Fish contaminated with radiation caught off northeastern Fukushima Prefecture
This 2007 file photo shows black rockfish.
February 24, 2021
FUKUSHIMA — Radioactive cesium five times above permitted levels in Japan has been detected in black rockfish caught in northeastern Fukushima Prefecture, according to a Feb. 22 announcement by a local fishing association.
Some 500 becquerels per kilogram of cesium was found in black rockfish caught at a depth of 24 meters about 8.8 kilometers off the town of Shinchi, exceeding the national standard level of 100 becquerels per kilogram.
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations has since halted distribution of the fish until it can confirm their safety. The voluntary suspension of seafood shipments by the fishing body marks the first time since October 2019, when 53 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium was detected in a white sea perch, exceeding the standard level set by the group at 50 becquerels per kilogram.
The fishing association has been conducting test fishing since June 2012 on a limited scale. After shipping restrictions on common skate were lifted in February 2020, shipment of all fish was permitted. The fishing body aims to resume full fishing operations in April. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210224/p2a/00m/0na/014000c
Broken devices at Fukushima plant fail to record vital quake data
Either not replaced by negligence or claimed to be broken so as to not have to share disturbing data outside of Tepco….
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga visits the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in September. The No. 3 reactor building is seen in the background.
February 23, 2021
Two broken seismometers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant failed to record data from a powerful earthquake that struck off the coast of the prefecture on Feb. 13, according to the plant operator.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. became aware last year that the seismometers installed at the No. 3 reactor building were on the blink but didn’t repair them, company officials told a meeting of the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Feb. 22.
The company installed the seismometers in March last year after the NRA said they would be useful in evaluating the degree of deterioration of the structure. One was placed on the top floor, and the other was set on the ground floor.
But one was broken in July and the other in October due to heavy rain and other reasons.
The seismometers at the No. 3 reactor building were not required under laws or regulations.
The NRA plans to call on TEPCO to report on how it will deal with the issue. It will also consider requiring the company to properly manage and maintain seismometers.
The magnitude-7.3 earthquake on Feb. 13 registered an upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures.
TEPCO said the following day that cooling water had overflowed from pools storing spent nuclear fuel at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants due to the temblor.
The overflow, totaling three liters, was wiped off and did not escape the plant compounds. No changes in radioactivity were detected in nearby areas.
TEPCO also said Feb. 19 that contaminated water had leaked from the containment vessels of the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors of the Fukushima No. 1 plant apparently because the parts damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami were subjected to strong shaking from the temblor.
The company said the leakage has remained within the plant premises, and nuclear fuel debris has continued to be cooled in the containment vessels.http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14213851
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Containment Vessel Water Level Continues to Drop Due to Earthquake
February 23, 2021, 5:05 PM
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) summarized the impact of the February 13 earthquake on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on February 22, and said that the water level in the containment vessel that houses the reactor continues to drop. The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has said that water injection is continuing and that there are no safety issues at present, but has called for tighter monitoring.
At the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, water is being injected to cool the melted down nuclear fuel, but the water level in the containment vessels of the Unit 1 and Unit 3 reactors has dropped by several dozen centimeters and has been on a downward trend ever since.
In addition, nitrogen has been injected into the containment vessel to prevent hydrogen explosions and increase the pressure, but in the Unit 1 reactor, the pressure gauge that measures the difference from atmospheric pressure has dropped from 1.2 kilopascals to 0.1 kilopascals and is now almost at atmospheric pressure.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says it will continue to monitor the water level and pressure, as it is possible that the earthquake may have caused damage that was created 10 years ago to spread, causing the water level and pressure to drop.
In addition to the above, it was also found that six tanks used to store water after treating contaminated water were displaced by up to 5 cm due to the earthquake.
The displacement was within the design assumptions, and no water leakage has occurred.
There was no change in the values of the monitoring posts after the quake, and there was no leakage of radioactive materials to the outside.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), which received the report, said that cooling of the nuclear fuel and nitrogen injection are continuing and that there are no safety issues at present, and asked TEPCO to strengthen its monitoring.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210223/k10012881251000.html?fbclid=IwAR0KDxC1FABC_SeNe3Sda6M55_WOvJxDE_UwBaODJls6oHlTgudC0-CHPhQ
6.0 Plus Magnitude Earthquake Damages Radioactive Waste Incineration Facilities at 3 Sites in Fukushima
February 23, 2021
The Fukushima Regional Environment Office announced on Tuesday that three temporary incineration facilities for radioactive waste from the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant were damaged in an earthquake that registered a seismic intensity of 6.0 on the Japanese scale late on February 13. None of the facilities have leaked radioactive waste, but it is expected to take about a month to recover.
