5/31/2011 | Land around Fukushima now radioactive dead zone; resembles target struck by atomic bomb

Source: Natural News
Date: Tuesday, May 31, 2011
by: Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) It is nothing short of astonishing that the nuclear catastrophe we've all been told was "no big deal" has now escalated into the worst nuclear disaster in the history of human civilization. It's so bad now that soil samples taken from outside the 12-mile exclusion zone (the zone considered safe enough by the Japanese government for schoolchildren to attend school there) are higher than the 1.48 million becquerels a square meter limit that triggered evacuations outside Chernobyl in 1986.
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5/31/2011 | IAEA Says Japan Underestimated Risk to Nuclear Plants From Tsunami, Quakes

Source: Bloomberg
Date: May 31, 2011 11:33 PM CT 
by: Shunichi Ozasa

Japan underestimated the tsunami hazard at several nuclear power plants around the country, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Nuclear plant designers and operators must regularly update their natural disaster risk assessments, the agency said in a draft report on the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant disaster today.

The IAEA recommended Japan consider giving further independence to its nuclear regulators following the Fukushima disaster.

Nuclear power can exist even given the occurrence of natural disasters so long as the safety of reactors is secured, Mike Weightman, the leader of an IAEA fact-finding team in Japan, said at a news conference today.

The nation’s long-term response to the crisis has been impressive, Weightman said.

To contact the reporter on this story: 小笹俊一 in Tokyo at sozasa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gearoid Reidy at greidy1@bloomberg.netundefined

5/31/2011 | (VIDEO) Japanese PM's Assistant Quit Because He Didn't Want His Children Exposed To More Radiation

Source: CNN
Date: 5/31/2011 upload date by MOXNEWSdotCOM

Click here for interview video

Dr. Michio Kaku confirms what observant people have suspected from the outset of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in mid-March of 2011 (the earthquake and tsunami occurred on 3/11/2011 with a radiation leak being reported on reactor 1 and 3 km/2 mile evacuation radius via news wire services like Bloomberg): all three reactors have had full core meltdowns. According to Dr. Kaku, dumping sea water in to the reactors prevented a worse situation which would have rendered the entirety of Northern Japan unlivable. Another interesting point Dr. Kaku highlights is that one of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's advisers (Senior Nuclear Adviser Toshiso Kosako) quit in protest to the dose limit being raised which would allow school children to endure radiation levels twenty times higher (20 milliSieverts/year) than the previous limit, which is the same dosage allowed in one year for adult nuclear workers (as set by the International Commission on Radiation Protection). Since the initial accident in March, TEPCO and the Japanese government have not been forthcoming (the word "coverup" fits) with information about the nuclear accident and the mainstream media apparently (according to Dr. Kaku) under-reported the critical nature of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

5/30/2011 | In Japan, a Culture That Promotes Nuclear Dependency

Source: The New York Times
Date: May 30, 2011
by: MARTIN FACKLER and NORIMITSU ONISHI

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

The Chugoku Electric nuclear power plant in Kashima. A third reactor is currently under construction.

KASHIMA, Japan — When the Shimane nuclear plant was first proposed here more than 40 years ago, this rural port town put up such fierce resistance that the plant’s would-be operator, Chugoku Electric, almost scrapped the project. Angry fishermen vowed to defend areas where they had fished and harvested seaweed for generations.
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6/1/2011 JST | Cleanup effort enters new phase

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 JST
by: NATSUKO FUKUE
 
Providing relief: Volunteer workers move aid supplies last week in tsunami-hit Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. KYODO

As volunteers dwindle in Tohoku, companies and NPOs step in

Since the Golden Week holidays in early May, fewer volunteers have gone to the Tohoku region to help it clean up from the devastation caused by the March 11 quake and tsunami.
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6/1/2011 JST | Reactor in Shimane delayed for safety work

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 JST

Kyodo

MATSUE, Shimane Pref. — Chugoku Electric Power Co. said Tuesday it will delay the launch of commercial operations of one of its reactors now under construction in Shimane Prefecture because it has to add measures against possible tsunami.

The utility postponed the start of operations for the No. 3 reactor at the Shimane nuclear plant in the city of Matsue until after next April. It was originally scheduled for next March. The nuclear complex is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan.

The control rod driving system of the reactor core is also under inspection after a defect was found in November, Chugoku Electric said, adding this means the planned loading of nuclear fuel rods into the reactor in June will likewise be delayed.

6/1/2011 JST | Tepco to compensate nuclear evacuees for mental distress

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 JST

Kyodo

A government panel is requiring Tokyo Electric Power Co. to compensate people for mental distriss after they were forced to evacuate due to the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to a guideline adopted Tuesday.
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5/31/2011 | Why is the United States so obsessed with nuclear power?

Source: grist
Date: 31 May 2011 7:00 AM
by: Arne Jungjohann

This is part one in a series on the United States' nuclear obsession. After the nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima, as a German living in the U.S., I often get asked these days: What's going on in Germany with the shutdown of nuclear power plants -- is that all mass hysteria? There are good reasons why Germany is moving away so quickly from nuclear power. Certainly, fear is a factor. However, this angst in the face of a nuclear catastrophe has a rational core. Fukushima provides enough grounds to take every single nuclear power plant on the face of the Earth off-line. Regardless of whether the cause is an earthquake, a tsunami, a flood, a plane crash, a terrorist attack, or simple human error, failure of the emergency power system leads to uncontrollable consequences.

