Second meltdown in No 3 Nuclear reactor caused Fukushima cleanup problems
Report suggests second meltdown at reactor at Fukushima plant, Asahi.com, BY TOMOOKI YASUDA STAFF WRITER, 2011/08/09, A second meltdown likely occurred in the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a scenario that could hinder the current strategy to end the crisis, a scientist said. Continue reading
Volunteers risk health in radiation cleanup outside Fukushima area
“The area itself is relatively highly contaminated,” Kodama says. “Many small children playing around the ground might touch some mud or in some case, eat some sand, which would result in internal radiation..”
Volunteers Take on Dangerous Job of Scrubbing Nuke Contamination, ABC News International. By AKIKO FUJITA (@akikofujita), Aug. 12, 2011 Tatsuhiko Kodama’s voice shakes as he addresses volunteers at Ishigami Daini Kindergarten in the city of Minamisoma, 15 miles from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.
The director of the University of Tokyo’s Radioisotope Center is training people how to decontaminate a school filled with radiation spewed from the nuclear reactors. He has explained the process a dozen times before, yet tears well up every time Kodama sees mothers donning masks, fathers taking notes with dosimeters in hand. Continue reading
Delay for India’s Jaitapur nuclear power project
First phase of Jaitapur nuclear project may be delayed by 1 year, Business Standard, 15 Aug 11, Sanjay Jog / Mumbai August 15, 2011, The commissioning of the first phase of the 9,900-Mw Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra is likely to be delayed by a year, since the developer, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), would first have to upgrade and strengthen the safety applications in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The first evolutionary pressurised reactor (EPR) of 1,650 Mw would be operational in 2018-19 instead of the originally planned 2017-18. French nuclear energy firm Areva was asked by the country’s nuclear safety regulatory authority ASN to conduct a safety audit after the Fukushima disaster. The audit is expected to be completes by September….
Outrage in Japan over the nuclear industry’s crooked “AstroTurf” manipulations of public opinion
Japanese government investigations that have uncovered a nationwide pattern of attempts to manipulate the public’s opinion about nuclear power by Japan’s biggest electric utilities. Some of those power companies then pointed the finger back at regulators for having covertly urged such efforts in the first place.
The “AstroTurf”—or fake-grass-roots—campaigns, which ranged from packing events with supporters to planting questions and orchestrating email drives, have now badly backfired, sparking public outrage
Scandal Taints Japan Nuclear Sector, WSJ By CHESTER DAWSON, AUGUST 13, 2011 SAGA, Japan—The Fukushima Daiichi accident was a big setback for nuclear power in Japan. But the industry’s hamfisted efforts to maintain support in the aftermath of that disaster may have an even bigger impact in eroding the public’s confidence in the sector.After a series of disclosures in recent weeks painting government regulators and electric utilities as collaborating to stage-manage public community forums on local nuclear power, efforts to restart idled Japanese nuclear reactors have screeched to a halt. Continue reading
Japan doing well with energy conservation – nuclear power not necessary?
Saving electricity has become a sort of national religion. With many air conditioners set at 82 degrees, businessmen have shed their usual suits in favor of “super cool biz” short-sleeve shirts. Car makers have been forced to operate on weekends to avoid sucking up electricity during peak weekday hours.
Peak electricity usage for the Tokyo area so far this summer was nearly 23% below the peak last summer.
The drop in electrical consumption is shaking Japan’s decades-old commitment to nuclear power
Summer Power Success Raises Heat in Energy Debate, WSJ AUGUST 12, 2011, By Peter Landers It looks as if Japan has just about survived the peak of summer electricity demand without power outages, although the Tohoku region had some close calls…..
Japan’s success at avoiding outages even with most of its nuclear reactors out of service is taking on a more strategic importance, influencing the broader debate over nuclear power’s future. Whether to phase out nuclear power will be a big issue when the Democratic Party of Japan chooses a successor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan later this month or next month……http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/08/12/summer-power-success-raises-heat-in-energy-debate/
Japan Snaps Back With Less Power, Economy Survives Reactor Shutdowns, and Tokyo Rethinks Nuclear Policy, WSJ, Peter Landers. JULY 29, 2011 TOKYO—When the March 11 tsunami knocked out more than half of the nuclear power plants serving the Tokyo area, it set off one of the biggest unplanned experiments in a modern society: Could a metropolis of 30 million people get by after losing about a fifth of its power supply?
