- Yomiuri Shimbun reports on the the first publicly posted internal radiation exposure results for Fukushima residents. The sensitive internal dose monitors used in the research (Whole Body Counters – WBC) were run by the Fukushima Prefectural government, and not by a central government agency or TEPCO. Out of the initial 122 scans made back in June, none revealed an internal exposure which is health threatening. The limit of exposure before regular health check-ups would be recommended is 1 millisievert per year, and all were below this level. It should be noted that Japan uses the ICRP position that actual health threats (significant lymphocyte reduction) are not expected below 500 millisieverts per year, and their selection of a 1 millisievert “trigger point” is ultra-conservative. The report also notes about half of the monitored residents showed detectable Cesium in their urine, which was announced last week commented on in a previous update.
- JAIF reports on a Tokyo gathering of more than 1,500 temporary contractor workers who have taken part in the country’s northeast coast disaster region. Many have been involved with Fukushima Daiichi, but most have toiled in the earthquake/tsunami cleanup. The meeting was to discuss working and temporary living conditions for all workers. Common complaints for both the Fukushima and quake/tsunami workers are being paid only 35% to 50% of what they were promised, inadequate food and cramped sleeping quarters. Temporary Fukushima workers also complained of being sent into jobs without being briefed on radiation exposure risks or heat-exposure mitigation. Organizers say the workers have not come forward before because they found it inappropriate to complain when they thought about the even greater hardships of people in the disaster-hit areas
- TEPCO reports that because the waste water decontamination rate has been consistently greater than the amount being injected into all RPVs, they increased water flow to unit #1 on July 20. They say that the bottom head temperature quickly fell below the 100oC cold-shutdown level. It has remained there for six consecutive days. TEPCO also says they have brought new fresh water supplies to the site so the flow of non-contaminated waters to the RPVs will not stop, even if the new cleanup system completely fails.We wish to note that NISA is no longer posting RPV data on a daily basis, and have stopped their day-to-day listing since July 21, so we have not been able to follow the trends from there. Nonetheless, TEPCO’s announcement is certainly good news.
- For the past 3 days, flows through the waste water decontamination system have fluctuated. At times, flows are not greater than the waters being injected to the RPVs. TEPCO has been investigating the cause. On Sunday, the system was shut down to fix a failed desalination device, and at the same time add new piping flow paths between components to improve reliability and increase flows. The shutdown period was seven hours before restart later Sunday. TEPCO says nearly 25,000 tons of waste water have been decontaminated, up to this point.
- Some 400 Fukushima City employees and 3100 volunteer residents have begun removal of weeds, sludge and other debris from roadside ditches near schools that have been monitored to be high in radiation levels. This weekend’s work reduced radiation fields around the ditches by one-half. In addition, high pressure sprays and scrubbing equipment are being used to sweep road-tops into the freshly-cleansed ditches to allow possible loose contamination to be removed. The roof and sides of one contaminated home were sprayed, as well as the plants around the house. No figures were given on before-and-after radiation levels.Fukushima City calls this an “experiment”, but in reality there is nothing experimental about it. These are environmental decontamination practices proven successful around the world. These methods are new to Fukushima City, but calling them experimental is misleading.
- This morning, Mainichi Shimbun had a most interesting editorial concerning what seems to be two opposing approaches found with the main Japanese news media sources in Japan toward the recent declaration that Fukushima phase one is complete. They judge themselves as being in the middle of the road. On the positive side, they feel Sankei Shimbun has been the most praiseworthy when they say, “Stable cooling of the plant was realized within the goal of three months. We would like to praise this achievement, which was made after overcoming difficulties.” Other less-positive news media like Yomiuri Shimbun and Tokyo Shimbun point out that the most-critical waste water treatment system has questionable reliability and below-expected capacity. Perhaps the most negative comments come from the business-oriented Nihon Keizai Shimbun which says they are “certain radioactive waters continue to leak from the plant”, thus phase one criteria have not been met.We wonder why Asahi Shimbun and NHK World receive no mention in the Mainichi editorial. We feel these have been the two most reliable news media outlets among the Japanese Press since March. Asahi takes a similar position to Mainichi on the phase-one completion announcement, so it makes sense they would not acknowledge Asahi because it is their biggest competitor in the nationwide newspaper business. On the other hand, not mentioning NHK may be due to its historical practice of not taking sides on any issue.
- JAIF tells us that Hitachi has been awarded the preferential negotiating rights for a future nuclear power plant in Lithuania. Their bid beat out America’s Westinghouse company. Almost immediately, Prime Minister Kan said he wanted his staff to look into it because it did not fit well with his personal plant to phase out all Japanese nuclear technology.First an electricity shortage due to a de-facto moratorium on restarting idle nuclear plants, and now Kan wants to damage Japan’s future economy in order to fulfill his personal agenda.
- Finally, we find that two of Japan’s World Cup soccer championship squad were TEPCO employees, and they used to work at Fukushima Daiichi before World Cup qualifying began last year. They officially remained on the TEPCO employee list until the March 11 accident when their company-funded team, Mareeze, was designated “inactive”. It is expected the team will be dissolved and the two team-mates will be forced to find jobs with other companies that sponsor women’s teams. Regardless, congratulations ladies. We all wish you the best of luck.
This site requires a lot of work. We hope you find our efforts valuable and rewarding. Please consider offering your support. There is no minimum amount. Feel free to donate as you see fit, without restriction. Thank you...
