Costly clean-up not likely to make Fukushima area habitable again
Return to the radiation zone: Fukushima clean-up operation mired in fear and misinformation Two years after Japan’s nuclear power plant disaster nobody knows for certain how dangerous the contamination 
is THE INDEPENDENT DAVID MCNEILL 
, MIGUEL QUINTANA FUKUSHIMA WEDNESDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2013″……..Nobody knows for certain how dangerous the radiation is. Japan’s central government refined its policy in December 2011, defining evacuation zones as “areas where cumulative dose levels might reach 20 millisieverts per year [20 mSv/yr],” the typical worldwide limit for nuclear power plant engineers and other radiation workers.
The worst radiation is supposed to be confined to the 20km exclusion zone, but it spread unevenly: less than 5km north of the Daiichi plant, our Geiger counter shows less than 5 millisieverts a year; 40km north west, in parts of Iitate village, it is well over 120 millisieverts. Those 160,000 refugees have not returned and are scattered throughout Japan. The nuclear diaspora is swelled by thousands of voluntary refugees who, unlike the Saitos, have not returned. Local governments are spending millions of dollars to persuade them back. Continue reading
USA desperate to save its nuclear industry from being accountable for any accidents in India
‘Nuclear liability law poses challenge to Indo-US nuke deal’ Zee News, September 13, 2013, Washington: India’s nuclear liability law posed a tough challenge for implementing the “transformational” Indo-US nuclear deal though there is a very strong desire to move forward, Nisha Desai Biswal, President Barack Obama’s Indian-American nominee for a key post in South Asia, said. “I think that the 123 agreement was a transformational agreement between the relationship between the United States and India, she said at her confirmation hearing for the post of Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
“But since that deal was enacted, I think that there has been very slow and halting progress because of the nuclear liability law in India and the hindrances that that has posed to advancing civil nuke cooperation,” she said yesterday.
…..India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Law allows the operator of a nuclear plant to seek damages from the supplier in case of a nuclear incident due to supply of equipment with latent and patent defects or sub-standard services. The US says the Indian law is not consistent with the Convention on Supplemental Compensation (CSC). http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/nuclear-liability-law-poses-challenge-to-indo-us-nuke-deal_876374.html
Formal complaint from Japan, over French cartoons about Tokyo Olympic Games
Japan voices anger over French cartoons that use Fukushima disaster to mock Olympics decision ABC News, By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, wires 12 Sep 2013 ,Japan says it will lodge a formal complaint with France over newspaper cartoons that poked fun at the decision to award the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo despite the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis.
Satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine has published a cartoon depicting two sumo wrestlers, each with an extra leg or arm, facing off with the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in the background.
In the foreground an announcer says: “Thanks to Fukushima, sumo is now an Olympic sport.”
Another cartoon shows two people standing in front of a pool of water while wearing nuclear protection suits and holding a Geiger counter, saying water sport facilities had already been built at Fukushima………
“This kind of journalism gives the wrong impression about the waste water problem.” [ -Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga]
The government has repeatedly claimed the accident and its waste water problem are under control and should not affect the Olympics.
Mr Suga says Japan will formally complain to the French embassy in Tokyo……….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-12/japan-protests-french-fukushima-cartoons/4954462
Russia worried about he state of North Korea’s aged nuclear reactor
Russia warns over North Korea work at ‘nightmarish’ nuclear reactor Russia has warned that North Korea is apparently conducting work on a nuclear reactor, saying the ageing facility is in such a “nightmarish state” it could cause a disaster. ABC News 13 Oct 13
US analysts say satellite imagery suggests Pyongyang has restarted a research reactor capable of producing plutonium for weapons at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The Interfax news agency has quoted a diplomatic source as saying Russia does not have definite information the work has restarted, but warning of dire consequences should that happen.
“It is obvious that some works are being conducted, and for a long time at that. According to some signs, steps were indeed being taken to relaunch it,” the source said. “Our main concern is linked to a very likely man-made disaster as a consequence. The reactor is in a nightmarish state. It is a design dating back to the 1950s.
“For the Korean peninsula this could entail terrible consequences, if not a man-made catastrophe.”
