September 7, 2015

Sep 7, 2015 | Fukushima Accident Updates

  • The evacuation order for Naraha town was lifted on Saturday. The event was marked by more than 200 residents at a festive assembly arranged by the town officials. A large graphic was unveiled depicting a planned “compact community” of medical facilities, shops, and housing, to be located in a small area for residential convenience. During the ceremony, Naraha Mayor Yukiei Matsumoto said, “I’ll give my all to have the town pave the way for reconstruction in other municipalities.” Three school students read essays they wrote saying how happy they were to return, and one elderly returnee said this is the happiest he has been in four years. Naraha is the first of the seven fully-evacuated communities to have the order rescinded. The registered population now stands at 7,368, but polls indicate that only half want to repopulate. The government says full decontamination of the town is complete. A private medical facility will soon be opened and a convenience market is up and running. On a negative note, evacuation orders remain in place for about 70,000 refugees in the other communities that remain under the evacuation order. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002404614 — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html   Much of Japan’s popular Press focused on reasons why many Naraha residents are not going home, and made the re-opening of the town a secondary story. For example, Friday’s Mainichi Shimbun says “…a lack of hospital access may stand in the way of residents returning.” The article specifies that only about 10% of the hospitals in the “Futaba District” are presently in operation. The “District” is comprised of Naraha and the seven other fully-evacuated communities in the exclusion zone. The Mainichi also marks the reduction in available ambulances and increased ambulance response times in the “district”. The Mainichi focuses on the Futaba district as a whole, and not on Naraha itself. Buried near the end of the posting, the report is “balanced” by a quote from a prefectural official, “As long as we can’t predict where residents will return and their number, it is difficult to decide when and where to set up hospitals.” On the other hand The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that a private clinic will open in Naraha next month, and a new prefectural clinic will open in February. Neither of these facts are mentioned by the Mainichi. On Saturday, The Mainichi took another negative angle by saying most of the people returning will be elderly. This is used to speculate that the town will experience population decline sufficient to lose its political independence, forcing it to merge with other towns that will experience the same after their evacuation orders are lifted.   http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150904p2a00m0na016000c.html — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150905p2a00m0na010000c.html  (Comment –The devastation caused by the tsunami along the ~8km of Naraha coastline can finally be attended to, and rebuilding of lost homes and businesses can start. But, will it be reported as tsunami-caused or due to the nuke accident?)
  • Annual radiation exposures are now below 1 millisievert per year for all of Date City. Date is located adjacent to the exclusion zone’s northern-most evacuated community, Iitate, outside Tokyo’s exclusion zone. Dosimeters worn by more than 11,000 volunteers from the over 60,000 Date residents have been used to establish actual exposure levels in three regions covering the city. Zone A had been above the 1 mSv/yr goal since the dosimetry survey began three years ago, with a 1.59 mSv average the first year, 1 mSv for last year, but was 0.82 mSv for this past year (July 2014 – July 2015). Zone B dropped below the 1 mSv exposure goal last year, and Zone C has been less than 1 mSv/yr from the start of the program. Date Mayor Shoji Nishida says, “This is a reflection of the natural decrease in airborne radiation levels and results of decontamination work.” http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=558
  • Fukushima tourism has rebounded to 90% of the 2010 pre-calamity level. The number of visitors between April and June topped 13 million, bringing the prefecture nearly $250 million in revenue. The number of tourists increased by more than 1.2 million over the same period last year. Fukushima Prefecture and the local railroad groups have been running a multi-media tourism “blitz” since 2012. Due to these latest figures, Governor Masao Uchibori has called it a “success”. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=557
  • Unit #3 spent fuel pool cooling system was stopped for 4 hours on Thursday. Some oil leaked into the pool from machinery being used to remove debris on the refueling deck. A supply hose for a debris cutter broke and some of the oil made it into the pool. The oil remained inside a surface fence until it was skimmed off. There was no noticeable increase in the pool’s temperature during the four hour stoppage. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150903_29.html
  • Sendai unit #2 will begin loading fuel on Thursday, September 11th. Owner Kyushu Electric Co. made the announcement to the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Friday. The fuel load will take four days. Reactor vessel components will be reinstalled after fuel load is complete, the vessel will be sealed, and NRA inspections will take place before the start-up and slow ramping-up of power begins in mid-October. Unit #2 is tandem to the currently operating unit #1 at Sendai station. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html