Fukushima updates August 1

[robdogbucky]

Highly radioactive water flows into another place

Highly radioactive water has been found in the basement of a building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant near the storage facility for contaminated water.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Monday that it discovered about 700 tons of contaminated water on Saturday in the basement of an on-site building.

The utility said the water contained 19,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium 134 per cubic centimeter, and 22,000 becquerels of cesium 137 --- both very high levels.

Until June, the building was connected by a hose with another building where highly radioactive water is now being stored. The buildings are located next to each other and are part of the plant's waste disposal facility...

Monday, August 01, 2011 21:00 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_32.html



U.S. pressing for deal with other countries to build nuclear fuel repository in Mongolia

Momentum has been quickly building behind the scenes for an ambitious and controversial project led by the United States and Japan to build a nuclear fuel repository in Mongolia as Washington is trying to secure a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with other countries concerned by the end of this year.

After the Mainichi reported on the proposal in May, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which wants to be able to buy nuclear fuel from Mongolia, joined the list of countries pursuing the project, and earlier this month the U.S. Department of Energy sounded out other countries concerned about signing a memorandum of understanding on the program by the end of this year. The project itself is to build a mechanism in which advanced countries force the maintenance of nuclear waste, which takes at least 100,000 years to break down to become harmless, onto developing countries.

On May 6, 2009, three men landed at Chinggis Khaan International Airport in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. Two men from an American think-tank and a bureaucrat from the Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry held talks with then-Mongolian Foreign Minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold (currently the prime minister) and Defense Minister Luvsanvandan Bold, telling them, "Mongolia should become the Switzerland of the East." They then presented a proposal written in English on a spent nuclear fuel repository.

Mongolia, sandwiched between China in the south and Russia in the north, has long suffered from repeated interference by the two giants. Drawing on Switzerland, which declared itself a permanent neutral country and boosted its security by hosting United Nations organizations, the three men tried to persuade the Mongolian officials by saying, "If your country builds a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and has it managed by an international organization, China and Russia will no longer be able to meddle carelessly in your affairs. In doing so, your country will be able to contribute to the strengthening of security in Northeast Asia..."

(Mainichi Japan) August 1, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110801p2a00m0na022000c.html




4 killed, 2 missing in torrential rain in Japan

Torrential rains in central and northeastern Japan have left 4 people dead and 2 missing, after one more death was confirmed on Monday.

The rains last week and through the weekend in Niigata and Fukushima Prefectures have burst river banks and caused flooding in many areas. More than 7,400 homes have been damaged.

Huge mudflows have also inundated rice paddies in Niigata Prefecture, a key rice growing area. This is expected to affect the region's harvest.

In the major rice producing city of Tokaichi, torrents of water, mud, and driftwood entered rice paddies along a river after it overflowed its banks...

Monday, August 01, 2011 21:19 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_37.html




Monday, Aug. 1, 2011

Iwate to join cattle ban; hundreds more suspected tainted
Kyodo

SAGA — The government decided Sunday to ban shipment of all beef cattle from Iwate Prefecture after cesium above the government limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram was found in the meat of a sixth animal, sources said.

The order, based on a special law on nuclear power plant-related accidents, is expected to be officially issued on Monday.

Iwate will be the third prefecture banned from shipping cattle after Fukushima and Miyagi, but Tochigi Prefecture could be banned Monday as well, they said.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Iwate ships about 36,000 beef cattle annually, including those used for Maezawa Gyu, one of the top brands…

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110801a2.html




Energy debate requires objective data
2011/07/31

The government on Friday released an interim report on its overhaul of Japan's energy policy, initiated in response to the devastating accident at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.

The new strategy will aim to make Japan less dependent on nuclear power, the government said. A road map toward that goal will be produced, prescribing steps to be taken until 2050.

According to the report, the government will also scrutinize the current policy of creating a nuclear fuel cycle, revisit electric utilities' monopolies over regional power markets and consider a proposal to separate power transmission from generation.

As the nuclear disaster has made it effectively impossible to build new nuclear power facilities, there was an urgent need for the government to define a new direction for its energy strategy. Unless it lays out a clear direction for energy policy, individual consumers and businesses will be unsure how to act. From this point of view, it is important to flesh out the nuclear-free vision presented by Prime Minister Naoto Kan as his "personal view" into a more specific and realistic Cabinet policy...

