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Oi Nuclear Plant Occupied By Protesters
[Translate] One more update: Iori at Fukushima Diary has some translated tweets and photos people took during the protest. “We found police crying. I asked one of the riot police officers if he’s actually against the restart of nuclear plant, he turned to me and slightly nodded to bear up in tragedy. There were numbers of times when I couldn’t stop my tears.” UPDATE: LAST ONE: The protest is over. Everyone packed up and left. No arrests, No injuries. The gates have been unchained. Photo is people all together walking away from the police line. Update: 11:38pm Japan time. Protesters and drummers are still there as is the police line. People showing no intent on leaving. There were rumors police were going to remove people but it appears that has not happened. The row … Read entire article »
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200,000 Protest Nuclear Power In Tokyo
[Translate] 200,000 at Friday no nukes protest in Tokyo (image below). Last week’s protest was estimated at 10-20,000 when organizers estimated 45,000. This time IWJ media rented a helicopter to get some overhead images to help confirm the protests are larger than the mainstream media has been claiming. Japan Times and a number of newspapers outside of Japan covered or mentioned the Friday night protest. Telegraph UK | NY Times | Reuters | WSJ Many drastically downplayed the numbers but this did get some media attention. In the months after the start of the disaster people were afraid to speak about their concerns or growing opposition to nuclear power. Such a massive protest would have been hard to imagine. The Prime Minister apparently heard the protest “It’s a big sound“. This article would not be possible without the … Read entire article »
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No Nukes Protest In Tokyo Exceeds 100,000 – Still Going On
[Translate] It is currently around 8pm in Tokyo and the protest is still going on. The organizers are estimating over 100,000 attending per Fukushima Diary. People have been asked to disperse and there are twitter reports the police have either left or given up on crowd control. IWJ has taken helicopter video to document the size of the protest that should be online soon. Last week’s protest was drastically under reported in size by the media. The fly over hopes to accurately document the size of the protest. This one appears far larger than the 45,000 last week. Soon after the disaster many were afraid to speak about their fears from the disaster at Fukushima or their growing opposition to nuclear power. A little more than a year later the streets of … Read entire article »
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Possibly Active Fault At Oi Ups Restart Stakes
[Translate] If you work for a big power company or a government agency there are apparently two excuses that will get you out of absolutely any possible trouble. 1. I can’t find it. 2. I can’t remember. KEPCO claims they can not find a sketch of fault lines and photographs requested by the government to determine the seismic risk at the Oi nuclear plant. Professor Mitsuhisa Watanabe, tectonic geomorphologist at Toyo University in Tokyo has shown there could be active faults under the Oi nuclear plant set to restart this Sunday. The fault likely sits under the emergency water intake system, a critical piece of safety equipment. The professor said this about the government looking the other way on the known seismic risk at the plant. “The expertise and neutrality of experts advising Japan’s … Read entire article »
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SimplyInfo Is Moving!
[Translate] Our current live blog will be moving July 2nd to chat.simplyinfo.org ! We will now have a permanent home of our own. The new live blog chat has many of the features people are used to like inline images & video along with some new useful features like private messaging. This new system is much less intrusive to join the conversation. People can make their own login ID on the fly without providing any personal information or they can log in with their Twitter, Facebook, Google or other online account. We have a complete set of instructions, tips and how-to’s for the new chat here, to help answer questions. If you need additional help contact us here. The Hipchat account will stay active from July 2nd to July 10th for assistance only to move … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Profits 546 Billion Yen For Restarting KK Nuclear Plant
[Translate] BusinessWeek mentions this in a larger article about the recent TEPCO shareholders meeting. Shareholders approved TEPCO’s nationalization and also the plan to continue with nuclear power. TEPCO’s government recovery plan involves restarting the reactors at Kashiwazaki Kariwa. TEPCO’s largest shareholder, after the national government is the city of Tokyo. They attempted to require TEPCO to make reforms and a group of individual shareholders attempted to formally require TEPCO to withdraw from the nuclear power industry. Both were voted down. The restart of the 7 nuclear reactors at TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki Kariwa would gain TEPCO 546 billion yen per year in profits or $6,877,416,000.00 (USD) . This is the only plan TEPCO has for the company to financially survive and the national government approves of the restarts to save the company. Public safety or the plight … Read entire article »
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Unit 1 Torus Inspection: Analysis & New Additional Images
[Translate] The SimplyInfo team has been reviewing TEPCO’s latest effort to inspect unit 1 at Fukushima Daiichi. Work was done by putting a scope through a pipe penetration hole in the floor down into the torus room. Based on the survey data from the inspection, radiation levels in unit 1 are extremely high. Fukushima worker Happy11311 mentioned workers can not be inside unit 1 for more than 30 minutes due to the high radiation levels. Our research shows that working conditions may be even less than 30 minutes before the worker receives his annual dose. The torus room at unit 1 is heavily damaged. Pipes show extensive corrosion, paint appears to be corroded or burned off of surfaces. The below water conditions are even worse. In contrast to the torus at unit 2 that … Read entire article »
