NEWS IN RELATION TO JAPAN such as the QUAKE AND ENSUING TSUNAMI ON 11 MARCH 2011 but also other natu

[nancyk58]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15014228

 

22 September 2011 Last updated at 06:29 GMT

 

Deadly Typhoon Roke moves across Japan

 

The powerful typhoon that hit Japan on Wednesday has been making its way across the country, bringing floods, damage and deaths.

 

At least 10 people have been killed by Typhoon Roke, with many others missing or injured, local media reported.

 

The storm, which caused winds of 162km/h (100mph), passed near the capital Tokyo and the damaged nuclear power plant at Fukushima.

 

However, it now looks as if the storm is losing strength.

 

Roke, the second typhoon to hit Japan this month, made landfall on Wednesday afternoon (0500GMT) in Hamamatsu.

 

It then moved up the main island of Honshu before passing near Tokyo, where thousands of commuters were stranded with trains suspended.

 

More than 200 domestic flights were also cancelled, while at least 200,000 households in central Japan were without electricity late on Wednesday, according to the AP news agency.

 

The typhoon later headed up Japan's north-east coast past Fukushima.

 

Those killed included an elderly woman buried in a landslide in Iwate prefecture and a sewerage worker in the city of Sendai.

 

One of the main worries was that the heavy rain could force radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea.

 

The plant is run by Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which said the storm had damaged security cameras but that it did not appear to have caused any water to overflow.

 

"We are seeing no problems so far," said Tepco spokesman Hiroki Kawamata.

 

Engineers have been using water to cool reactors since the 11 March earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems - but this has led to an accumulation of contaminated waste water at the plant.

 

 

German text-TV ZDFtext: CLEAN-UP OPERATION AFTER DEADLY TYPHOON ROKE

 

One day after the deadly typhoon the clean-up operation has begun in Japan. At least 10 have died in the tropical storm - and 6 are regarded as missing.

 

The typhoon moved across the main island of HONSHU with the capital TOKYO with heavy rains and extremely strong winds.

 

Thousands of houses and streets/roads were under water.

 

The storm moved northwards. No further damage has been done to the crippled plant Fukushima that was destroyed by the quake and ensuing tsunami on 11 March 2011.

 

 

Swedish text-TV / SVT and Danish TV2 News: AT LEAST 10 DIED DUE TO THE RAVAGING OF TYPHOON ROKE IN JAPAN

 

One of the victims was a 101-year-old woman. Hundreds of people were injured, and 5 are missing according to the TV broadcaster NHK.

 

Typhoon Roke triggered FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES on the main island of HONSHU and the already disaster-hit north-eastern Japan.

 

The already crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima has allegedly made it through the typhoon without further damage.

 

On Thursday, the typhoon Roke lost strength over the island of Hokkaido in north-east Japan on its way away from Japan.

 

330,000 people had been warned of evacuation.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO JAPAN

 

 

CONTAMINATED (RADIO-ACTIVE) RICE FOUND IN JAPAN

 

The Japanese authorities have found rice with a too high content of contaminated matter (material).

 

The rice comes from the Fukushima region where a nuclear power plant experience melt-down following the quake and ensuing tsunami in March.

 

The rice contains radio-active cesium exceeding 500 Becquerel per kilo.

 

More rice from the area will now be tested. If that rice contains just as much contamination, then it will not be allowed to be sold. That would be another hard blow to the region.

[nancyk58]

REACTORS BELOW THE BOILING POINT (Source: Ritzau/Reuters cited in MetroXpress on 29.9.11)

 

The temperature in all 3 nuclear reactors damaged in the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima in March 2011 is now below the boiling point, i.e. less than 100 degrees Celsius. This enables a cold shut-down of the nuclear power plant at the end of 2011.

 

A devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011 knocked down the nuclear power plant's cooling system and resulted in a melt-down of 3 of the plant's 6 reactors. Since then the management of the plant tried to cool down the reactors and bring the temperatures down below the boiling point.

 

Technically, a cold shut-down of the reactors means that the temperatures are - and continue to be - below 95 degrees Celsius so that the reactors are not overheated. A cold shut-down of the reactors is a precondition for the return of the evacuated inhabitants.

