by Yagasaki Katsuma / The Asia-Pacific Journal / May 15, 2016 Yagasaki Katsuma, emeritus professor of Ryukyu University, has been constantly sounding the alarm about the problem of internal exposure related to nuclear weapons testing and nuclear electricity generation. Since the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP), he has drawn on his expertise to conduct field research, and to support those who evacuated to Okinawa. We asked … Continue reading →
Continue readingCategory Archives: Fukushima
via PNAS / April 2016 Significance Quantification of contamination risk caused by radioisotopes released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is useful for excluding or reducing groundless rumors about food safety. Our new statistical approach made it possible to evaluate the risk for aquatic food and showed that the present contamination levels of radiocesiums are low overall. However, some freshwater species still have relatively high risks. We also suggest … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / March 15, 2016 / A private high school in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, will close for good at the end of March because the nuclear disaster has decimated enrollment, school officials said. Shoei High School, founded in 1957, will be the first in the prefecture to close its doors permanently since the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant began unfolding on March 11, 2011. Although … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Goddard’s Journal / Published March 11, 2016: Response to: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35… Expanded upon here: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35… Dose-rate conversion: http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/E… ” 2.8 microsievert/hour = 24.5448 millisievert/year ” Study cited @ 1:40 re regional natural background dose rate of 0.05 uSv/y Malins et al (2016). Evaluation of ambient dose equivalent rates influenced by vertical and horizontal distribution of radioactive cesium in soil in Fukushima Prefecture. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 151 (2016) 38e49 http://pubmed.gov/26408835 … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia AnonHQ.com / March 14, 2016 / Radiation in Fukushima was so bad, they couldn’t afford to send people into some places. It turns out, the radiation was so high that even the chrome-domed replacements didn’t fare much better. “It is extremely difficult to access the inside of the nuclear plant,” Naohiro Masuda, TEPCO’s head of decommissioning said. “The biggest obstacle is the radiation.” The solution? Robots. The problem? Robots. “It takes … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Zero Hedge / Today (March 11, 2016), Japan marks the fifth anniversary of the tragic and catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the northeast coast of Japan, killing 20,000 people. Another 160,000 then fled the radiation in Fukushima. It was the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, and according to some it would be far worse, if the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia arstechnica.com / March 8, 2016 / The Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred almost five years ago in March 2011. It is the largest event of its sort since Chernobyl, which occurred 25 years earlier. The accident was triggered by a tsunami and earthquake that led to a meltdown at the plant. During this event, large amounts of radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere. Since then, Fukushima Daiichi has continued to leak radioactive materials … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Rachel Mealey via abc.net.au / March 7, 2016 / The town of Futaba lies six kilometres from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. There is an eerie feeling there. Shoes sit in the doorway of houses, as they do in houses across Japan — neatly placed together, waiting for feet to walk them out the door. Bicycles rest against fences — waiting for the next journey. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia SputnikNews.com / February 11, 2016 / Over 70 percent of the Japanese are in favor of completely or partially abandoning the use of nuclear power plants (NPP) in the country after the Fukushima disaster, a poll revealed Thursday. According to Japan’s NHK broadcaster that conducted the survey, 22 percent of respondents want the country to abandon nuclear power plants in the country entirely, while 49 percent partially supported the idea.The poll revealed that … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia National Geographic / February 13, 2016 / “It appears the world-changing event didn’t change anything, and it’s disappointing,”said Pieter Franken, a researcher at Keio University in Japan (Wide Project), the MIT Media Lab (Civic Media Centre), and co-founder of Safecast, a citizen-science network dedicated to the measurement and distribution of accurate levels of radiation around the world, especially in Fukushima. “There was a chance after the disaster for humanity … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Japan Times / February 15, 2016 / The Nuclear Regulation Authority and Tokyo Electric Power Co. have broadly agreed to start operating the frozen underground wall at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in stages. The agreement, reached Monday, is on the frozen underground wall that officials hope will surround the buildings housing reactors 1 through 4 and reduce the amount of groundwater flowing into the facilities. The … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Citizens Nuclear Information Center / February 2, 2016 / State of the Plant Many of the measuring instruments installed in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) measuring system continue to malfunction as a result of the accident and there is no guarantee of the accuracy of values being measured. However, from the water temperature in the containment vessels and the spent fuel pools, and from the state of … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center / February 2, 2016 / 1) After 5 years, still very little is known about the causes and effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. A whole five years will soon have passed since the severe accident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS). Nonetheless, the causes of the accident have not yet been clarified. Which was the main cause of the accident: the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Science Alert / January 19, 2016 / It’s been almost five years since the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, but the scale of the emergency means Japan is still at the relative beginning of efforts to clean up and contain the radioactive site. So this week Toshiba unveiled (above) a remote-control robot that’s expected to remove fuel-rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia The Online Citizen / January 13, 2016 / It has been reported by Japanese media, Jiji press that Mr Moriyama Hiroshi, Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister has requested a review on the restriction of food imports from Fukushima, Japan during the meet up with Minister of National Development, Lawrence Wong on 10 January. Mr Hiroshi was in Singapore over the weekend to officiate a series of events to … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Takuya Isayama / Asahi Shimbun / January 7, 2016 / A virtual reality system here that will assist in the decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is preparing for full-scale operations this spring. Located at the Naraha Remote Technology Development Center, the system features a 3.6-meter-high display that simulates 3-D images of the interiors of the reactor buildings at the Fukushima plant. The research and … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / January 9, 2016 / The European Union will start easing restrictions Saturday (Jan 9) imposed on Japanese food imports over the Fukushima nuclear disaster, including vegetables and beef produced in the prefecture, the farm ministry said. Tsuyoshi Takagi, Cabinet minister in charge of rebuilding from the March 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, on Friday welcomed the bloc’s decision. At present, all food items from Fukushima … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Goddard’s Journal / January 1, 2016 / SOURCES USED: Story that declassified documents reveal 100% fuel loss from Fukushima Unit 4 spent fuel pool (SFP): https://rt.com/news/325663-fukushima-… Time-framed Google search shows inundation of mostly alt-media sources with the bogus story https://www.google.com/search?q=fukus… Links to Reality… The declassified NRC document in question: http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1212/M… Paragraphs in question highlighted on PDF-pages 7 to 8. First flyover shows steaming Unit 4 fuel pool (March 2011) … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Goddard’s Journal / October 22, 2015 / Study critiqued Tsuda et al. (2015). Thyroid Cancer Detection by Ultrasound Among Residents Ages 18 Years and Younger in Fukushima, Japan: 2011 to 2014. Epidemiology. Oct 5. http://pubmed.com/26441345 Contrary opinion of Fukushima Medical University scientists conducting the screening campaign: http://fmu-global.jp/?wpdmdl=710 http://www.cancernetwork.com/ata-2015… Study predicting magnitude of detection bias in the Fukushima screening campaign: Jacob et al. (2014). Ultrasonography survey and thyroid cancer in … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Science20.com / September 28, 2015 / The worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown never should have happened, according to a new study. In Philosophical Transactions A of the Royal Society, researchers Costas Synolakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Utku Kâno’lu of the Middle East Technical University in Turkey distilled thousands of pages of government and industry reports and hundreds of news stories, focusing on … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia CounterPunch.org / September 30, 2015 / The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant No. 2 nuclear reactor fuel is missing from the core containment vessel. (Source: Up to 100% of No. 2 Reactor Fuel May Have Melted, NHK World News, Sept. 25, 2015.) Where did it go? Nobody knows. Not only that but the “learning curve” for a nuclear meltdown is as fresh as the event itself because “the world … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia theecologist.org / September 28, 2015 / Radiation can be carried long distances by marine currents, concentrated in sediments, and carried in sea spray 16km or more inland, writes Tim Deere-Jones. So Fukushima poses a hazard to coastal populations and any who eat produce from their farms. So what are the Japanese Government and IAEA doing? Ignoring the problem, and failing to gather data. Review of the official Japanese marine … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia EyeWitness News / September 23, 2015 / A Japanese nuclear expert says close to 85 percent of the Japanese population do not trust the use of nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Dr Tatsujiro Suzuki says the public’s mistrust largely stems from the widely held belief that the government has not been transparent about its nuclear policies. In his lecture on nuclear energy policies at the University of … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Makoto Takada / Asahi Shimbun / September 24, 2015 / Local government officials, evacuees and students are saving personal documents and other historical materials from destruction in a municipality rendered a virtual “ghost town” by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Tomioka town government, which now operates from Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, has asked residents for help in the preservation project, saying materials kept at a museum alone cannot show … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Youtube / September 24, 2015 / This documentary on the Fukushima Art Project chronicles artist Ai Weiwei’s investigation of the site as well as the project’s installation process. In August 2014, Ai Weiwei was invited as one of the participating artists to originate artwork for the Fukushima Nuclear Zone by the Japanese