*** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and links

New rice 10%-20% more expensive
The Yomiuri Shimbun

This year's new rice is 10 percent to 20 percent more expensive on average than last year's crop, it has been learned.

A major reason for the increase is believed to be the efforts of wholesalers to purchase rice free of radioactive substances.

According to a list of new-rice dealings between the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) and wholesalers for the Sept. 26-Oct. 2 period, the largest price increases were for the Haenuki brand in Yamagata Prefecture and the Kinuhikari brand in Shiga Prefecture.

Both brands jumped 21 percent in price with the former brand selling for 14,500 yen per 60 kilograms and the latter for 14,800 yen.

[link to www.yomiuri.co.jp]

^^This...we always suspected their was more behind Unit #4 than they were telling us.

Fukushima Children Humiliated by Their Teacher for Not Drinking Fukushima Milk, and Cabinet Secretary Sneers

A couple of readers of this blog have sent me the link to this video, but I haven't created a post about it just because it just makes me sick, really sick. Well here it is, I've warned you. Watch it at your own risk.
[link to ex-skf.blogspot.com]

50% copy rule, rest of article and video at link

Yukio Edano to Become the New Minister in Charge of Organization for Nuclear Disaster Compensation

You cannot get more cynical, for at least a few minutes until the next horror is revealed in Japan.

But for now, Yomiuri Shinbun (10/3/2011) says that Yukio Edano, former Chief Cabinet Secretary and the current Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (who is seen trying to suppress a laugh in the video I posted) will also become the Minister in charge of the nuclear disaster compensation scheme set up by the government and the nation's electric power companies that operates nuclear power plants to socialize the cost of the accident.

The position has been held by Goshi Hosono, who as the Minister of the Environment has submitted the Ministry's budget that is more than 5 times the size of the last year's, riding high on the decontamination bubble.
[link to ex-skf.blogspot.com] ... um=twitter

Ah yes, another Minister of something....wonder how long this one will last...

Nuclear experts to help Fukushima decontamination

VIENNA — The UN atomic agency IAEA said Tuesday it was sending 12 international experts to Japan on October 7-15 to assist the country with clean-up efforts after the nuclear accident of Fukushima in March.

The experts "will go to several locations in the Fukushima Prefecture and conduct meetings in Tokyo with Japanese officials to provide assistance to Japan in its plans to manage remediation efforts (and) review the country's remediation strategies, plans and work," the IAEA said in a statement.

[link to www.google.com]



- why in hell haven't they been there all along?

Irate Fukushima residents want compensation for all nuclear disaster evacuees

The government's Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation decided last month to make TEPCO, the operator of the crippled nuclear power plant, compensate those who had evacuated within about a month of the outbreak of the nuclear crisis. The panel, in the meantime, postponed its decision on whether those who had evacuated thereafter would be entitled to compensation, saying the issue would be discussed later.

[link to mdn.mainichi.jp]


- all should be compensated. It's the least they can do for destroying these lives.

Fukushima soil decontamination zone may be larger than expected

Our goal is to reduce radiation levels to under 1 millisievert. Those areas with radiation levels between 1 millisievert and 5 millisieverts will naturally be covered," said Goshi Hosono, the state minister in charge of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

According to a preliminary decontamination plan made last month, about 1,778 square kilometers, or 13% of Fukushima Prefecture's total area will have to be cleared. Costs are expected to hit 1.14 trillion yen ($14.9 billion).

[link to en.ria.ru]

- wonderful. Obviously will not affect the local areas where they are burying radioactive waste. Let's not bring that up.

Thyroid gland irregularities found in young Fukushima evacuees

No clear link has been established between the children's condition and the radiation from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, according to the nonprofit organization. Radioactive iodine tends to get lodged in children's thyroid glands more than those of adults, placing youngsters at greater risk of developing disorders and diseases including cancer.

[link to ibnlive.in.com]

- Mmn. No clear link, huh?

Soil, water, air and ocean contamination(including dolphins, whales and fish), failure of gooberment to warn and evacuate residents, 3 nuclear meltdowns in the neighborhood---- no clear link...

Exodus of doctors, nurses adds to Fukushima Pref. woes


Since the start of the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, hundreds of doctors and nurses have resigned from nearby facilities, according to a survey by an association of Fukushima Prefecture hospitals.

Their departures have resulted in some hospitals in the prefecture suspending nighttime emergency care and other treatment services, the association said.

The survey found that 125 full-time doctors had resigned from 24 hospitals in the prefecture, or 12 percent of all doctors working at those institutions.

[link to www.yomiuri.co.jp]


- guess the doctors and nurses aren't waiting for the gooberment nukesters recommendation to evacuate.

Expert hits ministry for lack of promptness in test

Report of long-range plutonium find tardy



The science ministry was tardy when it reported last week for the first time that traces of plutonium fallout were found outside the Fukushima No. 1 power plant's compound through tests conducted in June, a nuclear expert said Monday.

It is not clear what caused the plutonium, a heavy element, to drift so far.

The ministry said it has no plans to expand its checks beyond the survey's current 100-km radius, which means that Tokyo — whose massive population could magnify the consequences of any results — will be excluded.