[nancyk58]

JAPAN: The Japanese authorities had selected 21 areas where measurements were made. PLUTONIUM was measured in 6 of the areas!!

 

Source: Danish TV2 News live

[nancyk58]

IAEA TO ASSIST JAPAN IN CLEAN-UP OPERATION

 

WIEN. This week, experts from The International Atomic Energy Agency travel to Japan where they will help with the clean-up operation in the areas contaminated with radio-activity in connection with the accident in Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant in March. IAEA's assistance follows a Japanese request, and the task is comprehensive: 29 million of cubric metre of soil contaminated in connection with the world's worst / most serious nuclear accident for 25 years.

[nancyk58]

CHILDREN'S HEALTH TO BE CHECKED IN FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN

 

The Japanese authorities in the prefecture of Fukushima which was hit by the nuclear accident in connection with a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March have initiated health checks of 360,000 Japanese children.

 

The checks follow fear of radiation from the crippled nuclear power plant having affected their thyroid gland.

 

Many parents have insisted on the children being checked.

 

A new inofficial report shows that 10 of 130 evacuated children from Fukushima have hormonal or other deviances in the thyroid gland.

 

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT Text

[nancyk58]

MAGNITUDE 5.5 EARTHQUAKE OFF JAPAN's NORTH-EAST COAST

 

Skyscrapers in Tokyo were swaying, but no damage has been reported, and no tsunami alert was issued.

 

The crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima was not affected by the quake according to operator Tepco.

 

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT Text

[nancyk58]

HIGH RADIO-ACTIVITY IN TOKYO: RADIOACTIVITY MEASURED AT JUST BELOW ( = ALMOST) EVACUATION LIMIT !! :o

 

According to media reports, the Japanese authorities have measured radiation almost at the limit for evacuations in Japan's capital, Tokyo. In one area in western Tokyo, the radiation was 3.35 micro-sievert per hour according to broadcaster NHK. That corresponds to an annual value of 17.6 milli-sievert. According to rules in force, an evacuation of the area would be required from a level of 20 milli-sievert per year. It is not yet clear whether the radiation comes from the Fukushima nuclear power plant 220 km away.

 

Source: German text-TV ZDFtext (citing broadcaster NHK)

 

AGAIN POSSIBLE FOR JAPANESE TO EAT RICE FROM FUKUSHIMA

 

JAPAN. Rice harvested near the crippled nuclear power plant Fukushima can again be sent to the Japanese consumers after tests have shown radioactive contents below the limit. So the news agency Kyodo.

 

In September the radioactive Cesium was found in rice harvested 56 km from the nuclear power plant. Here it was found that the harvested rice was above the limit. Therefore the area to be examined for radioactivity was tenfolded.

 

The Fukushima power plant was destroyed by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011.

 

Source: The Danish free paper 24 Timer (24 Hours) / News agencies RITZAU + REUTERS citing the news agency Kyodo

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO JAPAN ON 25 OCTOBER 2011

 

 

FUKUSHIMA SHAKEN BY A MINOR EARTHQUAKE

 

A minor earthquake - magnitude 5.2 - has shaken the north-eastern Japanese prefecture, Fukushima where the far more powerful earthquake caused a devastating tsunami. So far there are no reports of casualties or material damage.

 

The quake occurred at 7pm central European time. The epicentre was off the coast near the town of IWAKI, 186 km north of Tokyo.

 

Fukushima was hard hit by the quake and ensuing tsunami in March when more than 21,000 people died.

 

Source: Danish text-Tv (DR1 and TV2)

[nancyk58]

BILLIONS TO FUKUSHIMA VICTIMS

 

Japan's government has adopted a business plan prepared by the operator TEPCO.

 

The business plan opens up for a first payment from the foundation (fund) that is to help Tepco compensate the victims for the nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima.

 

The company receives 900 billion yen. The foundation is established by the government and paid for by the tax payers plus via contributions from the nuclear industry.

 

Tepco is expected to pay back over a long period (long-term repayment) - according to the news agency Reuters.

 

Source: Text-TV on Swedish SVT on 4.11.11

[nancyk58]

MAGNITUDE 6.8 EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN AT SEA OFF THE ISLAND OF OKINAWA

 

 

There has been no risk of an ensuing tsunami according to the authorities.

