Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Reactors

[dorispulaski]

[b]TEPCO Status, October 31, 10:00 AM JST

They are continuing to raise the amount of water injected to Unit 1 to decrease the amount of steam and relative humidity in the building

- At 3:05 pm on October 30, we adjusted the amount of water injection to the reactor of Unit 1 to approximately 6.5 ㎥/h in order to improve the working environment inside the covering, making it sure to mitigate the steam emission at the reactor building of Unit 1.

The gas management system at Unit 2 is in use

At 12:53 pm on October 28, we activated the exhaust fan of the gas management system of the reactor containment vessel in the reactor building and started test operation. As we confirmed stable operation of the system, from 6:00 pm on the same day, we put the system in operation. Regarding the hydrogen concentration of the gas management system of the reactor containment vessel in Unit 2, we confirmed that it increased to approx. 2.7vol% at 5:00pm on October 30, which was approx. 1vol% at the beginning of the operation. Therefore we adjusted the amount of injecting nitrogen gas to the Primary Containment Vessel from approx.16.5 N ㎥/h to 21 N ㎥/h at 6:10 pm on October 30 in order to avoid exceeding the combustible threshold concentration (4vol%) of hydrogen

and water moving continues

-From 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on October 30, we transferred accumulated water from the turbine building of Unit 6 to the temporarily built tank.

-At 10:00 am on October 31, we started transferring accumulated water from the temporarily built tank to Mega-float.

NHK NEWS

It is good to see countries learning from the experiences of other countries.

Fukushima officials leave for Chernobyl

A delegation from Fukushima Prefecture is en route to 2 former Soviet republics to investigate how they have dealt with lingering radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Fukushima University organized the 8-day trip to Ukraine and Belarus. More than 30 medical experts and municipal officials are participating, including Yuko Endo, the mayor of Kawauchi, a village near the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

On Tuesday, the group will meet Belarusian officials in charge of disaster reconstruction and view the various kinds of devices being used to measure radiation.

The group will also visit the Chernobyl nuclear plant as well as schools and hospitals in areas where radiation levels remain high.

The group hopes to learn what decontamination measures have been taken and how the health of local residents is being monitored.

Kawauchi Village Mayor Endo says the delegation has a lot to learn from the Chernobyl accident, such as when the evacuees were allowed to return home. He says he'll try to make the best of the trip to rebuild his village.
Monday, October 31, 2011 11:06 +0900 (JST)

Japan is supplying nuclear reactors to the rest of the world still.

Vietnam PM confirms Japan's nuclear plant contract

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has reconfirmed his country's policy to purchase Japanese nuclear reactors despite the Fukushima accident.

The visiting prime minister met Japan's trade and industry minister Yukio Edano on Monday.

Dung told Edano that Vietnam trusts Japan's advanced nuclear technology. He said his government wants Japanese firms to build the world's safest nuclear power plants in the country.

Edano thanked Vietnam's continued confidence in the safety and technological quality of Japan's nuclear plants even after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Edano and Dung also agreed that the 2 countries will continue their joint mining of rare earth minerals in Vietnam.

Japanese companies last year won contracts to build 2 reactors. Vietnam plans to start operating by 2021 to meet increasing electricity demand.

Talks between Japan and Vietnam on government support and financial aid for the projects was suspended for awhile after the accident in Fukushima Prefecture.
Monday, October 31, 2011 15:43 +0900 (JST)

You'd think that people trained as doctors would have some better understanding than this. The drop in applications at Miyagi is particularly troubling.

Disaster zone expecting fewer trainee doctors
Hospitals in quake-struck northeastern Japan are seeing a drop in the number of medical school graduates wanting to undergo training at their facilities.

Under Japan's clinical training system, medical students must complete 2 years of residency to be fully certified as doctors, but can choose where to train.

The health ministry says the number of new doctors who have applied to train at hospitals from next April in the 3 worst-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima is down by 10 percent from the previous year.

The number of doctors applying to hospitals in Miyagi has plunged by 15 percent. Hospitals in Fukushima, where a nuclear accident has yet to be contained, have only received 61 applicants for 146 openings.

The drop comes despite the health ministry's appeal on its website for trainee doctors to make visiting tours to hospitals in the northeast.

The ministry says it may add more information online, such as profiles of the hospitals that are still seeking trainees.
Monday, October 31, 2011 11:25 +0900 (JST)

Perhaps this blogger is correct, and more education is needed at a lower level. When I was a kid, a nuclear experiment set for children was available (as were chemistry sets). I never received one, as there were expensive, but it sounds like a good kit.

http://depletedcranium.com/time-to-r...xperiment-set/

[dorispulaski]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1..._lnk3%7C108718

And, yes, Global Warming is Real. When a study paid for by the Koch brothers, well known supporters of the Tea Party and other right wing causes, including denying global warming, says it's so, it's so.

Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.

He said he went even further back, studying readings from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. His ultimate finding of a warming world, to be presented at a conference Monday, is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have been saying for decades.

What's different, and why everyone from opinion columnists to "The Daily Show" is paying attention is who is behind the study.

One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the tea party. The Koch brothers, Charles and David, run a large privately held company involved in oil and other industries, producing sizable greenhouse gas emissions.

Muller's research team carefully examined two chief criticisms by skeptics. One is that weather stations are unreliable; the other is that cities, which create heat islands, were skewing the temperature analysis.

"The skeptics raised valid points and everybody should have been a skeptic two years ago," Muller said in a telephone interview. "And now we have confidence that the temperature rise that had previously been reported had been done without bias."

Muller said that he came into the study "with a proper skepticism," something scientists "should always have. I was somewhat bothered by the fact that there was not enough skepticism" before.




There is no reason now to be a skeptic about steadily increasing temperatures, Muller wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages, a place friendly to skeptics. Muller did not address in his research the cause of global warming. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists say it's man-made from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Nor did his study look at ocean warming, future warming and how much of a threat to mankind climate change might be.

Still, Muller said it makes sense to reduce the carbon dioxide created by fossil fuels.

"Greenhouse gases could have a disastrous impact on the world," he said. Still, he contends that threat is not as proven as the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is.

[Olympia]

Gee, it's about time!

Does this mean we'll finally do something about global warming?

I haven't heard Romney or Perry agree to its existence. How long do you suppose we have to wait for that.

[dorispulaski]

I'll comment on global warming later, as there is some news from Fukushima (with the GPF on things get busy here at GS and I don't have quite as much time for this thread)

TEPCO Status, November 2nd, 3:30 PM JST (and previous back to last report by me)

Radiation Dropping Everywhere

Radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi Site Boundaries, 8 Sites (4, 10, 13, 12, 14, 33, 71, 97) microSieverts

Radiation at the Fukushima Daini Site Boundaries, 7 Sites (1.7, 1.1, 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 0.8, 1.0) microSieverts

Temperature dropping everywhere.