According to the Environment Office, as a result of post-earthquake inspections at the Adachi temporary incineration facility (Nihonmatsu City) and the Futaba temporary treatment facilities No. 1 and No. 2 (Futaba Town), damage was found in the piping and ceiling. There was no change in the air dose rate at the site boundary. There was no damage caused by the earthquake at the other five facilities operating in Fukushima Prefecture.
Fukushima nuclear plant operator: Seismometers were broken
February 22, 2021
The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says two seismometers at one of its three melted reactors have been out of order since last year and did not collect data when a powerful earthquake struck the area earlier this month
TOKYO — The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant said Monday that two seismometers at one of its three melted reactors have been out of order since last year and did not collect data when a powerful earthquake struck the area earlier this month.
The acknowledgement raised new questions about whether the company’s risk management has improved since a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed much of the plant.
The malfunctioning seismometers surfaced during a Nuclear Regulation Authority meeting on Monday to discuss new damage at the plant resulting from a magnitude 7.3 quake that struck the region on Feb. 13. Cooling water and pressure levels fell in the Unit 1 and 3 reactors, indicating additional damage to their primary containment chambers.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has repeatedly been criticized for coverups and delayed disclosures of problems at the plant.
Regulatory officials asked TEPCO at the meeting why it did not have seismological data from the Unit 3 reactor for Saturday’s quake, and utility officials acknowledged that both of its seismometers had failed — one in July and the other in October — and had never been repaired.
TEPCO also said that seismometers at all but two of the reactor buildings that survived the 2011 disaster were submerged by water from the tsunami and have never been replaced.
During Monday’s meeting, regulatory officials said they were concerned about the declining water levels and pressure in the Unit 1 and 3 primary containment chambers because of the possibility that the quake had expanded the existing damage or opened new leakage paths, and urged the utility to closely check for any increased radiation levels in the ground water surrounding the reactor buildings.
TEPCO said no abnormality has been detected in water samples so far.
New damage could further complicate the plant’s already difficult decommissioning process and add to the large amounts of contaminated water being stored at the plant.
Since the 2011 disaster, cooling water has been escaping constantly from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of reactor and turbine buildings, where the volume increases as groundwater seeps in. The water is pumped up and treated, then part of it is reused as cooling water, while the rest is stored in about 1,000 tanks.
TEPCO initially reported there was no abnormality at the plant from Saturday’s earthquake. But on Monday, it said about 20 of the tanks had slid slightly due to the quake, a storage container carrying radioactive waste had tilted, and asphalt pavement at the plant was cracked.
Fukushima struggling to get people back, 10 years after disaster
An elementary school building in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, is seen deserted in January. Municipalities near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima have been struggling to bring residents back. February 22, 2021
February 22, 2021
Fukushima – Municipalities near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture have been stepping up efforts to bring residents back, a decade after the March 2011 triple reactor meltdown.
In areas in 10 Fukushima municipalities that were once off-limits due to radiation from the nuclear disaster, the ratio of actual to registered residents is as low as 31.8%.
Years of evacuation orders following the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have left many registered residents unwilling to return, leaving officials concerned about the survival of their municipalities.
Taki Shoji, an 87-year-old former evacuee, returned from the city of Aizuwakamatsu further inland in the prefecture to the town of Okuma in April 2019 after an evacuation order was lifted.
In Aizuwakamatsu, Shoji struggled with snow-removing work during wintertime that he was not accustomed to.
“Living in a large house makes me feel calm,” he said, referring to his life in his warmer, coastal hometown.
Shoji needs to go to a neighboring town by bus to shop because local stores offer only a limited supply of goods. He is looking forward to the opening in spring of a commercial facility in Okuma that houses convenience and grocery stores. It “will allow me to go shopping by foot,” he said.
The ratio of actual to registered residents is especially low, at less than 20%, in the towns of Namie and Tomioka, where it took about six years for people to return after the nuclear accident.
A survey of Namie and Tomioka residents last summer by the Reconstruction Agency and others showed that greater access to shopping and medical and welfare services is needed for evacuees to return to their hometowns.
