[Translate] Nearly a year since the massive  disaster in Japan, people struggle to get life back to something resembling normalcy. Misunderstanding, stress and fighting a system that doesn’t work well add to the challenges people face. A 60 year old worker that died suddenly was declared a case of “overwork” by the labor authority in Japan. Nobukatsu Osumi had a heart attack on his first day of work at the plant. He was tasked with working on pipes at the waste disposal facility. The press report does not state what his radiation levels were. This is the first case of a Fukushima worker’s death being investigated by the labor ministry.  The article also does not state if the family will receive compensation now that his death is officially attributed to his work at … Read entire article »

[Translate] Business groups have been pushing their influence on the Japanese government. Industries agenda may find itself in direct conflict with the people. Both of Japan’s major political parties have cowed to industry pressure to resume nuclear reactors. “Politicians are quietly lowering anti-nuclear colors raised following the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant as Japan prepares for a second summer of energy shortages and a major debate over restarting suspended reactors. Under intense pressure from the business world to ensure stable energy supplies, officials of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan are leaning toward allowing the resumption of reactors taken off the grid for periodic inspections. Meanwhile, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party on Feb. 15 released an interim report on nuclear energy policy that effectively put off forming a definite policy … Read entire article »

[Translate] Tokyo Electric Power Co., Tohoku Electric Power Co. and Japan Atomic Power Co. asked the Japanese government Earthquake Research Committee to rewrite the language about the tsunami risk to Fukushima and Myiagi prefectures just days before the March 11 disaster. The nuclear power companies wanted the report rewritten to give the impression the Jogan quake and tsunami of 869 didn’t happen or was still being studied for validity. Rewriting history is cheaper than making nuclear plants safe. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the sharing of information or promoting our work, please do so with … Read entire article »

[Translate] NHK released a number of images to go with the video of the helicopter fly over. The images were of limited quality but we were able to improve them, enlarge and pull out a few details. Click on the larger images for an expanded view (most full images are 18 inches wide) Thanks to Mary for finding the photos. Hill by unit 1 Building by tank farm Unit 4 crane nets Unit 4 reactor cap carousel and yellow containment cap Unit 4 – back of building appears to be collapsed in more Unit 3 crane over reactor well in color & black/white Unit 1, bottom of tent Unit 4 side Unit 4 side Unit 4 side Unit 4 front Overhead crane at unit 4 with nets strung across Unit 3 side Tank farm Seaside view of plant This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts … Read entire article »

[Translate] A large number of reports and documents have been coming out in the last few days about Fukushima. This may be due to the one year anniversary coming up. USGS released a report of US fallout. It showed some contamination in the west coast, north central US and some spots on the east coast. Why it took almost a year for the US public to be informed of this information has yet to be explained. Even with the long delay in releasing the information, USGS has been far more forthcoming with information than the NRC has been. IAEA has released a new report on Fukushima. The report covers a number of recent issues including concerns about unit 2, environmental impact and their view of TEPCO’s current actions. NRC recently released transcripts from their … Read entire article »

[Translate] Both NISA and the IAEA think there is enough of a chance that something is going on inside unit 2 that they have asked TEPCO to create alternative ways of measuring temperatures. IAEA also mentioned that the manner in which sensors fail does not match some of the behaviors seen on sensors in unit 2, hinting that sensors labeled failed may not be. In order to help understand what is going on inside unit 2 we have developed some visual diagrams of daily readings that bring together data from various documents. The position along the horizontal plane for each sensor is labeled with a degree if it is known. Others are marked as close as possible to the structure or known landmark for location of that sensor. Water rates, pressure, and … Read entire article »

[Translate] MEXT has released a new website that has live radiation readings at various spots around Fukushima Prefecture. Most stations are at schools or city facilities. There are not any stations on Tomioka, Futuba or Okuma, all cities that are evacuated and have had very high levels. The radiation level limit used for evacuation after Chernobyl is .5 uSv/h. Cities on the list below are not evacuated with the exception of Namie and Iidate. This means that people in many towns are being exposed to Chernobyl evacuation levels still today. The list below is not a total list of areas over the safety limit but merely a sampling. Koriyama – children’s park center 1.021 uSv/h Koriyama – Gymnasium western Koriyama .515 uSv/h Koriyama – riverside park Italian issue .681 uSv/h Koriyama – tennis field .851 … Read entire article »