Fukushima fish – radiation levels 2500 times the legal limit
Record high radiation level found in fish http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/record-high-radiation-level-found-in-fish/story-e6frfkui-1226557111874#ixzz2IRxmSfvD January 19, 2013
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said caesium equivalent to 254,000 becquerels per kilogram – or 2540 times more than the government seafood limit – was detected in a “murasoi” fish.
The fish, similar to rockfish, was caught at a port inside the Fukushima plant, a TEPCO spokesman said.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was battered by a towering tsunami following a huge earthquake on March 11, 2011, causing reactor meltdowns which spewed radioactive contamination into the atmosphere.
Fishing around Fukushima was halted and the government banned beef, milk, mushrooms and vegetables from being produced in surrounding areas.
Taiwanese lead the way in cultural opposition to the nuclear industry
Directors seek to boost anti-nuclear bid http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/01/19/2003552898/2 CREATIVE PROTESTS:The directors called on artistic heavyweights to join their anti-nuclear bid, and said that art rather than rhetoric could best serve the cause By Tang Chia-ling and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with Staff writer In a move to strengthen their anti-nuclear efforts, film directors Ko I-chen (柯一正) and Wu Yi-feng (吳乙峰) are considering inviting well-known people from the artistic and entertainment industries to endorse their petition against the construction of the nation’s controversy-plagued Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市).
In a statement jointly authored by Ko and Wu, which they said would be published on their Facebook pages in the near future, the pair called on heavyweights from the artistic and cultural sectors to weigh in on their anti-nuclear bid.
“We will spare no effort in inviting Taiwanese ‘living national treasures’ to join our cause, such as globally acclaimed director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) and Cloud Gate founder Lin Hwai-min (林懷民),” Ko said.
The statement also urged the government to scrap a budget proposal to invest several billion NT dollars more in the contentious plant, “for the sake of offering peace of mind to the many parents in the country and their offspring.” Continue reading
Nuclear reactors in operation – drop in numbers, as IAEA reclassifies 47 Japanese reactors as “Long-term Shutdown” (LTS)
IAEA Shifts 47 Japanese Reactors Into “Long-Term Shutdown” Category 16 January 2013 In an unprecedented move, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has shifted 47 Japanese nuclear reactors from the category “In Operation” to the category “Long-term Shutdown” (LTS) in its web-based Power Reactor Information System (PRIS). The number of nuclear reactors listed as “In Operation” in the world thus drops from 437 yesterday to 390 today, a level last seen in Chernobyl-year 1986 and a dramatic step of the IAEA’s official statistics in recognizing industrial reality in Japan.
This is without doubt a unique revision of world operational nuclear data. However, numerous questions remain. The definitions of the IAEA’s reactor status categories remain unclear. Units can remain in the LTS category for many years, without any apparent limit. Japan has now 48 units listed as LTS, one of which is the fast breeder reactor Monju that has not been generating electricity since a sodium fire severely damaged the plant in 1995, while three further units at Kashiwazaki-kariwa have not been generating power since an earthquake hit the site in 2007.
Radioactive groundwater leaking into Fukushima reactors
Tepco Official in US: “We are still seeing leakage” — Contaminated groundwater seeping into reactor areas http://enenews.com/tepco-official-leakage-contaminated-groundwater-seeping-reactor-areas
Title: Fukushima recovery aided by SRS cleanup technology
Source: The Augusta Chronicle
Author: Rob Pavey
Date: Jan. 15, 2013
[…] Even after almost two years of nonstop cleanup work, managing the flow of water contaminated with radiation continues to be one of site’s most significant challenges, [Masumi Ishikawa, TEPCO’s general manager for radioactive fuel management] said.
“We are still seeing leakage,” he said. “That is an important challenge we must meet.”
Maintaining the essential flow of cooling water to the melted reactors, he said, has been complicated by the need to remove and treat contaminated groundwater that has seeped into the reactor areas since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
[…] Ishikawa said the plant site will almost certainly play some sort of role in the future.
“Our new prime minister explicitly has said, Japan’s revitalization will not happen without the revitalization of Fukushima Dai-ichi,” he said.
See also: ‘Impermeable wall’ between leaking Fukushima reactors and ocean yet to be built — Tepco still working on silt fence (PHOTO)
World’s largest offshore wind farm for Japan
Japan to build world’s largest offshore wind farm, New Scientist, 16
January 2013 by Rob Gilhooly, Tokyo It’s goodbye nuclear, hello
renewables as Japan prepares to build the world’s largest offshore
wind farm this July. Continue reading
There’s money in them thar nuclear wastes
Veolia Draws Upon Fukushima to Move Into Nuclear Dismantling, Bloomberg, By Tara Patel – Jan 15, 2013 Veolia Environnement SA (VIE), which treated radioactive water from Japan’s nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, plans to use the experience to move into decontamination and power plant dismantling.