These municipalities are taking steps to encourage people to relocate to them.
The village of Iitate, where the ratio of actual to registered residents stands at about 30%, offers support measures for those willing to relocate, including up to ¥5 million in subsidies for the construction of a new house. As a result, the number of people who have relocated to Iitate topped 100 in summer last year.
Namie plans to create new jobs mainly in the renewable energy industry to bring more people to the town. “The current population is not enough to maintain infrastructure and administrative services and it’s difficult to keep the town afloat,” Namie Mayor Kazuhiro Yoshida said.
The government will start a new program in fiscal 2021, which begins in April, to provide up to ¥2 million per household to people relocating to Fukushima areas affected by the nuclear accident.
Fukushima Prefecture plans to promote support for both evacuees’ return to hometowns and relocation by making use of the aid from the government. “Unless there are people, there will be no reconstruction,” a prefectural official said.https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/22/national/fukushima-residents-struggle/
Pressure drops inside vessel at Fukushima plant
February 13 earthquake could have exposed damaged part
February 22, 2021
Tokyo Electric Power Company has found that the pressure inside one of the reactor containment vessels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has dropped.
The utility said the earthquake that hit the area on February 13 may have been to blame. TEPCO said no radioactive material has leaked.
The nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan is now undergoing decommissioning.
TEPCO said it confirmed at around 6 p.m. on Sunday that pressure inside the vessel of the No.1 reactor dropped to 0.9 kilopascals from the usual 1.2 kilopascals. Nitrogen is being added to the vessel to raise the pressure and reduce the risk of a hydrogen explosion.
TEPCO found that after the quake the level of water in the containment vessel had dropped.
It said the part damaged in the 2011 nuclear accident may have been exposed after the water level dropped, possibly causing an air leakage and the drop in pressure.
TEPCO said it is continuing to pump water into the vessel and there should be no safety problem.
It said there have been no abnormality in the measurements at radioactivity monitoring posts in the compound.
The utility said it will keep watching the data at the vessel and other facilitieshttps://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210222_02/
Radioactive Materials in Black Rockfish Off Fukushima Coast: Shipment Suspended
February 22, 2021, 7:09 pm
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (FISHMA) has suspended shipments of a fish called “Kurosoy” that was landed on February 22 in an experimental fishery off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture. This is the first time in about two years that radioactive materials exceeding the standard have been detected in the fishery off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, and in February of last year, the shipping restrictions were lifted for all fish species.
According to the Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, on the 22nd, radioactive materials were detected in a fish called “Kurosoy,” which was caught in a fishing ground 8.8 kilometers off the coast of Shinchi Town at a depth of 24 meters.
As a result of detailed measurements at a prefectural laboratory, the concentration of radioactive cesium was 500 becquerels per kilogram, exceeding the national food standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram.
The prefectural fishermen’s federation has also decided to suspend the shipment of black rockfish until the safety of the fish is confirmed, as it exceeded the voluntary standard of 50 becquerels per kilogram set by the federation.
The national government’s nuclear emergency response headquarters is expected to order restrictions on the shipment of black rockfish.
The amount of blue rockfish landed in the past year was 3 tons, which is less than 1% of the total landings of the experimental fishery being conducted off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture.
This is the first time that radioactive materials exceeding the national standard have been detected since February of two years ago in the common kasube, a species of ray-finned fish, and in February of last year, the shipping restrictions were lifted for all fish species off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture.
Prefectural Fisheries and Oceanic Research Center: “There is a possibility of fish entering and leaving the nuclear power plant port
According to the Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries and Oceanic Research Center, which has been continuously measuring the concentration of radioactive materials in fish and shellfish off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, the detected levels have dropped significantly compared to immediately after the nuclear accident.
According to the Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries and Oceanic Research Center, which has been continuously measuring the levels of radioactive materials, the levels detected have decreased significantly compared to the levels immediately after the nuclear accident.
We also examined 50 samples of black carp, and all of them were below the detection limit.
On the other hand, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) once detected a radioactive substance of about 900 becquerels per kilogram in a sample of black rockfish taken for investigation in the harbor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has installed nets at the entrance and exit of the harbor to prevent fish from entering and leaving the harbor, but the prefectural Fisheries and Oceanic Research Center is investigating the possibility that the black rockfish got out for some reason, and is investigating the cause of the detection of radioactive materials exceeding the standard.