The US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says a satellite image from August 31 shows white steam rising from a building near the hall that houses the plutonium production reactor’s steam turbines and electric generators.
“The white coloration and volume are consistent with steam being vented because the electrical generating system is about to come online, indicating that the reactor is in or nearing operation,” the Washington-based institute said. It says the reactor can produce six kilograms of plutonium a year.
The Russian source has cautioned the steam could “simply be testing of the generator”……. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-12/russia-warns-n-korea-over-work-at-nuclear-reactor/4954698
Appeal to United Nations to awaken the world to the Fukushima nuclear crisis
Help Educate Decision Makers About Fukushima Risks! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10780
Dear Mr. Secretary-General, I am extremely worried about the lack of the sense of crisis in Japan and abroad,as regards the worsening situation at the Fukushima Daiichi.
The international community is required to prevent the Fukushima accident from developing into the ultimate catastrophe of the world, a possibility the collapse of the Unit 4 by a mega earthquake could turn into a reality. It could happen at any moment! Faced with this unprecedented crisis, the mobilization of human wisdom is required on the widest possible scale. The full assumption of responsibilities by the Japanese Government is urgently needed.
The present abnormal lack of the sense of crisis is due to the fact that inconvenient truth is not disclosed. The international community has the duty, for example, to grasp correctly the precise volume of the continuous release of radiation from Fukushima.
In this connection, the official numbers published by Tepco, 10milliom BQ/H, unchanged for the last year and half, could hardly be trusted. They remain unchanged even after the revelation by Tepco that, since the accident in 2011, 400 tons of contaminated water daily leaked into the sea. Now the Government admits that 300 tons daily [60,000 gallons] flow into the sea.
The situation is worsening. And no solution in sight !
The so called international strategy to consider that Fukushima accident did not happen, as some papers writes, is doomed to failure. This strategy is evidenced by the continued promotion of nuclear reactors worldwide, and their restarting and exporting by Japan..Even if it succeeds to hide the head, it cannot hide the tail that is the contamination of the ocean on a planetary scale.
Conscientious citizens are now calling for the withdrawal of the invitation for Olympic games by Japan. Allow me to count on your understanding and support.Yours truly,
Mitsuhei Murata
Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland
“Unpardonable corruption in South Korea’s nuclear industry
S. KOREA EX-VICE MINISTER CHARGED IN NUCLEAR GRAFT PROBE http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/18870327/s-korea-ex-vice-minister-charged-in-nuclear-graft-probe/ The probe by public prosecutors followed an order from President Park Geun-Hye to eradicate what she called “unpardonable” corruption in the industry.
So far 97 people have been charged with offences.
Despite concern over how the nuclear sector is run, the government has vowed to push ahead with plans to build an additional 16 reactors by 2030. SEOUL (AFP) – A former deputy minister has been charged with taking bribes as part of a corruption probe into South Korea’s nuclear industry which has already indicted nearly 100 people, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Park Young-June, a former vice minister in charge of energy, stands accused of accepting 50 million won ($45,000) bribes in 2010 in return for favouring a constructor bidding for a nuclear reactor contract.
The 53-year-old is also charged with taking backhanders from Kim Jong-Shin, the one-time chief of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, the state-run company which oversees nuclear power plants.
South Korea has 23 reactors which are meant to meet more than 30 percent of electricity needs.
The sector is currently undergoing a crisis of confidence following a series of shutdowns and a scandal involving parts provided with fake safety certificates
Last year, officials said eight suppliers were found to have faked warranties covering thousands of items used in a number of reactors. The scandal further undermined public confidence already shaken by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and its ongoing repercussions. The probe by public prosecutors followed an order from President Park Geun-Hye to eradicate what she called “unpardonable” corruption in the industry.
Japan desperate to sell nuclear reactors overseas
Reactor makers look abroad as home market fizzles , Japan Times, BY KAZUAKI NAGATA 10 Sept 13, The Fukushima meltdowns and the continuing radiation crisis may have turned the public off of atomic energy at home, but it’s full steam ahead for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japan’s heavy industries when it comes to exporting that technology to power-hungry economies abroad.
The marketing push being led by Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party, which brought Japan into the nuclear age, has angered nuclear protest groups, which, like many members of the public, blame the party’s cozy ties with big business for setting the stage for the Fukushima meltdown debacle.
