Aibanhamano

Fukushima Anti-Radiation Fence Has Hole In It, TEPCO Says Huffington Post Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Thursday spotted a hole in one of the barriers intended to keep radioactive particles contained in the harbour, the operator said. Tokyo Electric Power set up silt fences in the harbour next to the ... 5.3-magnitude earthquake hits Japan's FukushimaLas Vegas Sun all 2 news articles »

Irish Independent

Japan's Olympic fever dimmed by Fukushima Global Times When the Japanese representatives said that Tokyo is far away from Fukushima and it is absolutely safe, many Japanese people felt disappointed as the government tends to ignore Fukushima residents. In the bidding presentation, Abe claimed that the ... Japan basks in Olympian glorymydigitalfc.com all 4 news articles »

World Nuclear News

Readying for Fukushima fuel move World Nuclear News Readying for Fukushima fuel move. 26 September 2013. The cover building of Fukushima Daiichi 4 is being kitted out for the removal of used reactor fuel. The main crane and the fuel handling machine are in place.

In the regular press briefing of 9/25/2013, the chairman of Nuclear Regulation Authority, Tanaka stated head of the secretariat of IAEA, Amano strongly requested them to found the international system to evaluate the Pacific contamination situation.

Tanaka has just come back from IAEA conference in Vienna.

He commented currently the Pacific contamination data is collected by several institutes such as NRA, Tepco, Fukushima prefecture etc..

The newly founded system is to evaluate the data and share the understandings among the international world.

No details were announced about the management, organizations etc..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOfbGTNJ7l0&list=UU5_urTtPY2VjNc1YOI4rBCg

 

 

Iori Mochizuki

You can ignore the truth but the truth won’t ignore you.

_____

Français :

L’AIEA exige que le gouvernement japonais finance un nouveau système international pour évaluer la contamination du Pacifique

 

Au cours du point-presse régulier du 25 septembre 2013, M. Tanaka, le président de la Nuclear Regulation Authority, a affirmé que M. Amano, chef du secrétariat de l’AIEA, lui a exigé de financer un système international pour évaluer la situation de la contamination dans le Pacifique.

M. Tanaka revenait juste de la conférence de l’AIEA de Vienne.
Il a déclaré qu’actuellement les données sur la contamination du Pacifique sont recueillies par plusieurs instituts comme la NRA, Tepco, la préfecture de Fukushima, etc…
Le nouveau système à financer devra évaluer les données et partager ses conclusions avec le monde international.
Aucun détail n’a été communiqué sur sa gestion, les organisations impliquées, etc…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOfbGTNJ7l0&list=UU5_urTtPY2VjNc1YOI4rBCg

Vous pouvez ignorer la vérité mais la vérité ne vous ignorera pas.

Independent journalist Ryuichi Kino went to Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in June 2013, his fourth. Along the way, he went inside the ex-evacuation zone (no-entry zone within 20-kilometer radius from the plant) and took these photos, and posted on his Flickr site. (Copyright: Ryuichi Kino, all rights reserved.)

Kino wonders aloud in his tweet, "How do they expect the residents to live here? Will the tanks full of contaminated water and the reactor buildings that blew up disappear in five years?"


The following photos are only part of 54 photos of the set.

=================

Naraha-machi, where Fukushima II (Daini) Nuke Plant is located. Farm road lined with plastic bags containing contaminated soil removed from farmland.

Tomioka-machi, where Fukushima II Nuke Plant is located. The fence bars entry to the "zone where the residents won't be able to return for 5 years". As if the radiation is suddenly higher beyond the fence.

JR Joban Line Yonomori Station in Tomioka-machi. Nature is taking over.

Futaba-machi, from the distance. Half of Fukushima I Nuke Plant is located in Futaba-machi. The arch in the left of the picture says "Nuclear Power to Build Affluent Society and Town".)

Futaba Kosei Hospital. Doctors, nurses, and patients were still trying to evacuate when Reactor 1 building exploded in hydrogen explosion on March 12, 2011. Beds and stretchers abandoned in haste.

Okuma-machi, with Reverse Osmosis waste storage tanks, exhaust stacks, and tall cranes working on the broken reactors in the backdrop. Would you feel safe, returning to the area?