Unit 1 temperature Graph; highest temperature 55.1 C, all decreasing. There's a big drop in temperature since they doubled the amount of water being injected.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi..._data_1u-e.pdf

Unit 2 temperature Graph; highest temperature 81.9 C, all decreasing:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi..._data_2u-e.pdf

Highest temperature at Unit 3 of 11 measurements: 82.1 C
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi..._data_1u-e.pdf

A lot of handouts:

Sampling gas inside the containment vessel of Unit 2-They finally had the ability to do this yesterday.
There are some odd things about this data. Very odd. They have short lived Krypton isotopes and Xenon isotopes and yet they haven't got Cesium 134, which is all over the place at Fukushima Daiichi. Also if you have some critical activity, I would expect radioactive iodine. And they have none. There will be a lot of stuff going on, but I wonder whether their equipment is working quite right? There are going to be numerous followup reports on this one, both at TEPCO and in the news.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11102_04-e.pdf
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11102_01-e.pdf

Analysis of air at many points around Fukushima Daiichi
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11101_02-e.pdf

And the regular status:

Unit 1 (The increased water injection has caused the temperature to drop everywhere)

At 4:14 am on November 2, we adjusted the amount of water injection to the reactor to approximately 7.5m3/h. The current water injection volume is approx 7.6 m3/h from the reactor feed water system.

Unit 2 Boric acid "poisons" i.e. slows down any nuclear reactions. They used a lot of it earlier in the year.

On November 1, we conducted a nuclide analysis of emitted gas sampled by the gas management system of the reactor containment vessel. It was found out that there was a possibility that short-half-life radionuclide (xenon 133, 135) was detected. There has been no significant variation as a result of our continuous monitoring of the temperature and the pressure in the reactor, and the figures of the monitoring posts. However, just to be safe we injected boric-acid solution through reactor water injection line from 2:48 am to 3:47 am on November 2, since it was undeniable that fission reaction had occurred.

From 11:23 am to 1:23 pm on November 1, we conducted a dust sampling around the blowout panel of the reactor building.

At 4:14 am on November 2, we adjusted the amount of water injection to the reactor to approximately 3 m3/h through reactor feed water system piping arrangement, and 7 m3/h core spray system water injection piping arrangement.

Unit 4

-At 12:44 pm on July 31, we started cyclic cooling for the water in the spent fuel pool by an alternative cooling equipment of the Fuel Pool Cooling and Filtering System (hydrazine [corrosion inhibitor] was injected from 10:16 am to 0:10 pm on November 2).

At 11:45 am on October 9, we confirmed that the test runs of the three evaporative concentration apparatus (3A, 3B, 3C) that were additionally installed in the water desalination were successfully completed. On November 1, we started full operation of these three evaporative concentration apparatus (3A, 3B, 3C) considering the balance of both the accumulated water and the coolant injection to the reactor.
* At 11:45 am on October 9, we confirmed that the test runs of the three evaporative concentration apparatus (3A, 3B, 3C) that were additionally installed in the water desalination were successfully completed. On November 1, we started full operation of these three evaporative concentration apparatus (3A, 3B, 3C) considering the balance of both the accumulated water and the coolant injection to the reactor.

* At 10:00 am on November 1, we started transferring the accumulated water, which had been transferred from the Unit 6 turbine building to the temporary tank, from the temporary tank to the mega float.

-At 10:11 am on November 2, we started transferring accumulated water from the basement of the Unit 3 turbine building to the High Temperature Incinerator Building of the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility.

And more warnings that power may be in short supply this winter

[Impacts on Power Supply and Demand Balance] This winter, there will be some minus factors such as the regular inspection of Unit 5 at Kashiwazaki-Kriwa Nuclear Power Station. On the other hand, there will be several plus factors such as the recovery of the common thermal power stations which suffered the earthquake. As a result, we expect to secure 54.9 million kW (at the end of December), 54.6 million kW (at the end of January), 53.7 million kW (at the end of February) supply power. Compared to the maximum demand in the last winter, which is 51.5 million kW, we will have 2.2 - 3.4 million kW generation reserve margin. We expect to maintain stable power supply this winter, however, as there remains possibilities of unplanned shutdowns at our power stations and growth in the demand according to the rapid change in the temperature, we would like to ask your reasonable effort to save electricity. We will continue to make our efforts to maintain stable operation and maintenance of the power facilities in order to "prevent in principle" the planned blackouts and secure power supply.

Will Smith of Atomic Power Review has the most current info:
http://atomicpowerreview.blogspot.co...chi-no_02.html
The second chart referred to is the one I have linked from TEPCO below.

A second sample run at Fukushima Daiichi No. 2, a day after the first, has detected Xenon-135 but failed to detect any Xenon-133.

This is good news in one way, in that one of the isotopes was not detected. Some Japanese outlets are still reporting that TEPCO wants NISA to assist in a re-evaluation of the samples since it believes (or believed at some point) that perhaps some error in reading may have indicated Xenon in place of another element entirely.

TEPCO's latest, very new, press release (3 PM Tokyo, November 2) gives no data at all either about the Xenon detection or the boric acid injection. It also omits the injection rate change and gives the old one. Clearly this press report is in error (probably a clerical error omitting the new entries for No. 2) and I'd expect this to be amended or replaced.

TEPCO will be checking the other two plants (No. 1, No. 3) with reactor cores installed for presence of Xenon.

While some outlets continue to use the term "critical" in reference to No. 2 plant and the fission event leading to the Xenon production, it is imperative to understand that no sustained nuclear chain reaction occurred. No site radiation monitoring equipment detected anything alarming or even spurious. No increase in temperature or pressure was noted. The condition of the remains of the core are just not likely at all to be able to sustain any kind of chain reaction / fission rate... considering the mixture of non-fertile and also poisonous (neutron-absorbing) materials now melted integrally in and around the fuel material.

Also... for our non-nuclear friends... the Xenon generated in fission is normally contained inside the fuel elements (be they rods, plates, or other) and decays or absorbs neutrons to move down the chain to a stable element. It remains there permanently. Only because the core materials are damaged or melted at Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 is the Xenon which is produced able to get out into the water and air volume inside the plant at this time and thus be detected by the gas sampling equipment. The effects of Xenon on reactor operation are well known but normally the Xenon is NOT emitted.

At this time there are no changes in detected radioactive materials on site or off site, no alerts off site have been made, and conditions operationally on site are as they were before this recent event.

NHK NEWS

There are a flurry of articles about the results of the first measurements of gases from the containment vessel of Unit 2. I expect to see more infrared measurements of Unit 2 done to look for hot spots, too.:

Temperature, pressure unchanged in No.2 reactor

TEPCO says temperature and pressure in the No.2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is basically unchanged in a 24-hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The company says the temperature at the bottom of the reactor was 76 degrees Celsius as of 5 AM on Wednesday. That was down 1.4 degrees from 24 hours earlier.

The reactor's pressure gauge registered 0.007 megapascals at 5 AM on Wednesday, down one part per thousand from the same time on Tuesday .
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 12:05 +0900 (JST)

[Nuke watchdog says fresh meltdown unlikely

Japan's nuclear watchdog says it believes another meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is unlikely, but will continue to monitor the situation closely.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency held a news conference on Wednesday, after radioactive xenon was detected in the containment vessel of the No.2 reactor. The presence of the substance indicates that nuclear fission may have briefly resumed.