The water utility and the nuclear research group known as CEA plan to earn as much as 400 million euros ($534 million) in revenue within about four years by cleaning radioactive sites and taking apart installations, they said today.
“The market is developing very quickly,” Veolia Chief Executive Officer Antoine Frerot told a press conference today in Paris. About 300 nuclear reactors will have to be halted worldwide within two decades including in France, Germany, Japan and the U.S., he said.
The shift into the atomic market comes after President Francois Hollande pledged to lower France’s dependence on the energy and shut the country’s oldest plant at Fessenheim. It’s also the first new market Veolia has publicly announced it will enter into since Frerot pledged to pull out of some countries and businesses in a bid to boost profit…… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-15/veolia-draws-upon-fukushima-to-move-into-nuclear-dismantling-1-.html
Japan’s nuclear regulator to set rules about tsunami heights
Watchdog to define maximum tsunami heights for nuclear plants January
16, 2013.Asahi Shimbun, By RYUTA KOIKE/ Staff Writer
The Nuclear Regulation Authority decided Jan. 15 to set maximum
heights of possible tsunami striking individual nuclear plants and
obligate their operators to take commensurate safety measures. Continue reading
Cesium near Fukushima now 10 times higher than previous highest measurement
Over 1,000,000 Bq/kg of cesium near Fukushima plant — 10 times higher than highest measurement in prior soil survey
http://enenews.com/1000000-bqkg-cesium-fukushima-plant-10-times-higher-highest-reading-prior-soil-survey
January 12th, 2013
Environment Ministry’s radioactive monitoring in Fukushima with summary translation by Fukushima Diary:
http://www.env.go.jp/jishin/monitoring/result_pw130110-1.pdf
Soil sampled on Oct. 25, 2012 from beside an reservoir in Okuma
Cs-134 : 400,000 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg)
Cs-137 : 650,000 Bq/kg
Combined Cs-134, -137: 1,050,000 Bq/kg
Nikkei’s report on the monitoring says the highest t reading was 96,000 Bq/kg of Cs-134 and -137 during last summer’s research, detected in soil from a reservoir in Namie.
Shortage of workers at Fukushima nuclear plant resulted in high radiation exposure
Worker shortages revealed at nuclear plant after disaster
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T130113003104.htm 14 Jan
A manager’s calls for reinforcements to help contain a series of
crises at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power
plant were ignored, newly released TEPCO teleconference footage has
revealed.
Although Masao Yoshida, then manager of the plant damaged by the March
11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, repeatedly asked TEPCO headquarters
in Tokyo to send more workers, the request was not met in a timely
manner. As a result, the plant’s workers suffered extreme fatigue and
heightened radiation exposure, the footage showed. Continue reading
Japan’s new government hand in glove with the old “nuclear village”
the public
remains sceptical about industry promises to mend its ways after
decades of collusion with regulators and pro-nuclear politicians.
But those concerns are unlikely to hold much sway with the LDP, which
helped develop Japan’s “nuclear village” – the web of power utilities,
bureaucrats and MPs who peddled the nuclear dream and shunned rigorous
regulation…..
Japan seeks to reverse commitment to phase out nuclear power, Justin
McCurry in Tokyo guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 January 2013 The Fukushima
Daiich meltdown prompted the previous government to pledge a phaseout
of all 50 reactors in Japan Almost two years after the triple meltdown
at Fukushima Daiichi power plant sent shockwaves around the world,
Japan’s government is attempting to resell the nuclear dream to a
traumatised public. Continue reading
Full radiation decontamination of Fukushima region an impossible task
Asahi: We are reminded anew of the huge scale of contamination released from Fukushima plant — Impossible to recover pre-disaster environment — Radiation levels not dropping in certain areas http://enenews.com/asahi-reminded-anew-huge-scale-contamination-released-fukushima-plant-impossible-recover-pre-disaster-environment-radiation-levels-dropping-areas
(Subscription Only) Title: EDITORIAL: More data needed to make decontamination work effective
Source: Asahi
Date: January 09, 2013
Decontamination work is in progress in areas affected by the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, but cases have been uncovered of workers dumping contaminated soil, vegetation and water into nearby rivers or other places without properly collecting them.
[…] One problem is that radiation levels are not dropping in certain areas. Another problem is that additional manpower is required, but hiring more workers isn’t financially viable.
