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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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Plutonium Traces Found in Iitate Soil

Tue, 2011-10-04 23:58 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Japan Times - October 1, 2011

Plutonium has been detected at six locations in Fukushima Prefecture, including Iitate village around 45 km northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, which suffered three reactor meltdowns after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, science ministry officials said.

It is the first time the government has confirmed the spread of plutonium outside Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s stricken plant. The plutonium turned up in soil samples.

The detected amounts of plutonium were small and posed no danger to health, the officials said.

Plutonium has an extremely long half-life and is associated with a high risk of cancer if it enters the human body via breathing or other means.

"Because the fuels (in the reactors) melted down, plutonium may have been emitted with steam or other small particles and sent airborne," a Tepco official said. "(Judging by the amount of plutonium) it is believed to be from the accident."

The science ministry has also looked into radioactive strontium and detected the isotope at several dozen observation sites out of 100 it inspected, including a location about 80 km from the Fukushima plant.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) Hit by Cyber-Attacks; Data Stolen

Tue, 2011-10-04 23:29 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Daily Yomiuri - September 20, 2011

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has come under cyber-attack by unidentified hackers who are believed to have stolen confidential data from defense- and nuclear power-related facilities run by the major machinery maker, sources familiar with the case said.

About 80 servers and computers at MHI factories, including those used to build state-of-the-art submarines, missiles and nuclear power plants, have been infected with computer viruses, according to the sources.

"We are investigating all the facts of the case," an MHI spokesman said.

The servers and computers in question were apparently penetrated from outside the company, and there are indications that some confidential information has been stolen from the machines.

MHI reported the incident to police after concluding that its servers and computers had been targeted by what are known as spear attacks, the sources said.

The latest revelation is the first of its kind to be made in connection with cyber-attack on the nation's defense industry, according to observers.

Explosion at French Nuclear Waste Plant

Mon, 2011-09-12 16:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

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.

Bill Compiled to Decontaminate Radiation from Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Fri, 2011-08-19 22:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

asahi.com - August 17, 2011

The central government will decontaminate soil, vegetation and buildings exposed to radiation spread by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The contents of a special measures bill to deal with environmental pollution from radioactive materials have been agreed to by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan as well as the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. The parties plan to submit the bill to the Diet next week so that it gains passage before the Diet session winds up Aug. 31.

Under the proposed legislation, the central government will also remove contaminated rubble.

As of now, there are no laws to deal with contamination of the environment by radioactive materials.

As such, it will become the first law to deal with this problem as the result of a nuclear accident.

The bill's objective is to reduce the health risk posed by radiation contamination.

The environment minister would have the authority to designate special areas that require decontamination measures.

Mountains of Debris Stand in the Way of Quake Reconstruction

Fri, 2011-08-19 22:26 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

asahi.com - August 17, 2011

The tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake left 22 million tons of debris and rubble scattered across three prefectures in the Tohoku region. No real steps toward restoration can be taken until it is removed. Last month, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's administration at long last introduced a bill to the Diet to place the national government in direct control of the cleanup. Will concentrated efforts to remove the debris now finally get underway?

At the end of June, disaster experts, representatives from the Environment Ministry and officials from affected municipal governments gathered at a conference in Sendai for a meeting on how to dispose of the debris. The gathering, organized by Japan Society of Material Cycles and Wast Management, a scientific group studying the debris problem, attracted 150 people, well above expected numbers, forcing organizers to change the venue to a larger room.

During the Q&A session, municipal government personnel peppered representatives from the environment ministry, which is responsible for dealing with the debris problem, with questions concerning the cleanup.

Researchers Develop Controversial Earthquake Detection Network

Thu, 2011-08-18 21:23 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Homeland Security Newswire - August 18, 2011

     

A QuakeFinder network installation // Source: newsvine.com

Researchers at a Silicon Valley company are hard at work developing an experimental network of electromagnetic sensors that could predict large earthquakes as much as two weeks in advance; the theory behind the research is disputed, but Tom Bleier, the inventor and chief engineer behind project QuakeFinder, hopes to prove seismologists wrong.