The safety agency says it is unlikely that nuclear fuel has begun melting again, as the density of xenon is low and there has been no change in the reactor's temperatures.

The agency also says it will closely monitor if xenon continues to be detected after Tokyo Electric Power Company poured boric acid solution into the reactor to suppress nuclear fission.

It added that it cannot yet say how the latest development will affect the government's plan to achieve a cold shutdown of the disabled reactors by the end of the year.

Senior official Yoshinori Moriyama said it is difficult to determine the amount of nuclear fuel remaining in the containment vessel of the No.2 reactor. He said his agency will assess the situation and judge if it is still possible to stably lower temperatures in the reactor and containment vessel.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 15:10 +0900 (JST)

It should take a couple weeks for short lived isotopes to disappear.

TEPCO: New criticality seen at No.2 reactor

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant says the No.2 reactor may have recently gone critical.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Wednesday its latest findings suggest that the state of criticality may have continued temporarily.

TEPCO detected radioactive substances, xenon-133 and xenon-135, in gas taken from the reactor's containment vessel on Tuesday. Both materials are produced during nuclear fission and have a short half-life of 5 days and 9 hours respectively.

The xenon-133 registered 14 parts per million becquerels per cubic centimeter, and the xenon-135 12 parts per million.

After detecting the xenon, TEPCO poured a boric acid solution into the No.2 reactor to suppress nuclear fission. It said temperature and pressure in the reactor are basically unchanged.

The operator says the reactor continues to cool, and that it expects to achieve cold shutdown by the end of the year as planned.

It says it will continue to monitor xenon levels in the No.2 reactor and also check conditions in the No.1 and No.3 reactors.

TEPCO adds it will discuss the matter with the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 13:26 +0900 (JST)

TEPCO: Radiation levels unchanged

TEPCO says the radiation reading taken on Wednesday near the No.2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was basically unchanged from the day before.

The utility says the reading, taken at a monitoring post about 500 meters northwest of the reactor, stood at 293 microsieverts per hour at 9 AM, up only one microsievert from 24 hours earlier.

It says the radiation level near the compound's west gate, about one kilometer from the No.2 reactor, was also unchanged at 11.2 microsieverts per hour, and that no neutron radiation was detected.

Readings at 8 other monitoring posts on Wednesday were also the same as Tuesday.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 11:41 +0900 (JST)

Xenon suggests possible nuclear fission

A nuclear energy expert says the presence of xenon in the No.2 reactor leaves open the possibility that localized and temporary fission could still occur.

Professor Koji Okamoto of the University of Tokyo Graduate School says substances from melted fuel that could undergo fission are probably scattered around, but are unlikely to react.

He says, however, that neutrons from radioactive materials could react with the uranium fuel and other substances.

Okamoto says a self-sustaining chain reaction that creates criticality is unlikely to happen because huge amounts of boric acid have been poured into the reactor.

He adds that these neutrons must be closely monitored to make sure fission does not take place.

The professor also referred to a plan by the government and TEPCO to achieve a state of cold shutdown by the end of the year. He says that if fission reactions are not under control, it would not be a cold shutdown.

Okamoto says TEPCO must locate the melted fuel inside and outside the reactor in order to prevent further reactions.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 10:24 +0900 (JST)

They have yet to detect any neutrons not from cosmic rays since March.

Yesterday, this was reported. I wonder whether the media will go?

Media to tour Fukushima nuclear plant

Nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono says he will allow media into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Saturday next week, for the first time since the March 11th disaster.

Hosono spoke to reporters on Tuesday about the government plan to achieve cold shutdown, maintaining the temperature of reactors at less than 100 degrees Celsius, by the end of the year.

He said work is underway and in order to confirm the process, he will visit the plant on November 12th and exchange views with people directly involved in the operation.

Hosono said the situation at the plant is gradually settling down so he will allow a fixed number of journalists to accompany him.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011 13:08 +0900 (JST)

And this is the first time this has happened since March 11: a reactor has resumed operation

Genkai reactor resumes power generation

A reactor at the Genkai nuclear plant in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, has resumed power generation after a nearly monthlong stoppage.

The resumption at the plant's No. 4 reactor took place on Wednesday afternoon. The reactor had stopped generating power automatically on October 4th due to a procedural error.

The plant's operator, Kyushu Electric Power Company, restarted the reactor on Tuesday after getting the go-ahead from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Kyushu Electric plans to gradually increase the amount of power generated and return to normal operation by Friday.

The plant is the first in Japan to resume operation after the March accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The reactor is scheduled to be stopped for a regular inspection next month.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 17:01 +0900 (JST)

It will not be running for long, apparently.

SDP head criticizes Genkai reactor restart

Opposition Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima is criticizing the government for allowing the restart of a nuclear reactor in western Japan.

The No.4 reactor at the Genkai plant in Saga Prefecture was shut down early last month in a procedural error. Kyushu Power Electric Company will restart the reactor later on Wednesday.

Fukushima told her party executive on Wednesday the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and Nuclear Safety Commission can't be trusted. She called for open debate before restarting any nuclear reactors. She strongly opposed restarting the Genkai reactor saying there was no discussion about it in the Diet.
Fukushima noted the Kyushu utility has been criticized recently for trying to manipulate public opinion in favor of nuclear power. She said she can't believe the industry ministry and the agency have approved restarting the reactor.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 16:39 +0900 (JST)

With the reactors going off line and not being allowed to return, one by one, worries are starting:

Winter electricity-saving campaign starts

Power-saving efforts have begun in the western Japanese city of Kitakyushu due to concerns over a possible energy shortage this winter.

The city launched the 5-month electricity-saving campaign on Tuesday, calling for employees to dress warmly and use less heating.

Heaters will be set at 19 degrees Celsius at about 190 municipal facilities, including city hall and ward offices.

Workers are encouraged to keep themselves warm with cardigan sweaters, lap robes and hot drinks.

The central government will ask households and companies in the Kyushu region to voluntarily cut their electricity consumption by more than 5 percent.

All nuclear power plants operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Company will be halted for regular checkups by the end of the year.

A city official said he supports the initiative because he has heard about the tight power supply that is expected this winter.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 17:02 +0900 (JST)

Fukushima delegation visiting Belarus near Chernobyl

Local government officials and researchers from Fukushima Prefecture are now in Belarus to learn how residents dealt with radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The delegation comprising about 30 people is on a 6-day trip to the former Soviet republics of Belarus and Ukraine, which were heavily contaminated in the accident.

Yuko Endo, the mayor of Kawauchi Village near the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is among the members.

On Tuesday, the group met Belarusian Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Alexander Goncharov. They heard about what decontamination measures have been taken and how the health of local residents is being monitored.

Mayor Endo asked Belarusian officials what local municipalities need to do to prepare for the return of residents to affected areas.

A Belarusian official replied that participation of local residents is indispensable in the policymaking process, and that information needs to be provided for that purpose.