art coalition Chim↑Pom， as part of the project they initiated called Don’t Follow the Wind . Ai … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Akira OIKAWA / via asia.nikkei.com / September 14, 2015 / The Sendai No.1 reactor, Japan’s first active reactor in about two years, has resumed full-scale commercial operations. As safety screening progresses, other suspended reactors are expected to follow, but mostly in the western part of Japan. All 43 reactors in Japan are light-water models. “Light water” simply means normal water. Light-water reactors are further categorized into boiling-water and pressurized-water … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / September 15, 2015 / The first batch of radioactive groundwater filtered below “measurable limits” at Japan’s tsumani-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has been dumped into the ocean, as TEPCO seeks to ease toxic water building-up at the site. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) that operates the crippled nuclear plant released its first 850 tons of filtered radioactive groundwater by sundown on September 14. This is a part … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia rte.ie / September 5, 2015 / The Japanese government has lifted the evacuation order for the first town near the crippled Fukushima reactors, more than four years after ordering mass relocations near the tsunami-wrecked nuclear plant. Among communities where the entire population was forced to evacuate after the nuclear crisis started in March 2011, Naraha is the first town to allow all of its residents to return home permanently. It … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia news.yahoo.com / August 21, 2015 / Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power has halted the ramp-up of power output from its Sendai No. 1 nuclear reactor due to a problem with a pump in the plant’s secondary cooling system, a spokesman said on Friday. Kyushu Electric last week began the restart of the Sendai plant, the first of Japan’s reactors to begin operation under new safety standards introduced in the wake … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Kunihiko Yoshizawa and Toru Asami / via The-Japan-News.com / August 22, 2015 / On July 31, the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution announced its decision that former Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata (pictured), 75, and two other former company executives “should be indicted” in connection with the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster. In this case the “will of the people” has … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Ian Fairlie CounterPunch.org August 20, 2015 Official data from Fukushima show that nearly 2,000 people died from the effects of evacuations necessary to avoid high radiation exposures from the disaster. The uprooting to unfamiliar areas, cutting of family ties, loss of social support networks, disruption, exhaustion, poor physical conditions and disorientation can and do result in many people, in particular older people, dying. Increased suicide has occurred among younger … Continue reading →
Continue readingAugust 15, 2015 via TheGuardian.co.uk Japan’s weather agency on Saturday told thousands of residents near a southern city to prepare for a possible evacuation as it upgraded a volcanic eruption warning. Officials raised their alert to its second-highest level after picking up increasing seismic activity around the volcano Sakurajima, which sits just off the coast of Kagoshima, a city of more than 600,000 people. Activity has spiked since Saturday morning, … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia RT.com / August 11, 2015 / Protesters rallied outside Japan’s Sendai nuclear plant and its company’s headquarters to demonstrate against the planned restarting of operations, over four years after the Fukushima disaster that left the entire world horrified. One major concern about the resumption is that no evacuation plans – in case of a Fukushima-style catastrophe – have been disclosed to locals. “There are schools and hospitals near the … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Truth Out / August 11, 2015 / Japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor to generate power since 2013. And that’s really bad news. Remember what happened in 2011? Why Japan closed all of its reactors abruptly and why we’re still tracing the spread of radioactive material across our Pacific Coast and into the atmosphere? First there was an earthquake that did significant damage to that island country – … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Phys.org / August 11, 2015 / Japan on Tuesday ended a two-year nuclear shutdown in the energy-hungry country, sparked by public fears following the 2011 Fukushima crisis, the worst atomic disaster in a generation. Utility Kyushu Electric Power turned on a reactor at Sendai, about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) southwest of Tokyo, at 10:30 am (0130 GMT). The 31-year-old reactor—operating under tougher post-Fukushima safety rules—was expected to reach full … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia ZeroHedge.com / August 8, 2015 When the words “mothballed”, “nuclear”, and “never been done before” are seen together with Japan in a sentence, the world should be paying attention… As TEPCO officials face criminal charges over the lack of preparedness with regard Fukushima, and The IAEA Report assigns considerable blame to the Japanese culture of “over-confidence & complacency,” Bloomberg reports, Japan is about to do something that’s never been … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Jun Hongo via Wall Street Journal August 3rd, 2015 Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it successfully removed the largest piece of debris from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant’s Unit 3 reactor, which had fallen inside the spent-fuel pool following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. According to Tepco, the company used two 600-ton cranes to lift the 20-ton fuel-handling machine, which was sitting on top of more than 500 fuel … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Kentaro