Japan Earthquake | Page 2434
Japan gov't lifts evacuation advisory for 20-30 km zone
TOKYO, Sept. 30, Kyodo
The Japanese government on Friday lifted its advisory for residents living in areas between 20 and 30 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to evacuate due to the nuclear crisis at the plant, scaling down the evacuation zone five months after its designation.
''This is major progress following the nuclear accident, and we will support residents' steady and safe return,'' nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono said in announcing the decision reached during a government meeting to discuss measures to deal with the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Efforts to decontaminate land polluted with radioactive substances and restoration of infrastructure are expected to proceed to pave the way for the actual return of around 26,000 people who are currently staying outside the so-called Evacuation-Prepared Area in Case of Emergency. english.kyodonews.jpby Edano 9/30/2011 8:30:51 PM- i don't understand: are they evacuated or not ? this is very contradictory.by Edano 9/30/2011 8:31:37 PM
- "are expected to proceed to pave the way for the actual return of around 26,000 people who are currently staying outside the so-called Evacuation-Prepared Area in Case of Emergency"
does anyone understand this ?by Edano 9/30/2011 8:32:59 PM 
@Edano well it isn't safe for them to return but they have to lift the advisory or tepco would have to cough up for their expenses and tepco dont want to pay. what nobody is saying is exactly who is paying the extra expenses of these families between now and the time when it is safe to return and I think that is the crux because it appears they are effectively saying you will have to self fund a place of safety or go back homeby elainekirk 9/30/2011 8:36:22 PM- Plutonium detected outside compound of Fukushima plant
TOKYO, Sept. 30, Kyodo
The government has detected plutonium apparently from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant outside the compound of the plant for the first time, science ministry officials said Friday.
The plutonium was detected at six locations in Fukushima Prefecture, including Iitate village around 45 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima complex, they said, adding the amounts were small and posed no danger to health.
The radioactive substance may have been carried by vapor or fine particles from the nuclear plant, said an official of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant. english.kyodonews.jpby Edano 9/30/2011 8:37:17 PM - @elainekirk yes, but evacuation-prepared does not mean actually evacuated, or not ?by Edano 9/30/2011 8:37:50 PM
- @Edano no danger to health............. unless it enters the bodyby elainekirk 9/30/2011 8:38:03 PM
- @elainekirk of course. only looking is not dangerous.by Edano 9/30/2011 8:39:51 PM
- Closeness of gov't, utilities seen behind manipulated symposiums
TOKYO, Sept. 30, Kyodo
A government panel said Friday that close ties between nuclear safety regulators, energy agency officials and power utilities may have led to the government's encouraging the utilities to manipulate public opinion in favor of nuclear power at state-sponsored events.
In its final report on the issue, the third-party panel consisting of legal experts said government officials in charge of energy and nuclear safety issues had only a ''tenuous awareness'' about the need to ensure fairness in their activities, and called on the government to swiftly carry out reforms.
The panel has been looking into allegations that government officials asked utility firms to solicit the attendance of people related to the utilities at nuclear power symposiums and let them voice opinions in favor of nuclear power generation. english.kyodonews.jpby Edano 9/30/2011 8:42:07 PM - Tokyo gov't hit with complaints over accepting disaster debris
TOKYO, Sept. 30, Kyodo english.kyodonews.jpby Edano 9/30/2011 8:42:37 PM - Tepco overcharged customers ¥618 billion over 10 years bit.lyby elainekirk 9/30/2011 8:44:18 PM
- Radiation decontamination, disposal work to cost over 1 trillion yen: ministry t.coby elainekirk 9/30/2011 8:46:20 PM
Just a reminder to sign Beyond Nuclear's petition to the NRC to shut down the GE Mark 1 reactors in the US. The public meeting is Oct 7th. People can participate by phone or just watch online. Details here:
www.beyondnuclear.orgby lillymunster 9/30/2011 9:26:27 PM- well tepco have excelled themselves in the no information league todayby elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:09:37 PM
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa.,
have selected Scott Rutenkroger as the new Senior Resident Inspector at
the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. He joins Resident Inspector
Sarah Rich at the Vernon, Vt., site.
