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Japan's reactor capacity utilization rate rebounds to 20.1% in Nov.

TOKYO, Dec. 9, Kyodo

The utilization ratio of Japan's 54 commercial nuclear reactors came to 20.1 percent in November, rebounding for the first time since the March 11 disaster crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, with 10 in operation as of the end of the month, the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum said.

After falling to a record low 18.5 percent in October, the utilization ratio turned upward in November as Kyushu Electric Power Co. restarted the No. 4 reactor at the Genkai power plant in Saga Prefecture, which had been suspended in October due to a malfunction.

Equivalent data is available going back to April 1977.

The improvement is bound to be temporary, as operation of two reactors has already been suspended in December, one because for a periodic checkup and another because of mechanical trouble -- and two others are scheduled to go offline later this month for checkups.

As no reactor is expected to restart operations this month, the number of operational reactors will slide to six by the end of December, thereby pushing down the overall utilization ratio again, the organization said.

The latest data still incorporates four damaged reactors at the Fukushima plant operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., as their legally mandated decommissioning has not begun.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

TEPCO to cut costs by extra 100 bil. yen, mull sales of power plants

TOKYO, Dec. 9, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday it has revised its cost reduction target to 2.65 trillion yen through fiscal 2020, 100 billion yen more than its initial plan, to secure funds for massive compensation payments related to the nuclear crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Under a so-called ''action plan'' to streamline its operations, the utility known as TEPCO will also start considering selling existing power generation facilities, although a TEPCO official said the company has not yet decided what kind of power plants would be subject to being put on sale.

An official of a state-backed entity, which is providing funds to the beleaguered utility and is involved in the creation of the action plan, said that thermal power plants may be seen as a likely option, but legal and technical issues should be cleared before doing so.

Another official of the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund said, meanwhile, ''There are energy-related companies that are showing interest (in buying such facilities).''

The action plan put flesh on TEPCO's special business plan, in which it promised to cut more than 2.55 trillion yen in costs over 10 years by cutting corporate pension payments and other means.

In return for such pledges, the government has decided to provide to the utility about 891 billion yen from the funding entity so that the company can secure funds to deal with the compensation payments.

TEPCO said the upward revision of the cost-cutting target came after further reviewing maintenance and personnel expenses.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

Nuclear agency OKs TEPCO's mid-term Fukushima plant management plan

TOKYO, Dec. 9, Kyodo

The government's nuclear safety agency determined Friday that Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s medium-term facility management plan for the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is appropriate.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency plans to submit the evaluation on the management plan for the next three years or so to the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan soon.

With the positive evaluation, the government is expected to decide that the plant has been brought under control by achieving a stable state called ''cold shutdown'' on Dec. 16 and have the utility move forward to the next stage of tackling medium-term challenges.

The utility's plan includes measures on how to inject water into reactors to maintain the plant's cold shutdown situation, as well as those to prevent a hydrogen explosion.

The agency saw the plan as appropriate for ensuring the safety of the public as well as plant workers.

Realizing a cold shutdown is the key goal of the ''step 2'' phase of the road map for bringing the nuclear crisis triggered by the March earthquake and tsunami under control. The ''step 1'' phase of stably cooling the reactors was achieved in July.

Cold shutdown is defined as a situation in which the bottom part of a reactor pressure vessel at a plant is kept below around 100 C and radiation exposure from the release of radioactive substances is significantly held down.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

UPDATE1: Meiji ignored info on cesium-tainted baby food for 2 weeks

TOKYO, Dec. 9, Kyodo

Food maker Meiji Co. received information on three occasions in mid-November about radioactive cesium in its baby food but paid no heed to the leads for about two weeks until it finally looked into the matter when approached by Kyodo News and a citizens' group earlier this month, Kyodo learned Friday.

Meiji, which subsequently found up to 30.8 becquerels per kilogram in its Meiji Step milk powder, said it had initially concluded that ''further investigation was unnecessary'' because, of the three occasions, one was an anonymous call and the two others cited Internet information that the company was unable to confirm.

''We would like to respond with better sensitivity from now on,'' a Meiji spokesperson said.

An anonymous caller provided Meiji's customer service with information on Nov. 14 that a citizen's group in Fukushima Prefecture had detected cesium in the milk formula in late October, according to sources familiar with the matter.

On the same day, two consumers contacted Meiji saying they saw information about the suspected contamination on the Internet. They were told by the customer service that there was no problem with the product as the company conducts monthly checks, the sources said.

Meanwhile, in light of the cesium-tainted milk powder, Japanese health minister Yoko Komiyama said Friday her ministry will regularly test baby food products in connection with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis.

The tests will be conducted every three months or more frequently, she told a press conference.

The radioactive contamination of the Meiji product was the first found in baby food since the March 11 disaster and has attracted attention even though its level was far less than the government-set limit of 200 becquerels, amid concerns that babies are more susceptible to the harmful effects of radioactive materials than adults.

''As mothers and other consumers are very concerned (about radiation), we want to carry out regular tests,'' Komiyama said.

The ministry found no radioactive cesium when it tested 25 baby products in July and August after the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan triggered the nuclear crisis.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

hmmm....

Japan gov't to regularly test baby food products for radiation

TOKYO, Dec. 9, Kyodo

Japanese health minister Yoko Komiyama said Friday her ministry will regularly test baby food products in connection with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis after food maker Meiji Co. detected radioactive cesium in its baby formula.

The tests will be conducted every three months or more frequently, she told a press conference.

The radioactive cesium level in Meiji's baby formula was limited to 30.8 becquerels per kilogram, far less than the allowable ceiling of 200 becquerels as set by the government provisionally.