 

The earthquake occurred 22 miles west of Naha on Okinawa and at a depth of 22 miles according to US Geological Survey (USGS).

 

Source: Swedish text-TV / SVT text

[nancyk58]

CRIPPLED NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN JAPAN SHOWN TO THE PRESS

 

The nuclear power plant in FUKUSHIMA that was destroyed by a devastating tsunami on 11 March this year is gradually coming under control. That was the message at a conducted tour for the press today / Saturday.

 

The Japanese authorities and the owners of the nuclear power plant have promised to have achieved a socalled "cool shutdown" by the end of 2011.

 

This situation - a "cool shutdown" - implies that fundamentally, the continuously leaking radio-activity is under control, and then you can start deciding the actions to be taken in relation to the about 80,000 evacuated people.

 

Source: Danish text-TV (DR1) on 12 November 2011

__________________

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 17 NOVEMBER 2011

 

 

RADIO-ACTIVIY FOUND IN 192 TONS OF RICE IN JAPAN

 

Radio-activity at a higher-than-allowed level has been detected by the Japanese authorities in 192 tonnes of rice. The rice contained 630 becquerel per kilo. Allowed is up to a limit of 500 becquerel per kilo.

 

The rice comes from fields about 60km from the crippled Fukushima power plant that was hit by a devastating tsunami on 11 March 2011. Radio-activity leaked from the power plant.

 

Earlier measurements showed very small amounts of radio-activity in food like beef, mushrooms and green tea according to BBC.

 

The radio-active rice was under way to the market, but had not yet reached the consumers.

 

Sources: Text-TV (Danish DR1 and Swedish SVT)

[nancyk58]

JAPAN WAS DESTROYED BY 2 TSUNAMIES (Source: Danish text-TV - DR1)

 

NASA and researchers from Ohio State University have made a remarkable discovery. Data from NASA and European satellites show that the great tsunami that caused enormous destruction / devastation in Japan in March (11.3.11) was really 2 tsunamies.

 

Satellite pictures show that 2 wave fronts merged off Japan's coast thus creating a wave front with double strength. This new wave was capable of travelling even further without losing strength when it hit Japan's coast thus causing major devastation.

 

The researchers hope that this new discovery may improve the warning systems.

[nancyk58]

WATER LEAKING FROM A JAPANESE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

 

A Japanese nuclear power plant - Genkai in the southern Kyushi region - has leaked 1.8 ton radio-active / contaminated water from its cooling system - according to the government in Tokyo.

 

The leak was detected yesterday. It has not damaged the environment, because the water was inside a reactor that was not in operation - according to the authorities.

 

This has raised the concerns in relation to the security & safety of nuclear power.

 

By the accident yesterday, a water pump was taken out of operation, when an alarm rang indicating increased temperatures. But there was not any data on leaked water.

[Tonsu]

Thank you very much indeed for all the updates Nancy.

[nancyk58]

Tsunami relief funds in Japan have been used to kill whales!!

 

Tsunami relief funds in Japan have been used to kill whales!! Japanese authorities claim to rebuild local communities by transferring relief funds for killing whales!! Read and hopefully join me in signing this.

 

Officials claim that whaling subsidies will support coastal communities hit by the tsunami -- even though Japan has had to stockpile whale meat because so few people wish to consume it. All the while, the government has turned a blind eye to victims trapped in radiation hot-spots, with the few who are entitled to compensation pocketing a pitiful $1,000.

 

Please read the petition below with more info and take action.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

________________________________________

Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:35:21 -0500

From: [email protected]

Subject: Tsunami relief funds used to kill whales?!

To: [email protected]

 

Dear friends,

 

Right now, the Japanese whaling fleet is barrelling south to hunt thousands of majestic whales, escorted by a $30 million private security force paid for out of the tsunami disaster relief funds! The Japanese PM is already under enormous pressure for failing to help victims of the tsunami - a global outcry can shame him into using relief money to save people, not kill whales -- sign the petition, and forward to everyone:

 

 

Right now, the Japanese whaling fleet is barrelling south to hunt thousands of majestic whales, escorted by a 30 million dollar security force paid for out of the tsunami disaster relief fund!

