DISASTER Fukushima Reactor Disaster: MAIN THREAD - Five Year Anniversary

New Freedom said:

don't know if this has been posted yet....

coming to a neighborhood near you..... [caution: bad language---he is really mad]



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9DkwIyQCkE&feature=player_embedded

Click to expand...

Sounds like home. The government no matter where it is will ever tell its citizens the truth.

One would expect this to be the case, in that rubble. Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_06.html

Robots face difficulties at Fukushima plant

Tokyo Electric Power Company says radioactive debris and high humidity are hampering the investigation by robots at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The company began using remote-controlled robots to explore the first three reactor buildings on Sunday and Monday.

At the Number 2 reactor building, the robot's camera lens was instantly clouded by high humidity.

TEPCO officials think that the steam is coming from the damaged section of the reactor's suppression pool.
But they have not found a way to resolve the problem as the steam could be highly toxic.

Robots entered the Number 3 reactor building through the southern entrance, but their path was blocked by debris. The firm is considering using another robot that can remove obstacles weighing up to 100 kilograms.

At the first reactor building, robots were able to advance 40 meters along the northern side wall.

The use of robots is aimed at paving the way for staff to work inside the contaminated buildings to stabilize the reactors, but the prospects of success remain unclear.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 07:41 +0900 (JST)

I cannot believe they would have allowed these lance fish to be shipped up until now. Hello...is anyone in charge? Yes, indeed, the consumer is in charge of being careful what you eat, drink or inhale! I'm sure the whole story will follow but for now it's just the headline in a news advisory. Fair use:

NEWS ADVISORY: Gov't bans shipment of launce fish from Fukushima Pref.: Edano (11:18)

Hmm...So, it was more about go and do the power plant detail....or get fired, it seems! Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/19_27.html

SDF personnel sent to nuclear zone flees in panic


A Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force member who'd been assigned to work near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been dismissed for fleeing in panic.

The Defense Ministry says the 32-year-old sergeant was sent from Tokyo to Koriyama city, in Fukushima Prefecture, 2 days after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami to help decontaminate local emergency shelters.

On the next day, he drove away without permission in one of his unit's trucks. He was later arrested by a Self-Defense Force police unit on suspicion of theft.

The sergeant has reportedly told investigators that fear of the nuclear accident made him panic. He was dismissed on disciplinary grounds on Tuesday.

The commander of the Ground Self-Defense Force's First Division, Yoshiaki Nakagawa, expressed regret at what happened while so many SDF personnel are working hard in the disaster zone. He pledged to tighten discipline and prevent a recurrence.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 18:54 +0900 (JST)

Fair use:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86548.html

Fukushima nuke workers at risk of depression, overwork death

TOKYO, April 20, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. workers engaged in efforts to stabilize the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are at risk of depression or death from overwork, a doctor who recently saw them said Wednesday.

And then there's this:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86553.html

URGENT: Gov't mulling making Fukushima plant area legal no entry zone

TOKYO, April 20, Kyodo

The government is considering issuing a legally-binding order to prohibit people from entering within a 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday.

Dupe..board issues?

Dupe board issues?

It'sJustMe said:

Fair use:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86548.html

Fukushima nuke workers at risk of depression, overwork death

TOKYO, April 20, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. workers engaged in efforts to stabilize the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are at risk of depression or death from overwork, a doctor who recently saw them said Wednesday.

And then there's this:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86553.html

URGENT: Gov't mulling making Fukushima plant area legal no entry zoneTOKYO, April 20, Kyodo

The government is considering issuing a legally-binding order to prohibit people from entering within a 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday.

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Does this mean everybody I wonder? Or are the workers expendable even if they don't want to go in there?

Thanks to all for posting the news. I"ve been very busy the last two/three days. This is just getting hellish.

Here's some clarification on the no-go zone. Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_16.html


Govt to bar entry to nuclear evacuation zone

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says the government is preparing to forbid entry into the 20-kilometer evacuation zone around the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Edano on Wednesday told reporters the stiffer measure is aimed at securing the safety and health of local residents, as the situation at the nuclear plant remains unstable. He said the government is in final talks with local municipalities to enforce the measure.

At present, citizens are merely advised to stay outside the 20-kilometer zone, and most residents have followed the instruction and left.

Edano said the government is considering allowing evacuees to return home briefly to gather their belongings, just before the zone becomes off-limits.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 13:46 +0900 (JST)
[/B]

Fair use:


http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_15.html


Edano calls for cross-party reconstruction talks


Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has called for cross-party discussions to come up with a plan to rebuild areas devastated by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

On Wednesday, Edano made the remarks at the first meeting of a study group in a panel tasked with creating a blueprint for reconstruction.

The meeting was attended by 18 specialists in such areas as politics, the economy, finance and regional revitalization. They included the panel chairman, National Defense Academy president Makoto Iokibe, and Professor Jun Iio of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies who leads the study group.

Edano asked the members to bring together their wisdom to create a new plan regardless of their cabinet or party affiliations.

Professor Iio said the stricken zone faces the challenges the whole of Japan is facing, including a declining population and disparities between urban and rural areas. He said his group wants to create a plan to make the area one of the world's most advanced.

The panel is to produce its preliminary plan at the end of June.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 12:20 +0900 (JST)

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_14.html


Highly contaminated water level falls slightly

Tokyo Electric Power Company says the amount of highly radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is slightly lower now. TEPCO began moving the water to an on-site waste processing facility one day ago.

The utility company says the level of contaminated water in a tunnel linked to the No.2 reactor is one centimeter lower than the previous day as of 7 AM on Wednesday.

That amounts to a reduction of 210 tons of the water in the tunnel, pumped out at a rate of 10 tons per hour.

TEPCO is aiming to remove a total of 25,000 tons of the contaminated water out of the No. 2 turbine building basement and connecting tunnel to the nearby processing facility.

The utility says it will monitor the current pumping rate for 10 days or more and then add more pumps, to move 10,000 tons of the radiated water by mid-May.

