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Residents Scramble as Japan Seals Area Near Plant Excerpts:
Japan sealed off a wide area around a radiation-spewing nuclear power plant on Friday to prevent tens of thousands of residents from sneaking back to the homes they quickly evacuated, some with little more than a credit card and the clothes on their backs.
Fearing they might not see their homes again for months, evacuees raced into the deserted towns Thursday before the ban took effect to grab whatever belongings they could cram into their cars.
Nearly 80,000 people were hurriedly evacuated from a 12-mile zone around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on March 12, after an earthquake and a tsunami destroyed its power and cooling systems. The order had no teeth, however, and people began increasingly returning to check on the remains of their lives. Some had stayed all along.
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Under a special nuclear emergency law, people who enter the zone will now be subject to fines of up to $1,200 or possible detention for up to 30 days. Until now, defiance of the evacuation order was not punishable and the police manning the roadblocks had no authority to stop people from entering.
Japan earmarks first $50 bn for post-quake rebuild
TOKYO: Japan's cabinet approved on Friday almost $50 billion of spending for post-earthquake rebuilding, a down payment on the country's biggest public works effort in six decades.
The emergency budget of 4 trillion yen ($48.5 billion), which is likely be followed by more reconstruction spending packages, is still dwarfed by the overall cost of damages caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, estimated at $300 billion.
"With this budget, we are taking one step forward towards reconstruction ... and towards restarting the economy," Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
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Though Japan's debt is around twice the size of its $5 trillion economy, it does not face a Greece-style debt crisis since most of that debt is owed to domestic creditors rather than foreign banks.
Radioactive water likely to hamper cooling effort. Via Rense.
The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power facility plans to cool the reactors by filling their vessels with water. However, that process may be hampered by waste water contaminated with highly radioactive materials.
According Tokyo Electric Power Company's blueprint for bringing the troubled facility under control, the Number 1 and 3 reactor vessels will be filled with water up to the height of the nuclear fuel rods by the middle of July. This is aimed at cooling the reactors in a stable manner.
And:
The utility needs to check the reactor turbine building for any water leakage from the building housing the reactor, but workers cannot enter the reactor building at present. However (No, not "However." The word they were looking for is "Also"), the effort to identify the source of a leak is difficult because of radioactive water inside the basement of the turbine building.
Work to move contaminated water from the Number 2 reactor is already underway. However, it's not clear when they can begin moving contaminated water from the Number 1 reactor.
Four More Quakes Hit East Coast Of Japan, Vicinity Of Fukushima
Radioactive iodine found in breast milk of Japanese mothers. Via Rense. Excerpts:
The breast milk of four Japanese mothers has been found to contain small quantities of radioactive iodine.
The government faced calls for a full investigation into the impact of the nuclear disaster on mothers and babies following the discovery.
The radiation contamination came to light after tests were conducted on breast milk samples taken from nine women living northeast or east of Tokyo.
Four of these women were found to be contaminated, with the highest reading of 36.3 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kg detected in the milk of the mother of an eight-month-old baby in Kashiwa, Chiba prefecture.
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However, the breast milk readings were below the safety limit of 100 becquerels per kg of tap water consumption by infants under one year of age and no radioactive cesium was found. (Would there be different standards for tap water and breast milk? I would assume the fat contained in breast milk would warrant a lower threshold of exposure, but that's just me guessing..)
Leading Epidemiologist: Instead of Trying to Avoid Japanese Radiation, Put Your Energy Into Demanding a Saner Energy Policy Great read from Washington's Blog.
Core of Stricken Reactor Probably Leaked, U.S. Says This is Reactor 2 Excerpts:.
WASHINGTON — The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that some of the core of a stricken Japanese reactor had probably leaked from its steel pressure vessel into the bottom of the containment structure, implying that the damage was even worse than previously thought.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s statement regarded unit No. 2, and the agency underscored that its interpretation was speculative and based on high radiation readings that Tokyo Electric had found in the lower part of unit No. 2’s primary containment structure, called the drywell. The statement said that the commission “does not believe that the reactor vessel has given way, and we do believe practically all of the core remains in the vessel.”
The agency’s statement was issued after Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, told a House hearing on Wednesday morning that the commission had told him that the core had melted through the vessel.
