Nuclear Meltdown Watch

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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby crikkett » Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:57 pm

seemslikeadream wrote:
September 21, 2011

Why Did They Fake the “9.0”?
What TEPCO and the Media are Hiding
by TAKASHI HIROSE

When did the radiation start to leak from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and how far has it spread?


Bummer, no link :(
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:09 pm

crikkett wrote:
seemslikeadream wrote:
September 21, 2011

Why Did They Fake the “9.0”?
What TEPCO and the Media are Hiding
by TAKASHI HIROSE

When did the radiation start to leak from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and how far has it spread?


Bummer, no link :(


:oops: fixed

thanks crikkett :hug1:
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby crikkett » Wed Sep 21, 2011 3:09 pm

seemslikeadream wrote:
thanks crikkett :hug1:


:hug1: Awesome

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/21/ ... re-hiding/
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Palisades Nuclear Plant Is Venting Radioactive Steam

Postby elfismiles » Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:52 am

Palisades Nuclear Plant Is Venting Radioactive Steam


... from Citizens for Legitimate Government
28 Sep 2011 - Early Edition
http://www.legitgov.org
All links are here:
http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

...

Palisades Nuclear Plant Is Venting Radioactive Steam 26 Sep 2011 Entergy's Palisades nuclear plant near South Haven on Lake Michigan is venting radioactive steam into the environment as part of an unplanned shutdown triggered by an electrical accident. This shutdown, which began Sunday evening, came just five days after the plant restarted from a shutdown that was caused by a leak in the plant's cooling system. "The steam that would normally go to the generators, that steam is now going into the environment... through the steam stack," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Prema Chandrithal. "This would have very low [?!?] levels of tritium."

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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby cptmarginal » Thu Sep 29, 2011 6:49 pm

http://www.japansubculture.com/2011/09/ ... rld-think/

20msv/yr: What Does The Rest Of The World Think?
September 22, 2011 | Stephanie Nakajima


July 19th, 2011
Fukushima City

“It is correct, is it not, that Fukushima citizens have the same and equal right as other Japanese citizens to spend their life without receiving unnecessary radiation doses. That is correct, is it not?”
- Fukushima citizen

“I dont know whether or not they have that right”
- Akira Sato, Director of the government’s Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters




Before the March 11th earthquake, Japan’s standard for radiation exposure for the general public was, uniformly, 1 millisievert (mSv) per year. While this standard remains in place for the rest of the country, a provisional standard raising the limit to 20 millisieverts per year was enacted for Fukushima prefecture; this “adjustment” has been greatly contested by Japanese citizens as well as the global community, as this figure is also used to determine the evacuation zone. For context, 20 millisieverts per year is also the limit for nuclear workers. Though repeatedly implored to justify the change, government officials have yet to account for why this standard is suddenly acceptable.


How was the provisional standard decided?

On April 19th, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) issued a notification to Fukushima Prefecture. The notification stated the maximum allowable permitted value for use of school grounds shall be 3.8 microsieverts per hour of radiation; this calculates to 20 millisieverts per year.

Fukushima Citizens Groups

After discovering high levels of radiation on school grounds, concerned residents formed The Fukushima Conference for Recovery from the Nuclear Earthquake Disaster, and called for a study to be done. Fukushima prefecture cooperated, and the study revealed that 76% of Fukushima prefecture schools had levels of contamination exceeding the designation of a workplace as “radiation-controlled” (0.6 microsievert per hour). Such areas are off-limits to individuals under 18. Even higher radiation levels were recorded at over 20% of the schools, levels warranting “individual exposure control” if occurring in a workplace – which, according to NSC documents, requires that individuals be monitored with dosemeters.

Concerned teachers and parents collaborated on various efforts to reduce radiation exposure to children, and citizen’s group demanded that the schools be promptly decontaminated and closed until safe.