TEPCO says contaminated water levels are also rising in the basements of reactors No.5 and 6, and in tunnels connected to reactors No.3 and 4.

It says it will transfer about 100 tons of contaminated water from the No.5 and No.6 reactors to condensers, to assess how much water is accumulating. It says groundwater may have been seeping into the reactors' turbine buildings.

TEPCO estimates a total of 67,500 tons of radioactive water has accumulated at the nuclear plant, which is hampering efforts to restore cooling systems.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 12:55 +0900 (JST)

I am posting this lengthy article because it tells the story of what the people are dealing with, behind the scenes. Fair use:

http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3516

Fukushima Residents Seek Answers Amid Mixed Signals From Media, TEPCO and Government. Report from the Radiation Exclusion Zone

Makiko SEGAWA in Fukushima
Mistrust of the media has surged among the people of Fukushima Prefecture. In part this is due to reports filed by mainstream journalists who are unwilling to visit the area near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. But above all it is the result of contradictory reportsreleased by the media, TEPCO and the government.
On the one hand, many local officials and residents in Fukushima insist that the situation is safe and that the media, in fanning unwarranted fears, are damaging the economy of the region.By contrast, many freelance journalists in Tokyo report that the central government is downplaying the fact that radiation leakage has been massive and that the threat to public health has been woefully underestimated. While the government long hewed to its original definition of a 20 kilometer exclusion zone, following the April 12 announcement that the Fukushima radiation severity level has been raised from a level 5 event (as with Three Mile Island) to a level 7 event (as with Chernobyl), the government also extended the radiation exclusion zone from 20 kilometers to at least five communities in the 30-50 kilometer range.


In recent weeks, many Fukushima residents who fled in the first week of the nuclear crisis have begun returning home and attempting to resume normal activities. For example, some local people in Iwaki city, 40-50 km from the Fukushima Daiichi reactor, are convinced that it is now safe to return despite the high radiation levels recorded. Here is one example.


School Entrance Ceremony Amid Radiation Fear in an Exclusion Zone Near the Fukushima Daiichi Reactor
In Japan, April’s cherry blossoms signal a symbolic beginning, a new stage in life. On April 6th, along with school children across the nation, Iwaki City, within the 40 km radiation exclusion zone, held many school entrance ceremonies for elementary, middle and high schools.


Iwaki's Yumoto Daini Middle School’s ceremony was a bit different: not only were there 33 new students, but refugees living on the school grounds and some members of the Self Defense Force also attended. Overall 107 people participated in the ceremony. Headmaster Sawai Shiro may have exceeded his authority in taking the humanitarian step of granting permission for the refugees to remain on campus as the school year begins, at the risk of being punished later for breaking rules.

Local sources report that in the first week or so after the nuclear crisis began, Iwaki City experienced difficulties in receiving supplies like food and fuel because many agents refused to deliver.Since early April, refugees who had evacuated outside the prefecture started returning. Restaurants in downtown Iwaki are reopening and many convenience stores boast reasonably well-stocked shelves, while gas, water and electricity have been restored. Iwaki City has repeatedly confirmed that “radiation is at a stable level which is not harmful to human health.” Iwaki officials explain that this judgment is based on figures provided by the Fukushima prefectural government regularly updated since March 11.


Principal Sawai began his welcome speech by saying, "I am glad to be able to confirm that all 33 new students are participating in this ceremony amidst a disaster that had forced many people to leave Yumoto.""In our district,” he continued,“some people survived by drinking water from their bath for weeks as there was no running water. I want you to care for each other especially for anyone who is in trouble." He concluded, "You young students, are the future of Japan. Now, we should be bound as one beyond differences in ideas, position or self interest."


Though all the new students attended, not all teachers were there. As a result of the catastrophe, personnel for the school was frozen and new teachers were not dispatched to the school, Sawai explained. As a result of the lack of teachers, there will be only one class run by a teacher for each grade.

School Doctor Informs Children “The radiation problem is already finished.”
Following the principal’s speech, the school’s doctor in his white coat stated matter-of-factly that, based on science, people should know that the worst of the earthquake damage had passed and that radiation leakages from the Fukushima Daiichi plant were decreasing and would soon fade away.“The radiation problem is already finished,” he told the children and their parents. “You can go to school and go outside without any problem. You should not fear malicious gossip.”


While the doctor’s assurance that all major risks have ended would certainly raise eyebrows among most people outside the prefecture, many locals share this belief. We note the difference in perspective between radiation experts and people assessing the issues at a distance and those on the ground facing the destruction of their livelihood. While rumors of the dangers of radiation continue to swirl, many locals are even more afraid that rumors will destroy their businesses and any hope of securing their livelihood and rebuilding their communities.


Ikarashi Yoshitaka, 33, is one who is particularly keen on restoring his business and the local economy, a goal that leads him to downplay warnings of radiation risk.“It is just an emotional thesis that ours is ‘a city in danger!’” he insisted. Together with dozens of volunteers from across Japan, Ikarashi has visited many areas throughout the radiation exclusion zone. He confidently asserts that his $600 made in U.S "Geiger counter" has detected no abnormal amount of radiation.


Ikarashi is troubled by the fact that the milk business he manages suffered a 90% drop in sales as a result of radiation fears. Some farmers have been forced to throw away their milk, and at least one local farmer is rumored to have committed suicide over the ruin of his business.


Following the government announcement of level 7, Ikarashi observed that “residents will not listen; they don’t trust the government. The greatest concern for locals is to restore their towns and I’m doing my best to restore Iwaki City.”
Honma Hiroshi, 56, on patrol with the SDF in Iwaki comments: “I’m surprised that local people are so calm. Even within the 30 km radiation exclusion zone, they don’t even wear special anti-radiation clothes (Taibex). Even after the level 7 announcement, there has been no panic in the city."