After a steaming July in Japan filled with 90-degree-plus days, the preliminary answer is in, and it is yes. Continue reading
Japan about to approve Renewable Energy Law
Japan Set to Pass Law on Renewable Energy, WSJ By MITSURU OBE 12 Aug 11, TOKYO—Japan’s parliament is set to approve a landmark bill on renewable energy that was championed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan as a way to reduce the nation’s dependence on nuclear power, and which would break the monopoly of the 10 major utilities. Continue reading
Sounding the alarm on China’s plans for nuclear technology
Chinese decision-makers should avoid being overly confident about untried safety technologies. No matter how sound newer-generation nuclear technologies appear, such technologies may never have been sufficiently tested in any part of the world. All newer-generation nuclear technologies still impose significant risks in terms of design experience, construction safety and operational reliability
A warning for China’s nuclear sector, China dialogue, Kevin Jianjun Tu, August 10, 2011 “………The deadly Wenzhou [train] crash highlights the dangers of mega-infrastructure projects moving too far, too fast. Chinese decision-makers should take note, argues Kevin Jianjun Tu…..
Fukushima sounded warning bells with the Chinese government and gave policymakers another chance to reconsider plans for 2020. At a March 16 meeting chaired by premier Wen Jiabao, the State Council decided to call a temporary halt to approval of new nuclear-power plants pending new safety rules, and to adjust mid- and long-term nuclear power plans. This indicated a more cautious national strategy for nuclear power development.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of effective checks and balances on nuclear interest groups, there are signs that the great nuclear leap forward is reemerging. Continue reading
No public access to results of Japan’s tests on radiation and children’s thyroids
Japan’s nuclear agency hides radiation results, ABC Radio 774, North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, August 11, 2011 Japan’s nuclear watchdog has denied public access to the results of thyroid check-ups for more than 1,000 Fukushima children exposed to radiation.
Critics have accused Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission of denying the public accurate information about the crisis. The commission had earlier uploaded the test results of more than 1,000 children who were checked to see if radioactive substances were accumulating in their thyroids.
But it has been revealed that earlier this month the commission removed the data from its website, citing privacy reasons.
But health specialists have slammed the decision, saying the commission fears a negative public reaction to children’s exposure to radiation from the crippled Fukushima plant.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-11/japan27s-nuclear-watchdog-deletes-radiation-results/2835502/?site=melbourne
Japan’s nuclear regulator to be less cosy with nuclear industry?
Japan takes nuclear safety away from trade ministry, NPR by BILL CHAPPELL 11 AUG 11, Japan is removing its nuclear regulatory agency from the control of its trade ministry, dissolving a relationship that was criticized in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. The new nuclear safety agency will be under the environmental agency, Kyodo News reports.
The move, coming exactly five month after a powerful earthquake and tsunami set off a nuclear crisis in Japan, may help ease criticisms that regulators are too cozy with pro-nuclear interests….http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/11/139537870/japan-takes-nuclear-safety-agency-away-from-trade-ministry
Parents bring lawsuit to challenge Japan’s handling of nuclear radiation crisis
Japan Held Nuclear Data, Leaving Evacuees in Peril, NYT, Norimitsu Onishi reported from Fukushima, and Martin Fackler from Tokyo. Ken Belson and Kantaro Suzuki contributed reporting from Tokyo. 9 Aug 11, FUKUSHIMA, Japan —”……..In Koriyama, a city about 40 miles west of the nuclear plant, a group of parents said they had stopped believing in government reassurances and recently did something unthinkable in a conservative, rural area: they sued. Though their suit seeks to force Koriyama to relocate their children to a safer area, their real aim is to challenge the nation’s handling of evacuations and the public health crisis.
After the nuclear disaster, the government raised the legal exposure limit to radiation from one to 20 millisieverts a year for people, including children — effectively allowing them to continue living in communities from which they would have been barred under the old standard. The limit was later scaled back to one millisievert per year, but applied only to children while they were inside school buildings.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Toshio Yanagihara, said the authorities were withholding information to deflect attention from the nuclear accident’s health consequences, which will become clear only years later.