Endo said he wants to speak with people in Belarus about their lives after returning home. For those who cannot return, he said he wants to find out what is standing in the way.

The group is to visit the Chernobyl plant, a hospital where thyroid cancer patients are being treated and other facilities.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 09:49 +0900 (JST)

The Daily Yomiuri On Line reports on the Stress Test Report Submitted by KEPCO on the Ohi 3 Reactor. The computer-based test found that the reactor could withstand ground motion from an earthquake nearly double the strength of the plant’s design and a tsunami four times stronger than the plant’s safety standards.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111029002518.htm

With a number of nuclear reactors set to be suspended for regular inspections, but no clear government criteria for allowing their reactivation, it remains unclear whether a sufficient electricity supply can be secured this winter. Uncertainty also remains as to whether local governments and residents will approve restarting the reactors.
Kansai Electric Power Co. on Friday submitted the results of a stress test on the No. 3 reactor at its Oi nuclear power plant in Oicho, Fukui Prefecture, to the government. After receiving the thick report, Shinichi Kuroki, deputy director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said: "We'll examine this without delay. We'll discuss this issue in a transparent fashion at a hearing with outside experts."
...
KEPCO wanted to be the first to submit the stress test report, ahead of other utilities, because of its heavier dependence on nuclear power--accounting for 51 percent of its power generation in fiscal 2010.
...
If none of the reactors are restarted, there will be a 9.2 percent shortage of electricity across the nation next summer, worse than this summer.

(Oct. 30, 2011)
OLDER NHK REPORTS THAT I MISSED

Govt lowers land assessments for disaster zone

The government has lowered its land price assessments for areas of northeastern Japan affected by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

Land assessments for inheritance and gift tax calculations are set annually on January 1st. This means that damage from the March disaster is not reflected in this year's calculations.

The National Tax Agency on Tuesday released land price adjustment rates for locations in 10 prefectures, including a plunge of 80 percent for Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture. Many of the town's residents were killed by the tsunami.

Other municipalities in Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures were assessed with a 70 to 75 percent drop in land prices.

This is the second time the agency has had to adjust land price rates in the wake of a disaster.
After the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that struck Kobe and vicinity in western Japan, land prices in affected areas were downgraded, but the maximum price fall then was 25 percent.

The adjustments do not apply to areas around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Land prices there will be assigned zero as it is nearly impossible to evaluate the commercial effect of radioactive contamination on property.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011 16:37 +0900 (JST)

Public concern about nuclear accident preparedness

A survey conducted by NHK shows that many local governments support a plan to expand the disaster preparedness zone around nuclear power plants to 30 kilometers.

The government's Nuclear Safety Commission called for a wider zone following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Currently, only residents living within 10-kilometers of nuclear plants are required to take emergency preparedness measures.

Last week, NHK sent questionnaires to 142 local governments across the country located within a 30-kilometer radius of nuclear power plants, except for Fukushima. All of them responded.

70 percent approved of the plan to expand the zone.

Only 20 percent felt they are prepared to take effective measures in case of a nuclear emergency.

Asked what they're worried about most, 58 percent said transport procedures for an evacuation. 50 percent said measures to take care of the sick and elderly and 36 percent said ensuring adequate evacuation routes.

On specific issues, some governments said they were concerned about how they could manage an expanded anti-disaster zone with a large population and a concentration of industry. Some said they would not be able to secure enough experts and funds to make sufficient preparations for nuclear emergencies.
Monday, October 31, 2011 18:36 +0900 (JST)

And this is good news:
http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/...update_31.html

Tokyo Electric Power Co. reports that pilot tests of the ventilation system associated with the cover it has installed over Fukushima Daiichi reactor 1 showed the system successfully filtered more than 90 percent of the radioactive cesium released from the reactor. TEPCO is considering installing similar covers for reactors 3 and 4, both of which were damaged by hydrogen explosions following the March 11 accident.

Considering how small Belgium is, I have to say that an evacuation plan would be difficult. I can see why they would do this.

Belgium to abolish nuclear power

Belgium has decided to shut down all its nuclear reactors following Japan's nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima Prefecture.

The European nation has 7 nuclear reactors at 2 plants still operating.

6 parties are in the midst of policy discussions to form a new government.

They agreed to draw up the plan for a shutdown of the three oldest nuclear reactors by 2015 and a complete exit by 2025.

They say they will implement the plan after considering alternative energy sources to replace nuclear power, which currently provides over 50 percent of the nation's electricity.
Belgium had been reviewing the economic effects of a law passed to abolish nuclear energy in 2003. The Fukushima nuclear accident influenced the decision to implement the shutdown.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany and Switzerland renounced the use of nuclear energy, while France and the Netherlands, both major nuclear plant exporters, support its use.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011 04:59 +0900 (JST)

[dorispulaski]

TEPCO STATUS, November 4th, 10:00 AM JST and earlier

Unit 2 CRITICALITY CALL WAS A FALSE ALARM

We found a possibility to detect short-half-life radionuclide such as Xe-133 and Xe-135 according to our radionuclide analysis sampled on November 1 by the gas management system of the reactor containment vessel of Unit 2. We continued to monitor the temperature, pressure and data from monitoring post and there was no significant fluctuation from those data. As we can't be denied a possibility of fission reactions, we decided to start injecting boric acid water from reactor feed water system at 2:48 am on November 2 and stopped it at 3:47 pm on the same day. At around 7:20 pm on the same day, Japan Atomic Energy Agency evaluated that the TEPCO's analysis result of the short-half-life radionuclide such as Xe-133 and Xe-135 detection was valid. We consider that they were generated by the spontaneous fission on the grounds that the concentration of detected short-half-like radionuclide (Xe-135) is low, that short-half-like radionuclide (Xe-135) was detected even after the boric acid, which stops nuclear fission chain reactions, was injected, and that the parameters of the reactor were not significantly changed.

Since the boric acid did not change the rate of the xenon being evolved, it is more likely that the xenon comes from the spontaneous breakdown of radioactive curium. For quite some time, curium was found in soils outside the plant, so it is not surprising that it would be found inside the plant.

* At 10:00 am on November 3, we started transferring accumulated water from the basement of the Unit 6 turbine building to temporary storage tanks. At 4:00 pm on November 3, we stopped transferring accumulated water.

From 10:00 am to 4:00pm on November 3, we transferred the accumulated water from the Unit 6 turbine building to temporary storage tanks.

-At 9:38 am on November 4, we started transferring the accumulated water from the basement of the Unit 2 turbine building to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility.

-On 10 am on November 4, we started transferring the accumulated water form the site bunker building to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility.

At 12:40 pm on November 3, we started the work to install an additional flow meter into the nitrogen gas injection line into Unit 2 to improve the reliability of the nitrogen injection. It was finished at 2:00 pm on the same day, For this work the nitrogen injection was suspended for approximately 10 minutes, however, there were no significant changes in the parameters of Unit 2.

