tagged w/ Fukushima Prefecture
-
ENE News...
.
Published: December 26th, 2011 at 10:02 PM EDT
By Enenews Admin
.
Mainichi: Radiation detected in drinking water from underground source — Over 15 miles from Fukushima meltdowns
Water underground is contaminated, Fukushima Diary, Dec. 26, 2011:
Ministry of the Environment measured cesium from well water at 4 locations in Minamisoma [25 km north of Fukushima plant]. It was about 1.3~14.7 Bq/kg, it was for drinking. The samples were taken in October and November. [...]
.
Babelfish Translation result for http://mainichi.jp/select/weathernews/news/20111227k0000m040028000c.html
.
Headline: Fukushima 1st nuclear plant: From well water 4 places of cesium detection south Soma
Source: Mainichi.jp
Date: Dec. 26, 2011
.
It announced that the environmental ministry on the 26th, inspected the density of the well underwater radioactive cesium of drinking which in emergency evacuation preparation area (in 9 ends of the month cancellation) inside Fukushima prefecture which is set after the Tokyo Electric Power Fukushima 1st nuclear accident is, detected the small quantity at 4 places of south Soma city. Being maximum, water 1 liter (kilometer) to hit and but with 14.7 Becquerel, below provisional regulation value (1 kilo- hit, 200 Becquerel) of the public welfare Ministry of Labor, the new reference level (same 10 Becquerel) which aims April toward of next year enforcement was exceeded at 3 places.
To investigate at 1317 places of the same city and Hirono Cho and Naraha Cho 10, in November, as for the other self-governing community and the like of the same area in the midst of continuation. At 1 places of the same Ku Kitahara as 2 places of south Soma Ichihara Cho Ku Kita Nagano, per 1 liters 11.4~14.7 Becquerel, 1.3 Becquerel were detected with the same Ku 萱 beach. As for detection lower limit value with 5 Becquerel, as for the other well it was non- detection. According to the environmental ministry you say that there is a possibility the earth near the cesium is attached blending. The well with private possession, has informed about the result, almost there is no possibility many people drinking.
.ENE News...
.
Published: December 26th, 2011 at 10:02 PM EDT
By Enenews Admin... more
-
-
Government officials in Japan have set a date of Aug. 3 to complete radiation inspections at some 4,000 cattle farms in Fukushima prefecture.
Radiating Americans with Fukushima rain, food: Clinton’s secret pact
Japan Lifts Ban on Beef From Nuclear Disaster AreaGovernment officials in Japan have set a date of Aug. 3 to complete radiation... more
-
-
It doesn’t take a Nostradamus to see the host of calamities our primeval mindset is capable of manifesting. What happened to Jackson Browne singing about the healing power of the sun? After Three Mile Island nuclear energy publicly became the unacceptable risk Dr. Helen Caldicott warned us about. We canceled canoe trips to protest at General Electric until comfort became our cause allowing nuclear megawatts a backstage pass into the main stream. Today the land of the rising plume is seeing solar in a different light after a crippling 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked their tenuous power grid. Instead of the one inch per year average, tectonic plates shifted Japan 13 feet in moments equaling 157 years of time travel.It doesn’t take a Nostradamus to see the host of calamities our primeval mindset... more
-
-
CNN...
Japan faces lengthy recovery from Fukushima accident
By Matt Smith, CNN
April 22, 2011 10:28 a.m. EDT
Many evacuees have spent a month living in government shelters, sometimes just gyms, and are running low on money.
Tokyo (CNN) -- The worst may have passed in the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl, but cleaning up when it's finally over is likely to take decades and cost Japan an untold fortune.
A six- to nine-month horizon for winding down the crisis, laid out by plant owner Tokyo Electric Power this week, is just the beginning. Near the end of that timeline, Japan's government says it will decide when -- or whether -- the nearly 80,000 people who were told to flee their homes in the early days of the disaster can return.
Friday marks six weeks since the March 11 magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that triggered the crisis.