Here are some questions and answers about Japan’s nuclear technology exports: How does the process of exporting nuclear plants work? Continue reading
Hilariously, Tokyo’s Olympic Games are being billed the “Safe Games” of 2020.
As Fukushima radiation rages, Tokyo awarded bid to host 2020 Summer Olympics, hilariously named the ‘Safe Games’ September 08, 2013 by Mike Adams (NaturalNews) Despite the fact that Fukushima is already the worst radiological disaster in human history — and worsening by the day — Japan has been chosen as the host nation for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Hilariously, the event is being billed the “Safe Games” of 2020.
How, exactly, is it safe to host the Olympics in a nation which absolutely no workable evacuation routes from a nuclear facility on the verge of collapsing into another deadly radiation release? The answer to that question is provided by Japan’s Prime Minister Abe. He claims that Fukushima is no problem whatsoever, that no one has ever been harmed by it, and that it is fully under control! (A trifecta, he thinks…)……..
Japan cannot be evacuated
The fact that the Olympic committee chose Japan even while Fukushima rages on, just one earthquake away from a catastrophic collapse and unprecedented release of deadly radiation, tells you just how incredibly stupid the Olympics decision makers really are. (Or how paid off they are, as bribes and corruption have been well documented throughout the history of the Olympics).
Do these people not grasp even the most fundamental concepts of physics? Why would any sane organization vote to host a global event that brings hundreds of thousands of people to a location just a short distance away from a collapsing nuclear power plant that is utterly and completely out of control with no end in sight?
Furthermore, Japan has no workable evacuation plan if Fukushima’s reactor #4 does experience a structural collapse followed by a catastrophic release of radiation. There is no evacuation plan because Japan cannot be evacuated, period. Thus, the strategy of the Japanese government has become one of D-E-N-I-A-L instead of problem solving.
Let’s all pretend radiation is no longer a problem, shall we? Japan is pretending. The U.S. is pretending, and now the Olympic committee is pretending, too.
As long as they’re pretending, why not host the Olympics at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power facility? It’s available, after all. And the rent is dirt cheap.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041964_Olympics_Tokyo_Fukushima_radiation.html#ixzz2eQZtdf5O
Things at Fukushima are going badly – it’s a war-like situation
Japan Media: “Things are going badly” — Fukushima “the same as war” says military officer in charge of forces at plant — Concern “workers on-site do not consent to join battle” — Crime skyrocketing, “people were held hostage” — Unprecedented ocean contamination and leaks are out of control http://enenews.com/japan-media-things-are-going-badly-fukushima-same-as-war-says-military-officer-in-charge-of-forces-at-plant-concern-workers-on-site-do-not-consent-to-join-battle-crime-skyrocketi
Jiji Press, , Sept. 6, 2013: Crime up among No. 1 plant staff […] In the first eight months of this year, 74 such workers were charged with crimes such as theft and fights resulting in injury. The figure is already close to three times the 2012 total of 26. The police reported only one such suspect in 2011 […] They were mostly suspected of theft […] or of harming others during brawls in their lodgings or bars. In one extreme case, people were held hostage as a result of a disagreement over hiring practices. […]
Mainichi, Sept. 2, 2013: Things are going badly. There’s radioactive water leaking, and it can’t be controlled. […] if the workers on-site do not consent to join battle, if they cannot muster the courage to keep up the fight, then we cannot expect real progress. At least, that’s the impression I got after talking with one of those workers […] I cannot write the worker’s name, or age, or job description here. But I can say that he is not an agitator […] he is a completely average employee [… “]we’re not getting any extra staff. The management says ‘do this’ and ‘do that,’ but I don’t think they really consider the workers’ radiation exposure doses at all. “Recently, some government minister came here (to the plant) and ran his mouth, right? When I see stuff like that, I think, ‘Gimme a break! What the hell do you know about anything?’” […] I’ve heard the officer in charge of the Self-Defense Forces efforts at the Fukushima plant describe the situation as being “the same as war.” […] The workers at the Fukushima plant deeply distrust those in Tokyo […] The waters next to the plant have been subject to unprecedented nuclear contamination […] After so much continuous failure, we must repair the damage done to Japan’s international reputation.