TEPCO official describes possible meltdown at No. 1 reactor: The “molten fuel accumulates like lava” From Energy News.
Kyodo reported that on Wednesday a TEPCO official admitted the fuel in reactor No. 1 “could be melting.”
TEPCO official Junichi Matsumoto described the “possible meltdown”, comparing it to “a state in which molten fuel accumulates like lava.”
World Exclusive Photos: Inside Fukushima (Dead Zone) Via Rense.
Takashi Morizumi is a veteran Japanese photojournalist who has documented the hibakusha, or radiation victims, at nearly every nuclear disaster site around the world, including Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the former Soviet test site at Semipalatinsk, Ground Zero in Nevada, Bikini Island and Chernobyl in Ukraine.
The radiation levels around the partially melted-down Fukushima 1 nuclear plant are the worst he's ever experienced.
TEPCO Checking Seabed For Plutonium, Says There's Little Doubt It Has Leaked Since March 11 (Video) Via Rense.
Quake relief tax hike Excerpts:
Japanese consumers may have to help foot the reconstruction bill after last month's earthquake and tsunami caused $300 billion of damage, further burdening the hugely indebted economy, a newspaper said on Tuesday. It would be the first increase since 1997, though a sales tax hike had been the subject of fierce political debate before the earthquake struck as one way for Japan to dig itself out of its massive debt.
The government is considering raising the tax by 3 percentage points to 8 percent when the new fiscal year starts next April, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
Japan To Set Up Committee To Oversee Tokyo Electric Power
The Japanese government will set up a committee to oversee Tokyo Electric Power Co., to strengthen its involvement in the reconstruction of the company and work to determine procedures for compensation payments to those affected by the crisis.
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"The compensation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crisis is likely to reach trillions of yen. Depending on the amount of compensation, the company may face serious financial problems," the sources said.
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The government and the company will decide how to share the costs and responsibilities before starting a full investigation into Tokyo Electric Power's financial conditions.
It's nice of them to pretend, but TEPCO's pretty much dead already.
Toyota making drastic production cuts after Japan quake, tsunami
Toyota has announced drastic production cuts in North America and China due to difficulty in supplying parts following the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Previously, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), had said it would suspend production on Mondays and Fridays between April 15 and April 25. That will continue through June 3, the company said in a statement.
"During the same period, production will run at 50% on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," the statement said.
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Toyota employs 25,000 workers in North America. It operates nine plants in the United States in Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, California and Mississippi. It also operates three plants in Canada and one in Mexico.
Japan´s March trade surplus plunges after tsunami
TOKYO: Japan's trade surplus plunged 78.9 percent in March from a year earlier as exports fell after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami which triggered a nuclear crisis, the finance ministry said Wednesday.
The surplus reached 196.5 billion yen (2.37 billion dollars), still managing to stay in the black for the second straight month, the ministry said.
Exports fell 2.2 percent to 5.87 trillion yen (70.9 billion dollars), falling for the first time in 16 months due to reduced shipments of automobiles and vessels, it said.
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The fall was led by vehicle exports, which fell 27.8 percent. Exports of ships dropped 10.0 percent, and electronics parts fell 6.9 percent, the ministry said.
Japan mulls limited access to zone near nuke plant
Authorities were considering restricting access to the evacuation zone around Japan's crippled nuclear plant Wednesday to limit radiation exposure to residents who may want to return to their homes.
"We are considering setting up 'caution areas' as an option for effectively limiting entry" to the zone, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
It was unclear when the ban might be imposed.
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, which has been leaking radiation after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami wrecked its power and cooling systems.
Alarming New Fukushima Reports Excerpts:
Five weeks after Japan's disaster, reports suggest worse, not improved conditions. It portends serious regional and global trouble ahead, besides what's already happened.
..a 5.9 level aftershock.. (hit).. the country early Saturday. So far, no additional damage reports were issued. However, seawater radioactive Iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times above normal, up from 1,100 times Friday, and Cesium-134 and 137 rose nearly fourfold.
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) raised the possibility of worrisome new leaks, admitting that tracking them is difficult. Nonetheless, they still claim no threat to humans or sea life despite numerous independent experts raising dire warnings of spreading global radiation, including plutonium, the most deadly substance known, a microscopic speck enough to cause cancer.