Desperation over the destruction of the local economy appears to have provoked an unscientific optimism concerning radiation in some local communities struggling to get back on their feet.
Shortage of Information and Aid for Fukushima Citizens in the Radiation Exclusion Zone
Ikarashi points out that the reason for the absence of trustworthy information and the presence of baseless gossip is “lack of information”; the national media tend to avoid entering the radiation exclusion zone, fearing contamination and merely regurgitate the claims of the local government and officials obtained by telephone.
A more intense form of the same crisis struck Minami-Soma City, closer to the nuclear plant within the 20 km zone but on its northern side. For more than a week, the city was like an island bereft of food, water, and gasoline. Finally, in desperation, on March 24, Mayor Sakurai Katsunobu sent an SOS to the world through YouTube begging for support to his dying community.

Mayor Sakurai explained that his gambit of airing a Youtube call for help succeeded in drawing the attention of the central government, and Tokyo has taken seriously subsequent requests. However, Sakurai, said that as of April 6, only 20,000 residents remained of a population of 70,000. “We have to think of the means to save the remaining weak people (aged people and someone who do not have money to evacuate)", Sakurai said sadly.
On April 7, the mayor made a second Youtube, observing that "Many businesses had started operating. But, there is no reliable information on the nuclear reactor!"
In the nuclear radiation exclusion zone close to the plant, large numbers of people are out of work. The Fukushima Labor Bureau, on March 29, said that as a result of the East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster, about 58,000 people in approximately 4,800 work places within the 30 km exclusion zone around the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor have lost jobs.
Local people voice concern that the jobless rate is being inflated as a result of pernicious rumors. At the same time that the school ceremony was being held, a long queue of people was lined up in front of the Public Employment Agency in Taira, Iwaki from 8 a.m. in hope of finding work.

"Before, people formed queues several kilometers long at gas stations; now people stand in a long line at the employment agency," Mori Akira, 63, pastor of the Global Mission Chapel, sighed.
Shimoyamada Matsuto, 50, director of public relations for Iwaki city Disaster Management Headquarters, explained, "Since harmful rumors are so powerful, not only are farming and fishing industries affected, even some industries have been damaged as a result of claims that even machines are contaminated!"
Fukushima provides one third of the electric power for the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, including both nuclear and thermal power plants. “If Fukushima goes down, the entire capital region will panic!" Shimoyamada warned.

Rest of above article Fair use:

Study Session with Hatoyama Yukio and Freelance Journalists: Questioning the Media, the Government and TEPCO

In Tokyo, on April 6, a group of freelance journalists centered on Uesugi Takashi, 43, held a media session with dozens of DPJ lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio, to question the performance of the media in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Hatoyama Yukio (right) Uesugi Takashi (left) at media conference

Kawauchi Hiroshi, a DPJ member of the House of Representative, stated that “Information about radiation diffusion should be correctly revealed to the nation. However, so far only once was this done."He explained the frustration of local officials. "The information from TEPCO (Tokyo Electronic Power Company) should be precisely conveyed. I talked to the mayor of Iidate village (in the 30km zone), whotold me, 'There is no information and I do not know what to do.'"

The Media Corruption that Protects TEPCO

Uesugi Takashi explained the core of the problem behind misinformation and rumors.

"Freelance journalists and foreign media are pursuing the facts, even going into the radiation exclusion zone. However, surprisingly, the Japan government continues to prevent freelance journalists and overseas media from gaining access to official press conferences at the prime minister's house and government."


Uesugi stated that since March 11th, the government has excluded all internet media and all foreign media from official press conferences on the "Emergency Situation". While foreign media have scrambled to gather informationabout the Fukushima Reactor, they have been denied access to the direct information provided by the government and one consequence of this is that "rumor-rife news has been broadcast overseas."


In fact, access has been limited in two ways. First, while Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio holds twice daily press conferences for representatives of the big Japanese media, registered representatives of freelance and internet media are limited to a single press conference per week. Second, in contrast to Japanese media who are briefed regularly by Edano and periodically by Prime Miniser Kan, foreign media are briefed exclusively by administrative staff.


Uesugi also notes that at TEPCO press conferences, which are now being held at company headquarters, foreign correspondents and Japanese freelancers regularly ask probing questions while mainstream journalists simply record and report company statements reiterating that the situation is basically under control and there is nothing to worry about. One reason for this, Uesugi suggests, is that TEPCO, a giant media sponsor, has an annual 20 billion yen advertising budget. "The media keeps defending the information from TEPCO!” “The Japanese media today is no different from the wartime propaganda media that kept repeating to the very end that ‘Japan is winning the war against America,’” Uesugi exclaimed.

There is one particularly telling example of the media shielding TEPCO by suppressing information. This concerns “plutonium”. According to Uesugi, after the reactor blew up on March 14, there was concern about the leakage of plutonium. However, astonishingly, until two weeks later when Uesugi asked, not a single media representative had raised the question of plutonium at TEPCO's press conferences.

On March 26, in response to Uesugi’s query, TEPCO stated, “We do not measure the level of plutonium and do not even have a detector to scale it.” Ironically, the next day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano announced that “plutonium was detected”.

When TEPCO finally released data on radioactive plutonium on March 28, it stated that plutonium -238, -239, and -240 were found in the ground, but insisted that it posed no human risk. Since TEPCO provided no clarification of the meaning of the plutonium radiation findings, the mainstream press merely reported the presence of the radiation without assessment (link). Nippon Television on March 29 headlined its interview with Tokyo University Prof. Nakagawa Keiichi, a radiation specialist, “Plutonium from the power plant—No effect on neighbors.”


On March 15, Uesugi criticized TEPCO for its closed attitude toward information on a TBS radio program. For this, he was immediately dismissed from his regular program. The scandal involving TEPCO’s silencing of the media took an interesting turn two weeks later. At the time of the disaster on March 11, TEPCO Chairman Katsumata Tsunehisa was hosting dozens of mainstream media executives on a “study session” in China.When asked about this fact by freelance journalist Tanaka Ryusaku at a TEPCO press conference on March 30, Katsumata defended the practice.

“It is a fact that we traveled together to China,” he said, “[TEPCO] did not pay all the expenses of the trip, but we paid more than they did. Certainly they are executives of the mass media, but they are all members of the study session.”