“Because the effects don’t emerge immediately, they can claim later on that cigarettes or coffee caused the cancer,” he said…..http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/world/asia/09japan.html?_r=1&hp
Something hidden in USA – India nuclear technology deal
Government must clear mist about nuclear deal The New Indian Express, 11 Aug 11, “.…..S M Krishna’s latest statement in Parliament ….. His claim that new guidelines issued by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), banning transfer of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to countries that do not sign Nuclear Proliferation Treaty do not negate NSG’s 2008 ‘clean waiver’ shows that the government continues to remain in a state of self-delusion. ……
As the gap between the prime minister’s assurances to Parliament before inking the nuclear deal and the reality keeps widening, it is clear that India was misled at the time of signing the deal. A bland, vague and simplistic statement from Krishna is not enough to dispel genuine concerns voiced by the Opposition as well as security experts that there was something hidden in the India-US civil nuclear deal. The government must now come out with a white paper on the subject and explain its position to Parliament and the people…http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/editorials/government-must-clear-mist-about-nuclear-deal/303299.html
Nagasaki joins Hiroshima’s call to end nuclear energy
Nagasaki mayor calls for denuclearization, Asahi.com by Kenichi Ezaki and Yuji Endo. 10 Aug 11, NAGASAKI–The mayor of Nagasaki called for Japan to move away from nuclear power generation at a ceremony on Aug. 9 to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Continue reading
Japanese citizens exposed to radiation, as govt withheld information
In interviews and public statements, some current and former government officials have admitted that Japanese authorities engaged in a pattern of withholding damaging information and denying facts of the nuclear disaster — in order, some of them said, to limit the size of costly and disruptive evacuations in land-scarce Japan and to avoid public questioning of the politically powerful nuclear industry. As the nuclear plant continues to release radiation, some of which has slipped into the nation’s food supply, public anger is growing at what many here see as an official campaign to play down the scope of the accident and the potential health risks.
Japan Held Nuclear Data, Leaving Evacuees in Peril, NYT, Norimitsu Onishi reported from Fukushima, and Martin Fackler from Tokyo. Ken Belson and Kantaro Suzuki contributed reporting from Tokyo. 9 Aug 11, FUKUSHIMA, Japan — The day after a giant tsunami set off the continuing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, thousands of residents at the nearby town of Namie gathered to evacuate.
Given no guidance from Tokyo, town officials led the residents north, believing that winter winds would be blowing south and carrying away any radioactive emissions. For three nights, while hydrogen explosions at four of the reactors spewed radiation into the air, they stayed in a district called Tsushima where the children played outside and some parents used water from a mountain stream to prepare rice.
The winds, in fact, had been blowing directly toward Tsushima — and town officials would learn two months later that a government computer system designed to predict the spread of radioactive releases had been showing just that. Continue reading
TEPCO, Japan’s largest utility, likely to go broke
The March disaster at the Fukushima complex in northeast Japan spawned the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl and has put the existence of Asia’s largest utility, known as TEPCO, in doubt.
Tepco said it has earmarked $5.1bn to compensate the victims of the crisis, who include about 80,000 people
evacuated from areas surrounding the Fukushima plant, 240km north of Tokyo.
Even before the pay-out began, Tepco posted a $15 billion net loss for the year to March 31, Japan’s biggest non-financial loss, according to Reuters news agency…..
Safecast monitors Japan’s radiation levels, and sees it as a global issue
Despite the alarm inside Japan and abroad, specific information about radiation levels and its range are still mostly unavailable. This lack of information is what Safecast is trying to overcome…..
Global debate The Japanese government does not consider non-government readings to be authentic, and has urged the public to only rely on government data on radiation.
Bonner said: “Getting into this has showed us there is a lack of data everywhere.
“We’re going to start getting devices to people around the US and Europe. We’re going to set up fixed sensors and we’re making a device that we’ll sell to the public.
“We’re hoping to continue to get lots of data from lots of sources.”
Bonner’s ambitions appear timely against the backdrop of a revitalised global debate on the dangers of nuclear energy, especially in Japan.
“………..In the months since the catastrophe, the Japanese government, its nuclear watchdogs and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), have provided differing, confusing, and at times contradictory, information on critical health issues.
Fed up with indefinite data, a group of 50 volunteers decided to take matters, and Geiger counters, into their own hands.
In April, an independent network of like-minded individuals in the Japan and United States banded together to formSafecast and began an ongoing crusade to record and publish accurate radiation levels around Japan. Continue reading
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1 June Webinar – The High Cost of Nuclear Power – Register
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
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