Anxiety and fear, as Japanese realise the radiation fallout effects of Fukushima
VIDEO http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/08/6815027-japans-radiation-fallout-a-monster-you-cant-see?chromedomain=dailynightly Japan’s radiation fallout ‘a monster you can’t see World Blog Robert Bazell 8 June “….as one gets closer to the reactor site, it’s easy to see how much human damage a radiation leak can cause. As one engineer told me, “When nuclear reactors fail, they REALLY fail.”….. Levels in the air are two to 50 times the normal level. Radiation levels are high even in populous cities of 400,000 or more people – such as Koriyama and Fukushima City – each about 35 miles from the reactors. Most of the radiation escaped in the first few days of the accident and was deposited on the ground –in school yards, on people’s homes and in massive amounts in the farmlands that make up most of the area. The government monitors the levels in the air at seven sites in Fukushima Prefecture, but radiation falls in particles, and a very high levels can remain in one place, while just a few feet away there’s very little.
No one knows what the long-term effects of the radiation will be. The health dangers of elevated but relatively low levels of radiation remains one of the biggest disputes in medicine. Residents worry about the effects on themselves, and on their children especially. Farmers fear the crops they are planting this spring will never come to market after the fall harvest. And everyone knows there is no end in sight to the crisis. As Hideo Hanai, a cattle farmer, told me “It’s like being chased by a monster that you can’t see.” http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/08/6815027-japans-radiation-fallout-a-monster-you-cant-see?chromedomain=dailynightly
Legal moves against nuclear power in Japan
Opposition to nuclear power plants grows in Japan , People’s World, 8 June 11 Japan Bar Assn. calls for end to nuclear power plants The Japan Bar Association at its general meeting in Tokyo on May 27 adopted a declaration calling for the phasing out of existing nuclear power plants in Japan and a stop to the program to construct more nuclear reactors.
The declaration requests that the government separate the nuclear safety regulatory body from the nuclear promoting ministry and agency, and promote renewable energy sources as a main pillar to energy policy based on the principle of sustainability.
Residents near Hamaoka plant file lawsuit Residents living near the Hamaoka nuclear power station in Shizuoka’s Omaezaki City on May 27 filed a lawsuit against Chubu Electric Power Company with the Shizuoka District Court, seeking a permanent shutdown of all reactors at the plant.
The group of plaintiffs consists of 35 residents, including two Japanese Communist Party members of the Kakegawa City Assembly, in Omaezaki, Kikukawa, and Kakegawa cities located within a 30km-zone of the plant. JCP member of the Omaezaki City Assembly Shimizu Sumio heads the group of plaintiffs.
They aim for the decommissioning of the reactors at the earliest possible date, arguing that the Hamaoka plant is located at the focal region of an inevitable Tokai earthquake…http://peoplesworld.org/opposition-to-nuclear-power-plants-grows-in-japan/
Growing opposition to nuclear power in Japan
Opposition to nuclear power plants grows in Japan , People’s World, 8 June 11, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on May 26 announced that the JCP is launching a signature-collection campaign calling for the total withdrawal from nuclear power generation.
Shii at a press conference in the Diet (Parliament) building pointed out, “The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant proves to the public the dangers behind nuclear power generation.”
Shunan City Assembly opposes Kaminoseki nuclear plant project The Shunan City Assembly in Yamaguchi Prefecture convened an extraordinary session of the assembly on May 27 and unanimously adopted a written opinion to call for the cancellation of the Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc.’s project to construct a nuclear power plant in the neighboring town of Kaminoseki…….Although the nuclear power generation technology has not been fully established yet, successive governments have intensively built nuclear power plants in one of the world’s most earthquake- and tsunami-prone countries by sticking to the “safety myth” without having devised adequate safety measures, Shii emphasized….http://peoplesworld.org/opposition-to-nuclear-power-plants-grows-in-japan/
Fukushima radiation twice as bad as previously estimated
Radiation Understated After Quake, Japan Says New York Times, By HIROKO
TABUCHI June 6, 2011 TOKYO — Japan said Monday that radioactive emissions from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the early days of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster might have been more than twice as large as a previous estimate, suggesting the accident was more grave than the government had publicly acknowledged.It is unclear whether a more accurate reading of emissions levels would have promoted a swifter or wider evacuation from around the plant. Still, the lag in reporting the true extent of the emissions added to what some critics have called a litany of confusing and contradictory data and analysis from the Japanese authorities, putting officials on the defensive about whether they delayed, or even blocked, the release of information to the public.