The government responded not with measures to aide such efforts, but by distributing pamphlets that include questionable claims. MEXT published a controversial booklet and distributed it to all Fukushima schools. Titled, “To Correctly Understand Radiation”, the pamphlet offered justifications of the 20mSv/year standard claiming, among things, that

- ‘for “definitive impact” there is a “threshold” below which there is absolutely no damage found. For example, temporary decline in white blood cells will be seen [only] above the threshold level of 250mSv.’
- ‘no clear correlation has been seen between radiation and an increase in the probability of cancer.’

According to the Fukushima Conference, this greatly shifted the tone of the debate; many felt their concerns were largely assuaged by the agency’s confident declarations of safety. This development created an atmosphere where it became more difficult to voice concerns – those in opposition to MEXT’s stance found themselves criticized for “over-reacting”.

Many international groups have come out to criticize the 20 millisievert standard, and, inadvertently, to counter points made in MEXT’s booklet; all have pointed out that children are particularly vulnerable to the long-term effects of radiation.

L’Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN)

On May 27th, France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) highlighted an area northwest of the plant that lies beyond the 20-km (12 mile) zone whose inhabitants have already been evacuated. This report was created to “provide insight” on evacuation measures “to minimize the medium and long-term risks of developing leukaemia or other radiation-induced cancers”. The drafters inform the reader that “it is of the utmost importance” to remember that “these dose estimates only refer to external exposure due to deposits, and do not take into account the additional dose that could be received as a consequence of consumption of contaminated foodstuffs produced locally. It is estimated that the effective dose from ingestion may be significantly higher than the external dose according to the deposit conditions and depending on the effectiveness of implemented food restrictions”.

France starts evacuating at 10 millisieverts; the IRSN, in its study, has recommended that an additional 70,000 Fukushima citizens be evacuated.

Japan Medical Association

On May 12th, the association issued the following statement:

“The scientific basis for choosing the maximum amount of 20 mSv in the band of 1 to 20 mSv is not clear. The government’s action should be more carefully deliberated considering the fact that growing children are more sensitive to radiation exposure compared to adults. We as a nation should make the utmost effort to reduce the exposure to radiation of children, as well as adults. We are responsible for the children’s health and life.” The statement continues, “We urgently request that the Japanese National government strive to reduce children’s exposure to radiation in the fastest and most effective way possible.”

Physicians for Social Responsibility

The U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in late April issued a statement criticizing the Japanese government’s provisional standard, citing research on the link between low-level radiation and cancer. The statement reads:

“It is the consensus of the medical and scientific community, summarized in the US National Academies’ National Research Council report Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation VII (BEIR VII report), that there is no safe level of radiation. Any exposure, including exposure to naturally occurring background radiation, creates an increased risk of cancer. Moreover, not all people exposed to radiation are affected equally. Children are much more vulnerable than adults to the effects of radiation, and fetuses are even more vulnerable. It is unconscionable to increase the allowable dose for children to 20 millisieverts (mSv). Twenty mSv exposes an adult to a one in 500 risk of getting cancer; this dose for children exposes them to a 1 in 200 risk of getting cancer. And if they are exposed to this dose for two years, the risk is 1 in 100. There is no way that this level of exposure can be considered ‘safe’ for children.”

Japan Federation of Bar Associations

Even the attorneys had to chime in! Utilizing their legal skills, the association analyzed the ordinance on the “Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards”, pointing out that “the maximum dose permitted by the new guideline, however, far exceeds (the ordinance’s) limit. Moreover, the Ordinance was enacted to regulate activities involving radiation work and therefore assumes that some degree of control over the degree of radiation exposure is possible. The current situation, however, involves an ongoing crisis, and exposure due to changing weather conditions is entirely possible. The guideline must take full account of such unforeseen factors.” The association goes on to call for the establishment of a “considerably lower radiation limit for children”.

Image

The government has responded with its usual incompetence. In fact, no government agency (MEXT included, but also NSC, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) has actually taken responsibility for this standard. While MEXT established the 3.8 microsieverts/hr provision for school grounds, when the agency faces questions on the resulting 20 msv/hr standard, the bumbling equivocations begin. MEXT’s statement, “we do not believe that there is danger at 20 millisieverts…however, we do not believe that it is fine at 20 millisieverts” seems like a modern zen riddle, requiring multiple re-reads that garner little elucidation. And while the ministry of education did, according to the Fukushima group, rescind the 20 millisieverts standard at a press conference, there have been no concrete actions taken to suggest that it has indeed been rescinded.

