ScribbleLive

@Peter Melzer : have you ever heard of a ship housing the workers ? i have not.

@Edano , it is a tall ship like the Gorch Fock. Hey you found it faster than I did, :)

uuh, the last quote from wikipedia refers to the same telegraph article.

@Edano , yup!

@Peter Melzer : we all know the japanese media (by now). i would not expect them to state anything that is not approved by tepco or govj.

No.1 reactor vessel damaged 5 hours after quake

Japan's nuclear regulator says the meltdown at one of the Fukushima reactors came about 5 hours after the March 11th earthquake, 10 hours earlier than initially estimated by the plant's operator.

The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Monday issued the results of its analysis of data given to it by Tokyo Electric Power Company.

The report says the fuel rods in the Number 1 reactor began to be exposed 2 hours after the earthquake due to the loss of the reactor's cooling system in the tsunami. Its fuel rods may have melted down 3 hours later, causing the damage to the reactor. This means the meltdown occurred about 10 hours earlier than TEPCO estimated last month.

The nuclear agency also says a meltdown damaged the Number 2 reactor about 80 hours after the quake, and the Number 3 reactor 79 hours after the quake.

The agency's analysis shows that the Number 2 reactor damage came 29 hours earlier than the TEPCO estimate, and the Number 3 reactor damage came 13 hours later than in the utility's assessment.

The agency says the total amount of radioactive iodine 131 and cesium 137 released from the Numbers 1, 2 and 3 reactors for the 6 days from March 11th is estimated at 770,000 terabecquerels.

That is about twice the figure mentioned in April when the agency upgraded the severity of the accident to the highest level of 7 on an international scale.

The agency attributes the discrepancies to the assumption that radioactive substances might have been released from the Number 2 reactor containment vessel as well as from its suppression chamber.

Monday, June 06, 2011 21:03 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

@Edano , I found the clinic: www.nirs.go.jp . There are more than one, but this is where the clinic for Fukushima is located. Where I used to work with radionuclides, we had a company hospital. Perhaps, Tepco runs one, too. But still, concealment of fatalities would be difficult.

@Peter Melzer : as long as nobody asks them to, the clinics will not hold press conferences.

i think the IAEA itself has an interest in covering up deaths and even injuries.

they proved that in chernobyl.

Unfortunately, all we will ever have is uncertainties when it comes to the true harm caused by this accident, and any other nuclear incident in the world. For all it's worth I hope Peter is right and this news is not true.

Scientists call for radiation exposure reduction

A group of scientists at Fukushima University is urging the prefectural government to take stronger precautions in reducing radiation exposure to citizens.

The croup comprises 12 associate professors at the university, including Hazuki Ishida, an environmental engineering specialist. On Monday they presented the Fukushima Governor with a 7-point request in
connection with the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A health risk management expert for the prefecture said that radiation exposure of up to 10 microsieverts per hour causes no health problems.

But for those remaining outdoors in such conditions for only 5 days, the total radiation exposure will exceed 1 millisievert, the annual limit for ordinary people, as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.
The professors called for reducing exposure to radioactivity as much as possible and urged the prefecture to establish guidelines toward this purpose.

They also asked that prefectural government radiation experts who say that even relatively low levels of radioactivity are harmful be included as health risk management advisors.
They also requested that the prefectural government draw up and make public a concrete plan to remove contaminated topsoil.
Ishida says the prefectural government should take measures to protect its residents, on the premise that even low levels of radiation exposure are dangerous.

Monday, June 06, 2011 22:31 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

Germany to end nuclear power

The German government has decided to close all its nuclear power plants by 2022.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government approved a new energy bill on Monday. The bill is a result of a nuclear policy review prompted by the accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Of the country's 17 reactors, the government will not restart the 8 that have been suspended for safety inspections or problems. The remainder will be scrapped in phases.

The bill will be sent to parliament for debate and is expected to be enacted by next month.

Nuclear power generation now accounts for 22 percent of Germany's electricity supplies.
The government plans to increase power generation using coal and gas to make up for the loss of nuclear power.

It also plans to increase its use of energy generated from renewable sources from the current 17 percent to 35 percent by 2020.

Merkel's predecessor, Gerhardt Schroeder, made the initial decision to end nuclear power generation.

But her government reversed the decision last year, citing possible disruptions of electricity supplies.

But public objections to nuclear energy grew rapidly after the Fukushima accident.

Germany is the first of the Group of Eight countries to abandon nuclear power generation.

Monday, June 06, 2011 19:23 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

i think it's the first time for me to be really proud of my country.

@edano (clapping) I wish the US had that kind of courage and intelligence.

@elainekirk : this is a good (and rare) example of how public opinion can defeat political beton heads. mrs merkel's party had lost all local elections since march 11. she had to react.

we begin - you follow !

@elainekirk simultaneous heart attacks again, eh ?