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Unit 4 Demolition Progress, New Damage Found
[Translate] We caught the TBS camera yesterday cutting away wall sections on unit 4. A cloud of concrete dust can be seen in some images. The yellow containment cap still sits on the west side of the building on the refueling floor. TEPCO’s recent report also found new damage to the west wall of unit 4. They claim there isn’t any cracking or degradation of the concrete even with considerable distortion to the wall. floors 1-3 from the bottom up. The number show is the distortion in millimeters. 3rd floor distortion from the previous report. 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 … Read entire article »
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Monday News Roundup
[Translate] An no nukes protest took place Sunday in Chiba. The protest took place in Noda’s home town. Oi has been plagued with a number of glitches and alarms as they attempt to restart units 3 and 4. Previously they had an alarm on a tank but didn’t inform the public in a timely manner. There were 32 alarms at transmission facilities between Oi and the individual facilities. These were caused by “unstable atmosphere” and didn’t indicate a danger at the plant. There were also a number of these alarms at Takahama nuclear plant. The reporting of these alarms may be a side effect of the government’s effort to be proactive during the restart at Oi. This reporting of every minor incident may add to the anxiety over the restart. It also is no … Read entire article »
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Friday Night Protest Dubbed Hydrangea Revolution In Japan
[Translate] These Friday night protests have been going on for a few weeks. This is on top of all the other ongoing protests in Japan pushing back against the government inaction from Fukushima and also the restart of the Oi nuclear reactors. Protests have been going on in other cities including in the Fukui region as people push back against the government’s plan to return to nuclear power before learning any real lessons from Fukushima. Organizers have upped their estimate to 45,000. Most of the media in Japan is still claiming 11,000. The police are there in large numbers but appear to only be doing crowd control and directing traffic. The protests begun during daylight and went on into the evening. More protests are planned by various groups around Japan including one in Wakasahongo-Fukui … Read entire article »
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40,000 Protest In Front Of Prime Minister’s Residence To End Nuclear Power
[Translate] 40,000 people rallied in front of the prime minister’s residence Friday evening in Tokyo. The protest is a continuation of protests on previous Fridays to stop the restart of nuclear reactors in Japan. Public pressure has been growing in Japan. The Noda government has completely ignored the large public opposition to continuing Japan’s reliance on nuclear power. The government is pushing to restart even more reactors even though the actual need to run them as been questioned. This week the government also passed yet another oppressive internet law and a change to the country’s nuclear laws. The Nuclear Energy Basic Law had a clause added this week that says stable securing of nuclear power use contributed to national security. Many are calling this an opening to nuclear armament, Japan’s government denies … Read entire article »
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Media Picks Up On Risks At Oi
[Translate] The media has picked up on the risks at the Oi nuclear plant in Japan. Our report on the real risks at Oi mentions our concerns with the limited roads into the plant. We also covered the many portions of that single road that are at high risk for tsunami or earthquake damage. The Associated Press has picked up on the issue and found something more. “If the Ohi nuclear reactors plunged into a Fukushima-style meltdown, the only route for escaping or for sending help would be a winding, cliff-hugging road often closed by snow in winter or clogged by beachgoers in summer.” “Still, Japan’s government has chosen to lift its post-Fukushima nuclear freeze and restart two reactors at Ohi, even though construction of an alternative route to the facility is barely on … Read entire article »
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The Real Risks At Oi
[Translate] The SimplyInfo.org research team has been busy looking into the newly claimed safety efforts at the Oi nuclear plant in Japan. The Prime Minister and Fukui governor have given their approval to restart units 3 & 4 at Oi, ending Japan’s days of being nuclear free. Though Japan has been largely nuclear free for months as most reactors have been offline for an extended period of time. The reactors at Oi have been offline between 6 months to 1 year. KEPCO is now trying to rush the restart of unit 3 to a short few weeks. The longer a reactor is offline the more work is involved in restarting it. Oi has a number of known issues and past safety problems that have not been resolved. The plant’s siting and design … Read entire article »
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Bad News – Good News Monday
[Translate] Bad news first: Japan had US Department of Energy Data days after the start of the Fukushima disaster. “The Energy Department used its Aerial Measuring System (AMS) between March 17 and 19, 2011, and compiled a detailed map of radiation levels on the basis of 40 hours of flight time over Fukushima Prefecture.” This data was sent to the Japanese government repeatedly from March 17 on, NISA apparently received it and did not provide it to the NSC or the Prime Minister’s office. NISA has been asked for this data multiple times by Asahi Shimbun, NISA claims they are still looking for it. People inside the government admit the maps from the DOE were in the NISA emergency offices. NISA’s excuse for not using the data was they didn’t know if it … Read entire article »