Thinking about those problems, we are reminded anew of the huge scale of contamination caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
It is impossible to recover the pre-disaster environment, and it is unrealistic to think that all affected areas can be decontaminated. […]
Poor conditions, poor morale of Fukushima radiation clean-up workforce
Fukushima ‘decontamination’ workers threatened — We were punished if we tried to resist http://enenews.com/fukushima-decontamination-workers-threatened-we-were-punished-if-we-tried-to-resist
January 9th, 2013
(Subscription Only) Title: CROOKED CLEANUP: Decontamination workers say cutting corners came naturally
Source: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Author: Compiled from reports by Tamiyuki Kihara and Toshio Tada
Date: January 09, 2013
[… Workers] cited a lack of training, unreasonable deadlines, threats of isolation, and persistent feelings that their efforts were pointless. […]
Asahi Shimbun reporters and the company have received more than 100 e-mails and phone calls from people involved in the decontamination project in Fukushima Prefecture. […]
50-year-old worker involved in decontaminating Tamura between Nov. 5 and Dec. 28 who was born in Fukushima Prefecture and graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo
“We were pressed to finish the work as quickly as possible”
“If we tried to resist, we would become isolated from other workers, although it did not reach the extent of losing the job”
“With sub-zero temperatures in the mountains, being placed in such circumstances would have led to feelings of loneliness among many people”
“Radiation levels returned even after we completed the work, so there was a sense that what we were doing was worthless”
“There will be no end to the shoddy work even if oversight is strengthened”
Japan’s nuclear phase-out has already happened:will it really phase-in again?
several fundamental nuclear-policy questions await answers—answers that could have significant consequences for the communities hosting Japan’s nuclear facilities, broader Japanese society and, to some extent, the global nuclear order. Beyond Japan’s two operating reactors, how many more of Japan’s fifty viable reactors will be allowed to restart? Will Japan continue its current effort to close the nuclear fuel cycle? What is the future for the industry’s fuel-cycle facilities in Aomori Prefecture and the nuclear materials currently stored there and at reactor sites around the country?
nuclear energy continues to be deeply unpopular in Japan, with opposition remaining well above 70 percent
the phase-out has already happened. The prescient concern would be a nuclear phase-in,
Japan’s Nuclear Muddle, The National Interest Ryan Shaffer | January 10, 2013 Japan’s December election put an end to the brief rule of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). It also handed an overwhelming victory and lower house majority to Japan’s traditional political leaders, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). However, still lacking a majority in the upper house, the LDP’s ability to push through legislation is dependent on its alliance with New Komeito, a party with significant policy differences on some of the immediate questions facing the LDP.
Between now and the next scheduled elections for Japan’s upper house in July 2013, the LDP’s first priority will be posturing for an upper house majority in the next election, not taking hard stands on controversial policy issues. One such issue concerns the country’s heated debate on nuclear energy. Continue reading
Inadequate radiation checkups for population near Fukushima area
As radiation fears dwindle, so do checkups Doctor wants more residents
to get followup full-body scans, Japan Times, By MIZUHO AOKI, 10 Jan
13, “……..As residents have come to understand more about radiation
and that their internal exposure levels are low, an air of calm has
been noticeable. At the same time, residents’ interest in knowing
their exposure levels has waned.
“I’m surprised to see such a dramatic loss of interest in just about a
year and a half,” said Tsubokura, 30, who works several days a week at
Minamisoma hospital and the rest of the week at the University of
Tokyo. “The biggest issue we have now is finding ways to secure
continuous checkups for internal radiation exposure.” Continue reading
Fukushima cleanup led by company that built the nuclear reactors
NY Times: Japan’s cleanup denounced — “A disgrace… absolutely irresponsible” — Company that built all six Fukushima reactor buildings is leading ‘decontamination’ http://enenews.com/nytimes-japans-cleanup-denounced-disgrace-absolutely-irresponsible-company-built-all-six-fukushima-reactor-buildings-control-decontamination
January 8th, 2013
Title: Japan’s Cleanup After a Nuclear Accident Is Denounced
Source: NYTimes
Author: HIROKO TABUCHI; Makiko Inoue contributed reporting
Date: January 7, 2013
The decontamination crews at a deserted elementary school here are at the forefront of what Japan says is the most ambitious radiological cleanup the world has seen […]
Recent reports in the local media of cleanup crews dumping contaminated soil and leaves into rivers has focused attention on the sloppiness of the cleanup.
[…] the central and local governments have handed over much of the 1 trillion yen decontamination effort to Japan’s largest construction companies. […]
Kajima also built the reactor buildings for all six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading some critics to question why control of the cleanup effort has been left to companies with deep ties to the nuclear industry. […]
“What’s happening on the ground is a disgrace” -Masafumi Shiga, president of Shiga Toso, a refurbishing company based in Iwaki, Fukushima
“This isn’t decontamination — it’s […] absolutely irresponsible” -Tomoya Yamauchi, an expert in radiation measurement at Kobe University
See also: Gundersen: Truly appalling nuclear event in Japan — A lot of people are very, very concerned (AUDIO)
1 This Month
1 June Webinar – The High Cost of Nuclear Power – Register
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
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