February 12, 2013

Feb 12, 2013 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • On Saturday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited earthquake/tsunami-devastated Iwate Prefecture. He inspected reconstruction progress and did his best to reassure residents that they are not his administration’s forgotten people. He first went to a rebuilt Sake brewery and a temporary housing unit in Ofanuto. He then moved to Rikuzentakata and visited a memorial for victims of the catastrophe and later inspected work on a project to rebuild badly affected coastal communities to upland areas. Rikuzentakata Mayor Futoshi Toba told Abe that it took 13 months for the city to start the land work under Tokyo’s old regime. “I want the government to help our communities achieve reconstruction as early as possible,” he said.The prime minister noted, “I have realized [after visiting the three prefectures] that reconstruction needs differ region by region,” and said his government will redouble efforts to create new jobs in the region. Abe also visited the city of Kesennuma in Miyagi and inspected an ice factory that has been rebuilt since the March 11, 2011, quake-tsunami calamities.At the end of his trip, Abe vowed to speed up reconstruction in Iwate because many wished to spend the rest of their lives in their homes. The PM also reiterated his belief that Tohoku recovery is the key to Japan’s economic recovery. (Japan Today, Japan Times)
  • The Diet has decided to submit a bill to extend compensation for many Fukushima accident refugees beyond the three legal year time frame. Many Fukushima refugees fear that their current compensation payments will end when the statute runs out in 2014. Also, the bill applies to cases in which the Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Resolution Center’s mediation between TEPCO and disaster victims fails. The code provides compensation to victims of industrial accidents. If the statute of limitations runs out before a settlement is reached, the special law is will allow victims to file lawsuits during the extension period. As of the end of January this year, there were 5,063 requests for mediation services. Of them, 1,204 had reached settlements and 3,201 were still in progress. About 300 new requests are filed each month. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
  • The town of Namie, half of which is inside the 20km “no-go” zone around F. Daiichi, will soon be re-zoned. The new zoning will be in three parts: one where residents can return permanently, another where visitations will be restricted, and a third where visitation will be prohibited for the time being. The reclassification will take effect on April 1. In order for the unrestricted and restricted zones to be established, a medical facility must be in operation. Thus, a clinic will be opened, inside to 20km radius, in a senior health center located near the center of the town.The government decided to establish the clinic in order to prepare basic services for residents who are expected to return following the relaxation of the no-entry rule. This will be the first local medical facility to be opened inside the 20 km no-entry zone. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
  • In an effort to ease the possible long-term loss of operating nukes, government agencies are debating whether or not to build new coal-fired plants. The Industry Ministry leads the pro-coal side saying that it would be cheaper than natural gas, wind, solar or hydroelectric generation. The Environment Ministry holds the negative view because coal is the worst emitter of greenhouse gasses and has a huge amount of ash that will need disposal. Tepco, which will experience the greatest nuke losses, has already said it will purchase electricity from thermal (fossil-fueled) wholesalers beginning in 2019. Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi supports new coal plants, saying, “Coal-fired power generation has a vital role in maintaining a stable electricity supply and economic efficiency.” However, it may be difficult to obtain approval to construct new thermal plants after undergoing an environmental impact assessment by the Environment Ministry. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
  • The Asahi Shimbun accuses Tepco lying last week for telling Toshimitsu Motegi of the NAIIC that the inside of F. Daiichi unit #1 was too dark for a visual inspection in 2012. Tepco posted an apology to Motegi for showing him a picture of the condition of the unit #1 enclosure and saying it was taken before the roof covers were fully installed. Actually, the picture was taken after installation was complete. The Tepco release on Monday said nothing about the cover to let in light or if lamps were installed inside the cover. It should be noted that Tepco reiterated that at the time the NAIIC wanted to investigate in 2012, the interior of the building was in total darkness. How the Tepco posting on Monday is yet “another lie” is a mystery. (For the Tepco posting, go to… http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/topics/1224624_2266.html)
  • This morning, Tepco President Naomi Hirose apologized to the Diet’s Lower House for what was a somewhat false explanation given to the NAIIC in February, 2012. The roof over the unit #1 enclosure does let in a small amount of light and has lamps installed in the ceiling. This could have illuminated the IC condensers on the fourth floor, but the stairs and passages the NAIIC would have had to traverse were in blackness, plus the radiation levels were extreme. Tepco says they will take the panel members through if they still want to see the interior of the structure. (Kyodo News: Mainichi Shimbun)
  • 900,000 pages of notes and other documents created by the Tokyo government about the Fukushima accident will be digitalized and available on-line in about 2 years. According to the NRA, many of the papers from the first weeks of the crisis are hand-written and must be deciphered before digitalization. Materials include information from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the Industry Ministry, the Environmental Ministry’s Emergency Response Center, and the countermeasures headquarters in Fukushima City. The documents will show what information was exchanged between the local countermeasures headquarters in Fukushima and the Emergency Response Center, and what orders the center issued and when. The job of collating it all will be considerable. “The volume of documents is so huge that many have been left wherever they were put,” said an NRA official. “We’ll first digitize as many documents as we can. Later, we’ll try to expand the range of documents by asking TEPCO and various government organizations for cooperation.” (Yomiuri Shimbun)