When Tanaka requested the names of the media executives hosted by TEPCO in China, Katsumata retorted, “I cannot reveal their names since this is private information.” But it is precisely such collusive relations between mainstream media, the government and TEPCO, that results in the censorship of information concerning nuclear problems.


Now the Japanese government has moved to crack down on independent reportage and criticism of the government’s policies in the wake of the disaster by deciding what citizens may or may not talk about in public. A new project team has been created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency, and METI to combat “rumors” deemed harmful to Japanese security in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.


The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good. The project team has begun to send “letters of request” to such organizations as telephone companies, internet providers, cable television stations, and others, demanding that they “take adequate measures based on the guidelines in response to illegal information. ”The measures include erasing any information from internet sites that the authorities deem harmful to public order and morality.

The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good. The project team has begun to send “letters of request” to such organizations as telephone companies, internet providers, cable television stations, and others, demanding that they “take adequate measures based on the guidelines in response to illegal information. ”The measures include erasing any information from internet sites that the authorities deem harmful to public order and morality.

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That sums up their attitude very nicely.

Now the Japanese government has moved to crack down on independent reportage and criticism of the government’s policies in the wake of the disaster by deciding what citizens may or may not talk about in public. A new project team has been created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency, and METI to combat “rumors” deemed harmful to Japanese security in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.


The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good. The project team has begun to send “letters of request” to such organizations as telephone companies, internet providers, cable television stations, and others, demanding that they “take adequate measures based on the guidelines in response to illegal information. ”The measures include erasing any information from internet sites that the authorities deem harmful to public order and morality.

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WOW, JUST WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about using the "nuclear option" on the ants, WOW.
Don't they realize that if they do that THEY WILL HAVE LOST SOMETHING MUCH MORE DEAR Than even 30,000 human lives, more dear than usable farmland, more dear than everything they lost in the disaster itself.
THEY WILL HAVE LOST THE VERY NATURE OF THE FREE AND DEMOCRATIC NATION THEY HAVE FOUGHT SO HARD TO REBUILD. That is an even BIGGER tragedy.

Isn't it funny how MOST FREE DEMOCRATIC NATIONS WOULD THINK NOTHING ABOUT GOING TO WAR AND SACRIFICING 30,000 MEN TO DEFEND THEIR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RIGHTS, But nowadays the citizens of those very nations (including ours) are meekly ceding and surrendering those very same rights that their own fathers did and sons would die to defend.

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Government Planning to Raise the Radiation Limit for Plant Workers to 500 Milli-Sievert/Year

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-government.html

from the current 250 milli-sievert/year, which was raised from 100 milli-sievert/year after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident.

From Nihon Television News 24 (4/18/2011):

In order to stabilize the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the government is planning to raise the radiation exposure limit for the workers from the current 250 milli-sievert/year.

The radiation exposure limit for workers at nuclear power plants is 100 milli-sievert/year, but the limit has been raised to 250 milli-sievert/year to deal with the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident. According to the government sources, the higher limit is being considered because it is getting increasingly difficult to have enough workers to work on the plant. Also, the radiation inside the Reactor buildings is high, and the annual limit of 250 milli-sieverts may not be high enough to achieve the goals laid out by the TEPCO road map.

The international standard allows 500 milli-sievert/year in an emergency work, but it hasn't been decided how high the new limit will be. The government will carefully assess the timing of announcement, keeping in consideration the health concerns of the workers and the public opinion.

The work at the [Fukuhsima I] nuclear power plant requires skills and experience under harsh conditions, and securing workers has been a problem.

If I remember right, 500 milli-sievert/year is for an emergency work that lasts for a few days to a few weeks, and not for a few months to a year or more. Same thing for raising the radiation exposure limit for non-nuclear plant workers for an emergency; that emergency is not supposed to last for more than few weeks.

I also hear that the government is planning to raise the annual radiation exposure limit for pregnant women. Instead of evacuating the expecting mothers to safer, lower-radiation places, the government simply raises the exposure limit and tell them it's safe, don't worry. What a country.

It is a genocide. Not much different from Colonel Gaddafi killing the fellow Libyans.


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FDA Refuses to Test Fish for Radioactivity

... Government Pretends Radioactive Fish Is Safe

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/04/fda-refuses-to-test-fish-for.html

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Some snips:


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The FDA says it won't monitor radiation in fish on the West Coast of the U.S. As the Anchorage Daily News notes:

North Pacific fish are so unlikely to be contaminated by radioactive material from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan that there's no reason to test them, state and federal officials said this week.

***

DeLancey, the FDA spokeswoman, said "We have not been doing any testing. We've been working with NOAA to keep an eye on U.S. waters, to see if there is any cause for alarm, and we do have the capability to begin testing if that does occur."

Asked to explain what kind of monitoring was taking place in the ocean, DeLancey said, "You would have to talk directly to NOAA ... I don't really want to speak for another agency."

But NOAA fisheries spokeswoman Kate Naughton declined to answer questions and referred a reporter back to DeLancey and the EPA.

DeLancey said that so far, there's no reason for concern about Fukushima. The radioactive materials in the water near Fukushima quickly become diluted in the massive volume of the Pacific, she said. Additionally, radioactive fallout that lands on the surface tends to stay there, giving the most unstable ones isotopes like iodine time to decay before reaching fish, she said.

Of course, radioactive isotopes like cesium 137 are very long-lived, and so won't necessarily decay before they reach fish.

And - in typical Orwellian agency-speak - the FDA is trying to reassure people that eating contaminated fish poses no health risk. As the Wall Street Journal notes:

U.S. public-health officials sought Tuesday to reassure consumers about the safety of food in the U.S., including seafood, amid news that fish contaminated with unusually high levels of radioactive materials had been caught in waters 50 miles from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

No contaminated fish have turned up in the U.S., or in U.S. waters, according to experts from the Food and Drug Administration [which isn't testing], Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They expressed confidence that even a single fish sufficiently contaminated to pose a risk to human health would be detected by the U.S. monitoring system. [But would the government announce such detection?]

