Fukushima: Resumption of decontamination system not in sight

[robdogbucky]

Resumption of decontamination system not in sight

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has still not resumed operations of a system to decontaminate highly radioactive water. Tokyo Electric Power Company had planned to start decontaminating and recycling the water by July 17th to cool the reactors.

Water is being injected continuously into the reactors and the resulting contaminated water is starting to fill up the storage facilities, raising fears that it will start overflowing around July 5th.

So far 4,500 tons of contaminated water has been treated in a test run, and work to remove salt started on Friday.

The company says the amount of stored contaminated water will drop significantly, once the decontamination system begins operating. It says it wants to start spraying the recycled water into the reactors by the end of this month...

Saturday, June 25, 2011 22:05 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/25_18.html





Reports on Fukushima reactors made public

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has made public on its website documents revealing what happened at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

The agency on Friday posted on its website Tokyo Electric Power Company's reports, which were submitted to the agency between March 11th and May 31st. The documents totaled 11,000 pages.

It says the government used these documents as reference material when it compiled a report on the nuclear crisis, which was submitted earlier this month to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Documents submitted to the government were handwritten up to March 19th, during which the Fukushima Daiichi plant was left without electricity. Goshi Hosono, the prime minister's advisor on the Fukushima accident, spoke about the documents in a news conference on Friday.

Saturday, June 25, 2011 08:56 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/25_01.html




Survey shows disappointment, anger among Fukushima evacuees
2011/06/25

Disappointment toward Tokyo Electric Power Co. for its failure to guard the safety of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and anger at the central government's inept handling of the accident.

Those are the two major themes that emerge from the results of an interview survey of 407 evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear accident.

About 90,000 Fukushima residents have evacuated because of the nuclear accident, with about a third of that number moving outside of the prefecture entirely.

The interviews were conducted with evacuees now scattered around the nation…

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106240204.html






INTERVIEW/ Tadashi Maeda: Japan should nationalize all nuclear power plants
BY NAOYUKI FUKUDA STAFF WRITER
2011/06/25

Tadashi Maeda, an adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, has proposed the nationalization of all nuclear power plants in Japan as a means to secure the long-term viability of atomic energy.

Maeda, chief of the Corporate Planning Department of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said during a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun that the risk of a disastrous nuclear accident resulting in a tremendous amount of monetary compensation argues for the nationalization of nuclear power generation.

The government may discuss his proposal as part of the debate on the issue of compensation for victims of the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

If a state-run operator of nuclear power plants takes over the responsibility for the compensation for the accident caused by the
Great East Japan Earthquake in March, TEPCO may be able to avoid raising electricity rates…

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106240334.html




News Navigator: Are there final disposal facilities for radioactive waste?

The Mainichi answers some common questions readers may have about nuclear waste disposal in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant....

....Q: That's a long time. So where is this final disposal facility?

A: So far, there are still no permanent repositories in the world for high-level radioactive waste, though Finland and Sweden have finalized building locations. In Japan, an organization authorized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has from December 2002 been publicly seeking local bodies willing to host a final repository. By simply signing up for an initial survey into building a site, a local body could receive as much as 2 billion yen in subsidies. In January 2007 the Kochi Prefecture town of Toyo became the first municipality to apply, but the town assembly and residents opposed the project, and the mayor who was later elected withdrew the application.

Q: The government is asking that nuclear reactors not in operation be restarted, but at its current pace, Japan will one day end up with more nuclear waste than it can handle, won't it?

A: Japan has 54 nuclear reactors, the third most of any country in the world. Since the outbreak of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, countries in Europe and other places have moved to phase out nuclear power, but they cannot avoid the problem of settling on a final disposal facility for radioactive waste that they have already produced. All of us who have enjoyed a stable source of electricity from nuclear power must think about this issue and discuss it in greater depth. (Answers by Takayuki Hakamada, City News Writer)

(Mainichi Japan) June 25, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110625p2a00m0na009000c.html



Ministry official who released book criticizing gov't over nuke crisis asked to resign

A government official who released a book on May 20 criticizing the government's response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been asked to leave his post.

