全国の水道の放射能濃度

by Hiroko Tabuchi - The New York Times - September 24, 2011

In this photo taken Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, Naoto Matsumura's dog Aki runs to meet him while he checks on his rice paddy in Tomioka town, Fukushima, northeastern Japan. (AP / Hiro Komae)

TOKYO — Government officials on Saturday ordered more tests after detecting elevated levels of radiation in rice crops near the crippled nuclear power plant at Fukushima.

Radioactive substances have already been discovered in beef, milk, spinach and tea leaves, leading to recalls and bans on shipments. But officials have been especially worried about rice, a staple that makes up a significant part of the Japanese diet. Japan grows most of the rice that it consumes.

The Guardian - September 12, 2011

Rescue workers and medics land by helicopter at the Marcoule nuclear site, in France. Photograph: Claude Paris/AP

An explosion at a French nuclear waste processing plant that killed one person and injured four others sparked fears of a radioactive leak on Monday.

An emergency safety cordon was thrown around the Marcoule nuclear site near Nimes in the south of France immediately after a furnace used to melt nuclear waste exploded and caused a fire. It was lifted later in the day after France's nuclear safety agency, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), said there was no danger to the public.

Reports said the body of one male worker at the plant had been "found carbonised", but there was no evidence that the explosion had caused any radioactive leak, though the ASN admitted there was the "possibility of a leak of low-level radioactivity, but no shooting of radioactivity in the air". There was no information as to the cause of the explosion.

The accident came just a week after the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, bucked the anti-nuclear trend following Japan's Fukushima disaster and pledged €1bn (£860m) of new investment in atomic power.

by Mizuho Aoki - The Japan Times - September 11, 2011

Cesium absorption through roots may have long-term effect on farming

Six months after the nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture, the public's awareness of the threat posed by radiation is entering a new phase: the realization that the biggest danger now and in the future is from contaminated soil.

The iodine-131 ejected into the sky by the Fukushima No. 1 power station disaster was quickly detected in vegetables and tap water — even as far away as Tokyo, 220 km south of the plant.

But contamination levels are now so low they are virtually undetectable, thanks to the short half-life of iodine-131 — eight days — and stepped up filtering by water companies.

But cesium is proving to be a tougher foe. The element's various isotopes have half-lives ranging from two to 30 years, generating concern about the food chain in Fukushima Prefecture, a predominantly agricultural region, as the elements wash fallout into the ground.

The root of the problem is, well — roots.

Michigan State University - September 6, 2011

Homeland Security Newswire - September 7, 2011

MSU microbiologist Gemma Reguera (right) and her team of researchers have unraveled the mystery of how microbes generate electricity while cleaning up nuclear waste. Photo by Michael Steger.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Researchers at Michigan State University have unraveled the mystery of how microbes generate electricity while cleaning up nuclear waste and other toxic metals.

Details of the process, which can be improved and patented, are published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The implications could eventually benefit sites forever changed by nuclear contamination, said Gemma Reguera, MSU microbiologist.

“Geobacter bacteria are tiny micro-organisms that can play a major role in cleaning up polluted sites around the world,” said Reguera, who is an MSU AgBioResearch scientist. “Uranium contamination can be produced at any step in the production of nuclear fuel, and this process safely prevents its mobility and the hazard for exposure.”

by Hiroko Tabuchi - The New York Times - August 30, 2011

Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg News

Yoshihiko Noda, below, the new prime minister of Japan, and Naoto Kan, the outgoing leader.

TOKYO — Yoshihiko Noda, a down-to-earth fiscal conservative, was elected prime minister by the Japanese Parliament on Tuesday in the sixth change of leaders in five years, a period of mounting economic and social challenges to the world’s third-largest economy.

submitted by Lloyd Helferty

Dear Biochar Ontario members and friends (in Japan),

  Please refer to the attached Flyer ("Tirashi.PDF").

This flyer contains information about an upcoming event in Japan that is being held in celebration of the launch of the 5ivePlanets ISH, a registered NFP Japanese initiative (Headquartered in Yokohama), whose goal is to leverage both education and technologies that work in balance with the natural cycles of the earth to increase our capacity to provide for our collective children on the one and only planet we actually have.

The mission of 5ivePlanets is to ensure sustainable food and resource supplies for the Children of the Future through effective use of appropriate technologies and education.

United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission - July 12, 2011

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released "Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21^st Century: The Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident." The Near-Term Task Force was established in response to Commission direction to conduct a systematic and methodical review of NRC processes and regulations to determine whether the agency should make additional improvements to its regulatory system and to make recommendations to the Commission for its policy direction, in light of the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21^st Century: The Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident (96 page .PDF report)

http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1118/ML111861807.pdf

http://www.nrc.gov/japan/japan-info.html

The Sydney Morning Herald - August 26, 2011

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has resigned as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, effectively ending his tenure as Japanese leader.

"I resign as the (party) president effective today," Mr Kan told senior party officials, Japan's Jiji press quoted him as saying today.

The long-expected move paves the way for the election of the nation's sixth prime minister in five years as Japan looks to safeguard a recovery from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and an ongoing nuclear crisis.

by Yoko Kubota - Tokyo - Reuters - August 25, 2011

(Reuters) - Nearly six months after the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan faces the task of cleaning up a sprawling area of radioactivity that could cost tens of billions of dollars, and thousands may not be able to return home for years, if ever.

Fuel core meltdowns at the facility in March, triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami, released radioactive material into the air which mixed with rain and snow and covered dozens of towns as well as farmland and woods, mainly along the northeast coast of Honshu.

Tokyo has been slow to provide a plan for rehabilitation, leading some residents near the plant exposed to high levels of radioactive caesium in homes and food, have started their own cleanup instead of waiting for the government to act.

BBC - August 23, 2011

The earthquake and tsunami caused widespread destruction to Japan's north-east coast.

Rating agency Moody's has cut Japan's long-term sovereign debt rating citing concerns about the size of the country's deficit and borrowing levels.

The rating was cut to Aa3 from Aa2, though Moody's also said the country's outlook was stable.

Japan has been trying to recover since the global economic crisis in 2009.

However, it was also hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March, and the rebuilding cost is weighing on growth and state finances.

"The rating downgrade is prompted by the large budget deficits and the build-up in Japanese government debt since the 2009 global recession," Moody's said in its statement.

"Over the past five years, frequent changes in administrations have prevented the government from implementing long-term economic and fiscal strategies into effective and durable policies."

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services - August 1, 2011

New contracts fund drugs to treat gastrointestinal tract injuries of acute radiation syndrome

The first two contracts for advanced development of drugs to treat gastrointestinal (GI) tract injuries associated with acute radiation syndrome were awarded today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

The contracts are part of an ongoing effort to develop diagnostic tools and drugs to protect health and save lives in a radiological or nuclear emergency such as a nuclear bomb or improvised nuclear device. When the GI tract is exposed to high levels of radiation it becomes inflamed, and the drugs being studied under these contracts may prevent or decrease that inflammation.