Okuma-machi. It looks almost normal.

Until you look up close.

Somewhere within the ex-evacuation zone. The survey meter shows 15.54 microsieverts/hour radiation (gamma).

Ukedo District in Namie-machi, along the Pacific Ocean. Total wipe-out.

Memorial for the dead, in Ukedo District in Namie-machi. Someone does come here (probably more than one) to offer flowers and drinks.

As far as eyes can see, plastic bags with radioactive waste from decontamination along Route 6 in Naraha-machi. As talks of building intermediate storage facilities for contaminated waste have stalled in the ex-evacuation zone, these bags are left like this in many locations.

Route 6 in Tomioka-machi. Buses carry workers to Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Guards manning the checkpoint to the "difficult for the residents to return" zone. Kino writes that they are from private security company, and that:

以前の警戒区域は法的根拠があ ったので警察権を行使することができたけど、今の帰還困難区域は強制力がないので、法的には立ち入りを止めることはできない。中に入らないという制限 は、ある意味で市民の協力により成り立っているということになる。

The evacuation zone had a legal basis, and the police authority was used to enforce it. But the current "difficult for the residents to return" zone does not have legal force behind it, and there is no way to legally stop one from entering the zone. Restriction of entry is, in a way, made possible by the cooperation of the residents.

The national government is essentially telling the the residents, "At your own risk."

For more photos of the ex-evacuation zone by Kino, go to his Flickr page, here.

As Japan celebrates "recovery" (at least in the stock market), 2020 Tokyo Olympic, maglev bullet train that will run under Japan Alps, there are still 100 people from Futaba-machi, Fukushima still living in the abandoned high school building in Saitama Prefecture, more than two and a half years after the earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear accident struck Tohoku and Kanto.

Time has frozen for them, too.

In my August 16, 2012 post, I wrote there were more than 200 Futaba-machi residents living in shelter in the Kisai High School building in Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture, in partitioned classrooms and gyms, getting boxed meals.

Since September 1, 2012, the residents who live in the high school building have had to pay for the boxed meals, 30,000 to 40,000 yen (US$300 to 400) per month, out of their own pockets.

According to a volunteer group who's been providing the residents, mostly elderly, with hot meals every one to two months since September 2012,

それから約1年、徐々に避難所生活の方々は減って来ていますが、現在もまだ約100名の方がこちらの避難所で３食お弁当の生活を続けられております。

One year since [we started serving hot meals], the number of people living in the shelter have been gradually decreasing. However, there are still about 100 people living here [at the high school], eating three boxed (bento) meals every day.

そして避難所は急ピッチで閉鎖の方向に向けての動きがあるようですが、現在残っていられる約100名の方々の行く先、賠償問題など、残された課題はまだまだたくさんあります。

The plan to close this shelter is rapidly gaining momentum, but there are still many issues to be resolved. Where will the current 100 residents at the shelter go? What about compensations?

避難所自体がいつまでも存属していると言うことは、決してよいことではありません。ただ、納得のゆくかたちで閉鎖に結びつくわけでないのでは、決して良いわけでもないと思います。

It is not a good thing that a shelter continues to exist. But we don't think it is a good thing if this shelter is closed without consensus from the residents.

避難所の方達は、生活環境はよくないものの同じ町の知り合いやお友達と、寄り添い合って共に生活しているという、人と人とのつながりだけが心の支えである、ともおっしゃっています。避難所から出ることになると、みなさんがバラバラになってしまいます。ただでさえ多くの物を理不尽に失って辛い生活を強いられている中、そのような状況はお年寄りの孤独感を倍増させ、日々の楽しみもなくなると思います。

The residents at the shelter also tell us that despite bad living conditions they find emotional support through human relationship - that they live together with their friends and acquaintances from the same town [Futaba-machi]. If the shelter is closed, they will have to live apart. They have already lost so much and are forced to live in a harsh condition. It would increase the sense of loneliness in the elderly residents and deprive them of their daily joy and happiness.