Some of those who have already spent six weeks in emergency housing, like Tomioka funeral director Kazuhiro Shirato, say they don't expect to return to what was home.
"I've been told by TEPCO since I was very small that the nuclear power plant was safe, so I never imagined this would happen," Shirato told CNN. "I hope now that the whole town will move to another place and rebuild."
Many of those displaced by the disaster have spent a month living in government shelters -- sometimes just gyms -- and are running low on money. Tokyo Electric has promised to make a down payment on compensation of 1 million yen (about $12,000) per household, with the intention of sending out checks by late April.
Another 66,000 have been told to prepare for evacuations in towns where radiation readings are at levels that could increase the long-term risk of cancer for anyone who stays. That will certainly add to what is likely to be a staggering tab for the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric, the country's largest utility.
"We are mobilizing our resources in order to tackle the situation, to relieve the burdens on those people who have evacuated from the area," Cabinet spokesman Noriyuki Shikata said. "We know that it's going to cost a quite significant amount. But at this juncture, I don't think we have come to a specific kind of budget size."
Inside the Fukushima evacuation zone
The shadow cast by Fukushima Daiichi has inflicted yet-unknown losses on farmers, fishermen and shopkeepers. And looming compensation costs have darkened the future of Tokyo Electric, a $157 billion company that may be driven into some form of government receivership.
For those displaced, Japanese authorities have promised to decontaminate "as much of an area as possible," as Goshi Hosono, an adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, told reporters earlier this week. But they have no decontamination plans prepared, and no real model for trying to clean up whole municipalities.
"We may be talking about something very new," Shikata said. "We will have to be creative."
The few precedents that do exist are daunting.
In Hanford, Washington, a plutonium plant built during the Manhattan Project created 43 million cubic yards (33 million cubic meters) of radioactive waste over four decades of fueling the U.S. nuclear weapons program, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The United States is projected to spend at least $77 billion and another 30-plus years to fully decontaminate the surrounding area, according to a 2009 report by congressional auditors.
After Chernobyl -- the worst nuclear disaster to date -- the former Soviet Union and now-independent Ukraine essentially abandoned a 30-kilometer radius around the plant. A quarter-century later, a forest is reclaiming the city of Pripyat, where nearly 50,000 people lived before the accident. About 116,000 were resettled, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and published estimates put the cost of cleanup at more than $350 billion.
Shikata said the situation at Fukushima Daiichi was "somewhat different" than at Chernobyl, were the amount of radioactivity released was 10 times higher that is believed to have escaped from Fukushima Daiichi.
The biggest city covered by the evacuation orders so far is Minami Soma, with a population of about 70,000. The twin disasters of March 11 have already driven away most of its population, most of those remaining have been told they will be evacuating soon and the rest have been told to stand by.
"We will rebuild," said Shinkoh Ishikawa, a Buddhist monk at the Senryu temple just outside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone. "I'm confident about that because we had done the same after the second World War."
For those displaced, there are social concerns as well. For decades, the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- known as "Hibakusha" -- complained of discrimination due to fears of radiation. Reports that evacuees from Fukushima were getting similar treatment brought a high-level chiding from Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, on Tuesday.
"I would like to ask the public to understand that the radiation would not transfer from person to person by touching the person or his or her clothes," said Edano, the government's point man for the crisis.
As for Fukushima Daiichi itself, fully closing up the crippled plant may take decades, said Jack DeVine, a U.S. nuclear engineer who helped lead the cleanup of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania. There, it took about three years for engineers to get a look inside the damaged core of the reactor that suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 -- and what they found was "absolutely shocking" at the time, he said.
"A substantial amount of core had melted and burned its way into the reactor vessel, which we previously didn't know about," said DeVine, now retired. About 25 percent of the fuel assembly had melted, leaving behind a depression in the center of the core "like a giant ice-cream scoop."
Cleaning up and shutting down the damaged Unit 2 took 10 years, Devine said -- and unlike Fukushima Daiichi, little radiation was released at Three Mile Island. In Japan, workers are dealing with "essentially four Three Mile Islands," plus levels of radioactivity "which will be an impediment for all the work on-site."