Why aren't Americans more freaked out about the possibility of a nuclear accident? Photo: Mike

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5/31/2011 | Last decade of German nuclear power

Source: WNN (World Nuclear News)
Date: 31 May 2011

Germany's policy reversal on nuclear has been completed with a new push to enter the 'age of renewables' and the accelerated dumping of nuclear technology. Industry has yet to react.
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Related articles:
Merkel’s Atomic Overhaul May Aid Industry at Consumers’ Expense
Merkel Faces 10-Billion Euro Achilles Heel to Unplug German Nuclear Plants

5/31/2011 | Japanese Elderly Offer to Take Over Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup

Source: Popular Science
Date: Posted 05.31.2011 at 4:55 pm
by: Clay Dillow

The Cleanup at Fukushima via BBC

Let the young rebuild Japan, says Yasuteru Yamada, but let the old clean up the most difficult mess leftover from March’s devastating earthquake and tsunamis. The 72-year-old former engineer is recruiting other retirees to replace the younger workers currently braving radiation exposure at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power complex. It’s not a question of bravery or experience, he says, but one of biological logic.

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6/1/2011 JST | Radiation-linked cancer an intangible numbers game

Source: The Japan Times
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 JST
by: MIZUHO AOKI
 
Cleanup: Members of a nonprofit organization scrape up soil from outside a private home in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, on May 20 in a bid to reduce emissions of radioactive substances in the area. KYODO

With contaminated produce continuing to be detected beyond Fukushima Prefecture, public concern over the health effects of radiation exposure continues to mount.
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5/31/2011 | Oil leaking into sea near Fukushima nuclear plant

Source: Japan Today
Date: Tuesday 31st May, 02:30 PM JST

TOKYO — Oil has been found leaking into the sea near the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, possibly from nearby oil tanks that may have been damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami, the plant operator said Tuesday, adding that it will set up oil fences to prevent the liquid from spreading into the Pacific Ocean.

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5/31/2011 | Fukushima Daiichi reactor 1 shows Instrument failure for radiation "dose" chart

Source: MEXT (Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science & Technology in Japan)
Date: 5/31/2011

The "dose" reading for Fukushima Daiichi reactor 1 appears to be lacking data for the past two days, with the latest reading displayed for 5/29/2011.  I have highlighted the "instrument failure" indication in yellow:

Location:	Unit 1 nuclear power plant Hukushima
Date:	Mar 15, 2011 (Tuesday) to May 29, 2011 (Sun)
Current values:	D / W: two hundred twenty-five Sv / h , S / C: 0.944 Sv / h
Status	Instrument failure

Date D / W S / C 5 / 29 225 0.944 5 / 28 215 0.950 5 / 27 63.8 0.959 5 / 26 43.7 0.958 5 / 25 215 0.987 5 / 24 192 0.997 5 / 23 201 1.01 5 / 22 196 1.01 5 / 21 36.2 1.02 5 / 20 46.5 1.03 5 / 19 36.3 1.04 5 / 18 45.4 1.04 5 / 17 _ 1.04 5 / 16 _ 1.05 5 / 15 _ 1.06 5 / 14 _ 1.07 5 / 13 _ 1.08 5 / 12 _ 1.09 5 / 11 _ 1.10 5 / 10 _ 1.11 5 / 09 _ 1.13 5 / 08 _ 1.14 5 / 07 _ 1.15

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Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has announced that the plant parameters (reactor state) of the reactor radiation dose to the graph.
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reactor 1 can be checked on a daily basis - such as water temperature, pressure dose of 5 items.
As soon as the data is published and updated as the chart.
No. 4 in the absence of inspections stopped reactor fuel assemblies for, are excluded from the list.
Meaning of the terms in the graph below.
D / W stands for dry well .... The main thing containment. S / C ... Sapuresshonchenba stands. I pressure suppression chamber.

※ The value of the graph shows the maximum absolute value of the day.

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Click here for live chart

5/31/2011 | Status of nuclear power plants in Fukushima as of 12:00, May 31st (Estimated by JAIF)

Source: JAIF (Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.)
Date: 5/31/2011 12:00

I have quoted from the latest report various excerpts for recent developments:

...
1. Latest Major event and response

May 29th
09:00-19:00 Water accumulating in the basement of Unit 6 T/B was transferred to a makeshift tank.
09:00-16:00 Operation of removing rubble with remotely controlled heavy machine was conducted
09:00-13:00 Operation of spraying synthetic resin was conducted to prevent scatter of radioactive materials.
11:10-15:35 Water injection into the Unit 1 SFP through the SFP coolant clean up line was conducted.
11:33 Water injection into the No.2 reactor through the feedwater line besides the fire extinguishing line was started.
...
2. Chronology of Nuclear Power Stations
(1) Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS

...

The full report is available below:
ENGNEWS01_1306813176P
Click here for original .pdf file