The conference, when asked if they had experienced any resistance from the government for their actions, say that though the government has not directly harassed, when they tried to sell a flyer to a newspaper they were told that “nothing that mentions radiation can be distributed in the newspapers.”

It seems that many residents feel that they have already been exposed to the worst of it; conference members expressed concerns that none of the exposure from March 11 to April was counted when the government was setting the provisional standard, of course the interval in which the greatest amount of radiation was most likely released.

More work by Mari Kurisato, who does the wonderful illustrations for our blog, can be found here: http://marikurisato.com/
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby crikkett » Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:28 pm

Oh my.
http://current.com/technology/93471520_ ... ushima.htm


19:05 9/29/2011(JST) ,there was an earthquake near Fukushima plants.

Scale 5+

M5.6

Now there are some aftershocks still.

Strange points

1) Though it was a major earthquake,it was scale 5+ only around Fukushima nuc plants.

2) According to Japan Meteorological Agency,the epicenter was “very shallow”.They can’t even specify how deep it was.

3) Though Fukushima city is in the same prefecture,it was only scale 1 there.

4) A lot of the people heard loud brontide,which is rare for normal earthquake.

Unconfirmed info (info from Twitter)

1) The epicenter is right under Fukushima plants.

2) From the live streaming video,sometimes you see flash from the buildings.

3) From the live streaming video,steam is coming up from around reactor 4.

Facts

1) Radiation level is increasing.
In Futabayama area, 21.48 uSv/h @9/21 → 24.65 uSv/h @9/29 19:01

2) Unusual amount of helicopters and airplanes are flying around in Fukushima. (hovering near Ishimori,Kamiya,etc..)

From viewing all those reports, this earthquake seems to be something usual.

Considering the fact that melted fuel rods are sinking about 17m deep in the ground, it is possible to think the last earthquake was a hydrovolcanic explosion caused by nuclear fuel touching the underground water vein.

[Tweet]
teatree_ft 古田 真人
破局だよ RT あまり考えたくないけど、メルトアウトした燃料と地下水が接触して地下で再臨界だと考えるのが妥当かなと?ふくいち近辺で震度5強だけど隣県で震度4が存在しなかったんです。どう考えても不思議ですよね。

“It’s catastrophic. I don’t even want to imagine,but it might have been some kind of explosion of meltouted fuel rods touching underground vein.
It was scale 5+ just around the plants but no scale 4 class of earthquake detected in other prefectures.”

Tomorrow,Japanese government is lifting the mandatory evacuating area.


From comments in the original article:
Arizonan says:
September 29, 2011 at 2:32 pm
This was not an explosion; the epicenter is 27 miles SW of Fukushima Daiichi:
Earthquake Sept 29
Magnitude5.1 Date-Time
• Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 10:05:08 UTC
• Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 07:05:08 PM at epicenter
• Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location37.196°N, 140.620°E Depth10.1 km (6.3 miles) RegionEASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN Distances28 km (17 miles) NW of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
31 km (19 miles) SE of Koriyama, Honshu, Japan
63 km (39 miles) SSE of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
185 km (114 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan
Location Uncertaintyhorizontal +/- 17 km (10.6 miles); depth +/- 2.8 km (1.7 miles)

19:05 JST 29 Sep 2011 37.1N 141.0E very shallow 5.6 Fukushima-ken Oki
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/201109291 ... 91905.html
Fukushima #1 37.422972N 141.032917E
Fukushima #2 37.316389N 141.025556E
Using USGS coordinates
This earthquake is 27.6 mi (44.39 km) SW from Fukushima Daiichi (#1) Nuclear Power Plant +/- 10.6 miles
This earthquake is 23.8 mi (38.31 km) SW from Fukushima Daini (#2) Nuclear Power Plant +/- 10.6 miles
Using Japan Meteorological Agency coordinates
This earthquake is 22.4 mi (36.03 km) SSW from Fukushima Daiichi (#1) Nuclear Power Plant
This earthquake is 15.02 mi (24.17 km) S from Fukushima Daini (#2) Nuclear Power Plant
You can see this earthquake (barely) at:
http://www.youtube.com/fuku1live#p/u/2/iYOCVIPEbOI

Reply


thedudeabides says:
September 30, 2011 at 6:32 am
“It was scale 5+ just around the plants but no scale 4 class of earthquake detected in other prefectures.”

