March 16, 2015

Mar 16, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • 53 families continue to live inside the Fukushima exclusion (no-go) zone. Some are located inside the most highly-contaminated areas. None of the families live in areas where even overnight stays are sanctioned. The law does not stipulate punishment for ignoring the evacuation or overnight stay orders. The families have been repeatedly told to leave by government officials, but they have ignored the requests. While living in the no-go zone is difficult, it is not impossible. Some residents say they have stayed to tend to livestock. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150313_02.html
  • Tepco suspects the latest F. Daiichi leak comes from station soils. Specifically, the containment barrier surrounding fifty-two 1,000 ton wastewater storage tanks. A routine area monitoring survey detected an elevated radiation level outside the barrier. It was next found that the water level inside the barrier had dropped a few inches; indicating that up to 750 tons of mildly contaminated water had escaped the enclosure. Subsequently, a few of the seams in the barrier’s plastic covering were found to be leaking. One of the enclosure’s tanks holding highly contaminated water leaked in 2012 and about 100 tons soaked into the enclosed soil. F. Daiichi workers scraped up many tons of soil and felt they had removed all of the entrained contamination. Now, Tepco says they may have failed to get all of the 2012contamination. An official said, “There is no leakage from the storage tanks, and the underground water will not flow into the ocean.” http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150313p2a00m0na013000c.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150312_01-e.pdf (Tepco’s Press handout of March 12)
  • Tepco says at least 90% of F. Daiichi wastewater will be processed by the end of May. This, plus continued cleanup of contaminated solid debris, will reduce exposure levels at the property boundary of the station below 1 millisievert per year. In fact, the 1 mSv/yr goal should be reached by the end of March. 90% of the wastewater falls into three general categories: water already fully processed, stored waters that need treatment, and already-processed waters containing detectible isotopes. About 200,000 tons have yet to receive any kind of treatment, and 20,000 tons have high levels of seawater which must be processed slowly to insure all contaminants are removed. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1248751_6844.html — http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150316_02-e.pdf — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150316_26.html
  • Radiation levels in 88% of Fukushima Prefecture are below Japan’s decontamination standard. The standard is 0.23 micro-sieverts per hour. There are 78 inland areas that have been monitored by the prefecture. Only four were initially below the national limit created after the Fukushima accident. Now, 62 are below standard. Along the coast, only 22 of the 302 monitored locations remain above standard. The coastal monitoring includes locations in Futaba and Okuma; F. Daiichi’s host communities. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has another 3,661 monitoring locations. 88% of the NRA locations are less than 0.23 mSv/hr.  Monitors take readings in residential areas, parks, schools, and government offices. Release of this information has relieved many worried residents. One man says, “When I hear that radiation levels are lower than the standard in nearly 90% of the spots, I feel relieved.” http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201503120066
  • Many brokers say the public is not convinced Fukushima-produced food is safe. All rice and 58 species of food-fish have been cleared for marketing. While some of the rice can find buyers, most large-market brokers steer clear. Why? One Tokyo broker said, “Even if a product is of good quality, many consumers will avoid it when they hear it comes from Fukushima.” The head of Soma-Futaba Fisheries Cooperative Association, Hiroyuki Sato said he felt the buying public was about to shift gears until recent contaminated rainwater reports hit the Press. He said, “We’d been conducting strict checks and confirming that our products were safe, and then this happened. Now consumers might become reluctant to buy from us again.” Most dealers must sell at well-below market prices in order to move their product to smaller-market buyers. What is frustrating is that contamination levels range between non-detectible to barely detectible. But it makes no difference. Fear of radiation, even the mere possibility of radiation, pervades the Japanese buying public. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001999476
  • Non-destructive, inexpensive Cesium-only food monitoring is now possible. The technological breakthrough was announced by RIKEN (Japan’s largest comprehensive research institution) and G-Tech Corporation. The device is dubbed LANFOS, standing for “Large Area Non-destructive Food Sampler.” Currently, food testing requires grinding up the material before analysis. The new device allows the food to be analyzed without mincing it. Also, the system distinguishes Cesium emissions from the radioactivity released by other contaminants. In order to do all this, new scintillation detectors were created that are sufficiently sensitive and relatively inexpensive. LANFOS technology will analyze packages of food without destroying their contents, enabling the inspection of all packaged foods before shipment. http://www.jaif.or.jp/en/cesium-only-measurements-now-possible-at-fukushima/