Kyoichi Kamiyama, director of the Radioactivity Research Department at the Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries and Oceanic Research Center, said, “Considering the low concentration of radioactive materials in the seawater and seabed off Shinchi Town, we really don’t know why such high levels of radioactive cesium were detected. We would like to investigate the cause, taking into consideration the possibility that fish are coming in and out of the harbor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210222/k10012880681000.html?fbclid=IwAR3fsx6QfmBWHfSgpjkrUvc_gDf6q0qUWBf50YGXkWR0KLgwWAM_1GdBwBI
TEPCO neglected seismograph failure for more than six months, failed to record the earthquake of March 13 at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3
February 22, 2021
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on Wednesday that two seismographs installed in the reactor building of the Unit 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant had failed but had been left unrepaired for more than half a year, so they were unable to record data from a seismic intensity 6-weak earthquake that occurred late at night on the 13th of this month.
The water level in the reactor containment vessel dropped by more than 30 centimeters at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 3, possibly due to the magnitude 6-weak earthquake.
The explanation was given by TEPCO when it reported on the effects of the earthquake at a Nuclear Regulation Authority meeting. TEPCO made no mention of the seismograph failure in its press conference after the quake or in its public documents, and had not announced it before that.
Akira Ono, chief executive officer of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Decommissioning Promotion Company, apologized at the review meeting, saying, “We missed a chance to get valuable data and we regret it.
According to TEPCO, seismographs were installed in March 2020, one on the operation floor and one on the first floor, both on the top five floors of the Unit 3 reactor building, and the one on the first floor broke down in July, four months after it was installed, when it was submerged in water due to rain, and the other broke down in October of the same year due to another cause.
At a press conference on the evening of the 22nd, a TEPCO spokesperson said, “We had planned to install seismographs with countermeasures. The seismograph in the Unit 3 reactor was “installed on a trial basis” to study the earthquake resistance of the building where a hydrogen explosion occurred during the accident, he explained.
At the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, seismographs were installed on the basement floor of the reactor buildings of Units 1-6, but the equipment in Units 1-4, which were flooded by the tsunami, is not working. (Kenta Onozawa) https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/87498?fbclid=IwAR10pYQZCCKlLhFL8juxyOLZMvOCVTaiP7kQt1C0B46KSxj91KtREIEezP8
10 years after Fukushima, justice remains elusive for victims of nuclear disasters
New report warns of inevitable nuclear accidents in the future
February 22, 2021
A new report from Northwestern University’s Meridian 180 community is sounding the alarm that victims of nuclear disasters worldwide remain inadequately compensated and calls for a more inclusive process for approving nuclear projects and making nuclear energy decisions that gives ordinary citizens a seat at the table.
The report, “Nuclear Compensation: Lessons from Fukushima,” calls for a rigorous and inclusive process that transcends national borders and enables wiser decisions about nuclear projects and their many lingering consequences.
“We’re often inclined to think that nuclear disasters don’t happen very often, but that doesn’t take into view the damaging impact these disasters have in the long run on people, agriculture and anyone in the path of the nuclear fallout, sometimes beyond national borders,” said Hiro Miyazaki, Kay Davis Professor of Anthropology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern and editor of the report.
The report is an outgrowth of more than five years of collaborative research on the Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima nuclear disasters among scholars and experts across three continents. Its authors include Northwestern Associate Provost and Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs Executive Director, Annelise Riles, the University of Toronto’s Mary Mitchell, Virginia Tech’s Sonja Schmid, Waseda University professor Takao Suami and Nagoya University professor Dai Yokomizo.
The report particularly emphasizes how compensation schemes for victims of nuclear accidents have not adequately addressed the plight of affected citizens.
“In the case of Fukushima, a large amount of money has been paid out to victims, but remains inadequate,” said Riles. “Many who suffered tremendous losses, but reside outside of the mandatory evacuation zone, have not been compensated. We need new, and much more inclusive nuclear disaster preparation processes involving careful deliberation over who deserves to be compensated in the wake of a nuclear disaster, and who should bear the costs.”
The report will be released during a virtual event co-sponsored by Northwestern and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on March 9, featuring experts on nuclear issues, as well as victims of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
The keynote address will be delivered by Allison Macfarlane, former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and director of the University of British Columbia School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
The event will also include perspectives from Kazuhiro Yoshida, mayor of the town of Namie in Fukushima, as well as victims of Fukushima, including Masakazu Suzuki and Hidenori Konno, who are leaders of the plaintiffs in lawsuits against the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
Leading voices on nuclear issues and disaster response, including Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists president and CEO Rachel Bronson and University of Chicago professor Robert Rosner, will conclude the event with a panel discussion and live Q&A session.