It was strong enough in Tokyo that I could see things waving back and forth in my flat…
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby undead » Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:04 pm

Psychopatholigarchy moment:

Quake rocks Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant

TOKYO: A 5.6-magnitude earthquake shook an area of northeast Japan which includes the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant Thursday but there were no reports of damage to the facility, officials said.

The moderate quake struck offshore near the coast of Fukushima at 7:05 pm (1005 GMT) with a "very shallow" focus, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

There were no fears of a tsunami following the tremor, the agency said.

"The quake has not caused anything abnormal at Fukushima Daiichi," Masashi Kato, a spokesman for the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., told AFP.

"The plant is continuing its normal operations including the injection of water into the (molten) reactor cores," he added.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage elsewhere.

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 triggered a monster tsunami which killed some 20,000 people and crippled cooling systems at the plant, causing meltdowns in some of its reactors.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... ower-plant
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Nordic » Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:00 am

One doesn't rule the other out. There easily could have been both an earthquake and an explosion that was caused by the earthquake.

If that crap is sinking into the earth, headed toward the water table, an earthquake could have expedited the process.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Saurian Tail » Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:48 am

undead wrote:Psychopatholigarchy moment:

"The plant is continuing its normal operations including the injection of water into the (molten) reactor cores," he added.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... ower-plant

Instant classic! Welcome to the new normal.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 04, 2011 1:57 pm

Cooling Problem Shuts Nuclear Reactor in Japan
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: October 4, 2011

TOKYO -- In a fresh blow to public confidence, a reactor in southern Japan went into automatic shutdown on Tuesday because of problems with its cooling system, clouding the outlook for an imminent restart of the country’s idled nuclear plants.

Kyushu Electric, the operator of the reactor at the Genkai nuclear power plant, characterized the incident as minor and said there was no risk of a radiation leak. A problem with the condenser unit that turns steam back into cooling water appeared to have triggered the halt, but the reactor stopped safely and was undergoing checks, the utility said.

“At no point was the plant under any danger, and the reactor has been brought to a stable shutdown,” said Eiji Yamamoto, a spokesperson for Kyushu Electric. “There has been no effect on radiation levels outside the plant.”

Still, the shutdown came as the government was renewing a push to restart reactors that were idled following the nuclear accident at Fukushima in March. Kyushu Electric said that inspection work had been carried out on a valve of the condenser in question on Tuesday, raising the possibility that human error had triggered the shutdown.

“As we saw in Fukushima, cooling systems are central to the safety of nuclear reactors,” said Chihiro Kamisawa, a researcher at the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, an antinuclear organization. “We cannot take lightly the fact that there was also trouble with the cooling system at Genkai,” he said. “It underscores the fact that safety problems riddle Japan’s reactors.”

After Tuesday’s shutdown, only 10 of 54 reactors remain on the grid, threatening to deprive the nation of the source of almost a third of its electricity. At least four of six reactors at the Fukushima plant, which suffered multiple meltdowns earlier this year, are expected to be permanently decommissioned.

Many other reactors have passed maintenance checks, but have not received the go-ahead to restart. At Genkai, five of six reactors remain offline, and the last is due to halt in December for a scheduled maintenance check, legally required every 13 months.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda recently argued for a swift restart of reactors, albeit after extensive “stress tests” of their safety and ability to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis. Such a drastic loss of nuclear power would bring dire economic consequences, he has repeatedly argued, echoing warnings from Japan’s business lobby.

But he faces an uphill battle amid a collapse of public confidence in Japan’s nuclear program following the accident at Fukushima, where a tsunami knocked out the plant’s cooling systems, triggering meltdowns and a major radiation leak.