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201107300250.html





Full operation of cooling device begins

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun full operation of a device to cool a spent fuel storage pool. The pool holds 1,535 fuel rods, the most for any of the plant's reactors. The wall supporting the pool was damaged in a blast on March 15th.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company reinforced the wall with steel pillars and concrete, and installed a cooling device with a heat exchanger to set up a circulatory cooling system.

TEPCO conducted a test-run of the cooling device at the Number 4 reactor's spent fuel pool on Sunday morning. It gradually increased the volume of water flowing into the device before shifting to full operation in the afternoon.

TEPCO says the water temperature of the pool remained above 86 degrees Celsius in the morning and it was around 82 to 84 degrees as of 5 PM...

Sunday, July 31, 2011 22:41 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_22.html




Nuclear redress law vague about responsibility for Fukushima crisis

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has drawn up a plan to revise the existing law on nuclear damage compensation following the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, according to sources with knowledge of the draft bill.

Unlike the current law, which is vague about the state's responsibility, the draft bill clarifies the state's accountability to fully compensate victims of the nuclear disaster.

The government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is also DPJ president, has rejected the proposal, saying the primary responsibility should rest with plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).

But both ruling and opposition parties have agreed on revising the 50-year-old law and the next government is expected to use the DPJ draft bill as a basis for future debate on the law's revision...

(Mainichi Japan) August 1, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110801p2a00m0na019000c.html

[robdogbucky]

1. Chiba, Tochigi to test rice for cesium traces

Chiba, Tochigi to test rice for cesium traces

The Chiba and Tochigi prefectural governments say they will test the rice harvested in their prefectures for radiation.

The decision comes after radioactive cesium was detected in rice straw, vegetables and compost following the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Farmers in Chiba and Tochigi planted rice seedlings in their fields after the accident and are voicing concerns over possible contamination due to fallout from the Fukushima plant.

Officials in Chiba, where harvesting is expected to begin as early as August, say they will sample unmilled rice from one to several farms in each rice-growing municipality to measure radiation levels...


Monday, August 01, 2011 10:06 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/01_12.html

[robdogbucky]

2. Weighing economic growth against nuclear risks makes no sense

Weighing economic growth against nuclear risks makes no sense

...One of the leading economists of the post-war era, Shimomura was a major proponent of the then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party's rapid economic growth policy in the 1960s. Following the energy crisis of 1973, however, he became the standard-bearer of zero economic growth. Quick to read the changing times, Shimomura boldly argued for the adaptation to a new era...

...Bureaucratic, political and industry leaders, as well as mainstream economists have continued to pursue economic growth today. They've now been exposed to the dangers of nuclear power, but have yet to realize that a fundamental environmental transformation preventing growth has taken place. They think they can weigh the pros and cons of nuclear risk and economic growth, and that they are free to choose their course.

That's where they're wrong. I, too, didn't grasp this until March 11, but as catastrophic developments continue to unfold, nuclear power plants pose an imminent threat. We can't choose to downplay dangers because we value growth. While there's been a trend to regard the effects of exposure to low levels of radioactive materials as minor, there remain no prospects of safely disposing of highly radioactive spent fuel. If Shimomura were alive today, I believe he would have taken the risks of nuclear energy as a fundamental change in the conditions and placated the nuclear-dependent economic-growth defenders...

...The insatiable capitalism in which money is of utmost significance has taken the entire world by storm, and nuclear power plants have become a major pillar of economic growth. China has announced that it will build 70 nuclear reactors by 2020 generating the equivalent of 1 million kilowatts of power each. The strain produced by such rapid economic expansion has no doubt been evidenced by the high-speed train accident that took place in eastern China on July 23...

(Mainichi Japan) August 1, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110801p2a00m0na003000c.html

[robdogbucky]

3. M6.1 quake jolts Shizuoka Pref., vicinity

Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2011


M6.1 quake jolts Shizuoka Pref., vicinity


An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 jolted Shizuoka Prefecture and its vicinity late Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The agency said there may be some changes in sea levels due to the 11:58 p.m. quake but no damage is expected.

The quake measured lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in the town of Higashiizu and the cities of Shizuoka and Yaizu, and 4 in areas in Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures as well as remote islands of Tokyo, the agency said.

The focus of the quake was in Suruga Bay at a depth of about 20 km.


http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110802x4.html