And:
On April 11, environmental expert Dr. Ilya Perlingieri's article headlined, "Fukushima's Nuclear Disaster: One Month and Counting," saying:
So far, "(n)othing is even remotely improved. In fact, things are dramatically worse." Hazardous reactors like GE's Mark 1 place entire populations at risk where they operate. "The radioactive consequences of" four Fukushima reactors "far exceed(s) Chernobyl."
As a result, the consequences for all Japanese residents will be enormous. But they also affect others as "various radioactive elements travel (by wind and water) around the globe." Potentially, everyone may be affected to a greater or lesser extent, including future generations.
In addition, dumping thousands of tons of radioactive water into the ocean is an environmental crime. Contaminated water "will now travel across the (Pacific) to North America's West Coast," contaminating the entire food chain in the process.
Then, as "water goes through its cycles, it will evaporate, and radioactive air will be carried around the globe. We are all in grave danger."
Nuclear Overseers Are "Fake" Agencies Funded and Controlled by the Nuclear Power Industry
New video from Arnie Gundersen: Gundersen Discusses Current Condition of Reactors, TEPCO Claim of "No Fission" in Fuel Pool, and Lack of Radiation Monitoring in fish.
Nuke plant workers pump out toxic water Excerpts:
Workers at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan are removing highly radioactive water from a reactor turbine building, a key step towards restoring cooling systems, the government said.
About 10,000 tonnes of highly radioactive water will be transferred from the turbine building of reactor No. 2 to a treatment facility inside the plant for processing, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said. (This is the troubled reactor Gundersen just told you about, providing you watched the video..)
Robots find radiation too high for humans Excerpts:
Robots deployed inside two reactors at the Japanese nuclear plant overrun by last month's tsunami have detected radiation levels too high for workers to enter, posing challenges for a new plan to bring the ravaged complex under control by year's end.
Workers have not been able to enter four of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant since the days immediately after the earthquake and tsunami March 11. Vital plant cooling systems were knocked out, setting off hydrogen explosions at four of the plant's six reactors that blew off their roofs and littered the site with radioactive debris.
At Unit 1, robots detected radiation of as much as 49 millisieverts per hour, while at Unit 3, the reading was 57 millisieverts per hour. But in recent weeks, far higher readings have come from areas where contaminated water has accumulated, such as the turbine building at Unit 2, where experts say the reactor pressure vessel may be cracked and leaking nuclear material.
Japan automakers' supply chain crisis may 'last months': analysts Read: Many months.. Excerpts:
TOKYO--A component supply crisis that has strangled auto production in Japan and enforced a slowdown overseas in the wake of the March 11 disasters will last several months, analysts say.
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Power shortages have hit production across all industries and threaten to throw an export-driven economy into a tailspin, analysts say, amid fears the crisis could speed up a shift of production out of Japan already encouraged by the strong yen.
For automakers the world over, the impact has been acute with companies from Toyota to Ford shuttering plants as far away as Britain, the United States, Turkey, France, Australia, Poland and the Philippines amid a supply shock.
“The problem will last for several months and could even last for a year,” said Tatsuya Mizuno, an auto industry analyst with Mizuno Credit Advisory in Tokyo.
“The supply chain for automakers was seriously damaged. (Japanese firms) have around one month of inventories, but some suppliers have suffered so much it is very unlikely that they will be able to restart full production soon.”
Fukushima - Reading Between The Lines From Rense. Excerpts:
That's the politically correct way of saying they are dumping radioactive water into the ocean. Silt fences don't stop water. Water seeks it's own level. SEA level.
In addition, they got an increased pressure reading in one of the cores and began injecting nitrogen to prevent a hydrogen explosion - but that won't control the pressure and it will eventually vent to the atmosphere or to the water table. Unless, of course, the hydrogen blows up - which is the same thing - it will vent to atmospheric pressure. So that is busy-work as well. They want to be able to say, and ARE SAYING "We are doing our best, and cleaning up an old accident. No more earthquakes will occur, so neither this plant, which is hanging on by it's fingernails, nor any OTHER bland on the affected coastline are in any danger. Go about your business."
That belief is irrational. But worse, it isn't true.