“Scott Rutenkroger has the experience, training and commitment
to safety that will help the NRC ensure that Vermont Yankee conducts
operations with the highest safety standards to protect public health and
safety," said NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean. docs.google.comby elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:13:54 PM - how was fuku funded initially?by elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:21:05 PM
- @elainekirk The first unit was a turnkey project of GE. GE built it and taught TEPCO the process and how to run it. They gradually had less involvement in future builds. I think some of the funding came from the US through the atoms for peace program. I would need to go dig to find out for sure. Fuku was one of the first or maybe the first commercial power reactor in Japan.by lillymunster 9/30/2011 10:25:00 PM
- okay, i finally found an explanation for the now lifted evacuation zone contradiction. people were not evacuated, they were only advised to prepare for evacuation. nevertheless, 28 500 out of all 58 500 residents, about 50%, left voluntarily the zone. most of them are still not willing to return. www.focus.deby Edano 9/30/2011 10:28:19 PM
- 50%, that's a lot.by Edano 9/30/2011 10:30:05 PM
- A write up of the atoms for peace push in Japan, doesn't talk about Fuku specifically but is a good groundwork for what came before. www.thebulletin.orgby lillymunster 9/30/2011 10:31:37 PM
- @Edano so it is money whilst it was advisory they will habve got help with rents through compensation which becomes tepco's full responsibility now so hey presto they lift the advisory and tepco off the hook. 28500 is only .02 of the population hey ho what can they do about itby elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:32:57 PM
- @lillymunster I was kinda thinking it could be that. I just thought after 2 bombs how strange that japan went for nukes then I thought mmm they been through a war , they dont have coal, gas etc and other country/s kindly suggest they get them set up with nukes and bingo the whole think rollercoasts till one come off the railsby elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:35:12 PM
- @elainekirk the whole history of it is an ugly mess. The US wanted to convince Japan to adopt nuclear power really early on. Both as a potential business venue and for the poltiical implications of trying to wash away the guilt and blame on the US over the bombs.by lillymunster 9/30/2011 10:39:17 PM
- The AEC and Atoms For Peace along with some other US agencies worked hard to find allies in Japan and made the adoption of nuclear happen. Japan lacks coal and gas so at the time it seemed like a solution to their energy issues. The level of US manipulation and nose sticking during that time is questionable. Japan might have come to the decision to build nukes on their own but the US really hard sold them. Of course they were using the same flawed knowledge they used to build them in the US.by lillymunster 9/30/2011 10:41:41 PM
- @lillymunster interesting I know Japan work on a 20 or 30 yr handover whereby they build and run training the domestic workforce and gradually the domestic workforce run it but the japan comp gets profits for 20/30yrs then it moves to ownership of whichever country it is in . I wonder how long the american/? agreement was with fukuby elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:45:00 PM
- @elainekirk I think GE and the US were completely out by the 80'sby lillymunster 9/30/2011 10:46:20 PM
- @lillymunster it would be good to find agreementby elainekirk 9/30/2011 10:49:11 PM
- How clever of them NIRS is doing the 'research' into the effects of Fukushima Daiichi but it has been designated as a charity, I don't know whether this happens globally but it does in the UK and it means that you have an outfit holding all the information and only dolling out what they want you to know.
Maybe I am old and cynical, I hope I am wrong.
www.nirs.go.jp
Oh and they are asking for donationsby elainekirk 10/1/2011 1:00:51 AM 
oops... I was on the wrong board... hello to all.. safe and sound back home.. now for dinner and alittle restby dean 10/1/2011 1:29:55 AM
Stories in today's Japan Times (Sat 1st Oct): Cesium fallout map illustrates Kanto levels search.japantimes.co.jp and Plutonium traces found in Iitate soil search.japantimes.co.jpby Luisa 10/1/2011 1:30:37 AM- According to twitter this says some people are trying to recall the Fukushima governor. wolfking2011.blogspot.comby lillymunster 10/1/2011 1:31:07 AM
- @lillymunster recall?by elainekirk 10/1/2011 1:31:53 AM
- @elainekirk force them to run another election. Then they have to get re-elected.by lillymunster 10/1/2011 1:35:09 AM
- It sounded like how they do it in some states in the US. Gather a set number of petitions to force the election. It has to be held within a set number of weeks or months. The person in office then has to run for office against anyone else who steps up and has to win to keep their job.by lillymunster 10/1/2011 1:36:26 AM
- Top headline in today's (Sat) Asahi Shimbun Radiation spread reaches Chiba, Saitama prefectures www.asahi.comby Luisa 10/1/2011 1:42:19 AM
- Fukano says another quake could threaten Fukushima operation The head of Japan's nuclear regulator warned that the effort to regain control of stricken reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is relying on "makeshift equipment" that might easily be destroyed if another earthquake hits.