Katsutaka Idogawa is no longer the mayor of Futaba-machi; he decided not to fight the recall motion by the town assembly. He was a candidate of the Green Party for the Upper Election in July this year, but his campaign didn't get any attention and he lost.

There is no incentive for politicians to do anything about the evacuees in an abandoned high school building in Saitama. The evacuees don't complain, and no one complains for them.

They are going to squander a ton of money (maybe literally) on maglev trains and 2020 Olympic, but they can't even convert this high school building into a more comfortable, habitable living space.

Journalist Ryuichi Kino's photographs of the ex-evacuation zone triggered my memory of what the former mayor of Futaba-machi had said about the fateful day.

Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa's recollection of March 12, 2011, as compiled by journalist Hiromichi Ugaya who attended Idogawa's press conference in February 2012 (from my post on that day):

We weren't told of the "vent" [of Reactor 1] that the government decided to do. The vent was carried out while the residents were still in town. I wonder if they [the government] think of us as Japanese citizens. This is like pre-Meiji Restoration [when there was no notion of citizens of a nation].

On March 12, as the residents were fleeing, I was in front of Futaba Kosei Hospital guiding the hospital patients and elderly people from the nearby senior citizens' home to a bus [for evacuation] when the first hydrogen explosion took place. There was a dull "thud".

"Oh no, it finally happened," the mayor thought. After a few minutes, small debris that looked like glass fiber insulation materials came falling down from the sky like large snowflakes. "Big ones were this big", the mayor puts his thumb and index finger together to form a circle.

Futaba Kosei Hospital is only 2 kilometers away from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. About 300 people, including municipal workers, doctors and nurses, watched the flakes of insulation materials fall like snow, stunned. The mayor thought, "We're finished."

The mayor looks back and says, "That was a very, very strange sight. It was like a movie". Not knowing what to do, he just dusted off his clothes with his hand.

Futaba Kosei Hospital in June 2013, by Ryuichi Kino. This is where Mayor Idogawa was on March 12, 2011.

For more of Kino's photos from June 2013, see my previous post.

As announced by Fukushima prefectural government in September 2012, in Kamihatori District in Futaba-machi, about 1.5 kilometers west of Futaba Kosei Hospital, the radiation level spiked to 1,590 microsieverts/hour at 3PM on March 12, 2011, BEFORE the hydrogen explosion of Reactor 1 building at 3:36PM.

Minister Motegi, ex-McKinsey management consultant whose most recent utterance about Fukushima I Nuclear Plant was that the contaminated water problems are not because of lack of money or faulty engineering but because of TEPCO and the plant workers not working hard enough, seems to think decommissioning a nuclear reactor is just like dismantling a factory line.

According to the Yomiuri article below, Minister Toshimitsu Motegi seems very confident that decommissioning of Reactors 5 and 6 will be finished way before the end of fiscal 2014 (March 31, 2015) with reactors, equipments, and buildings all removed, and the space can be used to install more tanks to store contaminated water until that water is completely treated by the end of fiscal 2014.

This is the minister in charge of the national government being "at the forefront" of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

And he screams, as always, "Accelerate! Ahead of schedule!"

From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/20/2013):

５・６号機廃炉ならタンク増設できる…経産相

If Reactors 5 and 6 are decommissioned, more tanks can be installed, says Minister of Economy

茂木経済産業相は２０日の閣議後記者会見で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所５、６号機の廃炉を安倍首相が要請したことについて「５、６号機は（廃炉が決まっている）１～４号機と極めて似た構造を持っている。５、６号機の実機を使えば訓練もできる」と述べ、１～４号機の廃炉などの事故処理を加速できるとの認識を示した。

During the press conference on September 20 after the cabinet meeting, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Motegi commented on Prime Minister Abe's request [to TEPCO] to decommission Reactors 5 and 6 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. He said, "Reactors 5 and 6 have very similar structures to Reactors 1-4 (which are being decommissioned). Training can be done on the actual reactors," thus accelerating the process of decommissioning Reactors 1-4.