 

Anti-whaling champions were successfully blocking the Japanese whale hunt -- which is exactly why the Japanese government decided to swipe money from relief efforts to stop the activists from bothering the boats while they engage in their brutal slaughter.

 

If we can stop the whaling security and get the relief money back for desperate Japanese citizens still languishing in radioactive hotspots, we could help end the whale hunt for good. Japanese PM Noda is already under enormous pressure after scandalous failures to compensate victims of the nuclear disaster. A massive global outcry can spark outrage inside and outside Japan and force Noda to use precious relief funds to save people, not kill whales - sign the petition and forward to everyone:

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/japan_disaster_funds_whaling_b/?vl

 

Whale hunting is astronomically expensive, and it's made possible by ludicrous government subsidies amounting to $35,000 per whale! If these subsidies are cut back, the whaling industry could collapse. Now the Prime Minister will squander $30 million to provide private security for whale slaughterers to make sure they’re not bothered by environmental activists in the ocean. With the added muscle, Japan plans to kill 1,000 Minke whales for commercial meat sales this year.

 

Officials claim that whaling subsidies will support coastal communities hit by the tsunami -- even though Japan has had to stockpile whale meat because so few people wish to consume it. All the while, the government has turned a blind eye to victims trapped in radiation hot-spots, with the few who are entitled to compensation pocketing a pitiful $1,000.

 

Let's urge Prime Minister Noda to stop caving to the whaling lobby and spend relief money on the people who need it most: the victims -- sign the urgent petition now, and forward widely:

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/japan_disaster_funds_whaling_b/?vl

 

Last year, our community came together in record numbers, and we won the fight to keep a global ban on whaling. And last month, 130,000 Japanese Avaaz members joined together, pressing the government to use tsunami relief funds to protect radiation-exposed children by funding their evacuation from unsafe areas. Time and again we see how powerful lobby groups like the Japanese whaling lobby put profits before people and planet. And time and again, we stop them. Let's do it again.

 

With hope and determination,

 

Stephanie, Jamie, Emma, Ricken, Morgan, Laura, Wissam, Wen-Hua and the rest of the Avaaz team

 

More Information:

 

BBC: "Japanese tsunami fund used for whaling programme"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16064002

 

Guardian: "Japan whaling fleet accused of using tsunami disaster funds"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/07/japan-whaling-fleet-tsunami-earthquake-funds

 

Letter: "Greenpeace Japan and 15 other NGOs letter to Japanese government"

http://www.greenpeace.org/japan/Global/japan/pdf/2011_Japanese_NGO_statement_for_departure_English.pdf

 

WSJ: "Use of Government Recovery Funds Stokes Japan Whaling Row"

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/12/08/use-of-recovery-funds-stokes-japan-whaling-row/

 

 

Support the Avaaz Community!

We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.

 

 

________________________________________

 

Avaaz.org is a 10-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

 

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I will post a newspaper article on the same matter very soon.

[nancyk58]

From Danish text-tv on DR1: FUKUSHIMA POWER PLANT STABILIZED

 

Dangerous amounts of radiation are no longer coming out of the nuclear power plant - according to the Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Nodas.

 

On 11 march 2011, a gigantic tsunami and a powerful earthquake were the causes of the melt-down of 4 of the nuclear power plant's 6 reactors.

 

After the melt-down workers from Tokyo Electric Power company aka. TEPCO tried to cool down the nuclear power plant by means of sea water. Now the temperatures are low enough to declare the plant stabilized.

 

 

On Danish TV2 news it was also reported that not everyone could return home. In some places the level of radiation was still too high for people to return home. And the clean-up operation would take decades.

[nancyk58]

http://enenews.com/52-fukushima-workers-hit-with-high-fever-diarrhea-and-vomiting-some-hospitalized-only-3-test-positive-for-flu-virus/comment-page-1

 

Published: December 17th, 2011 at 09:06 PM EDT |

By Enenews Admin

68 comments

 

 

52 Fukushima workers hit with high fever, diarrhea, vomiting — Some hospitalized — Only 3 test positive for flu virus

 

 

Workers at TEPCO Nuclear Plant Infected with Norovirus, Jiji Press, Dec. 17, 2011:

 

A total of 52 workers at [...] Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant

Infected with norovirus, the utility said Saturday.