Although it would be better if the government conducted more soil tests outside that range, it would be very difficult because conducting an analysis of strontium and plutonium takes much longer than it does for cesium, Furukawa said.

[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]


- what?

Report: No nuclear blast at Fukushima's No. 2 reactor



The panel, led by an executive at Tokyo Electric Power Co., overturned a previous conclusion that an explosion took place on March 15, four days after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the region, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.

The finding was in a draft of the panel's interim report, the newspaper said.

TEPCO said the interim report will be submitted to a third-party verification committee before it is released publicly

Read more: [link to www.upi.com]



- possibly, but I see damage caused by an explosion and there is video unless it has been removed.

They lie with impunity.

Reactor maker warns of possible safety issue at Fermi II

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is warning that the reactor it built for DTE Energy’s Fermi II nuclear power plant may not shut down properly during an earthquake.

The Pittsburgh Tribune reports that Fermi II is among 35 GE reactors where the company is recommending testing to determine what level of friction would interfere with the insertion of control rods into the reactor core during an earthquake.

The issue is a “low probability event” that became known to the company several months before the March earthquake and radiation leaks at the Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, Michael Tetuan, a spokesman for GE Hitachi in Wilmington, N.C., said in an e-mail.

[link to michiganmessenger.com]



- low probability. well, that makes it ok.

U.K. expert says limits on radiation 'unreasonable'


Seiichi Nakamura, a researcher at the Health Research Foundation, in Kyoto, said he agrees that Japan can raise the limits, but stresses his position is not as extreme as Allison's.

"My feeling is that 20 millisieverts a year is already quite high, but it may be OK to raise it a bit more," said Nakamura, who helped research cancer risk in people in Kerala, India, an area of unusually high naturally occurring radiation. "The food standard can be raised closer to the more internationally recognized level of 1,000 becquerels per kilogram."

Allison insists that he has no ties to the nuclear industry.


[link to search.japantimes.co.jp]



- It's all good.... don't worry.

Activists blockade nuclear plant

More than 200 people blockaded a nuclear power station yesterday in protest at plans to build new reactors at the site.

The Stop New Nuclear alliance, which is composed of several anti-nuclear groups, says it is barring access to Hinkley Point power station in Somerset in protest at EDF Energy's intention to construct two new reactors.

These would be the first of eight new nuclear power stations to be built in Britain.
[link to www.morningstaronline.co.uk]

- ahem.

Cesium-tainted Japanese Green Tea & Gardening Soil Being Sold By Lowering Levels

Japanese green tea and gardening soil with high radioactive cesium content are reportedly being sold, mixed with non-tainted ones to reduce their overall cesium level.
[link to www.arirang.co.kr]


- devious.

UT grad student faces trial in Iran, scientists call espionage charges 'ludicrous'

As scientists and academics across the world continue to push for his release, a 29-year-old University of Texas physics graduate student faces trial in his native Iran today on espionage charges.

Omid Kokabee , 29, started attending UT last fall to work on his Ph.D. in optics, the field of physics that studies light.

But when he returned to Iran during the winter break, he was arrested at an airport in Tehran and taken into custody, said John Keto , the graduate adviser for UT's physics department. Kokabee has remained in custody since.

He is accused of leaking Iranian nuclear secrets to the United States, accepting "illegal earnings" and "communicating with a hostile government," according to the American Physical Society, of which Kokabee is a member. The society's Committee on International Freedom of Scientists in August wrote a letter to the Iranian government asking for Kokabee's release.

Keto called the situation "ludicrous" because Kokabee never studied nuclear science. His personal page on UT's website lists him as an experimental laser physicist.

[link to www.statesman.com]

Tepco fights to keep nuclear emergency procedures secret


High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. [link to www.ft.com]

This week it asked Japan’s nuclear safety regulator, which had ordered it to resubmit the manuals without redaction, to allow it to keep much of the material secret. So far only the regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), has seen the originals, which run to thousands of pages. It has not passed them on to the lawmakers who originally requested them.

[link to www.ft.com]



- they are trying to hide their incompetence and the fact that they were ready to abandon the plant.

Rengo supports less reliance on nuclear power

The head of Japan's largest labor federation wants the country to aim for a society that does not rely on nuclear power.

Rengo, or the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, opened a 2-day regular convention in Tokyo on Tuesday.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

.

Japan to work with IAEA decontamination experts

The Japanese government says it is ready to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency in removing radioactive materials around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

.

TEPCO demands only 50% disclosure of manuals

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has finally submitted its accident manuals in their original form to Japan's nuclear safety agency. But the Tokyo Electric Power Company maintains that only half of the documents' contents should be made public.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

.

TEPCO ordered to draw up safety guidelines

Japan's nuclear watchdog has ordered the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to draw up clear safety guidelines to oversee its work to get the plant under control.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is striving to bring the disabled reactors to a state of cold shutdown by next January, and then to begin preparations for their decommissioning.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

.

Genkai No.4 nuclear reactor stops operation

A reactor at the Genkai nuclear power plant in western Japan was shut down automatically on Tuesday, following a technical glitch with the unit's cooling system.