“Ten years after Fukushima, it remains essential that we tackle, head on, the full costs and benefits of nuclear energy. Fukushima is a warning of what happens when we shirk that responsibility,” Bronson said.
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 Finished Removing Deformed Nuclear Fuel
A supposedly excellent news. However to the risk of sounding the suspicious type, the one thing that I have learned covering for the past 10 years the ongoing nuclear disaster of Fukushima daiichi, is that when Tepco releases some good news it is usually to cover up a bad news, a bad happening behind the good news. Because for Tepco and the nuclear village, lying and secrecy are their second nature. They never inform us on time of what is really up. And just after the last severe earthquake that occured, we have all the reasons to believe that they are not telling us the real facts as usual.
February 20, 2021
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that it has finished using a special device to remove nuclear fuel that was partially deformed in the accident and could not be pulled out of the spent fuel pool.
Since last year, the Unit 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has been in the process of transferring 566 nuclear fuels in the spent fuel pool to a safe facility on the plant grounds.
Of these, four nuclear fuels have a handle on the top of the fuel that was deformed by the debris that fell into the pool during the accident, making it impossible to lift the fuel with normal equipment.
Therefore, TEPCO, in cooperation with a manufacturer, developed a device with an ingenious shape so that even if the handle is deformed, it can be grabbed and pulled up, and announced that they started removing four fuel cells this month and finished removing them this week.
When the fuel was pulled up, it was slightly tilted and lifted up, unlike normal, healthy fuel, but there were no safety problems and the work was completed.
With this, the work to remove the nuclear fuel from the spent fuel pool of the Unit 3 reactor has passed a milestone, and the number of remaining nuclear fuel is 22, and TEPCO plans to finish removing all the fuel by next month.
Fukushima rice farmers innovate to survive, 10 years after disaster
Rice planting for commercial sales began in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in May, 2017, for the first time since the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear disaster. |
February 21, 2021
Fukushima – Although the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture still casts a shadow over local agriculture a decade later, rice farmers are working to shake off radiation-related rumors and pass on Fukushima’s rice farming to the next generation.
Some are pinning hopes on an original rice brand developed in the prefecture to find a way to overcome the difficulties posed by the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant. The disaster was triggered by the major earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The annual rice harvest in Fukushima, which totaled 445,700 tons in fiscal 2010, slid to 353,600 tons in the following year and has since remained at around 350,000-380,000 tons. Although exports of Fukushima-grown rice have been increasing in recent years thanks to promotion measures by the national government, shipments to Hong Kong, for example, plunged to 2.6 tons in fiscal 2019 from some 100 tons in fiscal 2010 due to the strengthening of purchase restrictions introduced after the disaster.
All Fukushima-made rice had to undergo checks for cesium and other residual radioactive substances to secure safety. Finally, in 2020, rice grown in areas other than 12 municipalities near the accident-hit power plant was switched to random checks.
Also in 2020, rice of the “Fuku, Warai” (lucky, laughter) original brand was harvested for the first time after 14 years of development by the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Center. Of the total 37 tons harvested, the producers sold 16.8 tons via the internet and stores in the Tokyo metropolitan area, exceeding the sales projection of 15 tons. Full-scale sales of the rice, whose features include sweetness and a rich scent, will start in fiscal 2021.
Fukushima Prefecture plans to allow only farmers certified by the Good Agriculture Practice program and other selected producers to engage in the cropping of the new rice brand, in order to ensure quality and credibility.
“I take pride in producing safe and secure rice,” said Shiroyuki Terasawa, 70, who is the only producer of the new rice brand in the Hamadori coastal region in Fukushima Prefecture. “I want everyone to know that Fukushima-grown rice is tasty.”
Terasawa’s rice field in the city of Minamisoma was washed away by the tsunami. Despite worries about rumors related to the nuclear disaster, he restarted full-scale farming in 2015, out of a sense of responsibility for keeping local agriculture alive.
According to an official from the Fukushima prefectural government, some of those who initially abandoned farming have returned in recent years, partly thanks to large-scale streamlined farm operations realized through the establishment of agricultural corporations.