 

Were installing storage tanks for sludge accumulated after radioactive water decontamination

 

Some of them was hospitalized

 

Most are getting better after receiving treatment

 

Number of patients may increase further

 

Workers reported symptoms such as high fever, diarrhea and vomiting on Thursday

 

Stomach flu outbreak hits 52 workers at Fukushima nuclear plant, AP, Dec. 17, 2011:

 

[Tepco] said Saturday that a norovirus outbreak is suspected

 

Three of the workers have tested positive for the virus, a common form of flu

 

See also:

 

Doctor near Tokyo attributes symptoms to radiation exposure: We have begun to see increased nosebleeds, stubborn cases of diarrhea, and flu-like symptoms in children

 

Yomiuri: Mayor near Fukushima dies -- Had recently been hospitalized two weeks with enteritis, which affected many Chernobyl liquidators

 

Japan Cancer Specialist: If this many people are having similar symptoms, doctors need to recognize them as symptoms of radiation exposure -- Can't be dismissed as a mere cold (VIDEO)

 

Fukushima Diary: Like others, I've had diarrhea for months... coughing and sore throat too -- See pic of Mochizuki at work (PHOTO)

 

Related Posts

Japan’s Emperor hospitalized: “He appeared fatigued and has lost some resistance to fight his illness” — Traveled to disaster area in April November 7, 2011

 

Japan Times: It is of “great concern” that little has been disclosed about Fukushima workers November 7, 2011

 

Japan Emperor’s granddaughter hospitalized with mycoplasmal pneumonia November 7, 2011

 

“I’m going to die” thought hospitalized Fukushima chief early on in crisis — Recently said radiation levels remain dangerous November 28, 2011

 

Japan journalist on rumors about Fukushima workers: “Pretty credible reports coming out — probably from the hospital staff — that they’re beyond capacity and don’t know what to do” (VIDEO) November 10, 2011

 

December 17th, 2011 | Category: Fukushima & Japan

[nancyk58]

News on 1 January, 2012

 

EARTHQUAKE SHOOK TOKYO (sources: Danish text-tv from DR1 + TV2)

 

A powerful earthquake - measured at magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale - hit the area around Japan's capital TOKYO - as reported by the news agency AFP. No reports of substantial damage or serious casualties (AFP).

 

The quake occurred at 2:30 in the afternoon local time - just when the Japanese Emperor Akihito in his New Year's Address urged the Japanese population to stand together in the reconstruction of Japan after the disastrous earthquake and ensuing tsunami on 11 March 2011 that cost 23,000 human lives.

 

The epicentre was near the island of Torishima situated about 560 km south of Tokyo.

 

No tsunami alert was issued.

[nancyk58]

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/as_fukushima_cleanup_begins_long-term_impacts_are_weighed/2482/

 

from Care2 Causes: http://www.care2.com/news/

 

 

09 Jan 2012: Report

 

As Fukushima Cleanup Begins,

Long-term Impacts are Weighed

 

 

The Japanese government is launching a large-scale cleanup of the fields, forests, and villages contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. But some experts caution that an overly aggressive remediation program could create a host of other environmental problems.

 

by winifred bird

 

 

Following the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl 25 years ago, the Soviet government chose long-term evacuation over extensive decontamination; as a result, the plants and animals near Chernobyl inhabit an environment that is both largely devoid of humans and severely contaminated by radioactive fallout.

 

The meltdown last March of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan also contaminated large areas of farmland and forests, albeit not as severely or extensively as at Chernobyl. But lacking land for resettlement and facing public outrage over the accident, the Japanese government has chosen a very different path, embarking on a decontamination effort of unprecedented scale.

 

Beginning this month, at least 1,000 square kilometers of land — much of it forest and farms — will be cleaned up as workers power-spray buildings, scrape soil off fields, and remove fallen leaves and undergrowth from woods near houses. The goal is to make all of Fukushima livable again. But as scientists, engineers, and ordinary residents begin this massive task, they face the possibility that their efforts will create new environmental problems in direct proportion to their success in remediating the radioactive contamination.

 

“Decontamination can be really effective, [but] what you have is a tradeoff between dose reduction and environmental impact,” says Kathryn Higley, a radioecologist at Oregon State University who has studied several decontamination sites in the United States. That’s because the radioactive particles the Japanese are trying to get rid of can be quite “sticky.” Removing them without removing large amounts of soil, leaves, and living plants is nearly impossible.

