- Radiation levels in and around the Fukushima evacuation zone have dropped considerably. The Reconstruction Agency released maps comparing estimated exposures in 2011 and 2014. The doses were based on the assumption that a resident spends 16 hours indoors and eight hours outdoors a day. An Agency official said, ““Radiation dosages at the Nakadori and Hamadori regions have dropped significantly and this gives proof that we are no longer in a situation where one needs to evacuate from areas outside evacuation-designated zones.” Hamadori is the prefecture’s coastal region, and Nakadori is the prefecture’s central region. http://www.fukushimaminponews.com/news.html?id=535
- Heavy rains caused a minor contaminated leak into the sea. A drainage channel, with its outlet blocked, was overflowed by an unusually heavy downpour. The channel has a pump to direct flow into the doubly-barricaded inner port (quay), but the rains exceeded the pump’s maximum capacity. Water in the channel measured 830 Becquerels per liter for radioactive Cesium and 1,000 Bq/l for Beta emitters. Tepco says the activity was probably due to the rains washing mud and loose surface material into the ditch. This is the same channel that had elevated rainwater contamination levels in February, sparking a major socio-political controversy. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150717_01.html
- The Nuclear Regulation Authority is testing a new public radiation data system for Sendai station. The system provides Tokyo and local communities with online radiation data during emergencies. Other concerned organizations and citizens across Japan will be able to access the NRA website postings, as well. For Sendai station, the website provides data from 73 fixed observation points within a 30-kilometer radius, as well as from mobile radiation-monitoring. The NRA says that if the testing goes as planned, the system should be in full operation in August. They will also set up websites for other nukes at some point in the future. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html
- A fault under Shika nuclear station is possibly seismic. An NRA panel rendered its decision on Friday. The seam runs under part of the station’s unit #1. The NRA report admits there is no clear evidence that the fault is active, but the geologic strata atop a small portion of the anomaly may have moved within the last 120,000-130,000 years. The panel said it is possible that the upper strata moved because of prior, but currently-undetected activity in the fault. Station owner Hokuriku Electric Co. challenged the NRA finding. Company president Yukata Kanai said, “We’re confident that the fault is not active”, and that they submitted detailed surveys to try and prove it. Hokuriku Elec. says that volcanic ash found inside the seam, and other evidence, suggests that the NRA has made a “factual error” and has drawn a conclusion based on assumptions and hypothetical calculations. The NRA panel dismissed this claim saying that it cannot be proven that the fault has not moved within the past 130,000 years. NRA regulations ban nukes built over faults deemed active. The report will not be finalized until opinions of independent experts and the body of commissioners has been garnered. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150717_05.html — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20150717_25.html — http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html — http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201507180040 — http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150718p2a00m0na001000c.html