* Hydrogen concentration in the exhaust gas of the gas management system of Unit 2 primary containment vessel was increased from 2.7% (at 6:10 pm, October 30, when the last change of the amount of nitrogen filling) to 2.9% (at 4:30 pm, November 3). Therefore, at 4:50 pm that day, the amount of nitrogen gas filling was adjusted from approximately 21 m3/h to 26 m3/h so that hydrogen concentration in the exhaust gas does not exceed inflammability limiting concentration (4%).

These kinds of adjustment are exactly why they installed a gas management system.


http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11102_05-e.pdf
Blocking air leaks here and there in reactor

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11103_01-e.pdf
A slide describing two reactions that could produce Xenon 135-one is subcritical and involves Curium fissioning sporadically. The other one is the typical fission of uranium.

NHK NEWS

TEPCO retracts criticality call

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant has retracted an earlier assessment that a continuous nuclear reaction, or a criticality, could have taken place in the damaged Number 2 reactor.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Thursday that the small amount of xenon-135 it detected in gas taken from the reactor's containment vessel was the result of the spontaneous nuclear fission of radioactive curium-242 and -244. The two substances are contained in nuclear fuel.

The amount of xenon-135 detected almost matched the amount that would have been produced if the radioactive curium in the fuel had undergone spontaneous fission.

TEPCO says a criticality event would have resulted in higher levels of xenon concentration.

Spontaneous fission refers to the nuclear fission of radioactive materials other than uranium, and it does not lead to criticality. Such fission is said to occur constantly.

The earlier detection of small amounts of Xenon-135 had suggested the possibility of a criticality occurrence in the melted fuel in the damaged reactor.

TEPCO sys it will send the assessment to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency for reevaluation.
Thursday, November 03, 2011 15:20 +0900 (JST)

There is a slight error-uranium does undergo spontaneous fission, just not as often as curium.

Shareholders to seek money from TEPCO managers

Tokyo Electric Power Company shareholders are poised to launch court procedures and demand that the utility's current and former management return more than 14 billion dollars to the firm.

About 30 shareholders plan to file a class-action lawsuit against roughly 60 executives who worked at TEPCO over the past 2 decades.

The investors say they will take legal action if the company refuses to demand that the executives return the large sum of money.

Observers say that if the shareholders go to court, the damages they would seek would be a record high in Japan's judicial history.

The shareholders claim that TEPCO executives failed to take adequate safety measures to protect the plant from an earthquake and tsunami waves.

One investor said that the executives repeatedly emphasized the safety of nuclear plants. However, the accident has caused irreparable damage.

The group claims that at shareholders' meetings the executives never heeded the safety concerns discussed involving nuclear power generation.

TEPCO says it can't comment on the lawsuit until it knows more details.
Friday, November 04, 2011 04:56 +0900 (JST)

This will be an interesting suit. Are civil suits evaluated by juries in Japan, or do they use some kind of judges' panel?

Tokyo helps dispose of disaster rubble

Piles of rubble will be transported to Tokyo for disposal on Wednesday from the quake and tsunami-hit prefecture of Iwate.

The March 11th disaster has created millions of tons of waste. The central government has been asking prefectures outside the affected areas to help with disposal. But many are reluctant, fearing the rubble is contaminated with radiation.

Iwate Prefecture has more than 4 million tons of debris. The Tokyo Metropolitan government has offered to accept 11,000 tons of it for disposal.

Work to transfer it from a temporary storage site began in Miyako City on Wednesday.

Samples were checked for possible radiation contamination before the rubble was placed in sealed containers and loaded onto trucks.

The loaded cargo was checked again, confirming that radiation levels were below the agreed level of 0.14 microsieverts per hour.

Miyako Mayor Masanori Yamamoto thanked Tokyo for helping with disposal, saying it would help accelerate the effort to rebuild.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 13:05 +0900 (JST)

The basic rubble did not have a large concentration of radioactive materials. However, as this article shows, when you incinerate the things like this rubble, you burn off the carbon containing materials, evaporate any liquid materials, and the resulting ash has a much larger concentration of radioactive materials than the stuff you started with. Depending on the level of filtration of stack gases that you do, some of the cesium will go up the stack and be dispersed, and some will concentrate in the ash. If you don't you end up with a situation like this:

Radioactive materials detected in Tokyo Bay from Cement Plant

Waste water discharged into Tokyo Bay from a cement plant has been found to contain radioactive cesium at much higher levels than the government-set limit for disposal.

The plant in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, uses ash from incinerators in the prefecture to produce cement.

The Chiba government says the plant operator checked waste water discharged from the plant into Tokyo Bay once in September and once in October.

It found radioactive cesium at levels of 1,103 becquerels per kilogram, and 1,054 becquerels per kilogram respectively.[ETA, the two numbers are for Cs 137 and Cs 134. I can't tell from the context which is which. 1 kilogram equals approximately 1 liter for sea water.]

The levels are 14 to 15 times higher than the limit set by the country's Nuclear Safety Commission.

The water had been used to clean filters which remove toxic materials from ashes.

The operator stopped discharging the waste water on Wednesday. The prefectural government has launched a survey of the seawater of Tokyo Bay near the plant.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 22:08 +0900 (JST)

It is odd to think that the water in Tokyo Bay near the cement plant has a higher level of contamination in sea water than the levels inside the Fukushima Daiichi inner harbor. In fact, parts of the inner harbor are over 10x lower!
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...s/111103e8.pdf
At the Shallow Draft Quay, neither Cs 134 nor Cs 137 was detected at all today!
At the Water Intake at the north canal, Cs 134 found 71 becquerels / liter or becquerels per kg, Cs 137 found 100 becquerels per liter.

Unit 1 outside silt fence
Cs 134 81 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 101 becquerels per liter
Unit 1 inside silt fence
Cs 134 130 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 140 becquerels per liter

Unit 2 outside silt fence
Cs 134 160 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 180 becquerels per liter
Unit 2 inside silt fence
Cs 134 420 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 510 becquerels per liter

Unit 3 outside silt fence
Cs 134 120 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 110 becquerels per liter
Unit 3 inside silt fence
Cs 134 550 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 730 becquerels per liter

Unit 4 outside silt fence
Cs 134 190 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 210 becquerels per liter
Unit 4 inside silt fence
Cs 134 280 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 360 becquerels per liter

South Water Intake Canal
Cs 134 69 becquerels per liter
Cs 137 78 becquerels per liter

Meanwhile, maintaining permanent ties with the Chernobyl area is a good idea.

Japan's Ukraine embassy to study Chernobyl

Japan will expand its embassy in Ukraine to collect information on the country's response to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The information will be utilized in dealing with the aftermath of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The embassy will have 6 more workers in addition to the current staff of about 40. New staff will include 2 nuclear specialists and 3 translators of Russian and Ukrainian.

The office building will be expanded and equipped with dosimeters and protective gear.

The embassy staff will interview Ukrainian and former Soviet officials, experts and residents about the effects of lingering radioactive contamination. Ways to manage restricted zones and decontamination methods will also be studied.