The government’s handling of the crisis and its aftermath, from the inadequate evacuation of local residents to scandals involving the restart of other reactors, have added to the public mistrust.

In fact, the governor of the southern prefecture of Saga had tentatively agreed to allow the restart of two idle reactors at Genkai in July. But he rescinded his permission when it was found that Kyushu Electric had tried to manipulate public opinion with fake e-mails to support a reopening of the reactors.

In an Associated Press-GfK poll of Japanese voters published last month, 6 out of 10 respondents said they had little or no confidence in the safety of the country’s nuclear plants. Only 5 percent were very confident.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby seemslikeadream » Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:34 am

Radioactive 'Hot Spots' Detected in Tokyo

By JURO OSAWA

TOKYO—Japanese researchers discovered high levels of radioactive material in concentrated areas in Tokyo and Yokohama, more than 241 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, as increasingly thorough tests provide a clearer picture of just how far contamination has spread and accumulated after the March disaster.

In Tokyo, a sidewalk in Setagaya ward, in the western part of the city, recorded radiation levels of 2.707 microsieverts per hour, about 50 times higher than another location in Setagaya where the ward regularly monitors radiation levels.

"What's puzzling is that the levels detected on other parts of the same sidewalk were very low," said Ken Hatanaka, head of the ward's section in charge of radiation monitoring said.

The ward is consulting experts to figure out what to do with the highly contaminated spot, Mr. Hatanaka added, noting rainwater and sediments containing radioactive fallout may have been more likely to accumulate in such spots.

Still, officials said the discoveries didn't indicate any immediate danger for residents of Japan's largest cities. Overall levels of radiation in those areas remain very low, even near the sites where the new contamination was found.

In Yokohama, the local government said last month that it detected 40,200 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of sediments collected from one part of a roadside ditch.

By comparison, the Japanese government has banned cultivation of rice in fields found to have more than 5,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram of soil.

The discoveries come as Japanese researchers, local governments, and residents are stepping up their monitoring.

Yokohama is investigating another spot on an apartment rooftop where tests conducted by a local private research institute detected more than 60,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per a kilogram of sediments.

Both Setagaya Ward and Yokohama discovered those concentrated spots after residents carrying their radiation measuring devices noticed such spots and reported it to local officials.

Still, those discoveries are unlikely to pose any major risks to Yokohama's more than three million residents, local officials say. Although the cesium levels at those specific tiny spots appear high, airborne radiation levels near the spots aren't particularly high.

Radioactive contamination spreads unevenly depending on wind, weather and topography, and "radioactive elements later accumulate in specific spots that tend to gather dust and rain water, such as ditches," said Akira Hanawa, the head of the Isotope Research Institute in Yokohama, which conducted the tests on the sediments collected from the rooftop.

In the roadside ditch where 40,200 becquerels were detected, another spot in the same ditch recorded only 3,030 becquerels.

"We've always known that there are 'hot spots' where contamination levels are higher than other areas, but these tiny spots are like 'micro hot spots'," said John Kuramochi, who heads the section of the Yokohama city government in charge of monitoring contamination.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:34 pm

Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
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update from Virginia

Postby dqueue » Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:42 pm

The Lake Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia (just over an hour outside Washington, DC) remains shutdown since the earthquake struck in August. Now, inspectors find some leakage from a cooling tower into the surrounding lake (a man-made lake built to assist with external cooling, supposedly designed to not come into contact with radioactive material). Here's a blurb regarding the leak:
Virginia Nuclear Plant Leaks Water into Lake
The Virginia nuclear plant that shut down during the August 23 earthquake leaked cooling water into a nearby body of water, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Inspectors detected the leak at the North Anna plant, near Mineral, Virginia, on October 14.

The water came from out of a loose valve in the plant's cooling tower system. Approximately 272 gallons is believed to have run out of the leaky valve, down into the North Anna Lake.

According to a NRC report, the spilled cooling water was not dangerous to the public's health.