Fresh leak fears as Japan rocked by ANOTHER earthquake From The Mirror, via Rense. Excerpts:
RADIATION levels around Japan’s stricken nuclear plant soared after another earthquake jolted the country yesterday.
Levels of radioactivity rose sharply in seawater near the plant. It happened shortly after the Tokyo Electric Power Company had beefed up safety systems. TEPCO has been fighting leaks at the plant since it was crippled by a tsunami on March 11.
Workers cannot approach reactor buildings NHK, via Rense. Excerpts:
At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, high levels of radiation have kept workers from approaching the buildings housing the first 3 reactors, which lost their cooling functions in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
On Friday, the highest radiation level measured outside the double-entry doors of the Number 1 to 3 reactor buildings was 2 to 4 millisieverts per hour.
Radiation levels measured between the double doors of those reactor buildings was 270 millisieverts in the Number One reactor, 12 in Number 2, and 10 in Number 3.
The radiation level detected at the Number One reactor exceeds the national exposure limit of 250 millisieverts for nuclear contract workers.
Special Report: The nuclear industry's trillion dollar question
Before Fukushima, more than 300 nuclear reactors were planned or proposed worldwide, the vast majority of them in fast-growing developing economies. While parts of the developed world might now freeze or even reduce their reliance on nuclear, emerging markets such as China, India, the Middle East and Eastern Europe will continue their nuclear drive.
But with fewer plants to bid on, the competition for new projects is likely to grow even fiercer -- and more complicated. Will concern about safety benefit Western reactor builders, or will cheaper suppliers in Russia and South Korea hold their own? And what if the crisis at Fukushima drags on as appears likely? Could it still trigger the start of another ice age for nuclear power, like Chernobyl did in 1986? Or will it be a bump, a temporary dip in an upward growth curve?
Japanese unhappy with government crisis response - poll
A majority of people in Japan disapprove of the government's handling of the nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima plant, opinion polls suggest.
Japan to announce time of completion for nuke emergency
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said while meeting with Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato that the government would give an estimate in the next few days of when the nuclear emergency will be contained, the Kyodo News reports.
Considering the pattern of deception, obfuscation, and general incompetence surrounding everything TEPCO does, why even bother with an estimate? No One Believes Your Corporation.
Japan’s TEPCO plans 'shutdown' in 6-9 months What did I just say about estimates?
TEPCO's chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said at a press conference that the utility aims to cool reactors and start reducing radiation from the explosion-charred facilities within three months.
Within six to nine months, TEPCO said in a statement, it expects to achieve "cold shutdowns" of all the six reactors, a stable condition in which temperatures drop and radiation leaks fall dramatically.
"As the short-term targets, we have set two steps," said Katsumata. "Step one is to steadily reduce the amount of radiation.”
"In step two, we aim to control the release of radioactive substances and greatly control the amount of radiation."
Robots to gauge radiation in Japan's quake-hit plant
The operator of Japan's stricken nuclear plant said Sunday it will send two remote-controlled robots into a reactor building damaged by a hydrogen explosion to gauge radiation and temperature levels.
A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the two American-made robots would enter the reactor three building on Sunday to check radiation, temperature, humidity and oxygen levels.
Radiation from the overheating reactors has made its way into the air, land and sea, leading the government to impose exclusion zones around the plant in Fukushima prefecture and damaging local fishing and farming industries.
Japan, US Announce Partnership to Rebuild Region Hit by Quake, Tsunami
Japan and the United States have agreed to create a public-private partnership, under Tokyo's guidance, to help rebuild communities devastated by last month's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami.
Hmm.
Radioactivity in sea rises again
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.
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But the government said Saturday that radioactivity in the seawater has risen again in recent days. The level of radioactive iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit, according to samples taken Friday, up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before. Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold. The increased levels are still far below those recorded earlier this month before the initial leak was plugged.
Untrained labourers working in Japan’s nuclear industry
For decades, Japan’s nuclear power industry has claimed to be among the safest in the world, and presented itself as an icon of the technological prowess of Japanese capitalism. The radiation crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has exposed not only inadequate safety procedures, but the industry’s exploitation of untrained and low-paid casual labourers.
Nuclear plants in Japan hire thousands of temporary and contract workers to undertake the most dangerous and physically demanding duties. In order to avoid exceeding official radiation levels, these labourers must rotate frequently as they perform tasks such as cleaning off contaminated water from reactor drywells and spent fuel pools with mops and rags, or filling drums with contaminated waste.
