fukushima update Aug 18 2011

 

PLEASE WATCH FULLY Fukushima Lost 198 employees and Radiation Worse than Reported 7 20 11

 

Japan Prime Minester and Nuclear Free?! 13/07/2011

Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan recently survived a no-confidence vote. Photograph: Everett Kennedy Brown/EPA

Prime minister Naoto Kan said on Wednesday the Fukushima nuclear crisis had convinced him that Japan should aim at a society that does not depend on nuclear energy and eventually has no atomic plants.
The unpopular leader denied he was considering calling a snap election over energy policy and sidestepped a question on when he would keep a promise to step down, saying he wanted to do his best to work on nuclear policy and rebuild the country from the devastating 11 March earthquake and tsunami that triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
"Given the enormity of the risks associated with nuclear power generation, I have realised nuclear technology is not something that can be managed by conventional safety measures alone," Kan told a news conference.
"I believe we should aim for a society that is not dependent on nuclear power generation."
He said it was premature to set a timeframe for achieving that goal.
Kan also said Japan would be able to avoid summer and winter power shortages because of energy conservation efforts and companies' in-house power supplies, despite the large number of reactors now offline for inspections or other work.
The unpopular prime minister has become increasingly sensitive to growing public concern about nuclear power, but whether he oversees an overhaul of energy policy is in doubt since he has promised to resign, although he has not said when.
Nuclear energy accounted for about 30% of Japan's power supply before the 11 March disasters crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima plant 240km (150 miles) north of the capital.
That ratio slipped to 18% in June.

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Latest News 08/07/2011

Post-disaster nuclear safety efforts continue in Japan. On Monday, June 20, Japan's Finance Ministry revealed that the nation's exports dropped 10.3% in May, representing the third consecutive monthly fall since the massive quake and tsunami on March 11. The decrease was more than economists had forecast, raising concerns over Japan's struggle to recover from the twin disasters. The nation also continues facing difficulties in stabilizing Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. A five-day ministerial meeting, which had been organized in response to the nuclear crisis, also opened on Monday at the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria, with a record number of more than 900 participants in attendance. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano proposed agency monitoring and thorough security risk checks in all nations with nuclear power plants, to prevent a potential repeat of the current crisis, which was unanimously agreed to by all participants.

Meanwhile, at the Fukushima Daiichi facility, the testing of a water decontamination system, which is crucial for removing 110,000 tons of highly radioactive water from the site before it overflows, was halted for a second time due to a malfunction early on Tuesday. TEPCO also fully opened the doors to the reactor No. 2 building in order to decrease the humidity inside and enable workers to enter. However, this also allowed radiation to leak out of the site, although TEPCO says the amount would not have an adverse impact on human health or the environment.

According to Aljazeera news agency, a nuclear waste advisor to the Japanese government reported that around the nuclear facility, about 966 square kilometers -- an area equivalent to about 17 times the size of Manhattan, New York, USA -- is now likely uninhabitable due to radiation. Moreover, in the US, a June 2011 report by physician Dr. Janette Sherman and epidemiologist Dr. Joseph Mangano suggests that a 35% increase in infant mortality in northwestern US cities that occurred after the Fukushima meltdown may have resulted from fallout from the Japanese nuclear plant.

Our sincere thanks, international officials, experts and media members for your work to safeguard the public from radiation harms. Let us do our utmost to eliminate such dangers through our adoption of more eco-conscious ways.