''As mothers and other consumers are very concerned (about radiation), we want to carry out regular tests,'' Komiyama said.

The ministry found no radioactive cesium when it tested 25 baby products in July and August after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan triggered the nuclear crisis.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

Some Fukushima residents exposed to up to 37 millisieverts of radiation

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, Dec. 9, Kyodo

Residents in three municipalities near the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been exposed to up to some 37 millisieverts of radiation during the four months after the powerful earthquake and tsunami on March 11 crippled the plant, Fukushima prefectural government officials said Friday.

The local government worked out the estimated dose of exposure after conducting health checks on about 1,730 of the 29,000 residents in the towns of Namie and Kawamata and the village of Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture, who filed their behavioral records during the four months. The average dose is estimated at just above 1 millisievert.

It calculated the radiation dose for residents, based on levels in the air measured by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and by the ministry's radiation projection system, called the system for predicting environmental emergency dose information, or SPEEDI, which is operated by the Tokyo-based Nuclear Safety Technology Center.

The Fukushima Medical University said about half the 1,730 residents have been exposed to less than 1 millisievert, the maximum limit of radiation exposure per year in normal times, during the four months.

The remaining half has been exposed to more than 1 millisievert. Of those, some 40 people were exposed to 5 to 10 millisieverts. Nearly a dozen people were exposed to more than 10 millisieverts and the highest level was about 37 millisieverts.

The doses do not include natural radiation or from internal exposure.

Those who were exposed to high levels of radiation included people who worked at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to contain the crisis.

None of the residents have been exposed to more than 100 millisieverts -- a level that poses high health risks, they said.

The Fukushima prefectural government conducted health checks on some 29,000 residents in the three municipalities, which are close to the nuclear power plant and are designated as evacuation zones.

The local government is continuing to conduct health checks on all the residents in Fukushima Prefecture, a population of some 2 million.

It is also using whole body counters and conducting urine tests to measure internal radiation exposure on people who spend long hours outdoor, such as farmers and construction workers, as well as on children and mothers who were evacuated from the no-entry zone in the 20-kilometer radius from the crippled power plant.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

"Those who were exposed to high levels of radiation included people who worked at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to contain the crisis."
this "study" is quite odd, isn't it ? it does not seem plausible.

@Pedro Jesus if he is not a heavy drinker and smoker, what we don't know, then they would have to find a plausible cause for his type of cancer. anyway, it is a typical type from internal exposure.

With all of the sudden onset cancers going on it is a bit concerning. Yes, normal latency is years. But there have been 2 publicized cases of acute leukemia in older men and lots of mentions of others or similar sudden illness. So either lots of Japanese adults have had brewing health problems suddenly catch up to them or there is the potential of seeing something new going on. Is there a way the exposures could set an existing problem into high gear?

@lillymunster as pedro says, there were other incidents before fukushima. maybe this guy was in charge of tokai mura at that time. who knows.

Up to 1 million people could get compensation ajw.asahi.com

usually the diagnosis comes very late, but as a rad worker, it may have been found quite early.

UPDATE2: Japan whale research group seeks court order against Sea Shepherd

TOKYO, Dec. 9, Kyodo

A Japanese whale research group filed a lawsuit with a U.S. federal court on Thursday against the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and its founder Paul Watson, demanding they be ordered to cease disrupting its whaling activities.

The Institute of Cetacean Research and another plaintiff, Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd., are seeking a court order to prevent Sea Shepherd and Watson from ''engaging in activities at sea that could cause injuries to the crews and damage to the vessels,'' the research group said in a statement.

Japan's whaling missions, conducted by the institute as part of what it calls research whaling, have often been obstructed by the U.S.-based conservation group, including a high-profile collision in Antarctic waters in January 2010 between the society's speedboat and a Japanese whaling fleet.

Kyodo Senpaku is commissioned to operate the Japanese government's whaling fleet and owns the whaling ships.

The suit, filed together with a request for a provisional injunction at the U.S. District Court in Seattle, also demands that the protesters' ships be kept at a certain distance from the whaling fleet, the research group said. Sea Shepherd is based in the state of Washington.

Criticizing the sabotage activities as ''dangerous'' and ''life threatening,'' the plaintiffs allege that the conservation group's actions violate international laws on maritime safety.

Watson's response suggested the group will continue its activities, by saying the allegations were ''frivolous.''

''I don't think they have any credibility when they get into a U.S. court on this,'' Watson said in a telephone interview with Kyodo News.

''We're not really worried about the lawsuit. What I'm focused on is going down and making sure they don't kill any whales down in the Southern Ocean.''

In the joint statement, the plaintiffs also said the obstruction activities ''not only put at risk the safety of the research vessels at sea, but are also affecting the scientific achievement'' of Japan's ''legitimate'' whale research program in the Antarctic.

Sea Shepherd's protests have escalated in recent years and included pointing laser beams at the fleet's crew, hurling bottles containing butyric acid at the Japanese vessels, and intentionally closing in on the fleet with its ships.

''I will watch over how things will develop,'' Forestry and Fisheries Minister Michihiko Kano told a news conference. ''I'm hoping that they will stop the sabotage activities.''

Japan halted commercial whaling in 1986 in line with an international moratorium, but has hunted whales since 1987 for what it calls scientific research purposes. Environmentalists have condemned the activity as a cover for commercial whaling.

Japan placed Watson on an international wanted list through the Lyon-based Interpol in June last year.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

very good, very creative.

oooh nhk has the same bunch of news today....

TMI disaster could help Fukushima mdn.mainichi.jp