Citing statistics from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), the official government regulator, the New York Times reported on April 9 that contract workers made up 88 percent of the 83,000 workers at Japan’s 18 commercial nuclear power plants. At the Fukushima plant, owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), 89 percent of the 10,303 workers were contractors, subcontractors and sub-subcontractors, whose wages and conditions were generally far worse than those of TEPCO’s regular employees.
Takeshi Kawakami, a 64-year-old former worker who worked at the No.1 reactor at Fukushima in the 1980s, told the newspaper that when exposed to radiation, he usually did not last 20 minutes. “It was unbearable, and you had your mask on, and it was so tight,” he said. “I started feeling dizzy. I could not even see what I was doing. I thought I would drown in my own sweat.” (This is the kind of bullshit corporate-malfeasance-to-homicidal-negligence that unions prevent. There doesn't seem to be too much of a Government Regulatory presence here, either. Understand now, these are not hypotheticals. They happened, and happened as a matter of course. This is how unregulated corporate entities behave toward individual workers, and without any unions to stand in the way, this is how they will continue to behave. As a matter of course..)
OMG JAPAN IS SINKING!! ..APRIL 10 2011 PEOPLE ARE WAY TOO RELAXED ( ASLEEP) You Tube via Rense.
Japan Mulls to Move Capital over Disaster Worries Curious. From Sofia News Agency(Bulgaria) via Rense. Excerpts:
As powerful earthquakes continue to jolt Japan and radiation levels near Tokyo are rising, the Asian country's authorities are considering moving the capital to another city.
The most probable location for a new capital are Osaka and Nagoya, according to ITAR-TASS. Both cities are located near international airports.
Toyota to halve Japan domestic production in May
Japan's Toyota Motor Co. said Friday it would operate all its domestic plants at half normal volume from May 10 to June 3, citing problems with parts supply following the quake and tsunami disaster.
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A component supply crisis has strangled auto production in Japan and enforced a slowdown overseas in the wake of the March 11 disasters, and analysts say it will last several months amid continued power outages.
Tepco forced to compensate Fukushima evacuees Poor TEPCO, having to pay out so much hard earned cash to the thousands(Ultimately, millions) of people whose lives they've ruined. Sympathy, sympathy, sympathy.. Excerpts:
The Japanese government has ordered Tokyo Electric Power to pay compensation to 50,000 families forced to evacuate areas near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, the first significant pay-out in what is expected to be a costly financial relief programme.
Tepco, which operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant, must pay each family Y1m ($12,000), or Y750,000 in the case of single-person households, putting the total cost of the pay-out at upwards of Y50bn. An executive said the company aimed to make the first payments in early May, after the first applications are accepted on Apr 28\
Siemens reconsiders nuclear ambitions Interesting in light of the Stuxnet conspiracy.
Store blood cells from Fukushima workers - Lancet letter
A group of Japanese doctors on Friday urged workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant to have their blood stemcells stored as a safeguard should they be exposed to life-threatening levels of radiation.
The technique entails storing so-called autologous peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs), which are immature cells that differentiate into blood cells.
PBSC transplants are often used in cancer treatment to boost depleted blood cell counts among patients who have had radiotherapy to destroy a tumour.
In a letter to the British medical weekly The Lancet, cancer specialists at four Japanese hospitals argued that it made sense to store blood from the hundreds of workers battling to save the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from catastrophe.
Fukushima Falling Apart. Via Rense. Excerpts:
It’s been a month since the 9.0 Earthquake, tsunami, and the first of a series of explosions at the Daiichi reactors. Since that time, Japan has received 980 earthquakes and aftershocks: a number so staggering that it is almost incomprehensible. Numerous explosions have occurred as well, and every day it seems the Japanese nuclear and government official reveal a little more about the true nature of the on-going tragedy at Fukushima.
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A second JAIF press release is more concerning and revealing. If we read the fine print, we can note that “NISA announced that the reactor pressure vessel of Unit 2 and 3 may have lost air tightness because of low pressure inside the pressure vessel. NISA told that it is unlikely that these are cracks or holes in the reactor pressure vessels at the same occasion. (What?)
