ScribbleLive

Radioactive water floods tunnel at Fukushima plant
ajw.asahi.com

Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Dec. 19 released a photo showing about 230 tons of radioactive water that had accumulated in an underground tunnel at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The tunnel, adjacent to the central waste treatment building, may have been flooded with water leaked from supposedly waterproof storage containers of highly radioactive water in the building.

The water in the tunnel was discovered on Dec. 18.

TEPCO said the tunnel is about 4.5 meters wide and about 54 meters in length. The radioactive water reached a height of about 50 centimeters and had one-100th the radioactivity concentration of the highly radioactive water in the building, according to the utility.

Water was dripping at the top of the tunnel from a tube about 5 cm in diameter used to house an electric wire. But that water had only about one-10,000th the radioactivity concentration of the water on the floor.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Dec. 19 instructed TEPCO to move the water in the tunnel to a facility where it can be placed under appropriate control and to determine where the water had flowed in from

@all if you find a Japanese website that is giving you limited access and you think it is based on not having an internet address in Japan let me know. I have a Japanese proxy set up on the desktop computer in my office so I can try to gain more access.

elaine, r u around ?

very good. i hope yamashita is out of this.

@Edano I don't think he will have any part in that study

but on the other hand, it is impossible as long as the nuclear industry rules japan.

Hosono thanks US for help with nuclear accident

Japan's minister in charge of the nuclear accident has thanked the United States for helping to bring the crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a stable state.

Goshi Hosono thanked US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko when they met in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Hosono briefed Jaczko about last week's declaration by Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda that the reactors have been brought to a state of cold shutdown -- the 2nd stage of a timetable for bringing the plant under control.

Hosono said the achievement was made possible by the advice of the US, particularly the commission.

Jaczko praised the completion of the 2nd stage as major progress.

He said that when he inspected the Fukushima Daiichi and nearby Daini plants on Monday, he knew how bravely nuclear workers dealt with the disaster.

He referred to the fact that all 4 reactors at the Daini plant were shut down 4 days after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Jaczko said the experience will be a good lesson for all countries that want to increase the safety of their nuclear power plants.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 17:33 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

US nuclear regulator calls for more info sharing

The chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has called for more global information sharing to prevent an accident like the one at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Gregory Jaczko was speaking at a news conference at the US Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday, a day after visiting the plant for the first time since the March accident.

He said various safety measures have been put in place at the plant, and that temperatures inside its reactors are low enough that there is no energy left to discharge radioactive material.

He said Japan's government made an appropriate decision in declaring last week that the reactors have been brought to a state of cold shutdown.

Jaczko added that the accident has strengthened the longstanding cooperative relationship between US and Japanese nuclear regulators.

He also noted that all countries want better information sharing in the event of accidents.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 19:36 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp

@Edano yes he is the poster boy for being celibate :-) I don't know what the NRC supposedly did to help bring Fuku under control. The DoE had some crews doing radiation readings and consulting, NRC I don't remember anything

Scientific Amercian, debunking the 14,000 dead study blogs.scientificamerican.com that was quick :-)

from the Sci American article: " In sum: Sloppy statistics killed 14,000 people."

Actor hopes to spread antinuclear message in Japan using tips from abroad

TOKYO, Dec. 20, Kyodo

Japanese actor Taro Yamamoto, who has been calling for the elimination of nuclear power generation in Japan, expressed hope Tuesday to spread the antinuclear message using tips he has gained from visiting foreign countries.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, Yamamoto lamented that the movement against nuclear power in Japan, while showing some momentum in the wake of the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, is not on a par with similar movements in other countries.

Noting that around 60,000 people gathered in Tokyo in September for a rally calling for all nuclear power plants in Japan to be shut down, Yamamoto said, ''Compared to before, we can see some enthusiasm, but from my recent visit to Germany, I learned that this is not enough. We have to make it much bigger.''

He said he took part in a civic protest in Gorleben, Germany, against the transportation of radioactive waste to a disposal facility in the town, and saw that the event was held in a festive atmosphere, drawing people of all ages, including mothers with babies and elderly people.

''In addition to those sitting on the railway tracks (to prevent the waste from being brought to the facility), there were people cooking meals for participants beside the tracks and someone playing the accordion as people around sang along,'' Yamamoto said.

''The atmosphere was so enjoyable that it was as if one could ask someone for a date, saying, 'Why don't we go sit on the railway tracks today?' I felt that we need to do something like this in Japan...to draw in more people who are considered disinterested in the issue,'' he said.

The 37-year-old actor said that at the rally he met a Japanese woman married to a German who spoke of her impression that German children tend to become interested in politics at a young age, relating her experience of being asked by a local kindergartener what was going on in Fukushima.

''For a moment, I was depressed with the difference in mood between Germany and Japan, but at the same time, I came to think that as we're both human beings it should not be something (Japanese people) cannot do,'' he said.

While not many celebrities in Japan have spoken out against nuclear power even after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis -- the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster -- Yamamoto said he chose to make his stand because he wants to be alive 10 years from now so that he can continue to pursue dreams such as becoming a better actor.

''To continue living, we must eliminate the dangers in front of us. In earthquake-prone Japan, where we are in a period of vigorous seismic activity, we must stop nuclear power plants now or we will see another accident like the one in Fukushima,'' he said.

The Hyogo Prefecture native, who has a 20-year career as an actor, said since he began speaking out against nuclear energy following the outbreak of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, the number of jobs he is offered has plunged and his income has dwindled to less than a tenth.

But he said his activities have given him the opportunity to meet other people with shared interests and made him eager to bring change to Japan through people power.

He also reiterated his criticism of the Japanese government for not doing enough to address the nuclear crisis and urged it to take action, including moving children, who are more susceptible to radioactive substances than adults, far away from contaminated areas.

Concerning a criminal complaint filed against him and some other people by a man in Kyoto seeking punishment for their entry into the Saga prefectural government building in July, Yamamoto said he could not understand why Saga prosecutors accepted the complaint that was filed by someone who only saw what happened on TV news reports.

He said the prosecutors, who accepted the complaint in September, questioned him on Monday in Tokyo over the incident involving a protest by about 150 activists demanding that the local government not allow the restart of two idled reactors at the Genkai nuclear power station.

His lawyer Fumito Morikawa said the interview ended with Yamamoto's side saying they will not cooperate with investigations as they have ''absolutely nothing to clarify, be ashamed of or give excuses for.''

On July 11, the protesters demanded a meeting with Saga Gov. Yasushi Furukawa but after being refused a meeting with him, handed a letter of request to a prefectural official stating their demand not to restart the reactors.

==Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

Gov't proposal calls for lower radioactive limit for ordinary food

TOKYO, Dec. 21, Kyodo english.kyodonews.jp

People saving their hair as evidence for future lawsuits if they get cancer from Fukushima. business.nikkeibp.co.jp