"Samples of the bearing cooling water were analyzed by Chemistry. All chemical parameters analyzed were within VPDES (Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) limits," the NRC wrote in its report.

The North Anna nuclear power plant is operated by Dominion Power.

In Richmond on Monday, Va. Governor Bob McDonnell held a conference on energy. Speaking before the crowd there, former EPA administrator Christie Whitman told the assembled crowd, "Our nuclear industry is extremely safe," the Richmond Times-Dispatch recorded.

Conspicuously absent from the report is what type of radioactive material may have slipped into the adjoining lake.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby cptmarginal » Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:11 pm

TEPCO Ties To The Yakuza: Gone? Police Sources Still Skeptical.

October 22, 2011 | Jake Adelstein

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the monolithic corporation that controls all electric power in Greater Tokyo, and was responsible for a triple meltdown at their nuclear power plant in Fukushima (March 11th-March 15th) pledged on July 19th (2011), that they would try to keep organized crime members (yakuza) from participating in the reconstruction of the power plant and related projects. They have been working with the Japanese National Police Agency to accomplish this but sources inside that agency are dubious as to whether there have been any real results. TEPCO officials met with the National Police and agency and 23 subcontractors on the 22nd of July and created a conference group on the issue. This was the first official conference group they have ever held with the police on organized crimes issues according to government sources.

Tokyo Electric Power Company explained, at the time, that the reasons behind the sudden announcement and pledges is, “that we want to people to widely know our exclusionary stance towards organized crime.”

According to TEPCO and police sources, since the reconstruction project has picked up speed, the number of workers has dramatically increased to several thousand. The Japanese NPA (National Police Agency) has directed TEPCO from as early as June, to keep the yakuza out of the workers—although many of the subcontractors of the subcontractors are known yakuza front companies. Over forty workers or more later were found to have used fake names when getting jobs doing reconstruction work and are presently unaccounted for. A former yakuza fan magazine editor, has also been able to get into the reactor as a worker under false pretenses. He has written extensively about yakuza working on the reconstruction site at present. Another recently published book detailed how a reporter was able to fake his credentials, and get access to the core control sections of the nuclear reactors.

Even before the meltdown, it was very common for TEPCO to use outsourcing firms that that would ultimately outsource work to organized crime front companies, many of which are temporary labor dispatch services, such as Kodo-kai backed M-Kogyo in Fukuoka Prefecture and Yokohama city. Organized crime groups from Kyushu are bringing workers as well. Matsuba-kai related firms are handling waste disposal and site clean-ups.

In fact, in May, TEPCO’s Public Relations Department, when asked by this reporter, if TEPCO had what are now the standard “organized crime exclusionary clauses” (暴力団排除条項) in their contracts with subcontractors, replied, “We don’t have them standardized into our contracts. We don’t check or demand that our subcontractors have them in their contracts. We are considering doing so in the future.” TEPCO has also not fully implemented the Japanese government issued guidelines for corporations who wish to avoid doing business with organized crime. TEPCO also refused to name the companies they use for outsourcing labor, or doing security checks, and the general security at the nuclear power plants, “because to do so would be in non-compliance with personal privacy information protection laws.”

At the conferences with the police, TEPCO was supposed to share information with the police, learn the proper methods of dealing with organized crime shakedowns, and study how to do the paperwork to require the subcontractors to exclude organized crime from their businesses. However, TEPCO will probably not be held responsible for the second or third tier firms to which the work is further subcontracted. A senior National Police Agency officer, speaking on grounds of anonymity said, “I doubt these meetings with TEPCO have produced any great results. TEPCO has a history of doing business with the yakuza that is far deeper than just using their labor. Under the new laws that went into effect on October 1st, providing capital or profits to anti-social forces becomes a crime. The TMPD (Tokyo Metro Police Department) may have to issue TEPCO a warning. After the warning, there would be arrests.”