  • Rural contaminated waste transfer has begun. Soil and debris with radioactive particulates are being moved from several locations inside the prefecture to the temporary storage facility in Okuma Town near F. Daiichi. The planned interim facility straddles the towns of Okuma and Futaba.  The Environment Ministry intended to start transfers to the two towns at the same time. However, shipment to Futaba was postponed because Tokyo was unable to make timely arrangements with the town. So far, only enough property has been secured to hold 20,000 cubic meters of the trash. The entire 16 km2 facility is designed to hold 22 million m3. Some Okuma residents don’t like what is going on. One man doesn’t trust the government to move the material after 30 years. A woman says that her home is near the planned facility, so she does not want to back. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150313_01.html — http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2015031300675
  • The number of Fukushima’s “disaster-related” deaths continues to rise. The prefecture has had 1,867 deaths related to the calamities of 3/11/11, while Iwate has had 450 and Miyagi 909. Only Fukushima has more “related” deaths than the number actually caused by the massive quake/tsunami (1,603). Fukushima officials say the disparity may be due to the prolonged nuclear evacuation, which has not been the case in the other two prefectures. A death is recognized as disaster-related if it is deemed by a panel of doctors, lawyers, and other experts, to have a causal relationship with the quake, tsunami or nuclear disaster. Each identified death allows for about $50,000 in compensation to the families of the deceased. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=481
  • A health survey on Fukushima workers has only 35% participation. More than 2,000 were initially wanted by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, but only 704 will take part. The Foundation says some of the poor response (~3%) is being unable to find many who are migrant construction workers. About 28% declined participation, either because contractors would not pay them for lost time or centers for the exams are too far away. Another 18,000 will be asked to participate beginning in April. The 20,000 worked at F. Daiichi between March and December of 2011. During that period, Tokyo raised the worker limit on exposure from 100 to 250 millisieverts to facilitate labor tasks. The Foundation will try to determine the health effects on the workers to see if cancer rates are elevated or not. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201503150018
  • Many voluntary evacuees and some from locations where evacuation orders have been lifted are unable to get alternative housing compensation. They can continue to be compensated for approved evacuation housing, but if they want to move to larger housing due to increasing family size, they are being rebuffed. One woman in Kawasaki who fled from Fukushima City, doesn’t want to go home because radiation levels are greater than 1 mSv/year. She wanted to move to a bigger Kawasaki property to accommodate her family, but governments of Kanagawa Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, rejected her alternative housing request. They had to relent, however, when her landlord said her rental contract would not be renewed. But, the government will only compensate her for approved evacuation housing, which she says is less then the new rent. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150313p2a00m0na015000c.html
  • PM Shinzo Abe is criticized for his presentation to the UN conference on disaster risk. The conference is being held in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Sendai gained a modicum of international infamy with the real-time videos of the tsunami on March 11. 2011. While the focus of the UN’s meeting concerns natural calamities, some Japanese criticized Abe for making only a brief mention of the Fukushima accident. Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba said, “[Abe’s speech] was no good at all. He may not have wanted to give negative impressions [of Japan].” Still others speculated that the PM wanted to avoid the ongoing radioactive wastewater issue. Meanwhile, international speakers focused on the topics announced for the conference; natural disasters and preparing for them. French Minister Annick Girardin stressed that climate change is making the situation increasingly critical, saying, “[The Sendai Conference is] above all a call for lucidity because it is no longer possible to ignore climate chaos”. Other speakers (including Abe) called for improved disaster warning systems and increased female leadership in the effort. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/15/national/abe-mum-on-fukushima-at-u-n-disaster-risk-confab/#.VQWBs6McQdU (Comment – An international group of activists will publish an unfortunate booklet on Fukushima. The Global Citizen’s Conference on Fukushima was held this week in Fukushima City and has drafted the booklet called “10 Lessons from Fukushima – Reducing risks and protecting communities from nuclear disasters.” In it, many pure speculations and fabrications are presented as factual, including the false claims that many secret incinerators are being built by Tokyo to burn radioactive waste and thyroid cancer rates in Fukushima’s children are increasing. It adds that Tokyo has been reluctant to tell the truth about Fukushima because of the UN disaster conference. It seems the booklet will be published by Church World Service. http://www.cwsglobal.org/blog/the-situation-is-not-under-control.html — http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2015/03/341609.html)