- Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and 3 ministers approved new nuclear safety standards on Friday. They call for utilities to have enough power sources to avoid a blackout in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. They also contain steps to prevent the situation from worsening. Economy minister Yukio Edano asked NISA to make sure Oi units #3&4, run by the Kansai Electric Power Company, meet the standards. Despite public opposition, the government is trying to restart the reactors due to concern about power shortages this summer. The new safety standards comprise 3 parts, 2 of which are made up of measures already in place. The first part calls for additional emergency power supplies, which has been a continuing effort by all nuke utilities since the accident at Fukushima. The second part includes additional computer-simulated stress tests so the government can confirm that measures are in place to prevent nuclear meltdowns even in the face of rare-but-not-impossible earthquakes or tsunami. The third part calls for plant operators to promise they will address any problems revealed in the stress tests and create plans for long-term safety improvements. The long-term plans need not be immediately implemented to meet the government restart criteria. The utilities need only commit to making the new plans a reality. (NHK World)
- Tsuruga mayor Kazuharu Kawase says stress tests, a 40 year licensing limit and new safety standards all lack scientific basis. As a result, his community is becoming increasingly distrustful of the Tokyo government. He implored disaster minister Goshi Hosono to establish the new nuclear regulatory system as soon as possible or they run the risk of never getting local support for restarting nukes. (NHK World)
- Opinions are divided on the new nuke safety plans. The mayor of Oi Town in Fukui Prefecture, Shinobu Tokioka, expressed confidence in the new standards, but challenged the government to explain the standards in a manner that would convince local residents of the nuclear safety. However the secretary general of the Nuclear Energy Related-Information Centre, Jun Tateno, said the standards have serious flaws. A long time nuclear critic, Tateno said long-term measures in the standards with regard to the Oi plant have been postponed. He feels they should be immediate and mandatory before restarts are allowed. Kyoto Governor Keiji Yamada said that before discussing restarts, the government should fully explain its nuclear policy to residents around every plant, including Kyoto. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto says the new standards have been hastily thrown together and there hasn’t been enough time to properly judge nuclear safety. He says, “Japan will collapse if (restarts are) approved based on these procedures. The role of politicians is to assemble experts who have not received money from the nuclear power establishment and tell them to put together (new) standards.” (Japan Times; Asahi Shimbun)
- TEPCO has analyzed the seawater samples taken after the latest waste tank leak. The radioactive levels are “below detection limit” in the seawater at the outlet of the drainage ditch that allowed outflow to the sea. There is still no report of what the Strontium level is in the drainage ditch’s water. (TEPCO)
- Reconstruction Minister Tatsuo Hirano has given details on the possible “no-return” zone around Fukushima Daiichi. Hirano says the envisioned uninhabited zone “will probably be set at a certain distance from the nuclear facility as one of the yardsticks [for its designation]. Discussions must be held in the government about whether 500 meters or 1,000 meters [from the nuclear plant], for instance, would be an appropriate distance [for the uninhabited zone].” The minister’s statement also suggested that the government determine compensation criteria. Hirano said the calculation of damages “will be different from the formula currently employed.”( Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Nabuo Tanaka, past director of the International Energy Agency says Japan is “…approaching an energy death spiral.” If you want to know why, follow this link… http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/japan-heading-for-energy-death-spiral/255266/
- The town of Nahara has refused to cooperate in tsunami debris disposal. Nahara is located in the revised no-go zone, and remains evacuated. Representatives of Nahara confronted Disaster Minister Goshi Hosono at a meeting in Iwaki, where the town’s officials have moved to. Hosono said the final dump site will be built outside the prefecture, and “this is an issue that has to be resolved by nationwide efforts.” However, it seems the Nahara contingent didn’t believe him. “How could our children live in such an environment?” one official asked. “Is there any guarantee that government will secure the location for the final dump site?” Naraha’s municipal assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution to oppose the construction of such a storage site in the town. (Japan Times)
- Fear of radiation in Japan has brought the scourge of “quackery”, and bilking money from frightened people. In January, Japan’s nursery-school association issued a fraud alert on a company, Japan QRS Health Management Association, which claimed it could measure internal radiation buildup with a machine reading an electromagnetic aura from bits of hair. In another case, a suit that allegedly makes the people sweat out radiation was flagged by the government last July. Also, Japan’s consumer-watchdog agency issued an alert about bathtubs priced at $6,500 that promised to suck radiation out of bathers. Tokyo’s Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health says it has received a barrage of radiation-related complaints. Radiation specialists say many anti-radiation products are fake. “Quackery, in a word,” says Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researcher Norman Kleiman. But for worried consumers the range of goods is bewildering and the science behind them vague. (News on Japan)
- The Diet’s Fukushima Investigative Committee plans to question former P.M. Naoto Kan later this month. Kan will be the first Diet official to give testimony in an open session. The panel wishes to find out whether or not Kan’s actions during the Fukushima accident improved the situation. Kan will not be giving sworn testimony, however. (Japan Times)
- Some schools re-opened in Kawauchi on Friday. The municipal nursery, primary and middle schools held a joint entrance ceremony to celebrate an important step in returning normalcy to the previously-evacuated community. It is the first time that education facilities in Futaba County returned to their original locations and resumed classes. The nursery has eight students, the primary school has 16 students, while the middle school has 14 students, which is about the same number enrolled as before the crisis began. To resume classes, the village decontaminated houses and other facilities for children who wished to go to school in the village. The radiation levels around the schools were 0.114 to 0.16 microsieverts per hour which is lower than the 0.23 microsieverts per hour limit. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
- Japan’s new, exceedingly strict food contamination limits are having a negative effect on some food supplies. Cesium levels of 141 Becquerels/kg have been detected in shiitake mushrooms from Manazuru town, outside Tokyo. This exceeds the new 100 Becquerel standard. In addition, Chiba Prefecture detected above-standard levels in bamboo shoots from two cities. Also, Ibaraki Prefecture found above-limit concentrations in shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots from five cities. Gunma Prefecture found some beef at 106 Becquerels and stopped shipment of the meat. (JAIF)
- Nine of Japan’s 44 governors think it is safe to dispose of tsunami debris from Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. A survey of prefectural leaders between March 29 and April 6 covered all except Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi. Unfortunately, 10 of the governors continue to be overly concerned about the possibility of contamination from F. Daiichi and 15 others say they have not decided. The survey shows a majority of governors are not buying the central government’s claim that the safe disposal of tsunami waste can be assured. (Kyodo News)
- Fifteen Japanese mayors are organizing an anti-nuclear conference later this month. “We thought we should set up the conference before Kansai Electric Power Co. restarts its Oi nuclear plant,” Hajime Mikami, mayor of Kosai in Shizuoka Prefecture, said, “By breaking away from nuclear plants, we will protect the lives and property of residents.” The group wants other mayors to join in the effort to eliminate nuclear power plants from Japan. It is expected that at least 40 of the ~700 mayors in Japan will attend the meeting on March 28. (Japan Times)
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