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Typhoon Guchol Update Monday June 18
[Translate] SimplyInfo member Thunder is back with an update on Typhoon Guchol: Typhoon GUCHOL is currently forecast to cross the southern Japanese coastline around 0600UTC/19th of June, most probable impact point will be Shikoku however Kyushu and Tokai are both still at great risk of damaging winds, storm surge and flooding rain. Forecast winds at crossing in excess of 90 knots about exposed coastal areas and up to 70 knots further inland but much of the damaging wind should remain on the south eastern side of the system due to lack of a significant pressure gradient squeeze to the north. Fukushima prefecture should miss the worst of it with the system taking a more western track across Japan before reemerging in the sea of Japan in a significantly weakened state. Forecast rainfall … Read entire article »
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Typhoon Guchol Could Hit Honshu Tuesday
[Translate] SimplyInfo member Thunder has a new weather report on the risk to Japan from Typhoon Guchol: Bad news but it could improve? At the moment Typhoon Guchol is motoring along and current model consensus is above 95% for a crossing of the southern and eastern sections of Japan at or above Typhoon strength, in fact crossing of the Japanese mainland at some point is currently as close to 100% as you can get at this sort of lead time with all computerized weather modeling indicating the same scenario track wise within a few hundred KM’s, only the intensity varies. Currently a category four(SSHS scale) system packing winds in excess of 130 knots the system lies East of the Philippines but is forecast to make the classic northeastern swing in the coming day and … Read entire article »
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News Flash: Dean says, the stress tests will impose a false sense of nuclear safety
[Translate] Dean from SimplyInfo.org slams stress tests conducted in Japan stating they lack the level of review necessary to ensure safety margins at nuclear power plants. If anything Dean says, the stress tests will impose a false sense of nuclear safety on the industry and public which could lead to a lapse in operator awareness which may actually lead to a nuclear accident. Further, the actual tests comprised a set of “pick and chose” assessment items and then screened to the minimum number which requires very minimal investment Moreover, the stress tests look at the NPP as in the idea state, with ideal backup systems working to provide defense in depth which clearly is what was proven non existant at FUKU. From Asahi Shimbun: “Two advisers to Japan’s nuclear safety agency have slammed stress tests being conducted on idle nuclear … Read entire article »
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Oi Given Restart By Noda, Large Protests Mostly Ignored
[Translate] In many portions of the English speaking media, Noda is being praised for “doing the right thing” for Japan. At the same time an 11,000 people protest in the middle of a work day has been mostly ignored by both the Japanese and foreign media. Both EX-SKF and Fukushima Diary are reporting on the large Friday protest via citizen accounts and independent media. http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/06/what-kind-of-joke-is-this-japanese-msms.html http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/06/11000-people-joined-demonstration-in-front-of-official-residence-of-jp-pm/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=11000-people-joined-demonstration-in-front-of-official-residence-of-jp-pm Mainstream media’s take on the restarts at Oi. The Economist praises Noda as an “unlikely hero” for ignoring all the resistance to reactor restarts (via EX-SKF) http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/06/economist-magazine-praises-japans-pm.html Time gives it split coverage between opposition and Noda’s claims this is needed. http://world.time.com/2012/06/15/start-your-engines-japan-gets-ready-to-return-to-nuclear-power/ MSNBC at least admits the Friday protest but again repeats the govt. line that the restarts are needed to avert blackouts http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/16/12249740-japan-approves-reactor-restarts-more-seen?lite Only MSNBC so far has admitted that the restarts are a handout to … Read entire article »
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Noda & Fukui Governor Give OK To Restart Oi Reactors
[Translate] The Fukui governor gave the OK to restart the Oi nuclear plant within the last hour. Kyodo breaking news just announced prime minister Noda’s approval has been given. No full article yet via Kyodo, more details as we find them. **Nikkei confirms Noda’s approval to restart. Machine translation : “The Prime Minister said, “and the final decision of the government to resume operations as the Minister of 4″ in the same meeting. Two groups to full operation is expected to be in late July.” We have been researching the situation at the Oi plant and the supposed safety changes. Our report will be released in the next few days. 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 … Read entire article »
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Exelon Nuclear May Be Downgraded To Junk Bond Status
[Translate] US nuclear power company Exelon is being reviewed for a downgrade by investor service Moody’s. The company is expected to see a 40% increase in debt. Moody’s cited losses and over dependence on their non nuclear business investments as reason for Exelon’s troubles. Exelon’s has invested heavily in buying up old reactors around the US that are described as “cash cows” due to their building costs being now earned back. Exelon buys them at a deep discount with the intent of squeezing as much profit out as possible. Even this scheme has not helped the company’s bottom line. The GAO recently found that the decommissioning fund for many of these old reactors is not sufficient to cover the actual costs of decommissioning and disposal of the plant. With the leading … Read entire article »
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