Last month the government acknowledged that three of the plant’s reactors had probably suffered fuel meltdowns, after having denied that possibility.
On Monday, Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said that the reactor pressure vessel at one of the plant’s reactors appeared to have been compromised as early as five hours after the quake.
The agency also said it now estimated that the radioactive release from the plant totaled 770,000 terabecquerels in the first week after March 11. The agency had previously estimated 370,000 terabecquerels released in the first month…….http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/world/asia/07japan.html
A matter of time before TEPCO goes bankrupt, despite Japanese govt support
“Speculation that it’s just a matter of time before Tepco goes bankrupt has been dominating the stock market, in stark contrast with the government’s efforts to keep it alive,”
Tepco’s State Support at Odds With Market Seeing Bankruptcy, June 06, 2011, by Shigeru Sato and Takahiko Hyuga, June 7 (Bloomberg) — The Japanese government’s commitment to support Tokyo Electric Power Co. contrasts with investors selling its shares at a record pace and betting on a 59 percent likelihood the utility will default on its debt in five years. Continue reading
Problems in assessing health effects of Fukushima radiation
some of the radiation to which people are being exposed around Fukushima is inside the body; it comes from radioactive materials that contaminated their food or water.
Radiation’s Unknowns Weigh on Japan, New York Times, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 6, 2011 As officials in Japan agonize over what constitutes a safe radiation dose for people who live near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, the state of the science has been a daunting problem. Studies on the effects of exposure are based mostly on large doses delivered quickly by atomic bombs, while radiation from the Fukushima disaster would more likely result in small doses delivered over many years. Continue reading
No end in sight to Fukushima radiation crisis
A lot of radioactive water has already made it into the ocean, contaminating seawater and wildlife and probably destroying the fishing industry of northeastern Japan for decades……..This situation is nowhere near being “under control”, and there’s really no end in sight.
Fukushima radioactivity highest in three months, Red Green and Blue, Jeremy Bloom, 6 Jun 11 It’s been three months since the crisis began at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor complex, and they’re no closer to cleaning up the radioactive mess. In fact, things may be getting worse. Continue reading
Political parties, public opinion, say NO to nuclear in Thailand
Rivals say no to nuclear Democrats, Pheu Thai agree on nuke policy, Bangkok Post,: 6/06/2011 Amid the differences, arch-rivals the Democrat and Pheu Thai parties share one policy _ to indefinitely suspend plans for nuclear power in Thailand. They both announced their no-nuke stance at a forum on political parties’ environmental policies held by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) in Bangkok yesterday.
As well as the two major parties, Bhumjaithai, Chartthaipattana and Chart Pattana Puea Pandin have also ruled out building nuclear power plants…….According to the results of a Nida poll conducted on June 1-2 and released yesterday, about 72% of the 1,230 respondents disagree with the plan to construct nuclear power plants……..http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/240737/rivals-say-no-to-nuclear
Nuclear chain reactions may be ongoing at Fukushima
re Nuclear Chain Reactions Still Occurring at Fukushima?
But you might not know that nuclear reactions may still be ongoing. 
Specifically, it is well-known by nuclear scientists that the ratio of iodine 131 to cesium 137 tells a lot about when nuclear reactions have stopped…
Today, Tetsuo Matsui at the University of Tokyo, says the limited data from Fukushima indicates that nuclear chain reactions must have reignited at Fuksuhima up to 12 days after the accident.