The same source noted that a TEPCO employee was arrested for insurance fraud along with a Sumiyoshi-kai member in May of this year but there was no evidence that TEPCO itself or any other TEPCO employees were involved in the crime. It only indicated that at least one TEPCO employee had organized crime connections. In January of 2003, it was reported that TEPCO had been making pay offs to the Sumiyoshi-kai for over twenty years via leasing plants and buying green tea from them. TEPCO also allegedly paid Yamaguchi-gumi associate and former member, Takeuchi Yoichi (竹内陽一元山口組組長), several thousand dollars to stop writing about safety problems at the Fukushima nuclear reactor in the 90s. Circa 2002-2003 Mizutani Construction, after being named a sub-contractor on TEPCO’s Fukushima nuclear reactor waste disposal project (残土処理), paid Takeuchi’s front company as “consulting fees” an amount over a million dollars (約一億2千万円). This is well-documented in the recently published book on Mizutani Kensetsu by Isao Mori. I spoke with one NPA official responsible for the Fukushima District about Takeuchi and his involvement with TEPCO. He had a very short response: “I know the name very well. I’d be careful where and to whom you asked that question. That’s all I have to say.”

There’s one good thing you can say about TEPCO: they have been equal opportunity employers for many years and don’t discriminate against the yakuza. Sumiyoshi-kai, Yamaguchi-gumi, Matsuba-kai–everyone is welcome at TEPCO.
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Re: Nuclear Meltdown Watch

Postby Pele'sDaughter » Wed Nov 02, 2011 8:20 am

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/no ... ar-fission

Fukushima suffers setback as officials detect signs of nuclear fission

Traces of radioactive gas are detected at Fukushima's No 2 reactor – one of three that suffered core meltdown

The operation to stabilise the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has suffered a setback after officials said they had detected small traces of a radioactive gas that is a byproduct of nuclear fission.

The discovery was made as a nuclear reactor in south-western Japan became the first to start generating electricity following a series of shutdowns in the wake of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

The operator of Fukushima Daiichi, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said it had found signs of recent nuclear fission inside the No 2 reactor, one of three at the plant that suffered core meltdown in March.

Japan's nuclear safety agency said the situation was stable and that the small amounts of radioactive material did not present a risk to public health.

The utility dismissed the possibility of a "major criticality accident", in which a sustained nuclear reaction occurs, but has not ruled out localised criticality inside the reactor.

The reactor's pressure and temperature had remained stable, it said, adding that radiation levels in the vicinity had not risen.

Workers began injecting water containing boric acid into the reactor via a cooling pipe to prevent a possible fission chain reaction.

"Given the signs, it is certain that fission is occurring," Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tepco, told reporters.


Evidence that even partial or temporary nuclear fission had occurred underlined the fragile state of the plant almost eight months after it was struck by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out vital cooling systems.

The accident, the worst in the history of the Japanese nuclear power industry, forced the evacuation of 80,000 residents from a 12-mile radius around the plant. People living closest to Fukushima Daiichi have been told their old neighbourhoods could remain unsafe for decades.

Decommissioning the plant is expected to take at least 30 years, according to a recent report by the country's nuclear energy commission.

A Tepco spokesman insisted that the latest setback would not affect the company's roadmap towards making the plant safe by the end of the year. "We have confirmed that the reactor is stable and we don't believe this will have any impact on our future work," Osamu Yokokura told Associated Press.

Tepco said it had detected low densities of radioactive xenon-133 and -135 in gas samples extracted from the No 2 reactor.

The substances have relatively short half-lives of five days and nine hours, respectively, so their presence suggests that nuclear fission has occurred undetected inside the reactor very recently, raising the possibility of lingering activity inside its melted core.

The news coincided with the restart of a reactor at the Genkai nuclear plant in Saga prefecture on the island of Kyushu.

The reactor, which shut down automatically after an abnormality was spotted early last month, went back into service on Tuesday night and began generating electricity on Wednesday, according to Kyushu Electric Power.

The reactor will shut down again in December to undergo safety checks. Only 19 of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors are currently in operation due to regular inspections or earthquake damage.

They must pass recently introduced stress tests before they can go back online, although strong local opposition could delay or prevent the restart of reactors even after they are given the all-clear.

The government approved Genkai's restart after attributing the fault to human error and approving the utility's response.
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