Nitrogen gas injection into the Unit 1containment vessel has been continued to reduce the possibility of hydrogen explosion since Apr. 6th. The pressure of the vessel has hardly risen for the past a few days and leakage of the vessel is suspected. The same measure will be taken for Unit 2 and 3.”. It appears that the reactors are continuous leaking, not too surprising given the hydrogen explosions that have rocked the reactors, but here a first confirmation of cracks within the reactors.
While the NHK and the Japanese Educational site on the Nuclear disaster keep us updated on #1 reactor’s pressure, their perception of it is that is has flat-lined. That perception is in sharp contrast to our own view. The current reactor pressure for #1 is 0.908 Mega pascals: a number nine times atmospheric pressure. If it’s cracked, as they Japanese say it is, it may be a double-edged sword. Pressure is being released, but it’s also massively building up.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesperson for a nuclear agency seems to continue to be wildly optimistic given the circumstances. “Even though some amount of radiation keeps leaking from reactors and their containment vessels, they are not totally destroyed and are functioning” I’m glad that other Japanese are being more transparent in their assessment. I can’t imagine anyone taking the view that they are functioning. In what possible way?
Russia's nuclear chief says Japan exaggerating crisis Huh.
SANYA, China — Japanese authorities may be exaggerating the scope of the country's nuclear disaster to reduce the liabilities of insurance companies, Russia's nuclear chief said on Wednesday.
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"It is hard for me to assess why the Japanese colleagues have taken this decision. I suspect, this is more of a financial issue, than a nuclear one," Sergei Kiriyenko said on the sidelines of a meeting of major developing economies in southern China.
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"I guess that maybe it could be linked to the definition of force-majeure with regard to insurance. I would pay attention to that. It is a bit strange," Kiriyenko said without further elaboration.
And:
Several experts have agreed that Japan's new rating exaggerated the severity of the crisis and did not compare with Chernobyl, which blew the roof off a reactor and sent large amounts of radiation across Europe.
Kiriyenko said the damaged plant should have initially been ranked at a 5 or 6, a level he said still matched the severity of the leaking radiation given the current low risk of a blast.
Kiriyenko's agency, Rosatom, is building a slew of reactors at three sites in energy-hungry India, which plans to fuel economic growth with 63,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2032.
Tsunami Risk Prompts Tepco to Move Fukushima Backup Power to Higher Ground
Tokyo Electric Power Co. will move backup generators at its crippled nuclear plant to higher ground away from the sea to ensure cooling systems aren’t disrupted by future tsunamis, as aftershocks rattle Japan.
“Emergency diesel-powered generators will be moved to higher ground, and work for connecting them into the power distribution unit will be carried out around April 19,” Takeo Iwamoto, a spokesman for the utility known as Tepco, said in Tokyo today. They will be placed 20 meters (66 feet) above sea level, double the current height, according to the company.
Aftershocks Threaten More Damage to Crippled Japan Nuclear Plant Excerpts:
Aftershocks rattling Japan after the nation’s record quake on March 11 may continue for at least six months, increasing the risk of damage to a crippled nuclear plant at the center of the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
“Aftershocks as big as magnitude-7 are likely to continue hitting in eastern and northern Japan for at least six months,” said Teruyuki Kato, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute.
Japan defends holding back nuke data Excerpts:
Official says high March radiation level hidden to avoid panic.
Japan's new assessment was based largely on computer models showing very heavy emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium on March 14-16, just after the earthquake and tsunami rendered the plant's emergency cooling system inoperative. The nearly month long delay in acknowledging the extent of these emissions is a fresh example of confused data and analysis from the Japanese, and put the authorities on the defensive.
Burial of Japan reactors trickier than Chernobyl: pump firm Excerpts:
AICHTAL, Germany — Encasing reactors at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant in concrete would present much more of a challenge than Chernobyl, according to an executive of the firm whose pumps are helping cooling efforts there.
"In Chernobyl, where a single reactor was encased, 11 trucks were in action for a number of months. In Fukushima we're talking about four reactors," Gerald Karch, chief executive of the technical business of unlisted machinery maker Putzmeister, said in an interview with Reuters.
