7/16/2012 [Massive 75K-170K strong] Anti-nuclear rally held in Tokyo

Source: NHK World
Date: Jul. 16, 2012 - Updated 15:55 UTC (00:55 JST)
by: Gene Otani

Organizers say 170, 000 people took part in the rally, while police estimate the number at 75,000.

Tens of thousands of people have staged one of the biggest anti-nuclear rallies in Tokyo since the Fukushima accident in March, last year.

Labor union activists joined members of the public in the main protest rally at Yoyogi Park on Monday. Many of them responded to calls on the social network Twitter and the Internet.

Nobel prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe was among public figures who called on people to take to the streets. 
...
Read the rest and see the video footage of the protest here.

Editor's Note: Such protests have been going on for a while now.  Here are more articles from various news agencies:

1. More than 100,000 protest nuclear power in Tokyo, Reuters 
2. Japanese anti-nuclear demonstrations grow, Washington Post
3. Tens of thousands demonstrate against nuclear power in Japan, CNN

7/11/2012 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 Reactor Building Operating Floor Area Investigation

Source: Cryptome.org
Date: 7/11/2012

Northwest part of the Operating Floor. Photo taken on July 11, 2012 [Captions by TEPCO. Photo striations in the originals.]

...
See the enlarged photographs here.

See other recent Fukushima Daiichi photographs here, including tsunami damage.

7/9/2012 [VIDEO] Fukushima: MAN MADE DISASTER (NOT Tsunami OR Earthquake) & update for last week

Source: MsMilkyTheClown
Date: 7/9/2012

Video Description

I've been out of town and my power went out before going out of town. Trying to catch up on Fukushima updates. I admit it, I didn't miss doing these updates at All. In fact, this may be my last update, just FYI, but this one was an important one to end on if I do stop my reports. I'm just about as "done" as a spent fuel rod - in a "safe" cooling pool.

A Japanese Government DIET panel investigation states that neither the Tsunami NOR the Earthquake caused the triple nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi. Lots of blame in many directions... but here's the update from July 5, 2012. Added to this video, I should have noted that Jelly Fish have invaded the intake valve in the Ohi (Oi) plant they started up last week, clogging the intake to the cooling water. *sigh*
http://enenews.com/ Headlines for the last week and a halfish.

"Radiation-contaminated prefectures such as Chiba (near Tokyo) should also start a serious health damage survey as soon as possible"

New photos of tsunami hitting Fukushima plant released by Tepco

Report: Mortality rising in contaminated regions of East Japan — "Very likely the number of cases of disease and death increased associated with radiation"

Posts mentioning 'leukemia' get deleted says Japanese man diagnosed with acute leukemia after 3/11

Study: Contaminated water from Fukushima reactors could double radioactivity levels of US coastal waters in 5 years — "We were surprised at how quickly the tracer spread" (PHOTO & VIDEO)

Documentary: We're still in danger from Reactor No. 4 because Tepco can't get their act together -Fukushima Resident (VIDEO)

Bacteria vs. Nuclear Waste: Scientists finding microorganisms may threaten storage of radioactive waste

Gundersen: Essentially Northern Japan is Contaminated (VIDEO)

Failed power supply at No. 4 fuel pool shows evidence of fire — Tepco says it's "covered with soot" (PHOTOS)

Nuclear Engineer Concerned About Unit 4 Support Structure: Is it going to just punch through the floor and through cracks? — What is the load transferred to? Something that's also flimsy? (VIDEO)

Incredibly contaminated house dust nearly 100 miles from Fukushima Daiichi — Gundersen: We're getting a lot of Japanese sending us their vacuum bags (VIDEO)

Large outbreak of jellyfish swarm Japan's only restarted nuclear plant — May delay full operation of reactor

Caldicott: "We're talking about a disaster of unbound proportions" from Fukushima Daiichi — 2.5 to 3 million deaths a possibility (VIDEO)

Gundersen: We just tested an air filter that has highest radioactivity seen in North America after Fukushima Daiichi — Found in Seattle HEPA filter used since 3/11 (VIDEO)

Watch: Police clamp down in Tokyo streets — "We're not allowed to get anywhere near protest" (VIDEO)

Gov't Report: Reactor 3 may have had second meltdown a week after first

Japanese journalist's call for evacuating children from Tokyo causing controversy

Gundersen: Latest probe at Unit 1 indicates nuclear fuel has left containment (VIDEO)

Remaining portion of Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 seen from Kyodo helicopter (PHOTOS)

Asahi: 150,000 join Tokyo protest organizer says — Reporter Eyewitness: "There are more than 100,000 people"

and so on...

7/10/2012 Fuel rod container at Onagawa plant found damaged

Source: NHK World
Date: Jul. 10, 2012 - Updated 10:57 UTC (19:57 JST)

Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant

The operator of the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture has discovered damage to fuel rod containers at the facility's No. 3 reactor.