The Japanese government plans to appropriate about 2 million dollars for the expansion in the fiscal 2012 budget bill.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 10:39 +0900 (JST)

Here's a copy of the original report on the Xenon in the gases in the containment vessel of Reactor 2, which TEPCO retracted.

TEPCO: Reactor may have gone critical

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it found in the facility's No.2 reactor radioactive substances that could have resulted from continuous nuclear fission.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said on Wednesday that it detected xenon-133 and xenon-135 in gas taken from the reactor's containment vessel on the previous day. The substances were reportedly in concentrations of 6 to more than 10 parts per million becquerels per cubic centimeter.

Xenon-135 was also detected in gas samples collected on Wednesday.

Radioactive xenon is produced during nuclear fission.
The half-life of xenon-133 is 5 days, and that of xenon-135 is 9 hours.

TEPCO says the findings suggest that nuclear fission may have occurred recently, not just after the March 11th accident, and that a state of criticality could have occurred temporarily in some areas.

TEPCO workers poured a boric acid solution into the reactor on Wednesday to suppress nuclear fission.

The utility says it has not found any significant change in temperature and pressure of the reactor, and that large-scale criticality did not occur.

TEPCO says the reactor's cooling process is continuing and that the firm expects to achieve cold shutdown at the plant this year as planned. But the utility also says it wants to take a close look at the situation of the plant's No.1 and 3 reactors.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 20:37 +0900 (JST)

And in the US, from The Washington Post:

North Anna Nuclear power plant remains offline after August earthquake; May Restart Next week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...UdM_story.html

Ten weeks after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake knocked a central Virginia nuclear power station offline, the plant’s operator, Dominion Virginia Power, is still waiting for the go-ahead from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart the North Anna power plant’s two reactors.
“We want to make absolutely certain that there is nothing we haven’t evaluated yet,” said Roger Hannah, an NRC spokesman.
At a public meeting in Mineral, Va., on Tuesday night, an NRC inspector said a decision to restart the reactors could come as early as next week.
“Reviews are in progress. However, the staff has not identified any significant safety concerns resulting” from the earthquake, said Meena Khanna, the NRC’s lead inspector at the facility.
Gerald McCoy, the NRC official overseeing the inspection team, said the NRC directed the company to perform inspections on an underground steam tunnel and on support struts holding up one of the nuclear reactor pressure vessels. The company had not adequately inspected those areas, McCoy said, but the NRC team found no significant problems.
On Oct. 21, Dominion told the NRC it thought both reactors were safe to restart. The company said it spent more than 100,000 man-hours on inspections, testing and minor repairs, at a total cost of $21 million.
Dominion fixed small cracks in office buildings and replaced part of an electrical transformer that leaked oil after the quake, said Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher.
The company sent small robots into the pool that holds nuclear fuel in the Unit 2 reactor and found no damage to the containment structure or the nuclear fuel, Zuercher said. The company had opened the reactor to refuel it.
The NRC told the company it did not need to perform similar inspections inside the Unit 1 reactor, Zuercher said.
The most powerful quake to rattle Virginia in more than a century shook the power plant more than it was designed for in one horizontal direction for 1.5 seconds during the 25-second quake. But extra safety margins in the plant’s structure prevented more than minor damage, Zuercher said.
When operating, North Anna provides 17 percent of Virginia’s electricity.
Zuercher said the company had not decided whether to seek an increase in the rates customers pay to cover the costs of the outage.
North Anna is the first nuclear power plant to shut down after an earthquake in the 53-year history of commercial nuclear power in the United States.

I want to see the robots! I hope there is video.

And back from NHK NEWS

Seasonal "Tori-no-ichi" fair in Tokyo

The annual rooster fair known as "tori-no-ichi" is under way in downtown Tokyo. The event signals the coming of winter.

The fair at Otori Shrine in Asakusa dates back to the 17th century Edo period. It is the largest of the rooster fairs in Japan. The day of the rooster comes every 12 days in the Chinese zodiac.

Otori Shrine is bustling with people buying lucky charms, hoping for good business next year. About 200 stalls are selling "kuma-de", the charms believed to "rake in" good fortune.

Their prices range from 13 dollars to 13,000 dollars.

Some of them feature replicas of star players on Japan women's soccer team, which won the world title this year. Others come with messages encouraging reconstruction in the areas hit by the March disaster.

A 63-year old president of a clothing manufacturer bought a kuma-de hoping for an end to this year's economic slump.

The rooster fair continues on Wednesday till midnight and comes again on the 14th and 26th of November. Turnout at the shrine this year is expected to reach 900,000.
Wednesday, November 02, 2011 15:10 +0900 (JST)

Everyone in Japan could use some luck. So could the rest of the world.

[dorispulaski]

MORE NHK NEWS

So...is someone out there geocaching radium paint? This one is different than the one in the elderly lady's crawl space. This radium paint was cached under the paving at a supermarket.

Buried bottle determined to be radiation source

Japan's science ministry has determined that high radiation readings taken near a supermarket in Tokyo were caused by radium in a buried bottle.

On Wednesday, workers removed the reagent bottle along with some contaminated underground soil from the parking lot of a supermarket in Hachimanyama, Setagaya Ward.

After the removal, radiation in the area dropped to 25 microsieverts per hour, which is one-1,600th the previously observed level. The ministry says the source of the radiation was the radium 226 in the bottle.
The radioactive substance is used in cancer treatments and to make fluorescent paint.

Last week, the ministry reported detecting radiation of up to 170 microsieverts per hour at a height of 1 meter above the ground at 2 spots, one at an asphalt parking lot and the other at a sidewalk.

Officials say that during a survey on Wednesday, they found 15 other spots in the same area emitting relatively high radiation. The highest reading was 12 microsieverts per hour. They say all 15 spots registered far less radiation when measured at a height of 1 meter.

The science ministry decided to pile up sandbags at some of the spots to block the radiation.

In the middle of last month, radiation of up to 2,707 microsieverts per hour was observed at another spot in Setagaya Ward. Officials determined that the source of the radiation was some jars in a wooden box under the floor of a vacant house. An analysis indicates that the radioactive material may be radium 226.
Friday, November 04, 2011 10:41 +0900 (JST)

Now, you realize, folks, that these areas have been just that radioactive all along, for years, probably?

Cesium-contaminated mushrooms served in food

Radioactive cesium exceeding the government standard has been found in mushrooms grown at a facility in Yokohama City, near Tokyo. About 800 people were served food containing the mushrooms from March through October.

The city says high levels of radioactive cesium were found in dried shiitake mushrooms harvested in both months. The contamination is believed to have been caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The contamination in March was up to 2,770 becquerels of cesium per kilogram; in October, 955 becquerels per kilogram.

Each exceeded the government's standard of 500 becquerels.

The facility checked the mushrooms for radioactive contamination this week after concerned citizens inquired about possible contamination in food served there.