Matsui says the evidence comes from measurements of the ratio of cesium-137 and iodine-131 at several points around the facility and in the seawater nearby. He has calculated what the starting ratio must have been by assuming the reactors had been operating for between 7 and 12 months……
The data from the drain near reactor 2 and from the cooling pond at reactor 4, where spent fuel rods are stored, indicate that the reactions must have been burning much later….http://www.zerohedge.com/article/are-nuclear-chain-reactions-still-occurring-fukushima
TEPCO’s 570 billion Yen loss – then trillions in compensation
It is expected to become necessary for TEPCO to seek further loans from banks and support from the government to cover the nuclear crisis-related compensation, which is said to reach several trillion yen
TEPCO to see Y570 bil net loss, excluding nuclear compensation Japan Today 06 June, :Tokyo Electric Power Co is expected to post a parent-only net loss of 570 billion yen for the business year to March 2012, excluding compensation to those affected by the ongoing crisis at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, according to an internal document. Continue reading
Studying the effects of Fukushima radiation in the ocean
The scientists say the effects of radioactive contamination in ocean waters, sediments and fish is not well understood. The Japanese nuclear disaster is the worst release of radioactive materials into an ocean.
Scientific voyage to study Japanese nuclear impact on ocean, MiamiHerald.com, By RENEE SCHOOF, McClatchy Newspapers, WASHINGTON, 4 June 11 — A team of scientists will set out Saturday from Hawaii on a research expedition to study how radioactive contamination from the nuclear power plant crisis in Japan has spread in the Pacific Ocean and what effects it will have on marine life, the food chain and human health. Continue reading
Rise in radioactive water at Fukushima threatens the sea
Radioactive water about to overflow at Fukushima –Nature News Blog June 02, 2011 Radioactive water being used to cool the shattered Fukushima nuclear reactors is rising worryingly quickly, according to an analysis of the latest data from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant’s operator.
Bloomberg reports that the water could overflow from basements and service trenches as soon as Monday 6 June, pouring isotopes into the sea.
“Solving the problem of contaminated water is critical,” Tetsuo Ito, the head of the Atomic Energy Research Institute at Kinki University, told Bloomberg…….Nature News Blog: Radioactive water about to overflow at Fukushima
Inadequate safety monitoring of China’s nuclear power plants
Minister: China needs to step up nuclear oversight, The Nuclear N-Former: June 3, 2011 Beijing (AP) — China must increase oversight of its nuclear power plants after Japan’s disaster, a senior Chinese official said Friday, as the country advances an ambitious program to build more reactors.The ongoing crisis caused by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan laid bare a “host of problems” with how nuclear power is handled, Vice Environment Minister Li Ganjie said.“Some of them are technical, some are at a managerial level, some are unavoidable caused by natural disasters, while some are caused by manmade factors and can be prevented,” Li said at a news conference.China needs to raise industry safety standards, make information more accessible and put in place a strong team of independent regulators to supervise nuclear safety, he said……
Even before the Japanese crisis, Li’s ministry had urged the government for more funds to monitor the rapidly growing nuclear power industry.
Minister: China needs to step up nuclear oversight | The Nuclear N-Former: Breaking Nuclear Energy News, Videos, Photos, Commentary & More
Nuclear issues weigh heavily in Northern Japan election
giving up the perks that come with nuclear-power plants is a difficult decision for people
Japan Poll Hinges On Nuclear Policy – WSJ.com, By YUKA HAYASHI 4 June 11, HIGASHIDORI, Japan—Japan’s troubled nuclear-energy industry faces its first major ballot-box test since the Fukushima Daiichi accident, in the northern prefecture of Aomori on Sunday, when voters choose between a conservative pronuclear governor seeking a third term and a challenger who wants to freeze all existing plans for new facilities……. Continue reading
Tepco controls information release on Fukushima radiation: is this right?
It is easy to see why controlling radiation readings and reports of leakage of radioactive water in to the sea is to TEPCO’s advantage
Report From Tokyo: How Long Should TEPCO Call the Shots? THE HUFFINGTON POST, David Wagner: 4 June 11 Since the tragic March 11th earthquake in Japan, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has been allowed to manage information flow related to the nuclear crisis at Fukushima. And ever since that date, there have been multiple examples of inaccurate information being released to the public.
So one has to wonder how long TEPCO should call the shots. There is something inherently wrong with allowing the hen to rule the hen house. Yet that is what is happening…….. Continue reading
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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