See also:
AP: Fukushima Daiichi workers could try to sabotage plant, warns their doctor
Bribery and corruption in Olympic Games Tokyo choice?
Boycott The Radioactive 2020 Olympics . http://www.rense.com/general96/boycott.html rense.com By Yoichi Shimatsu 9-8-13 It does not take 20/20 vision to realize that the corrupt Japanese government has bribed the International Olympic Committee to make the suicidal decision to send young athletes into the radioactive fallout from Fukushima. The decision in Buenos Aires to award Tokyo as host city of the 2020 Games did not arise from a lack of choices between Istanbul and Madrid, but was a knowing decision that is incomprehensible except for the factor of bribery. To risk the lives of young people and their supporters is more than an ethical lapse, it is a crime of manslaughter to the cruelest degree.
The bidding for the Games were rigged from the start by a quintet of disreputable character and dubious association, including former capital governor Shintaro Ishihara, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura and Japan Olympic Chairman Tsunekazu Takeda, scion and successor to a heinous war criminal. Their industrial partner, is Fujio Cho, honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Company and chief of the Japan Sports Association
During their promotion campaign for the Games of Death, these five Japanese officials spun outright lies claiming that there are zero leaks of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Continue reading
Fukushima’s spiking radiation requires international help, not just Japan’s short term fix
Readings just above the ground near a set of tanks at the plant showed radiation as high as 2,200 millisieverts (mSv), Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said Wednesday. The previous high in areas holding the tanks was the 1,800 mSv recorded Saturday.
Both levels would be enough to kill an unprotected person within hours.
The measures do not address the full problem of water management at the plant or the bigger issue of decommissioning.
Critics said the government was mainly trying to cool down international media coverage ahead of the Olympics decision. A more sustainable option, he said, would be to seek global support to confront Fukushima’s unprecedented challenges
Fukushima radiation readings spike to highest levels Aljazeera September 4, 2013 The readings have jumped by more than a fifth Radiation readings around tanks holding contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have spiked by more than a fifth to their highest levels, Japan’s nuclear regulator said Wednesday, heightening concerns about the cleanup of the worst atomic disaster in almost three decades.
Radiation hot spots have spread to three holding areas for hundreds of hastily built tanks storing water contaminated by being flushed over three reactors that melted down at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011.
The rising radiation levels and leaks at the plant further inflamed international alarm, one day after the Japanese government said that it would step in with almost $500 million of funding to fix the growing levels of contaminated water at the plant. Continue reading
The shady Fukushima deniers behind Tokyo’s Olympic Games bid
Boycott The Radioactive 2020 Olympics Of Death http://www.rense.com/general96/boycott.html rense.com By Yoichi Shimatsu 9 Sept 13, ……The modern Olympics are dominated openly and secretly by the fraternity of noblemen, who provide camouflage for their financiers from organized crime and the arms industry……….
Contamination and Filth A quick look at each of these Olympic fixers and Fukushima deniers is in order, beginning with former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. Long before the wheeling and dealing in Buenos Aires, Tokyo’s bid was tarnished by media allegations that Shintaro Ishihara has siphoned off Olympic-bid donations to finance his boat trips to the disputed Senkaku-Diaoyu islands for planned construction of helipads and a dock for warships. His deep pockets, filled by notorious elements in the Ginza nightlife district (who also provide the manpower for his foreign-policy adventurism) has meant immunity from Tokyo prosecutors, police and fellow politicians. Donations for Olympic, in short, were used by the far right to foment yet another war of aggression by Japan against China.
The world wills crutinise the costs and hazards of Tokyo’s Olympic Games plan
Some have questioned the merits of embarking on such a costly exercise before Japan has addressed its huge public debt – now more than twice the size of its gross national product – and when so little progress has been made toward rebuilding its tsunami-hit northeast coast and decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi.
Having intervened to calm fears about radiation levels in Tokyo, Abe appears to recognize that, for the next seven years, the world will be scrutinizing his response to the nuclear plant’s myriad challenges even more closely than before.
