Plutonium found outside Fukushima plant
Minute amounts of plutonium have been detected for the first time in soil outside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Shinzo Kimura of Hokkaido University collected the roadside samples in Okumamachi, some 1.7 kilometers west of the front gate of the power station. They were taken during filming by NHK on April 21st, one day before the area was designated as an exclusion zone.
Professor Masayoshi Yamamoto and researchers at a Kanazawa University laboratory analyzed the samples and found minute amounts of 3 kinds of plutonium.
The samples of plutonium-239 and 240 make up a total of 0.078 becquerels per kilogram. This is close to the amount produced by past atomic bomb tests...
Sunday, June 05, 2011 23:21 +0900 (JST)
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/05_21.htmlMonday, June 6, 2011
Local governments cutting off welfare benefits to some survivors
KYODO
SENDAI — Local authorities in disaster-hit Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures have stopped providing welfare benefits to some survivors, lawyers and civic groups said Saturday.
The local governments have told the recipients in question that they did not need housing expenses because they were living at evacuation centers and received donated money.
In the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry told municipal governments that donations should not be considered income and urged them to consider the individual circumstances of each survivor when doling out welfare benefits.
"We will speedily look into those cases," a ministry official said. "Even when stopping (benefits), there is a need to provide careful explanations to the survivors..."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20110606a4.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+japantimes_news+%28The+Japan+Times+Headline+News+-+News+%26+Business%29By Brad Friedman on 6/4/2011 7:49pm
Radiation at Fukushima Unit 1 'Highest Since Crisis Began'; Steam Rising Through Reactor Floor
"At the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, a robot sent into the building housing Reactor No. 1 on Saturday detected the highest levels of radiation measured since the crisis began on March 11.
According to the Japan Times, The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) reported that radiation levels in the air around Reactor 1 were at 4000 millisieverts per hour, an exposure level equivalent to approximately 40,000 chest x-rays. TEPCO says it has no plans to send workers into the area because of its dangerously high radioactivity.
On Friday, a spokesman for TEPCO announced that steam was rising from underneath the reactor building. That afternoon, Japanese national television carried blurry footage of smoke rising from an opening in the floor.
Underneath the reactor, an estimated 40,000 tons of "highly contaminated" radioactive water have collected in what is known as the pressure suppression containment vessel, and it's this water that is believed to be producing the steam. TEPCO officials warn that the water will begin to overflow from the storage vessel by June 20 as it reaches its maximum capacity, sooner if there are heavy rains..."
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8555
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