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.

Japan Quake Reconstruction Could Take Ten Years

Wed, 2011-04-27 22:42 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Homeland Security Newswire - April 27, 2011

Yesterday an advisory panel to the Japanese government announced that it could take a decade to rebuild Japan after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami wiped out much of north-eastern Japan; the council said that the first three years alone would be devoted to building roads and erecting temporary housing for the thousands of families that have been displaced; rebuilding towns could take another four years and a full recovery might take even longer; the damage from the recent quake was far greater than the large quake that struck Japan in 1995; Prime Minister Kan's cabinet has approved almost $50 billion in spending for post-earthquake rebuilding

Yesterday an advisory panel to the Japanese government announced that it could take a decade to rebuild Japan after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami wiped out much of north-eastern Japan.

Jun Iio, a member of Japan’s Reconstruction Design Council, formed by Prime Minister Kan to advise the government’s reconstruction efforts, said that the first three years alone would be devoted to building roads and erecting temporary housing for the thousands of families that have been displaced.

The 25th Anniversary of Chornobyl

Tue, 2011-04-26 16:31 — mdmcdonald

 

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Fukushima Nuclear Accident - Radiation Comparison

Mon, 2011-04-25 23:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Alister Wm Macintyre

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Fukushima7.png

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.

Radiation Readings 17 APR: outside 20 km zone Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP

Sun, 2011-04-17 16:13 — JRees

Jap radiation 17 Apr

MEXT is recording radiation measurements at 3 hour intervals in the region 20 km and greater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In addition to Japanese,   reports are issued in English version, Chinese version and Korean version. The latest maximum readings reported April 17 and also the prior day, April 16, occur ar reading posts [32] and [83].

[32] Futaba county Namie town Akougi Teshichiro (About30km northwest)

- 23.1  μSv/h at 10:52  April 17     |        25.3 μSv/h at 10:13  April 16

[83] Futaba county Namie town Akougi Kunugidaira (About20km northwest)

- 39.4 μSv/h at 10:24  April 17   |   43.8 μSv/h at 11:15  April 16

For reference, previous readings:

- 38.0 μSv/h March 31 at reading post [32]

- 55.6 μSv/h March 31 at reading post [83]

- 87.0 μSv/h March 27 at reading post [83] 

MEXT to pay airfare to bring international scholarship students back to Japan

Sun, 2011-04-17 15:36 — JRees

This is a notice to inform you that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will be implementing support for international students relating to the Great East Japan Earthquake as given below.
We will also be continuing to consider further detailed measures in accordance with the circumstances of the international students.

TEPCO: 6 to 9 month containment plan

Sun, 2011-04-17 15:05 — JRees

TEPCO has a two phase plan to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As explained at a news conference on Sunday by chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company, Tsunehisa Katsumata:

Phase One - 3 months

-build new cooling systems outside Units 1 and 3 to cool down fuel

- patch the damaged section of Unit 2 reactor to contain radioactivity leakage

Phase Two - 3 to 6 months

Fukushima Extended Evacuation Zone _52184445_graphic - lower the temperature of the nuclear fuel in all reactors to below 100o Celsius

- cover the reactor buildings with giant covers with filters to prevent the release of radioactive substances into the air.

- set up equipment to purify contaminated water in tanks and other facilities.

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.

Geiger counters ineffective for checking food, water

Sat, 2011-04-16 05:07 — JRees

Radiation factors hard to gauge; experts say rely on official data
Bloomberg, April 16th

Geiger counters are probably ineffective for consumers in detecting hazardous levels of radiation in food and water at home, scientists, professors and device makers said. Large samples should be tested in laboratory-like settings to obtain results, said Joseph Rotunda, who heads the radiation measurement division at toolmaker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Determining whether food, water or milk is safe also requires expert knowledge and more sophisticated equipment than the typical devices sold online, said Atsushi Katayama, a member of the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.

"Just pointing a measuring device at your food before dinner is pretty much meaningless," said Katayama, who has a doctorate in analytical chemistry from Hokkaido University. "Tap water and fish, for example, require special handling, isolation and concentration to get meaningful readings."

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

US Department of State Lifts Voluntary Authorized Departure, allowing dependents of the U.S. government employees to return to Japan.

Fri, 2011-04-15 03:59 — JRees

The assessment of technical and subject matter experts across United States Government agencies is that while the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains serious and dynamic, the health and safety risks to areas beyond the 50 mile evacuation zone, and particularly to Tokyo, Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture), Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture) nearby U.S. military facilities and the prefectures of  Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Gunma, Iwate, Nagano, Niigata, Saitama, Shizuoka, Tochigi, and Yamanashi, and those portions of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures which are outside a 50 mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are low and do not pose significant risks to U.S. citizens. 

This analysis takes into consideration both various age groups and the classification of the severity of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi as a Level 7 event by the Government of Japan, which reflects what has transpired since the initial incident and the potential long-term effects in the area surrounding the plant.

In Japan a Shift From Aid Donor to Recipient

Fri, 2011-04-15 03:46 — JRees

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Source: IPS Online

TOKYO, Apr 13, 2011 (IPS) - April has traditionally been the time for ‘hanami’, or cherry blossom festivals, when millions of Japanese hold parties under the pink flowering trees in parks and streets lit up gaily by lanterns.

But, one month after the earthquake and tsunami of Mar. 11 which left almost 30,000 people dead or missing, a widespread donation drive has supplanted the festive hanami spirit in Tokyo and other major cities.

"The terrible Tohoku disaster has galvanised the nation to launch a nation- wide charity movement," Kyoichi Kobayashi, a social critic and author here, told IPS. "The drive is an entirely new experience for the people who have gotten used to an affluent lifestyle that marks Japan’s post-war economic might."

Indeed, from Hokkaido, Japan’s north island, to Okinawa, the southern tip in the archipelago, hundreds of local volunteer groups, companies and organisations have launched frantic aid projects or are working as volunteers to help the stricken populations in the disaster zones.

Drugs to test / treat radiation poisoning being researched

Thu, 2011-04-14 07:03 — JRees

WASHINGTON ---- Japan's nuclear emergency highlights a big medical gap: Few treatments exist to help people exposed to large amounts of radiation.

But some possibilities are in the pipeline ---- development of drugs to treat radiation poisoning, and the first rapid tests to tell who in a panicked crowd would really need them.

The U.S. calls these potential products "countermeasures," and they're part of the nation's preparations against a terrorist attack, such as a dirty bomb. But if they work, they could be useful in any kind of radiation emergency.

"Thinking of terrorist events is what drives us. Mother Nature can be much of a terror, too," says Dr. Robin Robinson, who heads the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, that funds late-stage research of products the government deems most likely to pan out.

BARDA has invested $164 million for research into anti-radiation treatment candidates since 2008, and $44 million for radiation testing ---- in hopes of adding such products to the nation's emergency medical stockpile soon. That's in addition to research dollars from the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department.

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