- Japan’s Environment Ministry reports that the child thyroid anomalies in Fukushima Prefecture are common to the whole country. The study, conducted over the past five months, covered 4,365 children in Aomori, Yamanashi and Nagasaki Prefectures – all outside the limits of detectible Fukushima Contamination. The statistics show that when compared to the three control prefectures, the child thyroid lumps and other anomalies are “almost equal to or slightly lower in Fukushima.” Some 350,000 Fukushima children have been tested and 41% were found to have the anomalies. Aomori has a rate of 57%, 69% in Yamanashi and 43% in Nagasaki. Shunichi Yamashita, vice president of Fukushima Medical University, said the latest survey demonstrated that “small cysts and lumps naturally exist in children when they are examined with the same precision level as in Fukushima.” (Mainichi Shimbun)
- The Fukushima village of Namie has had the “no-go” restriction lifted for the whole community. Instead, it is being re-zoned according to estimated annual radiation exposures for the population. The coastal area, where 80% of the town lived before 3/11/11, will be split into two zones: one with radiation levels below 20 millisieverts per year, and the other between 20 and 50 mSv/yr. While residents may return home, they will not be allowed unrestricted residence or be able to stay overnight. The rezoning allows residents to apply for new Tepco compensation to pay for property recovery. However, residents whose property was damaged or destroyed by the quake and tsunami will not qualify for Tepco property compensation and must seek relief from the Tokyo government. One Namie resident who lost his home to the tsunami complained, “The government says it will enable residents to return home after rezoning, but my family has no home to go back to.” On the other hand, another resident, Michio Tanaka, was happy to be able to visit his home in order to start work toward making his family’s property meet the repopulation criteria. Locations below 50 mSv/yr are expected to be open to full repopulation, without restriction, by 2016. The area above 50 mSv/yr, which is mountainous, will not have its restriction lifted before 2017. Whether or not these target dates can be met is open to question because there is a deficit in the number of decontamination workers and the locations for waste disposal have not been decided upon. Regardless, this change is significant because of the need to clean up the tsunami debris that has been untouched since 3/11/11. Namie is the ninth of the eleven exclusion-zone communities to have restrictions eased. Futaba and Kawamata towns remain to be rezoned. (Jiji Press; Mainichi Shimbun; NHK World)
- Prime Minister Abe says it will be difficult for him to approve restarts for any undamaged nukes in Fukushima Prefecture. On Friday, Abe said resumption of operations at the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors at F. Daiichi and the four units at F. Daiini is unlikely, even if they meet new safety standards being drawn up by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Because of political uncertainty, Tokyo Electric Company has not made plans for restarts of any of the undamaged Fukushima units. Abe said that even if the reactors’ safety is confirmed, the understanding of local governments and residents would be necessary to resume operations. Considering the anxieties of Fukushima Prefecture residents and officials, such restarts would probably cause great local opposition which would block resumtions. Nonetheless, sources in Tokyo say the government is hoping to begin restarts this coming Fall for plants outside Fukushima Prefecture. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Tokyo Electric Company has taken greater responsibility for the Fukushima accident. Tepco now says they were not adequately prepared for the accident-causing tsunami of 3/11/11. Tepco president Naomi Hirose said, “Our safety culture, skills and ability were all insufficient. We must humbly accept our failure to prevent the accident, which we should have avoided by using our wisdom and human resources to be better prepared.” The report of an independent safety panel, chaired by former American NRC Commissioner Dale Klein, says that with adequate protection the accident would have been averted. Klein said the nuclear industry has to “expect the unexpected and have margins of safety. We are unable to turn the clock back in time and stop the accident. What is important for the reform committee and Tepco is to move forward, learn from mistakes and make sure that never happens again.” However, critics feel Tepco is not really serious or else last week’s spent fuel pool power outage would not have happened. Iwake Meisei University Professor Yukihiro Higashi said, “We learned that it only takes one rat, not even an earthquake or tsunami, to paralyze the plant. People in Fukushima are under constant fear of another serious incident that requires evacuation.” (Japan Today)
- The NRA’s Radiation Council is now vacant. The terms of former members have expired. They are not being renewed. The current Tokyo regime under Shinzo Abe is interviewing experts to repopulate the Council. Abe wants Japan’s standards to better-reflect international limits based on scientific evidence, rather than setting standards to soothe public fears. In order to do this, the requirements for panel membership have been stiffened. One firm requirement is that no executives or officials who have worked for nuclear utilities can apply. This restriction includes people who have worked for research institutions under donations and/or grants funded by nuke companies. One pressing issue the panel will address is whether or not to allow Fukushima refugees to return home if they are in locations with radiation levels below 20 millisieverts per year. The current guideline restricts visits to homes if the radiation exposures are above 1 mSv/yr. The government wants the panel in place as soon as possible in order to make the repopulation decision by the end of the year. (Mainichi Shimbun)
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A government panel on regulatory reform is set to de-regulate coal power plants. They are doing this because of the current nuclear moratorium and the resulting increases in expensive fossil fuel imports. The panel feels the cost of building and operating coal plants will be less than with natural gas. Large increases in natural gas imports from the Middle East have made Japan’s trade deficit an all-time high. The panel feels current environmental protection regulations place an unfair burden on coal plant operators to meet GHG emission limits. The panel feels it is more important to build coal-powered plants than to meet the nation’s Kyoto Accords commitments. The panel’s recommendations will be submitted to the Environment Ministry today. (NHK World)
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