汚染水処理については「５、６号機の廃炉で出来る空きスペースに、汚染水のタンク増設を行うことができる」と語った。２０１４年度内に貯蔵タンク内の汚染水を浄化することに改めて意欲を示し、「前倒しできることは、全て前倒しする」と強調した。

As to the contaminated water treatment, he said, "In the empty space created by decommissioning Reactors 5 and 6, we can build additional tanks to store contaminated water." He expressed his desire again to have all contaminated water stored in the tanks treated by the end of fiscal 2014, and emphasized he would "do anything ahead of schedule that can be done ahead of schedule".

"Happy", one of several workers who have been tweeting from the plant since the beginning of the accident, gently reminds his followers that:

• Spent fuel assemblies in the Spent Fuel Pools of Reactors 5 and 6 should be removed first, and that won't happen until July 2014 at the earliest (tweet);

• After spent fuel assemblies are removed, dismantling will start with equipments and pipes with low contamination. It will be at least 10 years before we start dismantling the reactors themselves. (tweet)

• In dismantling a reactor, pipes and equipments in the primary line will be chemically cleaned and decontaminated, but dismantling doesn't happen at least until 5 years pass. (tweet)

• It's because Cobalt-60, major source of radiation for pipes and equipment, has the half life of about 5 years. (tweet)

• Even the decommissioning of small-scale or experimental reactors like the one in Tokai-mura is problematic, with unforeseen problems. (tweet)

I would suggest Mr. Motegi or his secretary follow these workers on Twitter.

I do feel sorry for TEPCO managers who have to kowtow to politicians like Motegi.

On 9/20/2013, Fukushima Diary reported 8 damages were found on the stack for reactor1 and 2.

(cf, 8 damages found on the stack for reactor1&2 / 66 m from the ground [URL])

In the press conference of 9/18/2013, Tepco’s spokesman commented there is another damage on the stack.

The damaged part is below the 8 damaged reported, started rusting already.

According to Tepco, a piece of debris was blasted by reactor1 explosion in 311, and it hit the part of the stack.

None of the scale of the damage nor the seismic effect to the stack has been published.

 

↓ Red circled

 

http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/movie-01j.html

http://photo.tepco.co.jp/date/2013/201309-j/130918-03j.html

 

 

Iori Mochizuki

You can ignore the truth but the truth won’t ignore you.

_____

Français :

La cheminée à 10 Sv/h avait reçu un débris du réacteur 1 en mars 2011 : C’est déjà rouillé

 

Le Fukushima Diary a publié le 20 septembre 2013 qu’il y avait 8 impacts sur la cheminée des réacteurs 1 & 2. (cf. 8 points endommagés sur la cheminée des réacteurs 1 & 2, à 66 m du sol)
Au cours de la conférence de presse du 18 septembre 2013, le porte-parole de Tepco a déclaré qu’il y a un autre impact sur la cheminée.
La partie endommagée qui rouille déjà est en-dessous des 8 points d’impact précédemment rapportés.
Selon Tepco, un objet a été projeté contre cet endroit de la cheminée lors de l’explosion du réacteur 1 en mars 2011.
Aucun bilan des dégâts, ni des effets du séisme sur la cheminée n’a été publié.

↓ Cercle rouge

http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/movie-01j.html
http://photo.tepco.co.jp/date/2013/201309-j/130918-03j.html

Vous pouvez ignorer la vérité mais la vérité ne vous ignorera pas.

Following up this article..8 damages found on the stack for reactor1&2 / 66 m from the ground [URL]

 

For the question of the press, Tepco admitted the radiation level of the damaged stack is 10 Sv/h in the press conference of 9/20/2013.

It is not decided how to dismantle the highly contaminated stack.

 

http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/movie-01j.html

 

 

Iori Mochizuki

You can ignore the truth but the truth won’t ignore you.

_____

Français :

La radioactivité de la cheminée endommagée est de 10 Sv/h

 

Article lié : 8 points endommagés sur la cheminée des réacteurs 1 & 2, à 66 m du sol

Sur une question de la presse lors de la conférence du 20 septembre 2013, Tepco a reconnu que le niveau de radioactivité de la cheminée endommagée est de 10 Sv/h.
Il n’est pas encore décidé comment démanteler cette cheminée extrêmement contaminée.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/library/movie-01j.html

Vous pouvez ignorer la vérité mais la vérité ne vous ignorera pas.

