10/10/2011 Nuclear decontamination to begin in Japan

Source: NHK World
Date: 10/10/2011
by: Catherine Kobayashi and Keiko Kitagawa

Part 1: Decontamination plan compiled http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/10_24.html

The Japanese Environment Ministry has come up with a revised plan to clear away radioactive substances from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

It announced details on Monday at a meeting of a panel of experts.

Ministry officials say decontamination will be carried out in areas where radiation levels are higher than 1 millisievert per year.

The ministry revised an earlier plan to only decontaminate places with more than 5 millisieverts per year. Municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture that have areas with less than 5 millisieverts argued they should be included in the cleanup.

The government will be responsible for the decontamination of no-entry zones and government-designated evacuation zones. Local governments will clean up the rest of the affected areas.

Areas with radiation levels higher than 20 millisieverts per year will be reduced stage by stage as soon as possible.

In areas with less than 20 millisieverts per year, radiation levels recorded at the end of August will be cut up to 60 per cent in the next 2 years.

Environment Ministry officials say the government will help prefectures that have a massive amount of radioactive waste.

The ministry's decontamination plan will be further discussed within the government before being adopted by the Cabinet as the basic national plan.

Monday, October 10, 2011 22:04 +0900 (JST)

Part 2: IAEA team continues observing decontamination http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/10_26.html

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency have observed the Japanese government's experimental decontamination of a farm in Iitate Village. The land is in Fukushima Prefecture, inside the government-designated evacuation zone.

The 12 experts on the IAEA team arrived in Fukushima on Sunday to give advice about effective methods to clear away radioactive substances.

They visited a rice paddy on Monday where the experimental decontamination is being carried out.

Government officials explained radiation levels were reduced by 75 percent per kilogram of soil after workers removed 4 centimeters of top soil. They also said the dose of radiation in unpolished rice was about 0.1 percent of that of soil.

IAEA experts say these radiation levels are low and pose no problem.

They also inspected a site that uses 400 degree Celsius heat to process plants containing radioactive substances.

Government officials said they contained radioactive cesium within the plants when they converted them into charcoal. They said this method could help reduce the weight of plants.

An IAEA member said it would be necessary to work out a plan to effectively burn massive amounts of plants.

The IAEA experts are meeting Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato on Tuesday, their last day in the prefecture.

Monday, October 10, 2011 22:18 +0900 (JST)

10/10/2011 Fukushima/earthquake evacuees move from shelters to temporary housing

Source: NHK World
Date: 10/10/2011
by: Catherine Kobayashi

Part 1: Seven months since the disaster: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/11_09.html

It's been seven months since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

In the hardest hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, 2,231 people are still living in 205 shelters, but more and more people are moving into temporary housings.

Police say the death toll as of October 7th stood at 15,761.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 07:20 +0900 (JST)

Part 2: All shelters closing in hard-hit Ishinomaki: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/10_22.html

Officials in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture are closing the last remaining shelters for survivors of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Residents and volunteers have renewed their vow to rebuild their community.

About 50 of them gathered on Monday at one of the last remaining evacuation centers. All shelters will be closed on Tuesday because city authorities have finished building temporary housing units.

The survivors presented letters of gratitude and flowers to the volunteers who helped run the shelter. Some of them performed a traditional lion dance.

They also shared memories of the 7 months they spent at the evacuation center.

One man in his 60s said he will be sad to be separated from other survivors because they supported each other. He said he will hold onto the memory of the shelter and move forward. He also vowed to make a fresh start and return to where he used to live.

Ishinomaki is one of the areas in Japan's northeast that was hit hardest by the earthquake and tsunami. About 50,000 people were staying at the city's 250 evacuation centers at one point.

Monday, October 10, 2011 22:04 +0900 (JST)

Part 3: Onagawa residents move into temporary housing: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/11_05.html

Residents in the disaster-hit Onagawa Town in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, began moving into new temporary housing on Monday.

About 220 Onagawa residents are still living in shelters.

Architect Shigeru Ban designed 2- and 3-storey temporary houses made from shipping containers. The town built 189 new residences on a baseball field.

