March 9, 2015

Mar 9, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • Tepco announces a new disclosure policy. The Company has accepted a proposal to conduct an independent audit of disclosure practices. Tepco says it “will disclose promptly and thoroughly all radiation data that affects the surrounding environment, regardless of its level or whether it can be fully explained.” Company Chairman Fumio Sudo said: “It is important that we understand why the apparent failure of disclosure surrounding the drainage water happened and take steps to ensure transparency to which we are committed. We must regain public trust by making thorough disclosure of radiation data regardless of its level, and by increasing our communication with local stakeholders.” The audit will be conducted by a Disclosure Subcommittee of the Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, chaired by Masafumi Sakurai, who previously served with the Diet’s Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission. Sakurai said, “This audit will follow the facts wherever they lead, and will recommend whatever changes may be needed to prevent something like this from happening again.” http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2015/1248564_6844.html
  • Water in another drainage ditch has elevated radioactivity. Tepco reported contamination levels of 1,900 Becquerels per liter in a drainage channel in the upper part of the station. Tepco officials say it is possible that water from the ditch reached the sea. The diagram shows the channel’s outlet inside the fully barricaded inner port (quay). Tanks near the suspect location were checked for leakage, but none were found.  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150306_05.html
  • F. Daiichi debris buildup is a problem. A total of 258,000 cubic meters of non-liquid radioactive wastes have been accumulated from units #1 through #4. 176,000m3 came from rubble strewn about by the three hydrogen explosions in March, 2011, and work materials that became contaminated. The remaining 80,000m3 is mainly trees felled to make room for new waste water tanks. Tepco estimates full on-site rubble cleanup will take until 2017. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201503080013
  • Will the 46,000 who fled from Fukushima Prefecture ever go home? Emiko Fujimaki, now living more than 1,000 kilometers from Fukushima in Okinawa, says, “I guess more people might return to Fukushima when their rent subsidies expire.” The State-ordered rent subsidy ends in March, 2016. Unless her income somehow increases, Emiko will have to move into cheaper public housing. She says her family has firmly settled in their new location, so she doesn’t feel she will ever return to their former home in Soma. Soma lies outside the mandated exclusion zone, so she is a voluntary evacuee who fled out of fear of radiation. Fukushima Prefecture estimates that about half of the people who have left the prefecture were voluntary. As of May, 2014, only 17.5% of these evacuees say they want to go home, and another 36% say they are undecided. Thus, more than 45% say they no longer wish to return. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001982214
  • Disposal of agricultural waste is slow due to local radiation fears. Contaminated grass clippings, compost, tree logs used to cultivate mushrooms, and other burnable materials having less than 8,000 Bq/kg, await incineration. 137 municipalities in five prefectures, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Tochigi and Gunma, have kept or still keep the material. Only eight have finished disposal, while another 41 say they are working on it. However, 88 have done nothing because residents fear incineration, and burial of the radioactive ash that results. In these communities, many farmers are forced to keep the materials on their property. The longer the waste sits unattended, the more it will decompose and become unsuitable for incineration. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
  • Most residents have not returned to towns where evacuation orders have been lifted. The mandates were rescinded for the eastern part of Kawauchi last October, and the Miyakoji district of Tamura in April. Only 10.5% (29 of 275) of the Kawauchi residents have returned and about 40% (133 of 340) of Miyakoji have repopulated. The main reasons given by dissidents have been concerns about still-detectible levels of radiation and employment potential. The highest percentage of returnees are elderly. Hideo Akimoto, Kawauchi recovery policy chief, says there had been a steady trend of depopulation and aging of the community before 3/11/11, but “this surged after the earthquake disaster. It feels like time has advanced 20 years.” A Tamura official says the low rate of return is because people have moved their lives, found new jobs, new schools, and places to shop. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150307p2a00m0na009000c.html
  • Most Fukushima municipalities do not expect full restoration before 2021. An Asahi Shimbun survey showed that about 80 percent of disaster-hit municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture will not completely restore their areas before 2021. The newspaper sent questionnaires to 42 municipalities – 12 in Iwate Prefecture and 15 each in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures – that were damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011, or were otherwise subject to nuclear evacuation orders. 13 municipal leaders in the survey, most of which are from Fukushima Prefecture, expect work to extend beyond the central government’s schedule ending in 2021. Only one said work will end before 2020. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ201503060044
  • Tokyo will soon begin a nation-wide campaign to find a high-level nuclear waste repository. Symposiums are planned to include Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and possibly four other cities, hosted by the Industry Ministry and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan. Symposiums were held in three cities in 2013, but attendance was disappointing. It is hoped the turn-out will improve this time, and facilitate establishing a candidate site. The government also wants to utilize social networking. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/03/08/national/government-start-campaign-nuclear-waste-disposal-sites/#.VPxaUKMcQdU
  • Tokyo appropriates $50 billion for quake and tsunami reconstruction. The allocation begins in 2016 and will be spread over a five year period. This should bring the government’s total reconstruction outlay to about $300 billion. Tokyo says the increase in funding will not result in new tax increases. Tokyo plans to complete disaster recovery in 2021, except for specific locations near Fukushima Daiichi that might need further decontamination. Meanwhile, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima governments say their prefectures will need even more money for additional rebuilding and disaster prevention projects. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150308p2g00m0dm034000c.html
  • A fourth anniversary antinuclear protest was held in Tokyo on Sunday. Organizers claim an attendance of 23,000. (Aside – Russia’s RT news says attendance was “more than 16,000”.) Protestors called for nuclear-free energy policy and demand that none of the county’s currently-idled nukes be restarted. Many say they came to the event because most people’s memories of the accident have faded. One elderly participant said she is disappointed that so few younger people were there. Chief organizer Misao Redwolf says she wants to raise awareness that the full human impact of Fukushima has yet to be understood and evacuees remain without adequate support. Activist-author Kenzaburo Oe said, “Three and a half years has passed since the nuclear accident, but self-examination has yet to be made. Japan’s government] is going ahead with the plan to resume operation at the Sendai plant without compiling sufficient anti-disaster plans.”  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://rt.com/news/190068-japan-nuclear-energy-protest/