They also dismissed concerns that eating fish contaminated at the levels seen so far in Japan would pose such a risk. [Alexander Higgins points out that Japanese fish exceed federal radiation limits by 2400%]

Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC in Atlanta, said he expected continued detection of low levels of radioactive elements in the water, air and food in the U.S. in coming days, but that readings at those levels "do not indicate any level of public health concern."

Is this yet another example of the government responding to the nuclear accident by trying to raise acceptable radiation levels and pretending that radiation is good for us?

Indeed, the ocean currents head from Japan to the West Coast of the U.S.

snip

Of course, fish don't necessarily stay still, either. For example, the Telegraph notes that scientists tagged a bluefin tuna and found that it crossed between Japan and the West Coast three times in 600 days:



That might be extreme, but the point is that fish exposed to radiation somewhere out in the ocean might end up in U.S. waters.

Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen doesn't think there will be a risk within the next year. But as the plume spreads across the Pacific, and as small fish get eaten by bigger fish (i.e. bioaccumulation), it would be prudent to measure radiation in fish caught off the West Coast of the U.S. (and Hawaii), and Gundersen suggests we contact our representatives and demand measurement:

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One of the predators of the Sand Lance is Salmon.

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Friday, April 15, 2011

Fish near Fukushima have cesium

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110415a7.html

Radioactive cesium 25 times above the legal limit for consumption was detected Wednesday in young sand lance caught off Fukushima Prefecture, the health ministry said.

One of the sampled fish tested for cesium had 12,500 becquerels per kg.

It was caught about 500 meters off Iwaki and 35 km from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station, it said. The limit for cesium is 500 becquerels under the Food Sanitation Law.


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I find this blog entry puzzling:

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: MP Alleges It May Not Have Been a Hydrogen Explosion on March 12

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-mp-from.html

(Correction: Tokuda is from Kagoshima, not from Fukushima.)

If what Takeshi Tokuda, Member of the Lower House (House of Representatives) in the Japanese Diet, says is true, the explosion that blew up the Reactor 1 building roof and side walls may not have been an hydrogen explosion as the government has insisted, but something decidedly more serious.

From his April 17 blog entry (original in Japanese):

[Tokuda is writing about his day on April 15, including a visit to Minami-Soma City, which has been designated as "planned evacuation zone". He visited the Minami Soma City General Hospital and spoke with Dr. Oikawa, and the following is what he heard from Dr. Oikawa.]

Then I heard a startling story from Dr. Oikawa.

On the first hydrogen explosion on March 12 [Reactor 1], broken pieces [of...??] and small stones [from the explosion] landed in Futaba-machi, 2 kilometers away from the Plant.

When the hospital checked the radiation level on the people who escaped from around the nuke plant after the explosion, there were more than 10 people whose radiation level exceeded 100,000 cpm [counts per minute], beyond what could be measured by the geiger counter the hospital had.

[100,000 cpm is the new level that the Japanese government set that requires decontamination. Before the Fukushima accident, the level was 6,000 cpm, and on March 12 it was still 6,000 cpm.]

It is the level that threatens the secondary radiation contamination.

However, it has never been disclosed by the government that it was such a serious situation.

Some people, without stopping by at the hospital and without knowing that they had been exposed to high radiation, may have gone home and hugged their children.

So I re-read the transcript of the press conference given by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano two hours after the explosion.

He said that there was a hydrogen explosion, but it was confirmed that the Containment Vessel was not damaged.

It was not the explosion within the Containment Vessel, therefore no large amount of radioactive materials would be released, Edano said.

In his March 13 press conference, he announced that 9 people who had evacuated from Futaba-machi by bus may have been exposed to radiation.

4 of them had the low dose of 1,800 cpm, the highest dose was 40,000 cpm, he said.


Edano also said that according to the experts there would be no serious negative effect on health as long as such matters [radioactive materials] stay on the surface.

Did the government not know about this serious situation at Minami-Soma City General Hospital where more than 10 people were found to have been exposed to high radiation levels?

If the government didn't know, that would cast doubts on the capability of the Prime Minister's Office to gather information, and would be problematic from the point of crisis management; if they knew but decided to suppress the information, that would be the manipulation of information by the government, almost a criminal act.

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Govt suspends shipment of Fukushima sand lances

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_18.html


Wednesday, April 20, 2011 14:18 +0900 (JST)

The government has instructed Fukushima Prefecture to suspend shipments of a small fish caught off its coasts found to have radioactive contamination, and to warn people not to eat them.

The restrictions announced on Wednesday are being applied to marine products for the first time, amid ongoing troubles at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The instruction follows a health ministry report that the fish called sand lance caught on Monday near Iwaki city, south of the plant, was found to contain 14,400 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium. That's 29 times the safe limit.

Ministry testing also found 3,900 becquerels, or twice the limit, of radioactive iodine in the fish.
Excessive amounts of radioactive cesium were detected in sand lances caught in the same area on April the 7th and 13th.

The government says the fish are not on the market, as fishery cooperatives in Fukushima are not operating.


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http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_30.html

In the video (not the text), TEPCO reports levels of contaminated water is increasing in the basements of units 5 and 6.



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ainitfunny said:

WOW, JUST WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about using the "nuclear option" on the ants, WOW.
Don't they realize that if they do that THEY WILL HAVE LOST SOMETHING MUCH MORE DEAR Than even 30,000 human lives, more dear than usable farmland, more dear than everything they lost in the disaster itself.
THEY WILL HAVE LOST THE VERY NATURE OF THE FREE AND DEMOCRATIC NATION THEY HAVE FOUGHT SO HARD TO REBUILD. That is an even BIGGER tragedy.

Isn't it funny how MOST FREE DEMOCRATIC NATIONS WOULD THINK NOTHING ABOUT GOING TO WAR AND SACRIFICING 30,000 MEN TO DEFEND THEIR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RIGHTS, But nowadays the citizens of those very nations (including ours) are meekly ceding and surrendering those very same rights that their own fathers did and sons would die to defend.