Hamada and Osamu Tsukimori via Reuters July 31, 2015 A Japanese civilian judiciary panel on Friday forced prosecutors to indict three former Tokyo Electric Power (9501.T) (Tepco) executives for failing to take measures to prevent the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The decision is unlikely to lead to a conviction of the former executives, after prosecutors twice said they would not bring charges, but means they will be summoned … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia DW / July 21st, 2015 / In a bid seen by critics as aiming to speed up reconstruction, the Japanese government is preparing to declare sections of the evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant a safe place to live. The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to revoke many evacuation orders by March 2017, if decontamination progresses as hoped, meaning that up to 55,000 … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy SATOSHI OTANI / Asahi Shimbun / July 21st, 2015 / The father of pro-nuclear Kariwa Mayor Hiroo Shinada is a director of a company that received contracts worth millions of yen for work at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. In addition, a gasoline stand run by Shinada’s wife is frequented by TEPCO employees as well as workers at nuclear plant-related companies. Shinada, 58, said … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / July 21st, 2015 / Around 3,100 residents in the city of Fukushima are demanding ¥18.3 billion in damages related to the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, lawyers said. A total of 3,107 residents of the Watari district want an out-of-court settlement for their psychological distress, including health concerns due to radiation exposure. The demand was filed Tuesday with a public … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Telegraph.co.uk / July 8th, 2015 / The government announces September 5 as the date 7,401 residents of Naraha town in Fukushima prefecture can return home for the first time since the 2011 nuclear disaster. More than 7,000 residents from a Fukushima town completely evacuated following the 2011 nuclear crisis will be able to return home permanently from September, the Japanese government has announced. The 7,401 residents of Naraha will … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia sputniknews.com / July 8, 2015 / Russian experts will begin in early 2016 construction of a demo water treatment plant to decontaminate dangerous radioactive isotopes in Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, Atomproekt, the company in charge of the project said Wednesday. Atomproekt, part of Russia’s nuclear product and service provider Rosatom Corporation, has forwarded working construction documents on a demo tritium treatment plant to Rosatom and subsidiary RosRAO, the company said in a … Continue reading →
Continue readingby Robert Hunziker / ukprogressive.co.uk / July 8, 2015 / Because of Japan’s unconscionable open-ended new secrecy law, it is very likely journalism in the nation has turned tail, scared of its own shadow. Nevertheless, glimmers of what has happened, of what is happening, do surface when brave people come forward. On May 22nd 2015 Hiromichi Ugaya, a photojournalist who is well-informed, insightful, and engaging, was interviewed about what he … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Gizmodo.com / June 30, 2015 / When the 2011 earthquake in Japan damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant, teams scrambled to find a robot that could go where humans couldn’t. In many ways those robots failed, and ever since, there has been a focus on creating robots that can get the job done. Enter Toshiba’s “Scorpion” robot, which will make its way inside the power plant this August. The … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Japan Times / June 30, 2015 / Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Tuesday was again held responsible for a suicide linked to the 2011 nuclear crisis and ordered to pay damages. The Fukushima District Court ordered TEPCO to pay ¥27 million to the family of 67-year-old Kiichi Isozaki, who committed suicide in July 2011 after being forced out of his home near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and … Continue reading →
Continue readingBy Kunio Kobinata / the-japan-news.com / June 29, 2015 / In the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, much remains unknown about the long-term health effects of the radioactive substances released. Seeking answers, Tohoku University Prof. Manabu Fukumoto has been examining the blood and other factors of slaughtered cattle and wild animals caught by hunters mainly within a 20-kilometer radius of the plant. Over … Continue reading →
Continue readingby J.R Rardon / campbellrivermirror.com / June 30, 2015 / A transponder that spent more than three years floating in the Pacific Ocean before washing up on Vancouver Island has become the subject of a wide-ranging scavenger hunt after mysteriously winding up in Campbell River last week. The transponder, part of a group of 12 dropped in the ocean near Fukushima, Japan in January of 2012, was meant to give … Continue reading →
Continue readingfrom The Asahi Shimbun / June 24, 2015 / In a show of “confidence”, the nation’s top three banks and other financial organizations who have been funding embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co. have agreed to extend 280 billion yen ($2.26 billion) in loans to the utility for the fiscal year. [emphasis added] The entities concluded that TEPCO, the operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, has been … Continue reading →
Continue readingvia Eco Watch / June 22, 2015 / Japan officially unveiled today its 7 megawatt (MW) wind turbine, the world’s largest offshore turbine to date. It is slated to be operational by September. The Fukushima Wind Project, located about 12 miles off the coast of Fukushima, installed a 2 MW wind turbine in November 2013. The turbines are part of a pilot project led by Marubeni Co. and funded by the Japanese government with research … Continue reading →
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