"What we're hearing about over there is very, very different in that respect," he said.
CNN's Steven Jiang, Jiyeon Lee, Hiroo Saso and Asuka Murao contributed to this report.CNN...
Japan faces lengthy recovery from Fukushima accident
By Matt Smith, CNN... more
-
-
CNN...
Pet rescuers brave Fukushima danger zone
From Kyung Lah and Whitney Hurst, CNN
April 13, 2011 6:05 p.m. EDT
Photo: A dog wanders Tuesday about 4 miles from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Many owners left pets behind when evacuations were ordered
"We tried to save him, but we couldn't get in," one says
Japan has no plans to retrieve animals from contaminated areas
Tokyo (CNN) -- The image was horrific: A whimpering beagle, ribs showing through its fur, tethered to a post inside the no-go zone around the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
The scene was captured by freelance journalists who drove through towns within a few kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and who left food for the animal. But animal rescue activists who have braved the exclusion zone around the plant say there many others like it.
"I understand the nuclear danger and everything, but they're just being left to starve to death, basically," said Isabella Gallaon-Aoki of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support.
Gallaon-Aoki and others like her have been slipping into the 20-km radius around Fukushima Daiichi to retrieve pets and feed livestock left behind when their owners were forced to evacuate. Pet owners have sent her group their addresses, accompanied by pleas to rescue their animals, left behind when they fled for what was supposed to be a short time.
A month later, the volunteers are putting their long-term health on the line, putting on protective gear and entering the 20-km radius around the plant that was declared off-limits in the early days of the crisis. Hiroko Ito's 5-year-old Shiba, Non, is among those rescued by Gallaon-Aoki's group. Ito said she left food for the dog, but didn't expect to be gone a month.
"We tried to save him, but we couldn't get in," Ito said.
Radiation levels recorded by photographers Shuji Ogawa and Naomi Toyoda were not high enough to cause immediate illness, but would pose potential health risks with prolonged exposure. Gallaon-Aoki said she knows the risks, "but I feel personally that the risk that there is is worth taking for what I can achieve by doing so."
From the prime minister's office to town halls, Japanese authorities told CNN they have no provisions for dealing with animals when their owners are ordered to clear out -- orders that have been expanded to other towns around the crippled power plant, which has been emitting radioactive particles since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out its coolant systems.
Gallaon-Aoki called that "unforgivable."
"I understand they have a huge problem as far as people are concerned. They are dealing with a lot," she said. "But, I mean, there are people and groups who would be willing to help, and surely they could kind of set some sort of well-coordinated effort."
The fate of the tethered beagle Ogawa and Toyoda captured on video was not known early Thursday.CNN...
Pet rescuers brave Fukushima danger zone
From Kyung Lah and Whitney... more
-
-
-
Fresh quake triggers tsunami warning in Japan
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 7, 2011 12:07 p.m. EDT
The quake was centered 41 miles from Sendai -- one of the areas worst hit by last month's 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: The USGS reports a 7.1 magnitude
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant evacuated
Tsunami warning is in effect for Miyagi Prefecture, report says
No Pacific-wide tsunami expected, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says
Tokyo (CNN) -- A powerful earthquake struck Japan on Thursday, triggering a tsunami warning for one prefecture and advisories in other prefectures.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake was a magnitude of 7.4. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was 7.1.
There were no reports of casualties from anywhere in the earthquake zone, the National Police Agency said.
Workers evacuated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the quake, the Tokyo Electric Power Company said. Tokyo Electric said it has communication with the plant and the power is still on there. There were no immediate reports of damage, it said.
The quake's epicenter was off the coast of Miyagi in northeastern Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 41 miles (66 kilometers) from Sendai -- one of the areas worst hit by last month's 9.0-magnitude quake -- and 73 miles (118 kilometers) from Fukushima, where a crisis has been under way at the nuclear plant since last month's tsunami.
Public broadcaster NHK reported a tsunami warning for Miyagi prefecture, saying people in that area should evacuate away from the shore to a safe place.
