1/25/2012 Leaked Japanese Report Details 'Worst-Case' Nuclear Scenario

Source: Voice of America
Date: 1/25/2012

Photo: Reuters

The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor building is seen after the removal of debris on the upper side of the unit in Fukushima prefecture, January 5, 2012.

The Japanese government predicted a worst-case scenario at the height of its nuclear crisis last year warning that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to evacuate the region to avoid contamination.
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Here is the link to the AP article about this report:

• Jan 25, 10:04 AM EST Japan kept silent on worst nuclear crisis scenario

8/26/2011 Go-Playing Kan Loses as Resignation Sparks Successor Race

Source: Bloomberg
Date: 8/26/2011

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan sparked a succession race after announcing his resignation, undone by a backlash over his handling of the March earthquake and tsunami that spawned the nation’s deepest postwar crisis.
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Editor's Note: Below is a related RT News video on the topic.


Japan's Prime Minister has formally announced his resignation, paving the way for the country's sixth leader in 5 years. His move follows nationwide criticism of his response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that took place in March, and triggered a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant. The twin natural disasters claimed the lives of more than 15,000 people, with survivors complaining about slow recovery efforts. A new leader of the ruling Democratic Party, who'll most likely become Japan's next Prime Minister, will be chosen on Monday.

8/12/2011 Japan to Set Up New Nuclear Watchdog

Source: AFP via Discovery News
Date: Fri Aug 12, 2011 06:31 AM ET

People take part in an anti-nuclear power march on the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing on August 6, 2011 in Hiroshima, Japan.

THE GIST

• A new Nuclear Safety Agency will be housed under the environment ministry.
• The existing Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been heavily criticized.

Japan will set up a new nuclear regulator under the environment ministry in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, in a bid to give the watchdog more teeth, media reported Friday.
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8/4/2011 Japan to fire top nuclear officials in wake of disaster

Source: Associated Press via The Raw Story
Date: Thursday, August 4th, 2011
by: Agence France-Presse

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will replace three senior bureaucrats in charge of nuclear power policy, the minister overseeing energy policy said on Thursday, five months after the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years erupted at Fukushima.
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7/31/2011 Kan criticizes nuke watchdog for manipulation

Source: NHK World
Date: Sunday, July 31, 2011 22:41 +0900 (JST)


Prime Minister Naoto Kan has criticized Japan's nuclear regulator for trying to manipulate public opinion on nuclear power.

Kan attended an energy policy forum on Sunday in Chino, north of Tokyo. He referred to the alleged manipulation of opinion on nuclear energy by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The agency allegedly told Chubu Electric Power Company to ensure that some participants at a symposium asked prearranged questions in favor of nuclear power. The event was held 4 years ago in Shizuoka Prefecture, which hosts a nuclear plant.

Kan said if the allegation is true, it means that the agency sided with the utility to promote nuclear power, although the agency should ensure the safety of nuclear plants for the public.

Kan likened the agency's allegation to the scandal of tainted blood products, which he tackled when he was health minister in the mid-1990s.

In the 1980s, many people, mostly patients with hemophilia, contracted HIV through tainted products because the health ministry allowed drugmakers to sell them even after safer products were developed.

Kan said the current nuclear administration and system totally lack the ability of responding to nuclear accidents. He put the blame on the realignment of government offices about a decade ago under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto that created various committees in the Cabinet Office.
Kan expressed his resolve to address the fundamental reorganization of institutions related to energy policy, and not just the separation of the agency from the economy ministry. He said he will pursue a fundamental reconstruction of the nuclear and energy administration from a position free from any vested interests.

7/10/2011 Fukushima Finally Labeled As “New Chernobyl” — Japan Admits Cleanup Will Take Decades

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: July 10, 2011 at 11:02 am

Japan’s prime minister has finally admitted the to the reality of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, labeling the nuclear meltdowns as the new Chernobyl and admitting it will take decades before the nuclear disaster is cleaned up.

