: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision…
For more information on the landside impermeable wall (frozen soil wall): http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/decommision…
-The upper limit of radioactive concentration for Subdrain and Groundwater Drain:
Cs-134 1Bq/L, Cs-137 1Bq/L, Gross 3Bq/L, Tritium 1,500Bq/L
-(Reference 1) The upper limit of radioactive concentration for Groundwater Bypass:
Cs-134 1Bq/L, Cs-137 1Bq/L, Gross 5Bq/L, Tritium 1,500Bq/L
-(Reference 2) WHO Guideline for Drinking-Water Quality:
Cs-134 10Bq/L, Cs-137 10Bq/L, Gross 10Bq/L, Tritium 10,000Bq/L
Prof. Chris Busby at the European Parliament 2013 Radiation Risk ECRR vs. ICRP https://youtu.be/0jG4ePcUzqI
* ECRR-MODEL VS. ICRP *
The existentiality of the lawfuly acceptable amount of radionuclides in the environment is the core question for all life on Earth. This question is scientifically formulated as the intelectual battle between two scientific models on the risk of the radioactivity, the acceptable levels of radionuclides in the environment. The presently by the governments used ICRP-model, by the experts of this website is found guilty to be the cause of ongoing genetical annihilation of all life forms as it underestimates the risks thousands of times. The ECRR-model is suggested to be used.
ECRR-model http://www.euradcom.org
Recommendations of the ECRR http://www.euradcom.org/2011/ecrr2010…
ICRP-model http://www.icrp.org
Analyses of the ICRP model http://irpa11.irpa.net/pdfs/3a35.pdf
Enjoy the scientific battle of both directors of the two Radiation Risk models — J. Valentin and C. Busby, 22.03.2009, Stockholm
The recently resigned Scientific Secretary of the ICRP, Dr Jack Valentin , concedes to Pr. Chris Busby (ECRR) that the ICRP model can not be used to predict the health effects of exposures and that for certain internal exposures it is insecure by up to two orders of magnitude.
He also says that as he was no longer employed by ICRP he could agree that the ICRP and the United Nations committee on radiation protection (UNSCEAR) had been wrong in not examining the evidence from the Chernobyl accident and other evidence which shows large errors in the ICRP risk model.
Fukushima town facing population decline, lack of lifelines as evacuation orders lifted
Residents began returning to the Fukushima Prefecture town of Naraha on Sept. 5 as evacuation orders issued after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster were lifted, but the town’s revival is uncertain as residents fret over the scarcity of medical services and other lifelines.
To make Naraha residents’ return to their homes successful and to increase momentum for the reconstruction of additional towns, the national government is drawing up policies to provide assistance to local businesses.
In the district of Kamikobana, an area near central Naraha that is surrounded by forest, Noriko Sato, 53, smiled on Sept. 4 as she watched her 93-year-old mother-in-law tend to flowers in the garden of the family’s home, to which they returned after having evacuated to the Fukushima prefectural city of Iwaki.
“She is really happy to be back,” Sato said.
The women had participated in a program that began in April to allow temporary overnight stays, launched in preparation for the full lifting of the evacuation orders in Naraha.
Among the 18 households in the district, however, some 30 percent have built new homes in the areas where they evacuated — and though the evacuation orders have been lifted, hardly any of them plan to return anytime soon.
Sato says that she had also planned to resettle permanently outside of Naraha, but that she decided to return due to her mother-in-law’s desire to live in her hometown, which had been her residence for 70 years. Meanwhile, Sato’s 56-year-old husband has been living on his own in Niigata Prefecture, after the foodstuffs company where he works relocated there following the nuclear crisis. With their 28-year-old daughter living and working alone in the city of Iwaki, the family of four continues to live scattered apart.
In the meantime, Naraha residents are voicing their anxiety about life in the town following the lifting of the evacuation orders. For example, a high concentration of radioactive materials remains sunk at the bottom of a dammed lake within the town’s borders that serves as a local water source.
“It is only the elderly who wish to return here,” Sato noted. “In the future, the population will continue to decrease even further,” she added. “And if people don’t return here, places to shop and to seek medical treatment won’t be built. I really don’t know whether this town will make it or not.”
Farmer Tamio Watanabe, 68, spent time cleaning his home on Sept. 4 in preparation for moving back in together with his family, whose members span three generations. “This town is going to experience financial hardship at some point after the government has finished with its period of intensive reconstruction,” he commented worriedly. “The governmental services available here are likely going to decline as well.”
Prior to the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., the town did not receive local government tax allocations because it was receiving subsidies for hosting the Fukushima No. 2 Nuclear Power Plant. Now, the town is receiving tax allocations because its tax revenues have fallen to less than one-third of pre-disaster levels. Anticipated population declines also mean that predictions for the future there remain uncertain.
Sachio and Hiroko Watanabe, aged 56 and 61, respectively, say that with more than four years having passed since the disaster, life as evacuees has become the new norm.
The couple tore down their home in Naraha this year in February, and bought a 38-year-old home in the city of Iwaki, where Sachio’s company had relocated. “We will be watching what happens in Naraha from afar,” Sachio commented softly, an air of sadness about him.
According to prefectural estimates, populations of the 12 municipalities where evacuation orders were issued following the nuclear accident have decreased due to factors such as people relocating their residence registries to the areas where they evacuated.
As a consequence, eight towns and villages in the Fukushima prefectural county of Futaba are considering merging in the future.
Evacuation orders for six whole towns and villages in Futaba County are still in place. Among them, large areas in the three towns of Namie, Futaba and Okuma are designated as “difficult-to-return zones” where annual cumulative radiation exposure levels exceed 50 millisieverts.
The mayor of one of the municipalities in Futaba County commented, “Everyone here realizes that at some point, we will need to begin looking at the possibility of merging.” Meanwhile, a top prefectural official noted, “While we do not have the capacity to undertake such a merger at present, this will eventually be a discussion that we can no longer avoid.”
As evacuation orders were lifted in Naraha, the city of Minamisoma and the town of Kawamata, along with the village of Katsurao, began a program of provisional overnight stays on Aug. 31.
In Minamisoma, however, only 32 percent of residential neighborhoods and other areas where residents visit throughout the course of their daily activities had been decontaminated as of Aug. 7 although the municipal government is aiming to have evacuation orders for the city lifted by April next year.
“Decontamination is ongoing, and there is almost no one around,” commented Toshiyuki Kuroki, 66, a former agricultural cooperative employee who returned with his wife to their home in Minamisoma’s Odaka district.
“We are not yet receiving postal mail delivery, and life here is inconvenient, he added. “But at the place the authorities had rented (as a temporary housing unit for us), we could not work in the garden — and in fact, there was nothing to do at all. Here, at least things are better than they were there.”
Source: Mainichi
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150905p2a00m0na010000c.html
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