Sources say that Shigeaki Koga, 55, attached to the secretariat of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), was asked by Kazuo Matsunaga, a high-ranking METI official, whether he could resign on July 15. Koga is said to have held off on responding, saying the request was "too sudden."

Koga has also pushed for changes to the country's energy policy, such as a separation of electric power generation and transmission fiercely opposed by power companies, and criticized the Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) reforms to the civil service.

Koga entered METI's predecessor in 1980 and has held several posts including head of an economic and industrial policy-making department. Before the DPJ took power, Koga had called for stronger rules against "amakudari" -- the practice of shifting high-level government officials to similarly high-level non-government jobs -- and the elimination of the administrative vice-minister position, but his proposals were rejected. He has been in his current position since December 2009.

(Mainichi Japan) June 25, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110625p2a00m0na016000c.html



Missouri River June 23, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozcDEs4ZDkM



Tick tock



Hi ho!

[CoffeeCat]

1. A disgrace...every way you look at it.

The disaster. The cover up. The way in which we are ingesting and inhaling radioactive isotopes
from this disaster. The media's compliance with a total information blackout. The glaring realization
that corporations rule this world--at the expense of the safety and health of the people on this planet.

It's a horrendous, disgusting shame.

Frankly, I'm beyond being upset. We have to be proactive, do our own due diligence and figure out
how to protect ourselves and our families.

DISGRACEFUL!!!

[robdogbucky]

2. More news from Japan

Nuke crisis evacuees to visit homes without protective gear over heat stroke worries


Starting June 28, evacuees on brief visits to their homes in the Fukushima nuclear crisis exclusion zone will not have to wear protective gear -- a change prompted by heat stroke concerns, the government announced on June 24.

The governmental task force dealing with the nuclear crisis said evacuees can wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers. If clothes are exposed to higher radiation levels than the limit, they will be collected.

Under the current policy, evacuees cannot take off their protective gear during the five-hour trips into the zone. However, about 50 people have become ill during the visits due to hot weather and other reasons. A man in his 60s in Naraha was taken to hospital by ambulance apparently after suffering heat stroke.

The government plans to ask evacuees on temporary visits to their houses to wear gloves and masks in addition to long-sleeved shirts and trousers, government officials said.

(Mainichi Japan) June 25, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110625p2a00m0na015000c.html



TEPCO likely failed to vent No. 1 reactor at tsunami-hit nuclear plant

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) likely failed in its attempt to vent the No. 1 reactor of its tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant in mid-March shortly before a hydrogen explosion, despite its claim that it successfully vented the reactor, it has emerged.

TEPCO insiders said the valves for venting the reactor did not sufficiently open, and TEPCO's headquarters admitted that it has not confirmed whether the valves opened.

Experts have pointed out that data released by the utility suggests that one of the valves closed after it briefly opened. However, it still remains unclear whether the hydrogen explosion in the reactor building was caused by a venting failure, as experts say it is possible that hydrogen was accumulating even before the venting attempt.

Shortly after noon on March 12, the pressure inside the containment vessel in the plant's No. 1 reactor surged to 600 kilopascals -- far above the upper designated limit of 427 kilopascals -- prompting the plant manager to instruct workers to vent the reactor building...

(Mainichi Japan) June 24, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110624p2a00m0na011000c.html



Suspected failure to vent Fukushima reactor casts doubt on accountability standards

Revelations that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) highly likely failed to vent a crippled reactor at its tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant have raised doubts about the utility's and government's accountability standards.

TEPCO had claimed that it had successfully vented the plant's No. 1 reactor to decrease pressure inside it prior to a hydrogen explosion, and the government had supported the power supplier's claim.

The power company attempted to vent the reactor on March 12, the day after the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the plant. After confirming that the pressure inside the containment vessel of the reactor had declined, TEPCO announced at around 3 p.m. that it had succeeded in venting the reactor.

However, the pressure still remained above the designated upper limit of 427 kilopascals and rose moderately after the announcement. Moreover, the monitoring post on its premises showed no signs of radioactive materials being released out of the reactor following the venting attempt. TEPCO insiders say they were unable to confirm that the valve for venting had opened...

(Mainichi Japan) June 24, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/column/news/20110624p2a00m0na006000c.html