Onagawa is surrounded by mountains and has limited space for construction. Teiji Kobayashi from the Onagawa office in charge of the town's reconstruction said it was difficult to secure land. He also said that the multi-storey housing would attract attention and cheer up those who live there.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 03:37 +0900 (JST)

4/29/2011 True Stories by An Ex-TEPCO Nuclear Designer "TEPCO Is A Terrible Company"

Source: tokybrowntabby
Date: Video dated 4/29/2011 uploaded 10/6/2011

Please click on "cc" to show English subtitles. Mr. Toshio Kimura is a former nuclear designer at TEPCO. He used to work at Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant. When the earthquake/tsunami hit, he was living 15km west of the plant, operating his own business of solar power generation, surfing on his free time. After the explosion of Unit 1 reactor, he and his family evacuated to Kochi Prefecture, where they live now.

Mr. Kimura has given talks at various anti-nuclear rallies around the country. This video is one of his talks at the rally held in Kochi Prefecture on April 29, 2011.

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The rest of his talk goes like this:
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As to the situation of the plant, 70% of the fuel in Unit 1 have melted. I haven't looked at the most recent data, but the reactor pressure is increasing, the radiation dose inside the containment vessel is increasing, and iodine-131 is not decreasing. It has started to decrease a bit recently, though. All this means is there definitely has been re-criticality until recently. Because, as you know, the half life of iodine-131 is only 8 days. And yet, after more than a month from the accident, we still see an increase in the level of iodine-131. That itself proves there has been re-criticality, because otherwise iodine shouldn't have been produced. A neutron hits the atom of uranium-235, the atom splits, and iodine-131 is produced. That's how the nuclear fission occurs. And through the mechanism that can be explained by Einstein's theory of relativity, heat is produced. The heat boils water to create steam, and the steam spins the turbin. The turbines are connected in series and drive the electrical generator to produce electricity. This is the mechanism of electricity generation.

Iodine-131 is not produced unless neutrons cause nuclear fission. That's why I'm saying there has been re-criticality. Nuclear Safety Commission won't admit it. TEPCO won't admit it. The government won't admit it. But really there has been re-criticality until very recently. This is the fact. Any professional with the knowledge of physics of nuclear reactor can tell. This re-criticality issue is one of the things they are hiding from you.

Another lie is that 0.24 microsievert/h is safe. This is wrong.

These are the things I wanted to tell you today. Here in Kochi, you don't have to worry too much because Kochi is quite far from Fukushima. But please look at the radiation dispersion forecast by the German Weather Service. If you notice the north-east wind is blowing throughout Japan, don't ever let children get wet in the rain. And women who want to have children in the future. Don't let them go outside on such days. We, middle-aged men are okay, including me.

It's because cesium-137 is dangerous. Its half life is 30 years. It's dangerous because it tends to accumulate in muscles. Men have relatively more muscle. Even if cesium-137 gets absorbed inside their bodies, it spreads thinly throughout their muscles. On the other hand, women don't have much muscle, and the absorbed cesium tends to concentrate in the organs like mammary gland and uterus. It may increase the incidence of breast cancer. But this is something you can prevent if you have the knowledge. If you have to go outside on such days, please wet the gauze inside the mask first and put on the mask before you go out.

Also, you have to be careful with iodine, too, while it is still released. Iodine accumulates in seaweed and it is easily absorbed from your hair. So, one way to prevent iodine absorption is to put on a hat so that your hair won't get wet from the rain.

You haven't heard about such things, have you? Nobody tells you that. The government doesn't tell, either. But I wanted to let you know. That's why I came here today.

I don't want to talk too long, but one last thing.

I hear some wise old men protected a very beautiful fountain located within the radius of 30km from Chernobyl plant. How they protected it is mysterious. I studied nuclear energy intensively and I studied physics to some extent. But still I believe in an invisible power. Those wise old men didn't evacuate after the accident. How did they protect the fountain? By prayer. I'm not sure how many of you believe in the power of prayer. But if you can believe in it, even if just a little, then please pray in the morning that the Fukushima-1 nuke plant may rest in peace. And remember, we've benefited from radioactivity because it produces electricity. So, please pray that the radiation will be neutralized and vanished by our sense of gratitude and our love. I hope we'll pull together and pass that prayer over to the next generation.

That's all I had to say. Thank you.

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Translation and captioning by tokyobrowntabby.