Click to expand...

This post gets my "post of the day" vote!

Mothers and babies, very sad

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86719.html
FUKUSHIMA, Japan, April 20, Kyodo

Small amounts of radioactive iodine found in breast milk

A citizen's group concerned about the impact on mothers and babies of the radioactive leaks from a crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture said Wednesday that small amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in the breast milk of four women living east or northeast of Tokyo.

Of the samples provided by the four women, the breast milk of the mother of an 8-month-old baby in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, contained the highest level of 36.3 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram, but no radioactive cesium was found, the group said.

The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan has not set safety levels for radioactive substances in breast milk, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. But the reading was below the safety limit of 100 becquerels per kg for tap water consumption by infants under 1 year old.

http://enenews.com/

“The government doesn’t care if you’re going to have a few extra cases of cancer” says a worker for monitoring program funded by US Dept. of Energy
“It’s like they’re saying, ‘We’re going to take that hill—we’re going to have 50 percent casualties, but get your butt up that hill.’”

Radioactive iodine found in breast milk near Tokyo — Mother of 8-month old baby has 980 pCi/kg

Officials: Radiation exposure in No. 1 building would be so high workers could not re-enter area for “several years”
Radiation, aftershocks could slow Fukushima stabilization, Asahi

Japan nuclear agency finally admits fuel has melted in reactors 1, 2 & 3

Unpublished radiation forecast showed much larger Cesium-137 cloud over North America (VIDEO)

Latest webcam image shows clouds of radioactive steam rising from Fukushima… After color correction (COMPARISON PHOTOS)

Webcam Fukushima, April 19, 2011 at 5:00 pm in Japan: “When you see those clouds of smoke coming out of the unit, that’s not steam, that’s radioactive steam.” -Arnie Gundersen, nuclear expert

Enormous amount of high-level radioactive waste coming from Unit No. 2 — Reactor and containment are breached (VIDEO)

No. 2 reactor “is not being cooled”… water not getting into core — Containment and reactor do not have integrity, gases being emitted out of top (VIDEO)
Gundersen Discusses Current Condition of Reactors, TEPCO

Radiation at No. 2 spent fuel pool millions of times above normal & thousands of times higher than troubled No. 4 pool
Tepco starts to pump out turbine unit

Top Japan official discusses “total meltdown” at Fukushima
“Plant will not have a total meltdown if the current cooling of its overheating reactors continues” -Edano

TEPCO official reveals there is “little doubt” plutonium has leaked from Fukushima (VIDEO)

Fukushima Forecast: Uninterrupted line of radiation stretches across Pacific, tracking towards West Coast of U.S., Canada (VIDEO)

Fukushima Potential Releases, Xe-133 Total Column

“Dangerous spike in reactor 3 radiation” -Japan Times
Robots detect dangerous spike in reactor 3

TEPCO: Unit 2 containment vessel leaking nuclear radiation (VIDEO)

Accumulated Cesium-137 deposited near U.S. East Coast at same level as West Coast

Accumulated Dry Deposition of Cs-137 March 15

‘Severe spike’ in radiation around No. 2 spent fuel pool — Japan officials say damage to spent fuel rods ‘could not be ruled out’
Radiation near Japan reactors too high for workers

N. Korea TV: Fukushima “is getting more serious” — “We see no prospects of getting radioactive leakages under control” says expert

NOW: Smoke/steam rising from Fukushima, April 18 at 6:00 am (PHOTO)
TEPCO Fukushima webcam, April 18, 2011 at 6:00 am in Japan

Melbourne, Florida had highest iodine-131 reading of any CTBTO monitoring station in the world from March 22-23 (CHART)

Radionuclide Station 72 (USA Sud-Ost) in Melbourne, Florida is the light blue line with triangles

Power supply to common spent fuel pool ‘stopped’ at 2:34 pm on April 17 — TEPCO ‘investigating the details of the cause’

This is slightly off topic, but related wnough tobe of interest. Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_21.html

US power company abandons reactor construction

A US power company says it will abandon plans to build nuclear reactors in Texas, amid the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.

NRG Energy, which operates the South Texas Project nuclear station, planned to build the 2 reactors with Japan's Toshiba Corporation.

The company said on Tuesday that it will write off its investment in the project, citing extraordinary challenges facing US nuclear development due to present circumstances.

The firm also said justifying to its shareholders any further financial participation in the project would be impossible.

The firm is the first in the US to decide to withdraw from nuclear expansion since the start of the Fukushima crisis.

NRG Energy will record a pretax charge of 481 million dollars in the first quarter of this year for impairment of net assets.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 16:35 +0900 (JST)

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_23.html
Toyota to further cut production in N. America


Toyota Motor will make further cuts in its output across North America, starting next Tuesday. This is due to an shortage of parts following the March 11 disaster in northeastern Japan.

Toyota said on Tuesday that it would reduce production at 14 of its plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico, to about 30 percent of normal levels.

To achieve this, the automaker will suspend operations on Mondays and Fridays and reduce output by half from Tuesdays through Thursdays. The schedule will continue until June 3rd.

This will be in addition to the 4-day production suspension Toyota announced earlier for 13 of its North America plants.

With the extra measures, the production cuts at Toyota's North American operations will climb to 150-thousand units, hitting the company's sales.

In Japan, Toyota resumed production at all its assembly plants on Monday. But plants overseas will experience a delayed impact of the supply shortage, because transporting parts from Japan takes time.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 16:02 +0900 (JST)

More on the breast milk in Tokyo posted above. Fair use:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86719.html

Small amounts of radioactive iodine found in breast milk

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, April 20, Kyodo

A citizen's group concerned about the impact on mothers and babies of the radioactive leaks from a crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture said Wednesday that small amounts of radioactive iodine have been found in the breast milk of four women living east or northeast of Tokyo.