Terasawa also set up a corporation and started so-called smart farming, utilizing drones and GPS devices, on large-scale farmland of some 55 hectares. “Although the scenery and the environment have changed from before the disaster, I want to stay active in farming as long as I live.” he said.
Ami Endo, 23, from Minamisoma, experienced the disaster when she was 13.
“I wanted to restore the rural landscape and interactions among people in the local community that used to be common” before the disaster, she said, explaining her decision to go to an agricultural technical college and work in the farming sector.
Endo gave her father a push to resume farming although he was reluctant to begin again. They have been rice cropping together since 2019.
“I don’t see people of my age at community gatherings,” Endo said, aware that young people are moving away from agriculture.
She stays positive, however, saying: “I can learn things I don’t know from my predecessors in the community. I want to create an all-round company that will handle production, commercialization and distribution (of agricultural products).”https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/21/national/fukushima-rice-innovation/
Water levels at Fukushima reactor containers falling after quake
A Tepco employee wearing a protective suit and mask gives lectures in front of No. 3 reactor building at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, in February 2019.
February 20, 2021
Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. has said that the water levels in the containment vessels for the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors at its disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have fallen by tens of centimeters.
The water levels are continuing to drop by several centimeters each day, Tepco said Friday.
The event has had no radiation impact outside of the plant’s premises, the company said, noting that the injection of water into the reactors, as well as operations to cool melted nuclear fuel debris at the bottom of the containment vessels, are continuing.
The plant was heavily damaged in the powerful March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
On Feb. 13, an earthquake measuring a strong 6 — the second-highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale — rocked the Tohoku region, which includes Fukushima Prefecture. Existing damage to piping and other parts of the containment vessels may have expanded as a result of the temblor, Tepco officials said.
The utility is continuing to pump 3 tons of water per hour into the reactor containers to cool the fuel debris.
While water continues leaking to the reactor buildings through the damaged areas of the containment vessels, the water levels in the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor containers had been kept at some 1.9 meters and 6.3 meters from the bottom, respectively, before Saturday’s earthquake.
According to the officials, workers detected a fall in the water level in the No. 1 reactor container around 11 p.m. Thursday.
The water level is seen to have dropped by 40-70 centimeters in the No. 1 reactor container and by some 30 centimeters in the No. 3 reactor container, the officials said.
Drops in the water levels are believed to have started around Monday in the No. 1 reactor vessel and around Sunday in the No. 3 reactor vessel, they said.
The sizes of the falls in the water levels are almost the same as those observed during an experiment conducted last year to suspend water injection, the officials said.
The company will take measures, such as increasing water injection, as needed while continuing to monitor the water levels, the officials said.
Ramping up water injection will lead to an increase in the amount of radioactive water, possibly affecting the quantity of water that is kept in tanks at the premises of the nuclear power station after being treated to remove some radioactive substances.https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/02/20/national/fukushima-water-leak-earthquake/
Japan gov’t, TEPCO ordered to pay $2.63 mil. over Fukushima nuclear crisis
Plaintiffs’ lawyers hold banners in front of the Tokyo High Court on Feb. 19, 2021, that say they have won a damages suit against the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. over the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
February 19, 2021
TOKYO (Kyodo) — A Japanese high court on Friday overturned a lower court decision that dismissed the state’s responsibility in the 2011 nuclear crisis, ordering both the government and the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s operator to pay damages to 43 people who had to evacuate from their hometowns as a result.
The Tokyo High Court ordered the state to cover the total damages of 278 million yen ($2.63 million) together with Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., following the precedent set by the Sendai High Court last September.
It marked the third high court ruling among 30 similar lawsuits filed across the country, and the second in which both the state and the utility were ordered to pay damages over radioactive contamination following the meltdowns at the plant.
Presiding Judge Yukio Shiraishi said it was “extremely unreasonable” for the government not to use its regulatory power to force the operator widely known as TEPCO to take preventive measures against the tsunami that triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
If it had done so, “the impact of the tsunami would have been significantly reduced, and the facility would not have lost all power,” he said.
The court also ruled that the evacuees should be compensated for their mental distress, in addition to the 100,000 yen per month to be awarded to them as consolation for prolonged evacuation.
In a lawsuit filed with the Chiba District Court, 45 people collectively sought around 2.8 billion yen in damages from the government and the plant operator after they were forced to move from Fukushima Prefecture to Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo.