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"In my opinion, when a closed-circuit cooling system has been developed and successfully set up, there will be no other option but to encase the reactors in concrete," he said.
Radioactive materials detected in more Chinese vegetables
China's Ministry of Health said Wednesday that "extremely low levels" of radioactive isotope iodine-131 had been detected in various kinds of vegetables in 12 provincial regions.
The radioactive isotope was found in spinach, asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, Chinese cabbage and other vegetables in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan, according to a statement from the ministry.
"The detected amounts pose no threat to public health," said the statement, adding that a sample survey indicated no abnormality in drinking water. On both counts: Of course not.
Shock as Japan admits nuclear leak could be worse than Chernobyl
JAPANESE officials have admitted that the nuclear crisis in Fukushima could become worse than Chernobyl.
Officials said the total leak from Fukushima so far amounted to a 10th of the radiation emitted from Chernobyl, but could yet (Read: will soon.)eclipse the Ukraine disaster.
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The decision to upgrade the accident to the highest threat level was the subject of international criticism after Japan admitted delaying the announcement.
Workers at stricken Japan nuclear plant make a little progress
Workers Wednesday were a step closer to emptying highly radioactive water from a crippled reactor, which would allow them to start repairing the cooling system crucial to bringing one of the world's worst nuclear crises under control.
U.S. Nuclear safety regulator Gregory Jaczko described the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant as "static" rather than stable, because of the continuing struggle to cool the reactors badly damaged by a 15-meter tsunami on March 11, which was triggered by the biggest quake in Japan's recorded history.
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It is expected to take months before the damaged reactors will be cool enough. Some officials have speculated that the authorities may have to entomb the plant if the crisis drags on too long, the solution that was eventually used to close off Chernobyl.
High radiation levels in sea off Fukushima coast Via Rense. Excerpts:
The science ministry says radiation levels in seawater off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture are the highest since it began monitoring them about 3 weeks ago.
The ministry says the level of iodine-131 was 88.5 becquerels per liter in a sample taken on Monday in the sea about 30 kilometers east of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The figure is 2.2 times the government's upper limit for waste water from nuclear facilities.
And:
Radiation levels are higher in the sea to the north of the crippled plant.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says radioactive substances seem to be flowing and diffusing northward.
File Under: Are you shitting me? Edano: No need to change Fukushima response. Via Rense.
Japan's top government spokesman says there will be no change in the way the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is being handled.
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Edano stressed that raising the crisis level does not mean the situation is worsening. He said the upgrade was not due to a new emergency, but is based on the latest analysis of data.
Aftershocks Continue to Pummel Japan
It's not unusual, then, to read about the aftershocks of an earthquake; what's unique about the aftershocks in Japan, however, is their severity. Even a month later, quakes measuring greater than 5.0 on the Richter scale continue to be felt. While many of them are occurring well off of the coast of Japan, enough of them have been close enough to cause injuries, fatalities, damages and power outages. The beleaguered Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, for one, was temporarily evacuated after a large aftershock on Monday caused extensive power outages.
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Due to the intensity of the original earthquake, exceptionally powerful aftershocks could continue for several months. Minor aftershocks, including ones that aren't even perceptible to humans, could keep happening for many decades to come. For the earthquake- and tsunami-wary people of Japan, the continuing geological activity is doubtlessly stressful and upsetting. Search and rescue missions are also ongoing, although hope is fading fast for any additional would-be survivors.
Chernobyl and Fukushima: a tale of two disasters
Categorisation can sometimes have a dramatic effect on how we perceive the world, and to learn yesterday that the nuclear debacle at Fukushima now officially ranks alongside that of Chernobyl in terms of seriousness appears to be an ominous worsening of the situation in Japan.
And:
How do the two incidents compare? Although Fukushima has spilt a lot of radioactivity into the environment, the full amount is still thought to be far below the amount released in the accident at Chernobyl 25 years ago.
Using the common measure of "terabecquerels", it is thought that about 500,000 to 600,000 terabecquerels of radiation has so far been released from the damaged Fukushima reactors, whereas Chernobyl is thought to have released between five and six million terabecquerels, about ten times as much. (Again, an Apples and Oranges argument. Chernobyl: One reactor; contained. Fukushima: Four--potentially six-- reactors, ongoing.)