Of the samples provided by the four women, the breast milk of the mother of an 8-month-old baby in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, contained the highest level of 36.3 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram, but no radioactive cesium was found, the group said.

The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan has not set safety levels for radioactive substances in breast milk, according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. But the reading was below the safety limit of 100 becquerels per kg for tap water consumption by infants under 1 year old.

This is a PDF file, showing the current status of the different reactors. Note that it is stated that there is 70% damage to the core in #1, and 30% damage to #2 and 25% #3's core. Also the #2 containment vessel structural integrity is damaged, and leakage suspected. There's more on the chart. Fair use:

http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Japan_Earthquake5?Page=0

It'sJustMe said:

This is a PDF file, showing the current status of the different reactors. Note that it is stated that there is 70% damage to the core in #1, and 30% damage to #2 and 25% #4's core. Also the #2 containment vessel structural integrity is damaged, and leakage suspected. There's more on the chart. Fair use:

http://www.scribblelive.com/Event/Japan_Earthquake5?Page=0

Click to expand...

How could #4 core be damaged if the fuel had been pulled for routine maintenance?

MDINMT said:

How could #4 core be damaged if the fuel had been pulled for routine maintenance?

Click to expand...

My bad, MDINMT, sorry. Typo, I fixed it to reflect it being #3 reactor. I really should wear my glasses when on the computer more often

Harmful gossip and rumors? Fair use:

http://shingetsublog.jugem.jp/?day=20110420

Kan Cabinet Adopts Internet Censorship Policy
2011.04.20 Wednesday | category:報道
By Makiko Segawa

SNA (Tokyo) -- With little fanfare or media attention, the cabinet of Naoto Kan resolved on April 1 to adopt a policy authorizing the National Police Agency and Prosecutor’s Office to track down “harmful gossip” on the internet and expose the authors without having to seek a judicial order or specific permission from political authorities.

The measure comes in the context of the heightened public distrust which followed the devastation of the March 11 tsunami and especially the ensuing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.


As the SNA has previously reported, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication has been sending “letters of request” to internet providers demanding that they delete “immoral” information from websites. It is now understood that this action has been based on the Kan cabinet’s April 1 decision.


Similar measures have been contemplated by the Ministry of Justice for many years. Indeed, an official of that ministry tells the SNA that such authority had existed until 2005, was abolished under a Koizumi cabinet, and has been on the agenda for restoration since last year.


“It is not something that just came up suddenly,” the official says.


Yukio Yamashita, a lawyer who specializes in computer affairs, points out that one aspect of the authority desired by the government is to demand that internet providers preserve data and records that are uploaded and not to inform customers when the authorities request personal information about them.


This means that even much data that is erased by private individuals will be stored without their knowledge to assist possible police investigations in the future.


Yamashita warned prophetically last December that “the government is looking for some opportunity to adopt the bill when some major accident or crime occurs.”

The current media tempest over “harmful rumors” seems to be serving as the anticipated pretext.


The US government has long been pressing Tokyo for some years to adopt more intrusive laws over the internet, suggesting that these sorts of measures are absolutely necessary in the struggle against international terrorism and cybercrime.


Most civil liberties groups and other independent critics are skeptical about this alleged need, pointing out that the concentration of too much power in the hands of government authorities itself poses serious risks to the public welfare in democratic societies.


The critics of the new bill include prominent members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.


Kazuhiro Haraguchi, the former minister of internal affairs and communications under Yukio Hatoyama, was scathing at a recent press conference in Nagatacho.


He noted that even ruling party lawmakers like himself had not been consulted before the policy was adopted by the cabinet.


“They have by-passed the Diet and all other representatives of the people,” Haraguchi complained.


“This cannot but be seen as a sort of psychological intimidation aimed at the general public.”

It'sJustMe said:

My bad, MDINMT, sorry. Typo, I fixed it to reflect it being #3 reactor. I really should wear my glasses when on the computer more often

Click to expand...

No biggie,I was just scratchin' my head thinking we were in heaps more trouble that I thought if #4 was melting down

A bit over-the-top for me to say, but this seems like the beginnings of martial law in Japan.

Fair use:

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201104190193.html

Radiation, aftershocks could slow Fukushima stabilization

2011/04/20


High levels of radiation discovered at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant could disrupt Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s timeline for a cold shutdown of the crippled facility, TEPCO officials acknowledged.

On April 18 unexpectedly high levels of radiation were detected in water in the storage pool containing spent fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor, the officials said.

TEPCO officials believe the radiation may have been triggered by damage to the spent fuel rods. One possibility being looked at is the damage was caused by debris falling into the pool when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11.

An analysis of water samples taken from the storage pool on April 16 found cesium-134 at 160,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter, cesium-137 at 150,000 becquerels and iodine-131 at 4,100 becquerels.

Ordinarily, the level of radioactivity in the pools is much lower.

Another problem area is the building housing the No. 1 reactor. TEPCO officials used a U.S.-made robot on April 16 to measure radiation levels and detected radiation of 270 millisieverts per hour in the No. 1 reactor building.

That level of radiation means a worker could spend less than an hour in the area before exceeding the allowable dosage.

The exposure would be so high workers could not re-enter the area for several years, officials said. If radiation levels remain at high levels, TEPCO's experienced workforce would all quickly reach maximum radiation exposure levels, severely slowing the effort to stabilize the plant.

Radiation measurements were also taken at another entrance to the No. 1 reactor building and found levels of 49 millisieverts per hour. Radiation at an entrance to the No. 3 reactor building was also measured at 57 millisieverts per hour.

Those are still high levels and workers who remain in that environment for five hours will reach the maximum amount of radiation exposure allowed.

Huge volumes of water contaminated with radiation are also expected to slow work to bring the Fukushima reactors under control.

Officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said April 18 that a pool of water about five meters deep had been found in the basement of the building housing the No. 4 reactor.

Radiation levels as high as 100 millisieverts per hour were detected on the water's surface.

About 54,000 tons of radiation-contaminated water also sits in the basements of the turbine buildings for the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors.