Yokohama is around 250 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The mushrooms were reportedly not sold on the market.
Friday, November 04, 2011 21:26 +0900 (JST)

Mushrooms concentrate cesium in any case. Drying them concentrates the cesium even more. However, the things are eaten when re-hydrated. Consequently for the purposes of figuring dose, it should be about 1/10 of the amount listed. (277 becquerels per kilogram in March, 95.5 becquerels in October.
http://www.shroomery.org/5267/How-mu...ying-mushrooms

Govt to study ways to confirm lack of criticality

Japan's government plans to study ways to confirm that sustained nuclear fission has not resumed at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

The minister in charge of the nuclear crisis, Goshi Hosono, told this to reporters on Friday after radioactive xenon was found at the plant's No. 2 reactor this week.
The presence of xenon indicates that nuclear fission occurred recently.

Hosono said xenon was detected not because of new developments, but due to detailed radiation monitoring by the Tokyo Electric Power Company.

He also said he supports the utility's view that xenon was produced through spontaneous fission, not sustained fission, or criticality.

Hosono said a precondition for putting the plant's reactors into a cold shutdown is ensuring that the accident will no longer escalate. He added that an absence of criticality is one way to achieve such a state.

He suggested that the government hopes to present related measures this month to coincide with a monthly review of the timetable for bringing the plant under control.
Friday, November 04, 2011 16:48 +0900 (JST)

Govt approves TEPCO damages plan

The government has approved a special business plan for Tokyo Electric Power Company, allowing the injection of about 11.5 billion dollars worth of public funds to help the utility pay compensation for the Fukushima nuclear accident.

On Friday, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano conveyed news of the approval to TEPCO president Toshio Nishizawa and to Kazuhiko Shimokobe, who chairs the decision-making board of a government-backed fund to help provide compensation for damages.

Under the business plan, jointly worked out by TEPCO and the fund, about 11.5 billion dollars worth of public funds will be offered to TEPCO to help it compensate the people and businesses affected by the nuclear accident.

TEPCO is called on to cut spending to the tune of about 32 billion dollars over 10 years, through measures including lowering the interest rates on corporate pensions for retirees from the current maximum 5.5 percent to less than half that.

The size of the financial aid package is the minimum that allows TEPCO to pay compensation without going into the red for the time being.

Despite the plan, TEPCO will continue to be financially strapped because of the huge estimated costs of decontaminating areas affected by the accident and of decommissioning the crippled reactors.

TEPCO will compile a new comprehensive business plan jointly with the fund next spring, and will be required to continue its drastic management restructuring.
Friday, November 04, 2011 13:19 +0900 (JST)

And, of course, this was expected:

TEPCO to post huge net loss for FY2011

Tokyo Electric Power Company will post a second straight loss for the business year through next March due to costs associated with the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

TEPCO estimated on Friday its net loss for fiscal 2011 will total 600 billion yen, or about 7.7 billion dollars.

The utility attributed the massive loss to the cost of ongoing efforts to stabilize the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Another factor is the expected increase in fuel costs of thermal power plants to cope with power shortages.

TEPCO also estimates energy-saving efforts by households and businesses will cause consumption to fall by up to 9 percent. As a result, annual energy sales are projected to decline by one percent from the previous year.

The utility plans to book an extraordinary loss of about 13 billion dollars to compensate those affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

A government-backed fund is expected to contribute about 11.5 billion dollars worth of public funds to assist TEPCO make the payments.

TEPCO president Toshio Nishizawa says the company will certainly face financial difficulties without the support of the fund.
Friday, November 04, 2011 19:37 +0900 (JST)

Meanwhile, coal mining is still endangering and killing people.

57 trapped in China mine accident

A rock explosion at a coal mine in central China has killed 4 miners and left more than 50 trapped inside.

Chinese state-run media said the accident took place at a mine in Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, on Thursday evening.

After a magnitude 2.9 quake hit a nearby area, the tunnel walls collapsed at a depth of about 480 meters, trapping 57 workers inside.

State-run China Central Television said some workers were carried out of the tunnel, but more than 50 people are feared to remain trapped. The TV report said that the rescue efforts are continuing.

China had 892 mine accidents from January to September this year, leaving 1,419 dead.
Friday, November 04, 2011 15:27 +0900 (JST)

The previous government did not want to complete this project?? At this point, I don't remember.

Japan offers nuclear assistance to Turkey

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Japan is ready to cooperate in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey.

The 2 leaders met in Cannes, France, on Thursday after the first day of talks at the G20 summit.

Noda explained Japan's earthquake-relief efforts for the country, including the provision of supplies and grants-in-aid. He added that Japan is ready to provide more support if asked.

On the Turkish government's plan to build a nuclear power plant, Noda said Japan is willing to share the knowledge it gained from the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Erdogan expressed the hope that progress can be made in negotiations on the nuclear project.

He said his country wants to conclude a free trade agreement with Japan and expand economic ties.
Friday, November 04, 2011 11:16 +0900 (JST)

[let`s talk]

Looks like they have some global plan afterall:
www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111105n1.html

And, while in November the colorful ceremonies for 3/5/7-year old kids are being held throughout Japan, the cutest Japanese Prince coudn't escape his duties too!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKgXgMbAnQQ
www.asahi.com/english/TKY201111040236.html

[Olympia]

Oh, it's the 3/5/7 celebration soon? How nice. I'm always so happy that Japan has kept its traditional holidays, especially the ones devoted to children. I don't know what the appropriate greeting is for this holiday, but whatever it is, I extend it to the children of Japan.

[dorispulaski]

let's talk,
The prince is so cute, and he looked so happy after he jumped off that stand. What is the significance of the things he is holding?

And thank you for the Japan Times article. it has some details I had not seen.

The ministry plans to begin full-scale decontamination efforts after a recently passed cleanup law takes effect Jan. 1. Its officials will begin working on the acquisition of areas where contaminated waste can be held for a three-year period before it is transported to the storage site, the ministry said.

Sumitomo Corp., IHI Corp. and Obayashi Corp. are among companies seeking to win decontamination contracts in Fukushima Prefecture, according to documents obtained from the prefectural government in October.

I always begin to believe something will be done when I see that corporations are bidding for the contract.



Olympia, I join you in extending holiday greetings to the children of Japan.






Reports on November 11th, about 3:30 PM JST



Complete report on the detection of Xe 135 at Unit 2


http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp.../111104e19.pdf



1. Amount is very small, compared to amount in a normal critical state
2. They calculated the amount of fissile material left in the reactor, and then calculated how much Xe 135 should be generated by that amount of fissile material fissioning at the normal rate, and it was approximately the same as that found.
3. Adding boric acid, which poisons a chain reaction (i.e. criticality situation), had no effect at all on the rate of Xe 135 production. Boric acid captures neutrons, and neutrons are what keeps a chain reaction going. This result is consistent with curium breaking down spontaneously, since no loose neutrons are needed for spontaneous fission.
4. The reactor continued to cool at the same rate, as measured at all temperature probes. No additional radioactive material was detected immediately outside the reactor. The pressure inside the reactor did not change either.

Their conclusion is that the Xe 135 was due to spontaneous fission.



The Packbot Robot has been cleaning up rubble in the halls of Reactor 3. Here's the pictures:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11105_02-e.pdf

*At 9:38 am on November 4, we started transferring accumulated water from the basement of the Unit 2 turbine building to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility (Miscellaneous Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment Building [High Temperature Incinerator Building]).