 

The Ministry of Environment estimates that Fukushima will have to dispose of 15 to 31 million cubic meters of contaminated soil and debris by the time the decontamination projects end. Costs are predicted to exceed a trillion yen.

 

Given these drawbacks, an International Atomic Energy Agency fact-finding mission advised the Japanese authorities to “avoid over-conservatism” in their decontamination plans — in other words, not to clean up more than necessary to protect human health. Yet the health impacts of long-term exposure to low levels of radiation are not entirely clear. Many scientists believe exposure to even very low levels can slightly increase cancer risk, and many Fukushima residents feel they should not be forced to live with that risk — or the undercurrent of fear it brings.

 

But while the political debate over how much to clean up rages on, more practical preparations are already underway. On a frigid afternoon last month, about 160 workers wearing papery white jumpsuits and hot pink respirators filed up a winding road into a farming hamlet in Kawamata Town, about an hour southeast of Fukushima and just inside the evacuation zone. Were it not for the bright blue plastic sheets, heavy-duty leaf vacuums, cranes, and trucks scattered everywhere, the village would have been picturesque. Now, the intricacy of the landscape — its tiny rice paddies, bamboo groves, woodlots, streams, and earth-walled barns — was adding to the challenges of decontamination.

 

The workers fanned out over the otherwise abandoned rolling hills and brown fields. One group climbed a hill to rake fallen leaves into large black bags, while another spread magnesium over fields to solidify the soil for later removal. Nearby, another of the indistinguishable white figures chopped down overgrown weeds.

 

The workers had been hired by Taisei Corporation, one of three large construction firms that won contracts from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to test the effectiveness and efficiency of various decontamination technologies at 19 model sites throughout Fukushima Prefecture. The results of these experiments will guide the large-scale decontamination effort set to begin later this month.

 

Human exposure can be lowered without cleansing the entire landscape, of course. Japan’s bans on hunting bears and wild pigs, selling wild mushrooms, and growing rice in certain areas fall into this category; so does the recommendation from Fukushima’s agriculture department that farmers add potassium fertilizer to moderately contaminated fields in order to minimize cesium uptake by crops. As for forests, the focus for the time being is on decontaminating only patches close to homes because most people spend little time in remote woods.

 

But because the most heavily contaminated parts of Fukushima are, like the village in Kawamata, a hilly mosaic of houses, woods, and fields, the government can’t leave nature entirely untouched. Houses backed by wooded hills are very common, as are fields in small valleys; in both cases, runoff from uphill can recontaminate lowlands. Intense public concern over contaminated food, meanwhile, means many farmers want to clean up their land as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

 

Japan’s decontamination efforts are focused mostly on the radionuclides caesium-134 and caesium-137, which are currently present in approximately equal amounts and have half-lives of two and 30 years respectively. Although other radionuclides have been found in Japan, these two pose the greatest long-term threat to human health through ingestion and external exposure. Radiocaesium has been found in all of Japan’s prefectures but is most highly concentrated within an oblong swath that extends about 50 kilometers northwest of the plant, and to a lesser extent throughout eastern and central Fukushima Prefecture.

 

Radiological risk assessment expert John Till, president of the U.S.-based Risk Assessment Corporation, says the fallout will probably be gone from the surface of plants within a few years, but attach strongly, through ion exchange, to soil — in particular to the clay soils common throughout Fukushima. From there the radiocaesium will move slowly into plants, at a rate — and level of risk — that is still unclear.

 

Remediation methods that work, Higley says, “seem kind of absurd but actually make sense”: cutting, scraping, raking, and plowing, to varying degrees of depth and severity. Government agencies, private companies, and academics are all experimenting to find the most efficient and effective methods for Fukushima. The prefectural government has recommended removing leaf litter from woods within 20 meters of houses and deeply plowing or turning over fields to dilute contamination. In the heavily contaminated fields that cover at least 8,000 hectares around Fukushima, several centimeters of topsoil will likely be removed. Some farmers are power-washing their orchards or shaving bark off trees.