The radiation level in the basement of the turbine building for the No. 2 reactor is especially high.

Finding storage space for the contaminated water is a pressing issue, as is what to do with the rubble on the plant grounds that is also contaminated with radiation.

NISA official Hidehiko Nishiyama said, "The situation is very serious. It is desirable to lower the level of radiation workers are exposed to by using anything that will shield the radiation as well as by decontaminating the workers. We will have to think of ways to carry that out from now."

TEPCO officials have plans to fill the core containment vessels at the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors with water to submerge the pressure containers that hold the fuel rods.

To achieve TEPCO's road map objective of a cold shutdown of the reactors after six to nine months, officials are seeking to restore the cooling system rather than depend on pumping in water to the reactor cores.

However, the main equipment and piping used in the continuous cooling system are all located within the reactor buildings. Workers will have to work in those buildings to inspect and repair the equipment and piping.

As a contingency plan in the event the cooling system cannot be restored, preparations are being made to install heat exchangers that use cool air rather than water. That installation work will also require workers to enter the reactor buildings.

At the No. 2 reactor, holes have opened in the suppression pool connected to the containment vessel so repairs will be needed before the No. 2 reactor can be submerged. However, there is the possibility that radiation levels of several dozens of sieverts are present near the suppression pool. Such levels would lead to immediate health problems for workers.

Plans are being considered to use robots for inspection and simple tasks to reduce radiation exposure among workers.

Another factor that has slowed work at the Fukushima plant is the frequent aftershocks. Some have led to tsunami watches that have meant workers have had to be evacuated.

An aftershock measuring an intensity of lower 6 on the Japanese scale of 7 hit Fukushima Prefecture on April 11. That caused a power outage that stopped the pumping in of water for about 50 minutes.

Another tsunami triggered by an aftershock could also flood the plant site, damage equipment and lead to the leaking of highly contaminated water.

Meanwhile, NISA officials on April 18 for the first time publicly admitted that some of the fuel rods in the No. 1 to No. 3 reactor cores had melted in the wake of the March 11 quake and tsunami.

NISA officials gave a report to the government's Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan.

NISA officials had alluded to the possibility of a melting of the fuel rods, especially after hydrogen explosions rocked the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors. However, no NISA official had actually stated that some of the fuel rods had melted until April 18.

NISA officials said that based on an analysis of the radioactive material collected and their radiation concentration, there has likely occurred a melting of the fuel pellets contained within the fuel rods.

Yes, this is dated today. I thought it was a foregone conclusion?? Fair use:

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/86750.html
Tokyo Electric admits fuel could be melting at Fukushima nuke plant

TOKYO, April 21, Kyodo
An official at Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, admitted Wednesday that fuel of the plant's No. 1 reactor could be melting.

Adding this here since the search didn't bring it up. I'm sick to my stomach after watching it. Be warned.

You won't hear this on any mainstream news!!! (Nuclear Fallout)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TMXvpWoHzeE

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_04.html

High radioactive levels detected in reactors

Robots have detected high levels of radioactivity inside the reactor buildings of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The plant operator says the radioactivity must be reduced to allow work inside the buildings to bring the crisis under control.

Tokyo Electric Power Company surveyed the interiors of 3 reactor buildings on Sunday and Monday using robots equipped with dosimeters and cameras.

TEPCO says that over 50 minutes the robots found18.9 millisierverts of radioactivity in reactor Number 1 and 6.46 millisierverts in Number 2. The levels are hazardous to humans even over a short period. Levels of radioactivity were not available in the Number 3 reactor.

Video footage also suggests various difficulties that could hamper operations inside the buildings.

Footage of the Number 3 reactor shows steel plates and other debris scattered on the floor following the hydrogen explosion of March 14th. The doors of the circuit box were open, raising fears that the power system has been damaged.

TEPCO says humidity inside the Number 2 reactor was 94 to 99 percent, fogging up the robot's camera lens.

The company says the humidity indicates that radioactive steam leaked into the building. It says it will need to install air conditioners to ventilate and clean the air of radioactivity before people can work there.

Thursday, April 21, 2011 06:08 +0900 (JST)

Things are just not improving, it seems. Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_03.html

Levels of radioactive water rising despite efforts
The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant continues to transfer highly radioactive water near a reactor to a storage facility.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says work has been underway since Tuesday to move 10,000 tons of highly contaminated water accumulated in the turbine building of the Number 2 reactor to an on-site waste processing facility. The water has been pumped into the facility at a rate of 10 tons per hour.

TEPCO says the toxic water level in a tunnel near the turbine building was 2 centimeters lower as of 6 PM on Wednesday. But it says because there was no change in the water level in the basement of the turbine building, the leaking of toxic water into the basement appears to be continuing.

The utility company also says the water level in a tunnel linked to the Number 3 reactor has been rising several centimeters a day for the past week. The water is expected to rise to about one meter below the ground level soon.

The company says water levels are also rising in the Number 5 and 6 turbine buildings.

TEPCO says an estimated 67,500 tons of contaminated water are now in the Number 1, 2 and 3 reactors alone, hampering efforts to restore the reactors' cooling systems.

The utility says at the Number 1 reactor, some cooling water poured in has likely evaporated.
Thursday, April 21, 2011 06:08 +0900 (JST)

Fair use:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_17.html

Govt bans residents from evacuation zone

The Japanese government is legally enforcing a no-entry zone within 20 kilometers of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from midnight Thursday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano made the announcement on Thursday morning. The legally-controlled off-limits zone covers about 27,000 households in 9 municipalities.

The government had already instructed residents within the area to evacuate.

Edano said the no-entry zone is aimed at protecting the health and safety of local residents, some of whom have been returning home without sufficient radiation safety measures.

From Thursday midnight, anyone entering the banned area could be subject to fines.

The government also said it would allow one member of each household to temporarily return to their homes in the off-limits zone. But it has decided not to allow visits for residents living within 3 kilometers of the nuclear plant.

Thursday, April 21, 2011 12:24 +0900 (JST)