- Tokyo has decided to try and place the Fukushima child thyroid anomaly issue in a realistic perspective. For more than a year, the government has offered free thyroid medical exams to 360,000 children in Fukushima Prefecture. Of the more than 38,000 children tested through March of this year, 13,646 were found to have thyroid lumps or some other irregularities by the prefectural medical community. However, the existence of these thyroid anomalies has not been compared to children who live far away from Fukushima to see if the large number of positive tests is actually due to the Fukushima accident. Medical experts will conduct ultrasonic thyroid examinations on roughly 4,500 children aged 18 or younger far away from Fukushima Prefecture to make a statistical comparison. Benign thyroid lumps are rather common in children everywhere. But, the government has no epidemiological data base to make a valid appraisal of the impact of a nuclear accident on child thyroids. (Mainichi Shimbun)
- The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has posted a remarkably realistic report on the enormous impact of renewables. The historically antinuclear publication identifies the potential needs of materials and resources to make the world’s energy supply totally renewable by 2030. While some might argue the article should have included nuclear energy as a renewable (including this writer), the listing of the massive material volumes needed for renewable sources is in itself important. One significant paragraph begs to be cited; “Renewable energy sounds so much more natural and believable than a perpetual-motion machine, but there’s one big problem: Unless you’re planning to live without electricity and motorized transportation, you need more than just wind, water, sunlight, and plants for energy. You need raw materials, real estate, and other things that will run out one day. You need stuff that has to be mined, drilled, transported, and bulldozed — not simply harvested or farmed.” For the full article, click this link… http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/columnists/dawn-stover/the-myth-of-renewable-energy
- Japan has begun to utilize idled industrial properties for the construction of solar plants. Mega solar power plants require vast amounts of land to lay tens of thousands of solar panels as well as power-transmission facilities, but idled industrial complexes could reduce the impact somewhat. In Kawaminami town, Miyagi Prefecture, the local gas company has decided to build a two megawatt solar facility on part of an abandoned industrial park. Of the nine mega facilities planned for Tochigi Prefecture, four will be built in factory and industrial parks covering about 200,000 square meters. Another six MW facility will be built at the Yasuura industrial complex in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. According to the Japan Industrial Location Center, there are about 900 industrial complexes across Japan, but about 150 million square meters currently remain idle. Current projects could swell Japan’s solar output by 500 MWe by 2013 (which is roughly half the output of one nuclear unit). (Mainichi Shimbun)
- Tokyo has drawn up plans for the recovery of 12 municipalities in the former evacuations zones around F. Daiichi. They are located in the areas where the “no-go” restrictions have been lifted. The state will take full responsibility for decontamination and infrastructure recovery because it fully promoted nuclear energy prior to the Fukushima crisis. The government will restore railways, buses, highways, and other transportation systems, and refurbish industries within the next 5 years, so evacuees can lead stable lives after they return home. It also says the effort will create jobs for evacuees during the recovery period. The plan adds that new industries, including renewable energies and medical equipment, will be generated to secure jobs and keep younger generations in the areas. (NHK World)
- Tokyo has ordered geological anomaly re-checks for more nukes. The new orders are for Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Mihama station and Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s Monju fast-breeder reactor. Similar instructions have previously been issued for three other nuclear power stations – Tsuruga, Shika, and Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. None of them will be allowed to restart until their earthquake situation can be re-analyzed. The anomalies include cracks in the bedrock as well as “crush zones” (stony deposits in the cracks). All of the anomalies in question were analyzed and found to meet siting criteria before any of the above nuclear stations were allowed to be built. The reasons for the new examinations are two-fold. First, prior to 2006 the time-frame since the last movement of the cracks was 50,000 years. Since 2006 they must be shown to have not moved for at least 130,000 years. Second, a crack that moved during the earthquake of 3/11/11 was previously believed to be non-seismic by the pre-2006 standards. Thus, NISA’s call for re-evaluation has some justification. The urgency in doing the testing is spurred by public outcry following the Fukushima accident, although all empirical evidence strongly indicates the 9.0 Richter-scale quake did no damage to the reactors or safety systems at F. Daiichi. It is estimated that the re-evaluations will take roughly six months at each location. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- The first contamination checks for bulk rice production in Fukushima Prefecture show nothing above the current, stringent health standards. The first testing is on rice grown in the Nihonmatsu municipality, on the southern edge of the old northwest evacuation zone. The initial tests were on fourteen bags of 30 kilogram rice under the Gohyakugawa brand name. As each passed the test, labels verifying the absence of contamination were affixed to the bags. One farmer shed tears of joy to find out that his produce had passed the test. Harvesting of rice in Nihonmatsu will continue through September. (NHK World)
- It now seems that mere rumors about governmental officials are permissible news media fodder. A media report on Friday said Environment/Disaster Minister Goshi Hosono was negotiating with the town of Minamiosumi, Kagoshima Prefecture, to host a final disposal site for Fukushima-contaminated materials. Hosono flatly denies that such negotiations are happening. He said that the government is looking at all possible options and talking with municipal officials all over Japan, “We’ve been looking into various possibilities, but we haven’t officially asked any specific municipalities [about the final disposal site] yet.” Hosono added that he knows the Minamiosumi mayor because the town has a national park, and has talked to him about Fukushima and the debris disposal problem. But, he said he discusses those issues with all municipal leaders he comes into contact with. Even the Minamiosumi Municipal Government was taken by surprise. One official said “We have not heard anything about this,” and that there had been no official contact from anyone in Tokyo about it. Minamiosumi lies on the southern tip of Osumi Peninsula, some 1500 kilometers from F. Daiichi. (Japan Times)
- Fear of the possibility of radiation continues to draw news media attention. About 5% of the students in Fukushima prefecture are refusing to swim in their school’s outdoor pools for fear that the water might be contaminated with radiation. The schools have gone to extreme measures to remove all traces of contamination in and around the pools, but some students are declining participation in swimming programs. The municipal board of education ran the survey in June and July, before summer vacation. One curious discovery was that the lower areas ofexposure had just as much denial as those regions with higher radiation levels. In other words, the cause is not linked to radiation intensity, but rather a result of fear itself. However, the survey results pleasantly surprised some board officials. One said, “We expected more students not to go swimming. We believe our careful explanations about our thorough decontamination efforts provided a better understanding of safety.” (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Yet another popular voice in Japan has gone antinuclear. Manga author Yoshinori Kobayashi, formerly a supporter of Japan’s efforts in WWII, has joined the list of those opposing nukes. Clearly influenced by naïve apocalyptic visions, the author says, “Shouldn’t Japan immediately abandon the old science of nuclear power that … is linked to the destruction of the nation, and carry out an energy revolution leading the world?” Kobayashi first won fame in the 1990s with a series of comics which argued that Japan’s belligerence in the 1930s and 1940s was aimed at freeing Asia from Western imperialism, denying wartime atrocities. He now takes aim at Japan’s so-called “nuclear village”, which for decades promoted nuclear energy as perfectly safe, cheap and clean. He also dismisses the argument that Japan’s resource-poor economy will suffer if the country abandons nuclear energy. (Japan Today)
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