 

Officials involved with the cleanup are well aware of the drawbacks to these approaches: huge amounts of radioactive waste that no one wants to store long term; immense investments of money, labor, and time; damage to wildlife habitat and soil fertility; increased erosion on scraped-bare hillsides; and intrusion by people and machinery into every area scheduled for remediation.

 

“You remove leaf litter from the forest floor and radiation levels fall,” said Shinichi Nakayama, a nuclear engineer at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency who is overseeing the 19 decontamination pilot projects planned or underway. “You take away the deeper layers and they fall more. But you take it all away and the ecosystem is destroyed. Water retention goes down and flooding can occur.”

 

Although no significant conservation areas lie within the most contaminated parts of Fukushima, some species on the prefecture’s Red List of endangered or threatened species — including a grassland butterfly and the Japanese peregrine falcon, both listed as “vulnerable” — are found there and could be impacted if projects like these are implemented on a large scale.

 

But Kiyomi Yokota, a naturalist and secretary of the Fukushima Nature Conservation Association, said that standing up for wildlife in the current situation would be difficult. “If people want to go home, I don’t think I could tell them, ‘No, stop the decontamination, save the fish,’” he said. Human health, in other words, trumps habitat.

 

But just how much fallout does the government need to remove in order to protect human health? On that key question the science is frustratingly inconclusive.

 

Past studies have shown that cancer rates rise in populations exposed to a dose of 100 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation. They reveal much less about the situation in Fukushima, where lower doses will continue for many years. (Measurements taken in Fukushima City in late December, for instance, ranged from .33 to 1.04 microsieverts per hour; sustained for a year, that adds up to doses of 2.9 to 9.1 millisieverts.) The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends that the general public be exposed to a yearly dose of no more than 1 to 20 mSv following a nuclear accident; those two numbers represent the difference between a decontamination effort confined to about 500 square kilometers and one encompassing much of Fukushima Prefecture and beyond.

 

So far, Japan’s central government has taken direct responsibility for decontaminating areas within 20 kilometers of the plant and those where yearly exposure could exceed 20 mSv. (Together these areas make up the evacuation zone.) The Environment Ministry predicts natural radioactive decay and weathering alone will reduce levels 40 percent within two years; Large-scale versions of the decontamination pilot projects will supposedly do the rest.

 

Some residents and activist groups like Greenpeace have called for a faster and more aggressive decontamination effort, while others believe most of Fukushima is already safe enough to live in. Still others doubt decontamination will succeed and are pushing the government to spend money on relocation instead.

 

“Safe? What is safe?” Sumiko Toyoguchi, an elderly evacuee who used to live six kilometers from the nuclear plant and now lives in temporary housing in Fukushima City, asked last month. She said she doesn’t want to return to her former home even after decontamination takes place, in part because she worries the work won’t be done adequately.

 

Ten months after the nuclear disaster, trust in the authorities is nearly nonexistent.

 

Without it, Japan’s government risks the biggest cleanup fiasco of all: a decontamination effort that carries huge financial and environmental costs but still fails to convince Fukushima residents that their homes, farms, and forests are safe once again.

 

POSTED ON 09 Jan 2012

 

 

 

COMMENTS

 

 

This is typical of the wildly exaggerated attention to the horrors of anything "nuclear".

The major catastrophes were the earthquake and the tsunami, both of which are ultimately caused by the otherwise beneficent natural radioactivity that fuels all tectonic forces, without which no living multicellular organism would have had time to evolve.

 

Posted by albert rogers on 09 Jan 2012

 

 

 

I hope the Japanese people are able to choose an optimal solution. Such a solution will limit as much as possible some of the extremely expensive and senseless operations described in this excellent article.

 

The level of radiation in Fukushima is mostly very low. Nothing to worry about. The people should be allowede to return home, and they should get freee cancer screening every 3 months for the next 20 years IMHO. It will be the cheapest and best solution for the Japanse people and Japan.

 

Oh, and they should start building new power plants to replace the damaged ones of course!

 

All the best.

 

Posted by Joris van Dorp on 09 Jan 2012

 

 

 

Excellent article. You've done a great job of summarizing the current mess, particularly with the complications and challenges associated with an unprecedented decontamination program. You are absolutely correct that there is zero trust with authorities such as TEPCO and the government in Tokyo. One exception is with the local governments. Many of the town governments went to great efforts to understand the extent of the contamination and see that people were informed.