Kyushu Electric Power Company, the plant's operator, says no one was hurt and there have been no changes in radiation levels monitored near the plant.
[link to www3.nhk.or.jp]

.

Not sure if you have this link or not. It is the House of Foust group site and they have some good info:
[link to simplyinfo.org]

Hope all is well with you and your family

We're good. Best to you and yours, as well. ;^)

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Worker Dies, Radiation Not Suspected

According to Agence France Presse, the unidentified man was the third Fukushima plant worker to die since the devastating March earthquake-tsunami struck.

The two other men died of heart attack and leukemia, respectively. TEPCO noted neither died from radiation poisoning. Two other employees died during the earthquake itself.

[link to www.ibtimes.com]



- Just because someone is found dead and floating in the middle of a lake, it doesn't necessarily mean he drowned...

Residents of Japanese town contaminated by Fukushima refuse to return

I don’t plan to come back, ever,” said a middle-aged woman who briefly visited Hirono this week to retrieve belongings from the two-storey home that she and her family fled on March 12, the day after the tsunami that set in motion the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. She paused to take in her abandoned home’s view of the ocean and its now-unkempt garden. “I’ll never feel safe here. I’ll never feel secure.”

The area where the government has lifted its advisory was one of three evacuation zones around the plant. The 20-kilometre radius around Fukushima Daiichi remains a no-go zone for the foreseeable future, as does a heavily contaminated corridor northwest of the plant that was later added to the mandatory evacuation zone. Once home to more than 100,000 people, the areas are expected to be uninhabitable for upward of two decades.

[link to www.theglobeandmail.com]

-oc

Nuclear agency urged to review spent fuel pools
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should take immediate steps to improve the safety of pools containing radioactive waste stored at U.S. nuclear plants, an internal report released Wednesday said.

The recommendation on spent-fuel pools is one of eight steps agency staff says the NRC should take "without delay" as it responds to the Japan crisis.

The report also recommended immediate reviews of seismic and flooding risks at the nation's 104 nuclear reactors.


The report by NRC staff elevates the importance of spent-fuel pools, saying current regulations do not require instruments measuring water levels to be operable in case of accident. Water levels at spent-fuel pools were a key issue after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that crippled a nuclear plant in Japan.

In June, three months after the tsunami, U.S. officials said newly obtained video showed that the spent fuel pool at Unit 4 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex probably did not go dry, as Jaczko had insisted in March.

[link to www.businessweek.com]



-

This is significant in that the NRC has been galvanized by the threat of a similar accident here. The blase attitude has been replaced with a sense of urgency, and rightly so. These and many other issues beg to be resolved posthaste for the safety and security of everyone. The half-assed inspections and policy of non-execution of punishments and fines for violations is not acceptable.

The general public has a tacit agreement with the nuclear industry to keep us safe from the hazards of this technology. So far, they have not lived up to the trust instilled in them by the citizens at risk. That means each and every person has an investment in nuclear power; our health and safety. Playing the odds is not an option.

In regards to the statement that the fuel ponds did not go dry, I respond, well, maybe not bone dry__

but this screenshot I captured in May or thereabouts of the nighttime view at Fukushima, from Tepco's own pointscope web camera__ is not semantics...


screenshot:






and color-balanced:






Looks pretty damned hot to me. That camera position is not close to the plant. I remember it being 16k but I may be wrong about that.

Many GLPers saw that original view live. The screenshot can be verified.

Thank you for this link. Last week, I went to a supermarket which wasn't the usual place where I buy groceries. So I was in a hurry and needed to buy milk and other stuff, so I picked up the first one I saw (I know it was a careless atittude). Well, the thing is the milk was only .97 yen (which is more or less 1 dollar I guess) and it was written as "low fat", and it was a label I never used before (I always buy low-fat milk, and it's about that price, so I didn't found strange), while a whole milk usually cost 1.95 dollars (more or less, 155 yen aprox) for 1 liter. I bought 2 litters.

When I got home, at night, I wanted to make some coffee and I don't know why, I took a better look at the cartoon, and what did I see?? That milk was from Fukushima!! OMG, I felt so outraged by the fact they are ACTUALLY SELLING milk from there.. Needless to say, I throw away the 2 cartoons.. But what angered me the most was the fact they were trying to sell that shit writting "LOW FAT" (big letters on that), to conceal the real origin of it. I wonder how many people are buying and drinking this without even knowing it, everyday.. This is so sad..

I thought they didn't sell powdered milk in here, but I found a brand, "Brite" (Nestle), (well, I'm not sure if it's milk or just a cream for the coffee), but I'm using it now.

BTW, thanks Waterbug for your updates on Fukushima, appreciated..

I'm glad to be able to make a small contribution of time to post news concerning this tragedy if it can bring to light in any way the injustice that has been done and continues to be done by the nuclear industry and its proponents to the innocent people of Japan and the world.

My very best hopes and wishes to you and your family and for all of Japan.

Areva in 'Full-Scale' Talks to Build India Nuclear Plants

[link to online.wsj.com]