NHK also reported tsunami advisories for the Pacific coast of Aomori Prefecture, and for the Iwate, Fukushima, and Ibaraki Prefectures.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said based on all available data, "a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is not a tsunami threat to Hawaii."
The quake was centered 207 miles (333 kilometers) from Tokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It was 15.9 miles (25.6 kilometers) deep, the agency reported.
It took place shortly after 11:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET).
-
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/07/japan.quake/t1main.japan.quake.7.1map.gm.jpgFresh quake triggers tsunami warning in Japan
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 7, 2011... more
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Reading Updates on Radiation.
http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/?p=8844
-
-
-
-
Japan Faces Potential Nuclear Disaster as Radiation Levels Rise
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/03/15/world/NUCLEAR/NUCLEAR-articleLarge.jpg
The No. 3 reactor building of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant burned Monday after a blast following an earthquake and tsunami in this satellite image.
The New York Times
March 15, 2011
Japan Faces Potential Nuclear Disaster as Radiation Levels Rise
By HIROKO TABUCHI, DAVID E. SANGER and KEITH BRADSHER
TOKYO — Japan’s nuclear crisis verged toward catastrophe on Tuesday after an explosion damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at one reactor and a fire at another spewed large amounts of radioactive material into the air, according to statements from Japanese government and industry officials.
In a brief address to the nation at 11 a.m. Tokyo time, Prime Minister Naoto Kan pleaded for calm, but warned that radiation had already spread from the crippled reactors and there was “a very high risk” of further leakage. Fortunately, the prevailing winds were sweeping most of the plume of radioactivity out into the Pacific Ocean, rather than over populated areas.
The sudden turn of events, after an explosion Monday at one reactor and then an early-morning explosion Tuesday at yet another — the third in four days at the plant — already made the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl reactor disaster a quarter century ago.
It diminished hopes earlier in the day that engineers at the plant, working at tremendous personal risk, might yet succeed in cooling down the most damaged of the reactors, No. 2, by pumping in seawater. According to government statements, most of the 800 workers at the plant had been withdrawn, leaving 50 or so workers in a desperate effort to keep the cores of three stricken reactors cooled with seawater pumped by firefighting equipment, while crews battled to put out the fire at the No. 4 reactor, which they claimed to have done just after noon on Tuesday.
That fourth reactor had been turned off and was under refurbishment for months before the earthquake and tsunami hit the plant on Friday. But the plant contains spent fuel rods that were removed from the reactor, and experts guessed that the pool containing those rods had run dry, allowing the rods to overheat and catch fire. That is almost as dangerous as the fuel in working reactors melting down, because the spent fuel can also spew radioactivity into the atmosphere.
After an emergency cabinet meeting, the Japanese government told people living within about 20 miles of the Daiichi plant to stay indoors, keep their windows closed and stop using air conditioning.
Mr. Kan, whose government was extraordinarily weak before the sequence of calamities struck the nation, told the Japanese people that “although this incident is of great concern, I ask you to react very calmly.” And in fact, there seemed to be little panic, but huge apprehension in a country where radioactivity brings up memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the haunting images of post-war Japan.
The two critical questions over the next day or so are how much radioactive material is spewed into the atmosphere, and where the winds carry it. Readings reported on Tuesday showed a spike of radioactivity around the plant that made the leakage categorically worse than in had been, with levels measured at one point as high as 400 millisieverts an hour. Even 7 minutes of exposure at that level will reach the maximum annual dose that a worker at an American nuclear plant is allowed. And exposure for 75 minutes would likely lead to acute radiation sickness.
The extent of the public health risk depends on how long such elevated levels persist — they may decline because the fire at No. 4 reactor was extinguished — as well as how far and fast the radioactive materials spread, and whether the limited evacuation plan announced by the government proves sufficient.
In Tokyo, 170 miles south of the plant, the metropolitan government said Tuesday it had detected radiation levels 20 times above normal over the city, though it stressed that that level posed no immediate health threat. In Ibaraki Prefecture, just south of Fukushima Prefecture where the plant is located, the amount of radiation reached 100 times the usual levels.