In 2017, the district court told TEPCO to pay a total of 376 million yen to 42 of the evacuees, but cleared the state of liability, prompting the plaintiffs to appeal the decision.
The focal point of the lower court case was whether the government and utility were able to foresee the huge tsunami that hit the coastal plant on March 11, 2011, and take preventive measures beforehand based on the government’s long-term earthquake assessment that was made public in 2002.
The Chiba court ruled that both the state and TEPCO could have predicted the tsunami, but the accident may have been unavoidable even if preventive steps had been taken.
In contrast with Friday’s ruling, the district court ruled the government’s failure to exercise regulatory power to force TEPCO to take preventive measures was “not unreasonable.”
In January, the Tokyo High Court also deemed the government was not responsible for the nuclear disaster in a suit filed by plaintiffs who evacuated to Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, and elsewhere. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210219/p2g/00m/0dm/001000d
Water leaks indicate new damage at Fukushima nuclear plant
Radioactive cooling water levels inside the wreckage of Fukushima Daiichi units is falling in a least two units. This indicates that new damage from the recent 7.3 M earthquake has created drainage routes for more radioactive contamination to escape to the offsite environment.
This Sept. 4, 2017, aerial file photo shows Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant’s reactors, from bottom at right, Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3, in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. The utility operating a wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant said Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, it has detected cooling water levels at two of its three melted reactors have fallen over the past few days apparently due to additional damage done to its reactors from a powerful earthquake that shook the area last weekend.
February 19, 2021
TOKYO (AP) — Cooling water levels have fallen in two reactors at the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant since a powerful earthquake hit the area last weekend, indicating possible additional damage, its operator said Friday.
New damage could further complicate the plant’s already difficult decommissioning process, which is expected to take decades.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Keisuke Matsuo said the drop in water levels in the Unit 1 and 3 reactors indicates that the existing damage to their primary containment chambers was worsened by Saturday’s magnitude 7.3 quake, allowing more water to leak.
The leaked water is believed to have remained inside the reactor buildings and there is no sign of any outside impact, he said.
In 2011, a powerful magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactor cores to melt and nuclear fuel to fall to the bottom of their primary containment vessels.
TEPCO will monitor the water and temperatures at the bottom of the containment vessels, Matsuo said.
Since the 2011 disaster, cooling water has been escaping constantly from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor buildings. To make up for the loss, additional cooling water has been pumped into the reactors to cool the melted fuel remaining inside them. The recent decline in the water levels indicates that more water than before is leaking out, TEPCO said.
More than 180 people received mostly minor injuries from Saturday’s earthquake, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The quake also triggered landslides, damaged homes and a high-speed train line, and caused widespread power and water supply disruptions.
TEPCO initially reported that there was no abnormality at the plant from Saturday’s quake.
Matsuo said the cooling water level fell as much as 70 centimeters (27 inches) in the primary containment chamber of the Unit 1 reactor and about 30 centimeters (11 inches) in Unit 3. TEPCO wasn’t able to determine any decline in Unit 2 because indicators have been taken out to prepare for the removal of melted debris, it said.
Increased leakage could require more cooling water to be pumped into the reactors, which would result in more contaminated water that is treated and stored in huge tanks at the plant. TEPCO says its storage capacity of 1.37 million tons will be full next summer. A government panel’s recommendation that it be gradually released into the sea has faced fierce opposition from local residents and a decision is still pending.
Meanwhile, the Tokyo High Court on Friday held the government as well as TEPCO accountable for the 2011 nuclear disaster, ordering both to pay about 280 million yen ($2.6 million) in compensation to more than 40 plaintiffs forced to evacuate to Chiba, near Tokyo, for their lost livelihoods and homes.
Friday’s decision reverses an earlier ruling by the Chiba district court that excluded the government from responsibility. Judge Yukio Shirai said the government could have foreseen the risk of a massive tsunami and taken measures after a long-term assessment in 2002 of seismic activities.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs welcomed the decision and said it would affect other pending cases.
“The case raises the question of whether we should tolerate a society that prioritizes economic activities over people’s lives and health,” said Izutaro Mangi, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.https://apnews.com/article/water-leaks-fukushima-new-damage-a7ecf765d0233b1cad7332ff9fed5ffe?fbclid=IwAR1OEHbFv9DnWxom8Jw5sBW9_se6ph-7R_H-tQiL9Op_C2JIddwrZa6HqcY
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