ScribbleLive

@Pedro Jesus de.selfhtml.org :)

the last article is interesting. from the sheet, you can extrapolate the tokyo contamination. seems higher than reported.

Google uploads street views of quake-hit towns

US search giant Google has uploaded street views of disaster-hit Japanese towns onto the Internet.
The company says it wants to show the world the scale of damage caused by the March quake and tsunami.

Google began taking pictures of 82 cities and towns in 6 northeastern prefectures, including Fukushima, from July.

It started sharing the images through its website on Tuesday. They include photos taken before the calamity.

Google says it hopes the photographic records will help research and rebuilding efforts, and also serve as a reminder of the catastrophe for future generations.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 14:28 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

UPDATE1: Fukushima gov't estimates radiation exposure of up to 19 millisieverts

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, Dec. 13, Kyodo

Residents near the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have been exposed to up to 19 millisieverts of radiation in the four months after the plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima prefectural government said Tuesday.

The local government released its estimates of residents' radiation exposure in 12 municipalities near the power plant -- Namie, Kawamata, Iitate, Futaba, Okuma, Minamisoma, Tamura, Tomioka, Naraha, Hirono, Katsurao and Kawauchi. The plant is located in the towns of Futaba and Okuma.

Residents who evacuated from high-risk areas in the village of Iitate in late June may have been exposed to the highest amount of 19 millisieverts, it said.

Shunichi Yamashita, vice president of the prefectural government-run Fukushima Medical University, told a news conference that the level is low compared with the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the then Soviet republic of Ukraine. ''I think there is no problem,'' Yamashita said.

The prefectural government, which has conducted health checks on all of its roughly 2 million residents, said it based its estimates of radiation exposure on the timing and place of evacuation.

It used a radiation calculation system, developed by the state-run National Institute of Radiological Sciences in the city of Chiba east of Tokyo, to estimate residents' radiation exposure.

The estimates show residents in a no-go zone covering areas within a 20-kilometer radius of the crippled plant who evacuated in the early stages of the crisis were exposed to 0.18-2.3 millisieverts of radiation during the period.

But exposure levels for residents outside the no-go zone, who were advised to evacuate later, were high at 0.84-19 millisieverts.

Delayed evacuation may have led to the high level of radiation exposure, experts said.

Separate from the estimate, the prefectural government released the results of priority checks on around 29,000 residents in the towns of Namie and Kawamata as well as the village of Iitate.

The local government analyzed radiation exposure for 1,727 of the residents who filed records of their movements during the four months. One resident, who worked at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in containing the crisis, was found to have been exposed to up to 37.4 millisieverts of radiation.

The dosages for other residents stood at between over 10 and less than 15 millisieverts for eight people, over 5 and less than 10 millisieverts for 43, over 1 and less than 5 millisieverts for 591, and less than 1 millisievert for 1,084.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

Gov't to forgo test run of Monju reactor in fiscal 2012

TOKYO, Dec. 13, Kyodo

The Japanese government will not earmark funding for a test run of the country's prototype fast-breeder reactor Monju in the budget for fiscal 2012, starting next April, following a Diet panel's call to cut spending on the reactor and its nuclear fuel cycle program, Japan's science minister said Tuesday.

Masaharu Nakagawa, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, told a press conference that the government ''will exclude (spending on the Monju test run) after various views'' were expressed in parliament on the project earlier this month.

The science ministry has sought 21.5 billion yen for the Monju project in the fiscal 2012 budget, including 2.2 billion yen necessary for the practice run. The government has already decided not to run the reactor on a trial basis in the current fiscal year through March next year.

The Monju fast-breeder reactor, located in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, and operated by the state-run Japan Atomic Energy Agency, has been expected to play a key role in establishing Japan's nuclear fuel cycle.

It was intended to use spent fuel from nuclear reactors and produce more nuclear fuel than it consumed. But the Monju reactor has been plagued by a series of mishaps, casting doubt on the project's viability.

On Dec. 8, the House of Representatives' audit panel passed a nonbinding resolution to slash spending for the Monju project in response to a package of proposals worked out in November by lawmakers for a thorough review in the government's energy policies.

Following the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the government plans to craft new energy policies next summer, which will also cover the future of the Monju project.

Nakagawa said if the government decides to continue the reactor's development next summer it will ''flexibly'' secure spending for a test run in a supplementary budget.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

only the fishery industry shall be asked ?

Panel sees nuclear power generation costs higher than 2004 estimate

TOKYO, Dec. 13, Kyodo

A government panel on Tuesday said in a draft report that nuclear power generation costs 8.9 yen per kilowatt hour when including expenses associated with nuclear accidents, higher than a 2004 projection of 5 to 6 yen per kwh.