 

In my town, Nihonmatsu, twice daily radiation readings in 24 locations began on March 18 and have been posted on the town web site ever since.

 

Posted by Tom Burke on 09 Jan 2012

 

 

how can decontamination begin when they still haven't got the leak under control =/

 

Posted by b britton on 10 Jan 2012

[nancyk58]

JAPANESE POLICE: THE FUKUSHIMA DEATH TOLL: 15,844 CONFIRMED DEAD - 3,458 ARE STILL MISSING

 

 

The Japanese police published the confirmed number of dead from the zone of disaster.

 

The devastating earthquake and ensuing tsunami that also knocked down the nuclear power plant in Fukushima cost 15,844 human lives (confirmed).

 

3,458 are still missing - probably the majority has been washed into the sea according to the news agency AFP. That means that a total of 19,294 have lost their lives.

 

Source Danish text-TV (DR1)

[nancyk58]

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/...na015000c.html

 

Radioactive gravel likely shipped to over 200 companies

 

Radioactive gravel thought responsible for high radiation readings in a new apartment complex in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, was likely shipped to over 200 companies, making its way into apartments, bridges, and possibly temporary homes for evacuees, according to government investigators.

 

The gravel was kept in a part of the town of Namie, in an area near the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

 

From the time the nuclear disaster began to the establishment of the area as an evacuation zone on April 22, the company owning the gravel had shipped 5,200 metric tons of it to 19 companies, according to national and local government sources.

 

Two of the receiving companies were ready-mix concrete companies and the rest were construction companies. However, the gravel was then reportedly sent on to over 200 other companies, where it was used in building materials.

 

On Jan. 16, Fukushima Prefectural Government officials agreed at a meeting to work to help move residents from the homes affected by the radioactive gravel, investigate the source of the contamination, and check for other places where contaminated building materials may have been used.

 

After the nuclear disaster began, standards were set for reuse of sludge and debris that may have been irradiated, but none were set for gravel used in concrete. The gravel industry is regulated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The ministry investigated the gravel industry in areas near the plant in May of last year, but after being told that "the businesses have evacuated and no one is making shipments," it took no special measures.

 

Since the problem with the gravel surfaced, many calls criticizing the slowness of the government's response have reportedly come in to a call center for the national government set up in Fukushima Prefecture.

 

Kinki University professor Hideo Yamazaki compared the gravel problem to the one of irradiated straw being sent out around the country: "It's exactly the same problem. The stone quarry is inside the evacuation zone, and what happened was something the government could have predicted. It's frustrating that the government does not think about the movement of materials, including gravel. The ones I feel sorry for are the gravel producers. It was impossible for them to notice the contamination at the time of shipping, and it's not right for them to be blamed. The government's actions have all been reactionary, and the locals are paying for it."

 

(Mainichi Japan) January 16, 2012

[nancyk58]

From Danish text-TV on 28 January 2012 (DR text-TV):

 

70% of the inhabited area of the coastal town Higashi-Matsushima was flooded after the gigantic earthquake in north-eastern Japan on 11.3.11.

 

Now the community builds a new energy-efficient district for the inhabitants to be rehoused. A delegation from Higashi-Matsushima municipality has been on a study visit to Denmark this past week. The plan is to create a "mini-Denmark" in the Noribu district.

 

That "mini-Denmark" is to be 100% self-sufficient in renewable energy sources. The electricity is to be derived from a combination of solar energy, biomass energy / fuel and windmills.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO THE JAPAN QUAKE ON 3 FEBRUARY, 2012

 

 

NEW LEAK IN THE CRIPPLED NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN FUKUSHIMA

 

Radio-activity has leaked - again - in the Japanese crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima!!

 

A spokesman for the operator TEPCO said that a leak had appeared in the water treatment plant. Noone has been injured according to Tepco's information. It was possible to close the leak. A total of 8.5 ton contaminated / radio-active water had leaked since the beginning of this week according to the spokesman.

 

A melt-down occurred in the nuclear power plant Fukushima in March 2011 caused by a gigantic earthquake and an ensuing tsunami.

 

Source: German text-TV / ARDtext