Fukushima Diary reported steam was found coming up from the top of reactor3 on 9/17/2013.

(cf, [Steam after typhoon] “Steam” observed from the top of reactor3 again / humidity was only 53% [URL])

According to Tepco, the “steam” was observed coming up from the same location of reactor3 around 8AM of 9/18/2013 again. It wasn’t seen by 10AM.

In the secretariat meeting for Fukushima decommissioning on 8/29/2013, Prof. Yamana from Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute stated Tepco needs to investigate what is actually discharged as the “steam” such Tritium. However, no analysis data has been published yet.

(cf, Kyoto Uni Prof. “Tritium might be discharged directly from the reactor3 to the atmosphere” [URL])

 

http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2013/1230669_5117.html

http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2013/1230674_5117.html

 

 

Iori Mochizuki

You can ignore the truth but the truth won’t ignore you.

_____

Français :

Le réacteur 3 fume encore de la “vapeur” par son sommet : La raison n’en est toujours pas établie

 

Le Fukushima Diary a rapporté que la “vapeur” sortait à nouveau du haut du réacteur 3 le 17 septembre dernier. (cf. [Vapeur après typhon] La “vapeur” est à nouveau vue au sommet du réacteur 3 : L’humidité n’était que de 53 %)

Selon Tepco, le 18 à 08:00, la “vapeur” était à nouveau observée sortant du même endroit réacteur 3. On n’en a plus vu vers 10:00.

Le 29 août 2013, à la réunion du secrétariat pour le démantèlement de Fukushima, le Pr. Yamana de l’Institut de Recherche sur les Réacteurs de l’Université de Kyoto avait affirmé que Tepco devait chercher ce qui sort en fait sous forme de “vapeur”, en particulier le tritium. Or, aucune donnée analysée n’a encore été publiée. (cf. Un Prof. de l’Univ. de Kyoto : “Du tritium peut être directement disséminé dans l’air par le réacteur 3″)

http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2013/1230669_5117.html
http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/2013/1230674_5117.html

Vous pouvez ignorer la vérité mais la vérité ne vous ignorera pas.

Japan's Shinzo Abe calls on TEPCO to decommission 2 Fukushima reactors CNN Tokyo (CNN) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that he has asked Tokyo Electric Power Co. to decommission two more reactors at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Abe called for the decommissioning of Reactors 5 and ...

At 2:25 AM of 9/20/2013 (JST), M5.8 hit Fukushima nuclear plant area.

The epicenter was Hamadori area Fukushima. The depth was 20km. The maximum seismic intensity was 5+.

 

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

 

 

Iori Mochizuki

You can ignore the truth but the truth won’t ignore you.

_____

Français :

Un séisme M5,8 frappe la région de la centrale de Fukushima

 

Le 20 septembre 2013 vers 02:25 (JST), un séisme de magnitude 5,8 frappe la région de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima.
L’épicentre était dans la zone d’Hamadori de Fukushima. Sa profondeur était de 20 km, son intensité sismique maximale de 5+.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

Vous pouvez ignorer la vérité mais la vérité ne vous ignorera pas.

Intel CEO announces 14-nanometer processors, predicts sub-$100 tablets VentureBeat Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich showed off a laptop running on a 14-nanometer Intel system-on-a-chip processor today. During his keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Krzanich also predicted that there will be tablets with Intel chips in them that ...

Eloquence writes "Three years ago, Musopen raised nearly $70,000 to create public domain recordings of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, and others. Now they're running a new campaign with a simple but ambitious objective: 'To preserve indefinitely and without question everything Chopin created. To release his music for free, both in 1080p video and 24 bit 192kHz audio. This is roughly 245 pieces.'" Adds project organizer aarondunn: "His music will be made available via an API powered by Musopen so anyone can come up with ways to explore and present Chopin's life."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

First Solar sells CdTe Canadian power plants Compound Semiconductor The 20MWAC Walpole Solar Power Plant is one of three solar projects in Ontario, Canada acquired by partners GE Energy Financial Services and Alterra Power Corporation from First Solar, Inc. Electricity from the 50MWAC collection of projects will be ...