As previously reported, Japan’s new timeline for cleaning up the nuclear meltdown is at least 10 years from now and that is contingent on technology being developed within that time to allow workers to cleanup the molten fuel at the nuclear reactor.
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7/9/2011 Japan says Fukushima clean-up to take 20 years

Source: RT News
Date: 7/9/2011


Japan's Prime Minister has announced that it will take up to 20 years to clean up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. It's the first time the government has attempted to indicate how long the operation may take. Emergency measures are already underway to shut down the reactors to prevent further radiation leaks. The Fukushima plant was ruined when it was hit by the earthquake and tsunami in March. Thousands of people have left the area around the facility over safety fears.

6/11/2011 | Former adviser says government worsened radiation exposure

Source: m&c (Monsters and Critics)
Date: Jun 11, 2011, 7:43 GMT

Tokyo - A former adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan accused the government of having aggravated the problem of radiation exposure during the nuclear crisis, news reports said Saturday.
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6/5/2011 | Japan’s DPJ Leaders Seek to Limit Kan’s Tenure as Pressure to Quit Grows

Source: Bloomberg
Date: Jun 5, 2011 10:01 AM CT
by: Kana Nishizawa and Shunichi Ozasa

Senior lawmakers of Japan’s ruling party sought to limit Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s tenure in office amid internal divisions over his promise to step down at an unspecified time.
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6/2/2011 | Japanese PM Says He Will Resign Over Fukushima

Source: Time (Ecocentric Blog)
Date: Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:49 am

by: Krista Mahr

Naoto Kan, Japan's beleaguered prime minister, has acknowledged for the first time since March 11 that he may step down — but not until he's done doing what he needs to do. Kan has come under increasing pressure from both inside and outside his party to give up his post after his handling of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and continuing nuclear crisis.

In a televised meeting with his party on Thursday morning, Kan said: “I'd like to pass on my responsibility to a younger generation once we reach a certain stage in tackling the disaster and I've fulfilled my role.” He did not indicate when that might be.
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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.

5/26/2011 | TEPCO fax about seawater not passed to Kan for hours

Source: Daily Yomiuri Online
Date: May. 26, 2011
by: The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo Electric Power Co. notified the government's nuclear safety agency by fax 3-1/2 hours before it started injecting seawater into the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor, TEPCO said Wednesday.
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5/25/2011 | Solar Panels for All New Buildings in Japan?

Source: Reuters
Date: Wed May 25, 2011 2:32am EDT
by: Zachary Shahan

All new buildings may come with solar panels in Japan soon.

Japan has made some major renewable energy announcements recently. Prime Minister Naoto Kan recently announced that it would abandon its plan to build 14 new nuclear reactors in the face of this year's Fukushima tragedy. He said that his country needed to "start from scratch" and create a totally new energy policy and he said a focus would be placed on two things greens the world over love -- clean, renewable energy and energy conservation. Well, apparently, that may include a requirement to put solar panels on all new buildings by 2030.
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5/22/2011 | Kan halted seawater injection / Operations stopped for 55 minutes over fears of 're-criticality'

Source: Daily Yomiuri Online
Date: May. 22, 2011
by: The Yomiuri Shimbun

The injection of seawater into the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was stopped for nearly an hour soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake, at Prime Minister Naoto Kan's request, government sources have revealed.
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5/18/2011 | PM: Japan's nuke regulators need more independence

Source: The State: South Carolina's Homepage via AP
Date: Wednesday, May. 18, 2011
By MARI YAMAGUCHI - Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan's prime minister acknowledged Wednesday that the recent nuclear accident underscored that his country's nuclear regulators need more independence from the industry to ensure safety.
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5/6/2011 | Japan wants utility to halt 3 nuclear reactors while seawall is built as tsunami protection

Source:  Associated Press
Date:  May 6, 2011

TOKYO — Officials at a Japanese power company were finalizing a decision Saturday following a government request that it suspend all three reactors at a coastal nuclear plant while steps are taken to prevent a major earthquake or tsunami from causing another radiation crisis.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Friday that he had asked Chubu Electric Power Co. to halt its three reactors at Hamaoka nuclear power plant in central Japan until the operator can improve safety measures. Though not legally binding, the request is a virtual order.
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