After visiting the Fukushima nuclear plant and meeting with Japan's prime minister, the head of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano, has promised to provide all necessary expertise to complete the second phase of containing the crisis by early next year. For more on what's happening in Japan RT's joined live from Hiroshima by nuclear energy expert Doctor Robert Jacobs.
The head of the International Atomic Watchdog is visiting Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant for the first time since March's devastating earthquake and tsunami. Yukiya Amano has promised to help with the recovery effort and discussed what aid is needed at a meeting with the country's Prime Minister. As well as killing thousands, the natural disasters caused the plant's reactor cores to melt and leak dangerous amounts of radiation into the environment. But the IAEA chief says the workers at the plant ARE capable of bringing the leak under control by early next year as planned. Residents evacuated from a town close to the area held a belated memorial for the dead and missing on the irradiated no-man's land. But even many of those who survived are struggling with their own nuclear nightmare. RT's Sean Thomas explains.
Source: NHK World
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:48 +0900 (JST)
The Japanese government says it will buy back beef containing unsafe levels of radioactive cesium that has already reached the distribution chain.
Agriculture minister Michihiko Kano announced the step on Tuesday, adding that the contaminated beef will be purchased through a private-sector body.
Kano said the measure is designed to allay consumer concerns over the feeding of cattle with rice straw containing cesium in excess of the government-set limit.
NHK has learned that nearly 2,900 head of cattle allegedly given such feed have been shipped to 46 of Japan's 47 prefectures, excluding Okinawa.
Excessive levels of cesium have been detected in beef in 6 of the prefectures, including Fukushima, where work continues to contain a nuclear plant accident.
Beef with radioactive cesium at levels within the safety limit will not be bought back. But, the government will subsidize the cost of storing it for the time being.
Agriculture minister Kano assured consumers that these measures will ensure that only safe beef reaches market.
The costs of purchasing and storing the beef will be eventually passed on to Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the disabled nuclear plant.
The government will also help livestock farmers affected by restrictions and price declines by offering them 50,000 yen, or about 640 dollars, for each head of cattle that was supposed to be shipped.
Source: NHK World
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 07:16 +0900 (JST)
A new system to decontaminate radioactive water will arrive at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Tuesday. The current system, the key to cooling the reactors, has been plagued with problems.
The new equipment, SARRY, consists of 14 cylindrical tanks containing minerals. It is designed to reduce radioactive substances in water, such as cesium, to less than one millionth.
The first shipment of tanks and parts left a port in Iwaki, Fukushima on Monday.
The existing device at the plant was hit with problems from Sunday to Monday. Its operating rate has been reduced to 53 percent, far below the goal of 90 percent.
The plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to use the new system, along with the existing one.
The utility will bring the remaining components to the Fukushima plant in 2 more shipments. It then aims to begin operating the new system around early August.
Source: Wall Street Journal: Japan Realtime (blog)
Date: July 26, 2011, 3:14 PM JST
by: Yoree Koh
International Atomic Energy Agency Chief Yukiya Amano got an eyeful Monday. Wearing the now familiar protective white suit, with his name scrawled on the back in black marker, the IAEA chief for the first time saw for himself the devastation wrought at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by the March 11 disaster and tsunami.
... Read full article here
Source: Bloomberg
Date: Jul 26, 2011 12:31 AM CT Photo: Sea Radiation Tests May Miss Seafood Threat
Photographer: Toshiyuki Aizawa/Bloomberg
Women look at fresh fish in a supermarket in Tokyo. Japan’s government has to release more data from ocean radiation tests to accurately assess the contamination threat to seafood, according to a statement by the Oceanographic Society of Japan.
Japan’s government has to release more data from ocean radiation tests to accurately assess the contamination threat to seafood, according to a statement by the Oceanographic Society of Japan.
... Read full article here
Fukushima Prefecture on July 24 finalized the nation's largest life-time health study to check for thyroid-gland cancer among 360,000 young people living near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
... Read full article here