Researchers at a Silicon Valley company are hard at work developing an experimental network of electromagnetic sensors that could predict large earthquakes as much as two weeks in advance.

The theory behind the research is disputed, but Tom Bleier, the inventor and chief engineer behind project QuakeFinder, hopes to prove seismologists wrong. Under the project, engineers will install roughly 200 five-foot tall sensors near fault lines in California to measure changes in underground magnetic fields and to detect electrically charged particles in the air.

IAEA International Fact Finding Expert Mission of the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP Accident Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami

Fri, 2011-08-05 20:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

                                        

Report to the IAEA Member States

Tokyo, Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP, Fukushima Dai-ni NPP, and Tokai Dai-ni NPP, Japan

24 May - 2 June 2011

By agreement with the Government of Japan, the International Atomic Energy Agency

conducted a preliminary mission to find facts and identify initial lessons to be learned from

the accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi and share this information across the world nuclear

community. To this end, a team of experts undertook this Fact Finding Mission from 24 May

to 2 June 2011. The results of the Mission will be reported to the IAEA Ministerial

Conference on Nuclear Safety at IAEA headquarters in Vienna on 20 24 June 2011.

During the IAEA Mission, the team of nuclear experts received excellent cooperation from all

parties, receiving information from many relevant Japanese ministries, nuclear regulators and

operators. The Mission also visited three affected nuclear power plants (NPP) — Tokai Dai-

ni, Fukushima Dai-ni and Dai-ichi — to gain an appreciation of the status of the plants and

the scale of the damage. The facility visits allowed the experts to talk to the operator staff as

Video - IAEA Chief Surveys Progress at Fukushima Accident Site

Fri, 2011-08-05 12:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

IAEA.org - July 25, 2011

At the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano received on 25 July 2011 an extensive briefing and visited key locations at the nuclear accident site.

Eyewitnesses at Fukushima

Sensor Network to Provide Early Quake Alerts

Tue, 2011-07-19 14:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security Newswire - July 19, 2011

Researchers from U.S. universities are collaborating to implement a new network of seismic sensors aimed at arming communities with early earthquake detection and warning capabilities; the sensors, no bigger than a Post-it note, are part of a new phase of the Quake-Catcher Network (QCN), a project gathering detailed data to help scientists understand the earthquake process and how to mitigate against its effects.

Six thousand seismic sensors, 200 volunteers, and a University of Delaware researcher all have one thing in common – helping scientists study earthquakes.

Michela Taufer, assistant professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, is collaborating with researchers from Stanford University and the U.S. Geological Survey to implement a new network of seismic sensors aimed at arming communities with early earthquake detection and warning capabilities.

Beef Contaminated With Cesium Sold at Market

Wed, 2011-07-13 00:17 — Kathy Gilbeaux

asahi.com - July 13, 2011

Beef from cows from Fukushima Prefecture contaminated with radioactive cesium was sold to restaurants and shoppers in at least five prefectures, according to Tokyo metropolitan government officials.

The officials said July 11 that contaminated beef from six cows raised at a ranch in Minami-Soma was sold in Hokkaido, Chiba, Aichi, Tokushima and Kochi prefectures.

The rancher on July 10 admitted ignoring a prefectural order not to use potentially contaminated feed stored outdoors after explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Fukushima prefectural officials said.

Wholesalers in Tokyo sold the beef to dealers in Tokyo as well as Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Osaka and Ehime prefectures before the meat reached those prefectures, the Tokyo officials said.

The revelations come after Tokyo officials discovered radioactive cesium at levels up to 3,200 becquerels per kilogram, or 6.4 times the national safety limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram, in meat from 11 cows from the same ranch earlier this month. However, beef from the cows did not make it to market.

The beef that did make it to market and consumers' tables was from six cows shipped before the cesium contamination was discovered.

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