Japan economy to take hit from quake, nuke accident
Japan cut the outlook for its economy on Wednesday for the first time in six months, saying last month's devastating quake and tsunami would hurt growth, with no sign yet when the nuclear crisis they triggered might be brought under control.
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After recent fears of possible contamination in the region, neighboring China said that the impact there had been small, noting the amount of radiation was about one percent of what it had experienced from the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
The total cost of the March 11 triple disaster has been estimated at $300 billion, making it the world's most costly natural disaster.
Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen demonstrates how Fukushima's fuel rods melted and shattered
Video
Japan raises nuclear alert level to seven Found it on Rense. Excerpts:
Japan is to raise the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a maximum seven, putting the emergency on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Nuclear safety officials had insisted they had no plans to raise the severity of the crisis from five – the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 – according to the international nuclear and radiological event scale.
But the government came under pressure to raise the level at the plant after Japan's nuclear safety commission estimated the amount of radioactive material released from its stricken reactors reached 10,000 terabecquerels per hour for several hours following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country's northeast coast on 11 March. That level of radiation constitutes a major accident, according to the INES scale.
The scale, devised by the international atomic energy agency, ranks nuclear and radiological accidents and incidents by their severity from one to seven.
Japan orders extra nuclear safety step as aftershocks jolt Excerpts:
Japan has ordered nuclear plant operators to put in place new safety measures by April 28 in addition to steps imposed late last month that are soon due for checks by authorities to confirm implementation, the trade ministry said, as another series of aftershocks on Monday jolted the eastern region.
There has so far been no serious damage reported at five nuclear plants in northeast Japan, including the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, as a result of Monday's magnitude-6.6 earthquake.
The ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) on Saturday ordered nuclear power companies to install at least two emergency diesel engines even at reactors that are not in operation and are kept at low temperatures, such as at the Higashidori plant.
All reactors, whether being operated or shut for maintenance or other reasons, need power to run their cooling functions for fuel rods located in pressure vessels and spent-fuel pools.
More Obstacles Slow Crews In Japan Nuclear Crisis Excerpts:
Emergency workers continue to run into problems at Japan's stricken nuclear complex. Workers are trying to remove the radioactive water from the tsunami-ravaged compound and restart the regular cooling systems for the dangerously hot fuel.
Officials still don't know where the radioactive water is coming from, though government spokesman Yukio Edano (YOO'-kee-oh EHD'-ah-noh) has said some is "almost certainly" seeping from a damaged reactor core in one of the units.
Explained: rad, rem, sieverts, becquerels A guide to terminology about radiation exposure
Chilling example of liquefaction's effect on reclaimed land.. under a portion of a megalopolis. Imagine walking around on land you knew was recently created where water once flowed, conscious of the hundreds of thousands of people around you, also unsure of what's next, walking on, near, and though untold tons of concrete, large, continuous cracks forming everywhere..
And you know for sure: The ground has begun to give.
Another earthquake strikes northeast Japan Excerpts:
Another powerful aftershock struck near Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Tuesday afternoon, shaking buildings in Tokyo.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at 2.47pm local time (1547 AEST), had a magnitude of 6.0 and hit less than 11 kilometres below ground.
Japan has experienced more than 400 major aftershocks stronger than 5.0 in magnitude since the 9.0 earthquake which unleashed a devastating tsunami on March 11.
One Month After Disaster, American Red Cross Donations To Japanese Red Cross To Reach $100 Million
Magnitude 7.1 - NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
23 km (14 miles) SW (223°) from Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
65 km (40 miles) NNE (19°) from Mito, Honshu, Japan
94 km (58 miles) SSE (166°) from Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
164 km (102 miles) NNE (32°) from TOKYO, Japan
7.1 Earthquake Fukushima Japan april 11 2011 TSUNAMI WARNING Video from NHK. Found it on Godlike Productions.
Breaking news: 7.1 intensity quake hits Japan
Sendai, Japan: A magnitude-7.1 aftershock has rattled Japan on the one-month anniversary of a massive earthquake that spawned a deadly tsunami.
It is exactly a month since the killer quake and tsunami that killed up to 25,000 people and unleashed a persistent nuclear crisis.
BREAKING NEWS: Exactly a month on, another earthquake strikes off Japan's coast as nation holds memorial services (Photos)
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