The new estimate, calculated by considering the result of a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, showed that nuclear power is still one of the cheapest energy sources. But the report noted that 8.9 yen is the ''minimum'' cost of nuclear power as the total damage costs of a severe nuclear accident are yet unclear.

According to the draft report, the cost of electricity from coal-powered thermal plants is estimated at 9.5 yen per kwh and from liquefied natural gas-powered thermal plants 10.7 yen per kwh, reflecting higher fuel prices. In the 2004 projection, the cost of electricity from coal-fed plants was pegged at 5 to 7 yen per kwh, and from LNG-fired plants 6 to 7 yen per kwh.

As for renewable energy sources, costs of wind power generation on land are estimated at between 9.9 and 17.3 yen per kwh, and of solar power at 33.4 yen to 38.3 yen per kwh, compared with earlier projected costs of 11 to 26 yen per kwh and 37 to 46 yen per kwh, respectively.

In 2030, thermal power generation costs are expected to further increase, while the cost of wind and solar power generation are projected to drop to as low as 8.8 and 9.9 yen per kwh, respectively, amid expected market expansion. The cost of nuclear power generation is estimated to stay at 8.9 yen per kwh.

The calculation is part of the process of reviewing the country's energy policy following the Fukushima Daiichi plant disaster, the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The March catastrophe has made the Japanese people increasingly cautious about relying heavily on nuclear power.

Under the national energy plan endorsed in June 2010, the country's reliance on nuclear energy was projected to increase to 53 percent of total power supply by 2030, from about 30 percent before the Fukushima accident.

Based on the report to be issued by the panel later this month, the government is expected to come up with the best combination of power sources for the country, or what is known as the ''energy best mix.''

The latest estimate is different from the 2004 figures because it has counted in what the panel calls social expenses, in addition to capital, fuel and operation and maintenance costs.

Social expenses are included in costs for nuclear power generation in the form of accident risk costs, and for thermal power generation in the form of costs to deal with carbon dioxide emissions.

Nuclear accident risk costs are estimated at 0.5 yen per kwh, according to the draft report, which noted that expense could increase further depending on the value of damage caused by a severe nuclear accident.

So far the panel estimates damage costs to be at least 5.8 trillion yen, drawing on the Fukushima accident, which erupted in the wake of the March 11 megaquake and tsunami. But that figures does not include, for example, expenses related to cleaning radiation-contaminated land around the plant.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

this is an excellent reason to stop investing a single cent in nukes furthermorre.

@lillymunster i think it is still a conservative approach, a minimum.

Google missed a big opportunity. They took street view images of the disaster areas. They could have taken radiation readings all along the way.

UPDATE1: Fishermen's OK needed to dump nuclear plant water into sea: Edano

TOKYO, Dec. 13, Kyodo

Japanese industry minister Yukio Edano on Tuesday called into question the plan of the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to release low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, saying doing so without the consent of fishermen should not be allowed.

''It should not be socially acceptable that (the operator) goes ahead (with the plan) before gaining agreement from people involved in the fishery industry,'' Edano said at a press conference.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said earlier this month it is considering releasing low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean that is currently stored in tanks at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, as storage capacity may run short by next March.

The utility known as TEPCO said the water would be released only after it clears the country's legal concentration limit for radioactive substances, but domestic fisheries cooperatives fiercely oppose the plan.

Edano's remark effectively means that TEPCO will have to secure consent from the fishery industry for the release of the power plant's treated water into the sea.

The nuclear safety agency, which is under the wing of Edano's ministry, meanwhile, strongly warned TEPCO over repeated radioactive water leakages that have occurred recently at the crippled plant located on the Pacific coast.

The water leaked after passing through a water treatment facility and may have contained radioactive strontium because the facility is not capable of removing the substance, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

In one of the cases, TEPCO said that around 150 liters of water had flowed into the ocean. The other cases detected on Sunday and Monday did not result in leakage to the external environment.

''We have attached weight to the fact that some water flowed into the sea and there was repeated leakage,'' agency spokesman Yoshinori Moriyama said.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

@Edano The manufacturer cited as providing the material for the filters, IIRC Honeywell. Their product sheet claims it removes cesium and stronium but it didn't cite how much or a percentage removed.
Happy also said that water is full of cobalt and IIRC manganese?

sometimes you find valuable infos in the mass of words. :)

@Pedro Jesus ah i googled it :)

the revelation that nuke power is not substantially cheaper than others, is a real gem. i would like to post it all over the world.

Added Ian's new video to the site. If you have a twitter account please give it a tweet. www.simplyinfo.org

AREVA to suspend extensions at 4 French nuclear sites – Halt work at Idaho… goo.gl

Areva to monitor health of Niger uranium mine workers www.guardian.co.uk