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Fri, 2011-03-18 04:29 — mdmcdonald
The Risk Communication Working Group is focused on providing risk communication to decision-makers and the public

The mission of the Risk Communication Working Group is to provide risk communication to decision-makers and the public.

Working Group email address:  ***@***.***

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What Fukushima's Triple Meltdown Means

Sun, 2011-05-15 02:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Time - May 24, 2011

Two weeks after announcing the meltdown of fuel inside Fukushima's No. 1 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has said there have very likely been partial meltdowns at the other two reactors that were operating when the crisis began on March 11 as well. A spokesman for TEPCO, Japan's largest power company that has come under fire for its management of the crippled plant, said fuel rods at reactor No. 3 started melting March 13, two days after the 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami struck the plant. Fuel rods at No. 2 probably started melting a day later, on March 14.

Fukushima Plant's Nos. 2, 3 Reactors Also Suffered Meltdown: TEPCO

Sun, 2011-05-15 01:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux

JapanToday.com - May 24, 2011

TOKYO —

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex said Tuesday that meltdowns are assumed to have occurred in the cores of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors in addition to the meltdown already confirmed at the No. 1 reactor, but stressed that it believes the melted fuel is being kept cool at the bottom of the pressure vessels.

Tokyo Electric Power Co also maintained its view that it was only after the giant tsunami hit after the devastating March 11 earthquake that the plant lost all its power sources, eventually leading to the loss of the reactors’ key cooling functions.

The announcement came as the utility is proceeding with work to assess data taken shortly after the nuclear accident occurred. Industry minister Banri Kaieda said the government agreed at a cabinet meeting Tuesday to set up a third-party panel to look into the causes of the country’s worst ever nuclear crisis.

The government has tapped Yotaro Hatamura, a 70-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, as head of the special panel, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said in a press conference.

Japan Wants 3 Reactors Shut Until Seawall Built

Sat, 2011-05-07 21:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Chubu Electric asked to 'swiftly consider' government's request

CBC News - Posted: May 6, 2011 7:38 AM ET

Japan has urged a power company to suspend all three reactors at a coastal nuclear plant while a seawall and other structures are built to ensure a major earthquake or tsunami does not cause a second radiation crisis.

The move came Friday as the government is conducting a safety review of all Japan's 54 nuclear reactors after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 25,000 people dead and missing on the northeast coast.

The Hamaoka nuclear plant just 100 metres off the Pacific coast in central Japan is the only one so far where the government has asked that operations be halted until the utility can implement safety measures.

Chubu Electric Power Co. said in a statement it will "swiftly consider" the government's request. The statement gave no further details. Government officials estimate the work could last two years.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference Friday evening he requested the shutdown for safety reasons, citing experts' forecast of a 90 per cent probability of a quake with magnitude of 8.0 or higher striking central Japan within 30 years.

Japanese App Helps Spread Earthquake Warning

Thu, 2011-04-28 22:40 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security Newswire - April 27, 2011

After the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan, hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for a new emergency warning app for their iPhones; when an earthquake is predicted to hit, the iPhone app, called Yure Kuru, will send out an alert and let subscribers know when the quake is coming, where the epicenter is located, and how bad the shaking will be; the app was developed by Tokyo based RC Solution Co., which specializes in mass alert systems and spreading information in the event of an emergency; since the 11 March earthquake, the company's subscribers have sky rocketed from 100,000 to more than 1.5 million

After the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan leaving more than 14,000 dead and nearly 13,000 missing, hundreds of thousands of people have signed up for a new emergency warning app for their iPhones.

Twitter and Natural Disasters: Lessons from Japan

Wed, 2011-04-27 23:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Published 18 April 2011

Researchers from Kobe City University of Foreign Studies surveyed and questioned Twitter users and tracked updates from people in the disaster-struck area on the social media site two weeks after the Tohoku earthquake and devastating tsunami of 11 March; Twitter was the only functioning communication tool immediately after the earthquake; the researchers found that there benefits for using Twitter, such as bringing information to people involved in a disaster and to those hoping to hear news; there was a downside, though: Twitter helped spread unverified rumors and misinformation, causing people to panic in areas where there was no reason to panic, thus making the work of rescuers and service authorities more difficult; one solution: have the government itself use Twitter to offer reliable information to all involved

The 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Pacific Earthquake and the Seismic Damage to the NPPs

Wed, 2011-04-27 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

April 4, 2011 - Summary

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)

Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES)

(see attachment below - 76 page PDF report)

Japan Mulls Strictly Enforcing Evacuation Zone Near Plant

Wed, 2011-04-20 22:13 — Kathy Gilbeaux

AP - by Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi - April 20, 2011

TOKYO -- Japanese authorities may for the first time strictly enforce their evacuation zone around a crippled nuclear plant, citing concerns Wednesday over radiation risks for residents returning to check on their homes.

About 70,000-80,000 people were living in the 10 towns and villages within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami wrecked its power and cooling systems, setting off the worst nuclear power crisis since the 1986 catastrophe at Chernobyl.

Virtually all of the residents left when the government ordered the area evacuated on March 12, but some occasionally have returned and police cannot legally block them. There currently is no penalty for violating the zone.

"We are considering setting up 'caution areas' as an option for effectively limiting entry" to the zone, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan will meet with local officials and evacuees to discuss the plans during a visit to the affected region Thursday, Edano said.

Robot in Japanese Reactors Detects High Radiation

Mon, 2011-04-18 23:33 — Kathy Gilbeaux

AP - AOL News - by Mari Yamaguchi - April 18, 2011

TOKYO -- Readings Monday from robots that entered two crippled buildings at Japan's tsunami-flooded nuclear plant for the first time in more than a month displayed a harsh environment still too radioactive for workers to enter.

Nuclear officials said the radiation data for Unit 1 and Unit 3 at the tsunami-flooded Fukushima Dai-ichi plant - collected by U.S.-made robots that look like drafting lamps on treads - do not alter plans for stabilizing the complex by year's end under a "road map" released by the plant operator Sunday.

With the public growing increasingly frustrated at the slow response to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crises, parliament grilled Prime Minister Naoto Kan and officials from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

"You should be bowing your head in apology. You clearly have no leadership at all," Masashi Waki, a lawmaker from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, shouted at Kan.

"I am sincerely apologizing for what has happened," Kan said, stressing that the government was doing all it could to handle the unprecedented disasters.

TEPCO's president, Masataka Shimizu, looked visibly ill at ease as lawmakers heckled and taunted him.

Radioactivity Rises in Sea Off Japan Nuclear Plant

Sat, 2011-04-16 20:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

AP - by Mari Yamaguchi - April 16, 2011

TOKYO -- Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.

There were no reports of damage from the earthquake, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one that struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant March 11 after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, causing Japan's worst-ever nuclear plant disaster.

Since the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, workers have been spraying massive amounts of water on the overheated reactors. Some of that water, contaminated with radiation, leaked into the Pacific. Plant officials said they plugged that leak on April 5 and radiation levels in the sea dropped.

Map of Radiation Measurements - by Greenpeace Team

Fri, 2011-04-15 21:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux


View Map of Radiation Measurements by Greenpeace team in a larger map

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