CONTINUED...Japan Faces Potential Nuclear Disaster as Radiation Levels Rise... more
-
-
-
-
First Breaking News...
MASSIVE QUAKE HITS JAPAN
Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan early Friday, triggering tsunami alerts and sending people fleeing out of buildings in the capital. The quake rattled buildings and toppled cars off bridges and into waters underneath.
In Tokyo, crowds huddled together and tried to reach relatives via cell phone. Its epicenter was 373 kilometers (231 miles) from Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey said. It triggered a tsunami alert for various countries, the National Weather Service said.
___________________
March 11, 2011 5:35 a.m. EST
Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, triggering tsunamis and sending a massive wave filled with debris that included boats and houses inching toward land.
The number of fatalities was unclear, but Japan's Kyodo news reported at least 10 killed and numerous injured.
The quake prompted at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands to issue tsunami warnings. It was followed by powerful aftershocks that were felt in capital of Tokyo.
At Tokyo Station, one of Japan's busiest subway stations, people grabbed each other to steady themselves. Children cried. An announcement over the station loudspeaker warned commuters to remain underground.
With bus and train lines interrupted, workers and children poured into the streets after offices and schools were closed.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appealed for calm and said there were no reported leaks of radioactive materials from power plants.
Firefighters battled a blaze at an oil refinery in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo.
"This was larger than anyone expected and went on longer than anyone expected," said Matt Alt in Tokyo.
"My wife was the calm one ... she told us to get down and put your back on something, and leave the windows and doors open in case a building shifts so you don't get trapped."
Richard Lloyd Parry said when the quake struck, he looked through a window and saw buildings shaking from side to side.
Such a large earthquake at such a shallow depth creates a lot of energy, said Shenza Chen of the U.S. Geological Survey.
A tsunami is sweeping across the Pacific Ocean, with a wall of water heading toward at more than a dozen countries.
An earthquake of that size can generate dangerous tsunamis to coasts outside the source region, the National Weather Service said.
Humanitarian agencies were working with rescue crews to reach the people affected.
"When such an earthquake impacts a developed country like Japan, our concern also turns to countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, which might not have the same resources," said Rachel Wolff, a spokeswoman for World Vision.
In Philippines alone, the tsunami is expected to hit in the early morning and the government has ordered the evacuation of 19 provinces along the coast, which could affect hundreds of thousands of people
Authorities in at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands issued tsunami warnings, the National Weather Service said.
The tsunami could cause damage "along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii," warned the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property."
Tsunamis are a series of long ocean waves that can last five to 15 minutes and cause extensive flooding in coastal areas. A succession of waves can hit -- often the highest not being the first, said CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.
A day earlier, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off of Honshu, the country's meteorological agency said.
CNN's Kyung Lah, Faith Karimi and Kevin Voigt contributed to this report.
______________
March 12 2011 - 3:38PM PT -
CNN's reporting two "MAJOR" aftershocks. Tsunami alerts reinstated.
______________
March 12 2011 - 11:07PM PT -
Japan upgrades magnitude of killer earthquake to 9.0; USGS keeps number at 8.9.
___________________________
March 13 2011 - 2:52PM PT
http://ow.ly/4dvh0
Here is what I think is, thus far, the most horrifying video (no, no dead or dying people) of what the tsunami looked like, taken from someone who had time to get up to higher ground and watch the town around him get destroyed.
Just picked it up from Sean Bonner, on Twitter...
seanbonner Sean Bonner
by BadAstronomer
Seriously, this first person Tsunami video is one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
http://ow.ly/4dvh0
____________________________
[Scroll down -- if you're set with oldest to newest -- to see new photos and videos, along with updated news]
http://cbskllc.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/japan-earthquake-today-tsunami-warning.jpg?w=311&h=337First Breaking News...
MASSIVE QUAKE HITS JAPAN
Tokyo (CNN) -- An... more
-