Japan's nuclear safety agency has ordered Tohoku Electric Power Company to check and report on whether the damage was caused by the massive earthquake on March 11th last year.
...
See video here

Editor's Note: Map of Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant

View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

7/6/2012 As Japan Says Fukushima Disaster "Man-Made & Preventable", Fears Grow for Nuclear Plants

Source: Democracy Now
Date: Friday, July 6, 2012

Video Description

DemocracyNow.org - A Japanese parliamentary inquiry has concluded last year's nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster — that could and should have been foreseen and prevented." We speak to former nuclear industry executive Arnie Gundersen about the report and what it means for U.S. nuclear facilities, in particular the 23 with a similar design to the Fukushima plant. "There is some curious information on Fukushima Unit 1, the first one to fail," Gundersen says. "It was built by an American company, General Electric, and an American architect/engineer. It's hard for the Japanese to blame themselves when this was an all-American design ... I'm concerned that the nuclear industry in the United States will say it's a Japanese problem, and it's not."

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7/3/2012 Collapse of spent fuel storage pool at Fukushima Daiichi could be worse than initial accident, says new report

Source: Bellona via TruNews
Date: 7/3/2012
by: Charles Digges

The devastation of buildings at Fukushima Daiichi makes unclear how long it will be before spent fuel from the pond and reactors is safely stored.

Kyodo

A collapse of the already tilting reactor No 4 building at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, ¬atop which sits a spent nuclear fuel storage pool containing 1,535 fuel assemblies – including 204 unused ones – would lead to a “significant global impact,”– by far topping last year’s triple meltdown at the plant, a new report says.
...
Read the rest here

7/2/2012 Kim Jong-Il ordered uranium bombs: reports

Source: Japan Today
Date:  JUL. 02, 2012 - 02:53PM JST

Pyongyang has long maintained that it was enriching uranium solely for the purpose of power generation

TOKYO (AFP) —

The late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il ordered his scientists to produce “a massive amount” of uranium bombs, according to internal regime documents, reports in Japan said on Monday.
...
Read the rest here

7/1/2012 TEPCO resumes cooling Fukushima Daiichi No. 4 reactor fuel pool | House of Japan - Japan News Technology Autos Culture Life Style

Source: House of Japan
Date: Published on Monday, 02 July 2012 

TOKYO, July 1, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday it has resumed cooling the spent fuel pool of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant's No. 4 reactor following emergency repair work after the cooling system shut down on Saturday.
 ...
Read the rest here

7/2/2012 i am radioactive! or: my PET/CT scan - F-18 DOPA (fluorodopa)

Source: bionerd23
Date: 7/2/2012
Editor's Note: I was a bit shocked when I saw this video, poor lady allowed herself to be turned in to a human guinea pig. ;'(

Video Description
my brain is now running on radioactive dopamine...

i was injected with 200 MBq F-18, a radioactive isotope of fluorine, in the chemical form F-18-DOPA.
200 MBq means 200 million decays, resulting in 400 million gamma rays (annihilation photons) every SECOND.
this again resulted in an acute dose of about 5 mSv (including the 0.5 mSv CT scan prior to the PET scan) to me.

this was a scientific study (ethics-commission approved) to study the mechanisms of learning.
studies like this are performed on healthy test subjects on a daily basis.
i'm curious to hear your opinion on the matter...

but anyway, i am not ill, i am a healthy test subject...
or: my PET CAT is chasing the radioactive LAB RAT! =) 

6/30/2012 Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Cooling Problems

This development looked somewhat alarming.  Apparently the spent fuel pool from the Fukushima Daiichi reactor 4 building has lost cooling as of 6:25 AM EST Saturday Morning (6/30/2012) as per WSJ MarketWatch.  According to TEPCO the temperature climbed at a rate of 0.26 C by late Saturday afternoon.  Quoting MarketWatch:

 [...]

If Tepco continues to be unable to cool the pool, the temperature could reach 65 C, which is the upper limit designated in the safety regulations, on Tuesday morning.

[...]

Here is another estimate from Fukushima Diary if the spent fuel pool cooling is offline for a longer period:

[...]
Prof. Takeda [Link] estimates the coolant water of SFP4 will reach 100℃ in the evening of 7/5/2012 (Thursday).
[...]

Spent fuel pool 4 contains 1535 fuel rods and there have been continued fears that a collapse of the elevated pool due to another earthquake could cause a massive release of radiation in to the environment, possibly rendering Japan uninhabitable.

6/27/2012 Fukushima report prompts anger at TEPCO meeting

Source: ABC Radio Australia
Date: 27 June 2012, 11:53 AEST

In its report, TEPCO denies ever hiding information, blames the government for confusion and delays, and rejects suggestions it ever downplayed the seriousness of the meltdowns. (Credit: Reuters)

Anger against the company has intensified, after it released an in-house report into the disaster, in which it denies ever hiding information and blames the Japanese Government for confusion and delays.
...
Read the rest here

6/27/2012 Fukushima operator to be nationalized

Source: RT News
Date: 27 June, 2012, 14:16

Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma Town, Fukushima Prefecture (AFP Photo / Tomohiro Ohsumi)

Shareholders of Japan’s Tepco power company, which operates the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant, have approved the nationalization of the company through a $12.58 billion cash injection from the Government.
... 
Read the rest here