Tokyo 2020: No nuclear worries for IOC, Christan Science Monitor, Tokyo was awarded the 2020 summer Olympics, with the International Olympic Committee convinced that continued leaks from a nuclear power plant in Fukushima are no threat to safety. By Justin McCurry / September 8, 2013 “………..It took an intervention by Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who left the G20 summit in Russia early to attend the vote in Buenos Aires, to offer the strongest assurance yet that Tokyo is safe. The situation at the plant was “under control,” he said.
“It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo,” he added. “There are no health-related problems until now, and nor will there be in the future. I say this to you in the most emphatic and unequivocal way.”
Leaking concerns Continue reading
Tokyo the “safe choice” for 2030 Olympics?
For 2020 Olympics, I.O.C. Picks Tokyo, Considered Safe Choice, NYT By JERÉ LONGMAN and MARTIN FACKLER September 7, 2013 “……….As Tokyo made its final presentation, Abe, Japan’s prime minister, addressed the issue of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, which is about 155 miles from Tokyo. The nuclear disaster there is considered the worst since Chernobyl’s in 1986, and problems have plagued the cleanup and control efforts.
“Let me assure you that the situation is under control,” Abe said. “It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.”
Gerhard Heiberg, an I.O.C. delegate from Norway, asked Abe how he could make such guarantees. Abe replied that there were no health-related problems related to the nuclear disaster, “nor will there be in the future.”
The Japanese government has pledged nearly $500 million to try to stabilize the nuclear plant, including the building of a frozen wall to curb the flow of groundwater into the contaminated buildings at the reactor site.
Some critics have accused Japanese leaders of being misleading or in denial about the severity of the radiation problem. South Korea, for instance, has banned fish imports from the Fukushima area. But Olympic delegates were sufficiently convinced that the nuclear disaster would not hinder the 2020 Games.
“A lot of folks have been reading in the media that hundreds of tons of radioactive water are being fed into the Pacific every day,” Pound said.
Abe seemed to be saying, “I’m satisfied on that so that nothing will happen,” according to Pound, who added, “If there’s another earthquake or something like that, that’s not something you can blame the prime minister for.”……. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/sports/olympics/tokyo-wins-bid-for-2020-olympics.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Farmers of Yadgir district, India, take up legal battle against uranium mining
Uranium mining: State defies Centre http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130908/news-current-affairs/article/uranium-mining%E2%80%88state-defies-centre DC | K.N. Reddy Gulbarga: Upset with the decision of authorities of the revenue department to resume acquisition of land around Saidapur, Diggi and Gogi villages for extraction of Uranium, farmers of Yadgir district have decided to resume their agitation as well as approach the court for justice.
Farmers were relieved when the Union ministry of environment and forests issued an order scrapping the mining unit three months ago. District authorities, however, continued with the process of acquisition of land after halting it temporarily.
According to information available, the district authorities have acquired 163 acres and four guntas of land in Saidapur and Diggi for mining Uranium.
The plant would be set up on a hillock where the borders of Saidapur, Umaradoddi and Diggi villages meet. While 46 acres and 15 guntas have been acquired in Saidapur village, followed by 116 acres and 32 guntas in Diggi village limits, and 49 acres and 19 guntas under Gogi and Umaraddi village limits.
“We cannot even buy a 30 X 40 ft site in our village with the compensation amount awarded for an acre of our land. How can we accept this? We will launch an agitation against this” says Bhimareddy Patil, President of Raithara Horata Samiti.
When contacted, deputy commissioner of Yadgir F M Jamadar admitted that authorities have resumed acquisition of land acquisition. “We are doing this as we have not received any intimation from the government directing us to stop the land acquition process,” he added.
Asked about the order of the Union government, scrapping the unit, Jamadar said “the Centre may have issued the order asking Uranium Corporation of India Limited to wind up the project. But we have received no information to stop the land acquition process.”
1 This Month
19 May – Webinar No To Nuclear: Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress and Provokes War
1 June Webinar – The High Cost of Nuclear Power – Register
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
-
Archives
- May 2026 (211)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (268)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
- November 2025 (359)
- October 2025 (376)
- September 2025 (257)
- August 2025 (319)
- July 2025 (230)
- June 2025 (348)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
nuclear-news 