Hiroyuki Fukano, director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said in a Sept. 29 interview with The Asahi Shimbun that there is an urgent need to assess back-up systems at the plant as hopes rise that reactors are nearing the relatively stable "cold shutdown" state.
"We have little choice but to keep reactors under the cold shutdown without much change (in the reactor control systems)," he said.
But he warned: "The plant is using some makeshift equipment now. That raises fears that those units could be easily destroyed by another earthquake. We need to assess our back-up systems for the equipment should the units be knocked out by an earthquake."
On Sept. 28, water temperatures at the plant's No.1, No.2 and No.3 reactors fell below 100 degrees for the first time since the start of the crisis in March.
Getting below 100 degrees was one of the conditions stipulated for classifying the reactors as being in "cold shutdown," but a significant reduction in radiation leaking from the reactors is also included in the criteria. There has been no announcement that cold shutdown has been reached.
Fukano said NISA would continue to monitor temperatures, water levels and amounts of radiation leaking from the reactors. When the cold shutdown phase is announced, he said the agency would then outline a detailed plan for keeping the reactors stable.
Fukano's agency, which is part of the industry ministry, and the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan are due to be swallowed up in a new body, provisionally named the Nuclear Safety Agency, to be set up next spring under the Ministry of the Environment.
Fukano said NISA would study lessons learned from the Fukushima accident and present its findings to the new organization.
But he urged caution about one of the key parts of the Democratic Party of Japan-led government's strategy for ensuring safety in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster: the stress tests being used as prerequisites for the resumption of suspended nuclear plants.
Fukano said: "Some say reactors (that have passed such tests) meet safety standards and therefore there should not be any problem, but questions have been raised as to the appropriateness of the standards themselves (after the March 11 disaster)."
www.asahi.comby Luisa 10/1/2011 1:44:33 AM - Stories in today's (Saturday 1st) Daily Yomiuri 1 more step on a long road / Factory owners eager to resume work, but will employees return? Areas between 20 and 30 kilometers of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant moved a welcome step toward normality when the government announced Friday it had lifted their designation as emergency evacuation preparation zones.
The operators of some factories in the areas now want to resume operations as soon as possible, but there are question marks over whether people who worked in the areas before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami will return. More: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110930005333.htm TEPCO compensation predicted to reach 4.54 tril. yenwww.yomiuri.co.jpby Luisa 10/1/2011 1:45:11 AM - this says 16th but it has been posted 13hrs ago
www.nisa.meti.go.jp
The Results of a Safety Investigation into the Accident at Tokyo Electric
Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station
September 16, 2011
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agencyby elainekirk 10/1/2011 1:46:35 AM - The article on quake risk Luisa posted reminded me of something. What happens at Fuku when winter hits? They get snow and freezing temps there. All those hoses and above ground pipes, water treatment systems outside. What keeps all this from freezing. Water may come out of the reactors hot but it won't stay that way very long as it ends up in other buildings or gets moved around.by lillymunster 10/1/2011 1:50:33 AM
- @lillymunster erm good questionby elainekirk 10/1/2011 1:54:34 AM
- @elainekirk we have horrible problems here for fire fighters if they have to deal with a fire when it is below freezing. They get cold, everywhere there is water spray turns to ice etc.by lillymunster 10/1/2011 1:55:51 AM
- @lillymunster you have certainly spotted the fly in the ointmentby elainekirk 10/1/2011 1:57:38 AM
- g'night allby elainekirk 10/1/2011 1:58:23 AM
Japan Nuclear Agency Adds to Mistrust online.wsj.comby Mid Valley 10/1/2011 2:07:47 AM
Talk about bumps... here is somewhere i love, and a place I'd like to see again upload.wikimedia.org en.wikipedia.org
by Mid Valley via Upload.wikimedia.org 10/1/2011 5:14:12 AM
Japan Earthquake | Page 2434
- Who's Blogging
-
hudebnik
alblee
UKVal
Oliver (ScribbleLive)
Jonathan Keebler
Matt (ScribbleLive)
kaykodh
PKelley
Markfm- dean
Angie- Edano
Deb
Mid Valley- Pedro Jesus
George Gibb- elainekirk
- lillymunster
bo
IanGoddard