*At 10:00 am on November 4, we started transferring accumulated water from On-site Bunker Building to Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility.

-From 3:48 pm on November 4 to 9:41 am on November 6, we transferred the accumulated water from the basement of Turbine Building of Unit 1 to the basement of Turbine Building of Unit 2.

-At 10:00 am on November 6, we started transferring the accumulated water from Turbine Building of Unit 6 to the temporary tanks.


*From 1:35 pm to 2:35 pm on November 4, we conducted dust sampling at the opening for the equipment hatch in the reactor building and truck bay door of Unit 1.

-At 11:25 am on November 5, we started dust sampling at the upper part of the Reactor Building of Unit 3 by using the large crane. At 2:00 pm on the same day, the sampling was completed.

*At 2:20 pm on November 4, we arranged the amount of emission from the gas management system from 14m3/h to 22 m3/h in order to balance the amount of nitrogen injected to the reactor containment vessel and exhaust gas from the gas management system of Unit 2.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11104_01-e.pdf

All the plant workers got their flu shots. Have you gotten yours?


NHK NEWS

This is a very worthwhile thing to do.

Govt to study low-level radiation impact

The Japanese minister in charge of nuclear crisis says the government plans to set up an expert team to study the impact of radiation levels of about 20 millisieverts per year.

Goshi Hosono made the remark in Hamamatsu City, central Japan, on Saturday. His comment follows the government's concern over low levels of radiation found in many places after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Hosono said studies of past nuclear accidents suggest that exposure to radiation levels more than 100 millisieverts per year will affect human health to a certain degree, but exposure to levels lower than that amount has not been confirmed as harmful to human health.

He said it is necessary to further study low-level radiation exposure caused by radioactive materials that have already spread in the air.

He added that the government hopes to sort out ideas, using a radiation level of 20 millisieverts per year as the threshold for affecting human health. The figure is an exposure limit recommended by the International Commission for Radiological Protection.

Referring to a government project to dispose of debris in areas outside of disaster-hit northeastern Japan, Hosono said rubble from the prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi is not radioactive. He said incineration will not produce anything harmful and ashes will be safely handled.

He added that he wants to ask local governments for cooperation for projects as the government will ensure their safety and take responsibility for the process.
Saturday, November 05, 2011 16:58 +0900 (JST)

Of course, when you incinerate the rubble, the amount of cesium 137 per kilogram in the resultant ashes will be concentrated, and may well be above the government limit. I thought they learned this lesson with the Tokyo cement plant outfall?


And it's better than the shelter. But now there's no ball field.

Photo:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/.../06_09_v_s.jpg

Disaster survivors move into 3-story housing

People who lost their homes in the March 11th tsunami have begun moving into 3-story temporary housing in Miyagi Prefecture.

The 6 housing structures for 144 households have been built in a baseball ground in Onagawa Town, where flat sites are scarce. Local government officials say this is the first 3-story temporary housing in the country.

On Sunday, people began moving into the new housing, which was built by combining steel shipping and storage containers. Each unit has wide windows that admit sunlight to spacious rooms.

A woman in her 40s says that she is happy to finally have a home for her family after spending months in a shelter.
Sunday, November 06, 2011 13:00 +0900 (JST)

And this is so beautiful, and also practical:

Survivors plant cherry trees to mark tsunami line


People in northeastern Japan, including survivors of the March 11th tsunami, have begun planting cherry trees to mark the affected areas to give warnings to future generations.

About 100 people planted 35 trees in a temple ground in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, on Sunday.

The group plans to eventually plant 17,000 trees over 170 kilometers in the city in marking off areas inundated by the tsunami.

The project's leader says he is sorrowful at having lost many friends in the tsunami.

He says he hopes the cherry trees will hand down memories of the disaster to young children and help prevent any further loss of human life.

The group plans to plant more trees on March 11th next year to mark the first anniversary of the disaster.
Sunday, November 06, 2011 15:15 +0900 (JST)

[let`s talk]

let's talk,
The prince is so cute, and he looked so happy after he jumped off that stand. What is the significance of the things he is holding?

Yeas, he is adorable. And he looks very happy and relaxed on the video (not like strict Japanese Imperial ceremonies normally demand), which is very good. The meaning of the ceremony is he became big, can wear hakama and be an adult member of the family. I don't know about the things in his hand. One of them is a Japanese fan, probably the one that only royalties can possess. Another is a Japanese pine tree that is often used in Shinto shrines, in Japanese New Year decorations, as the symbol of long life, health and happiness. But once again, I don't know the details of royal rituals, not all Japanese people know !
The main reason why I posted about the ceremony in this thread is the said event was scheduled for spring (earlier than 3/5/7-year-old ceremonies for common people). But it was postponed because of the earthquake. It finally took place, one more sign of the all-Japan recovery.

[Olympia]

Hooray! Housing instead of shelters. That's a great piece of news. And good to hear that the Packbot robot is hard at work. Three cheers for Mr./Ms. January on our Robot Calendar!

I love that they're planting cherry trees on the tsunami line.

Yes, I have my flu shot. I get it every year.

[dorispulaski]

let's talk, Thank you for the explanation.

Olympia, The cherry trees remind me of my Dad, who believed in planting trees to mark events.

He planted a Japanese cherry the year I was born.

And he planted 8 rows of double daffodils at the line where the tidal wave from the Connecticut hurricane of 1938 stopped.

They were this kind

http://www.andrusgardensquilts.com/b...-Daffodils.jpg

[dorispulaski]

TEPCO STATUS 3:00 PM JST, November 7th

Unit 2 Spent fuel pool

-At 11:04 am on November 6, we started operation of radioactive material decontamination instrument of spent fuel pool.


At around 11:00 am on November 6, since partner companies' workers who went on patrol found that the boiler of evaporative concentration apparatus stopped, we stopped operation of the apparatus 3B and 3C. Since the operation panel on the site alerted "Very low water level in boiler supply water tank", we assumed that the boiler stopped due to this reason. After that, we conducted investigation of the cause of decrease of supply tank water level. When we started a backup pump for transfer of boiler supply water, the alert stopped. Therefore we judged that one pump was troubled. In addition, although all the evaporative concentration apparatus stopped, water treatment by the water desalinations (RO membrane system) and water injection to the reactors have been continued.
On 3:48 pm on November 4, we started transferring accumulated water from the basement of the turbine building of Unit 1 to the basement of the turbine building of Unit 2. At 9:41 am on November 6, we stopped transferring.

*At 10:00 am on November 6, we started transferring accumulated water from the basement of the turbine building of Unit 6 to the temporary tanks.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11107_01-e.pdf
Handout showing the cesium removal facility, i.e. radioactive decontamination system, at the Unit 2 spent fuel pool. I really think that munical incinerators, or outfalls from cement plants using ashes from incinerators should consider adding cesium removal facilities of one sort or another. As these slide shows, they need not be elaborate.

http://youtu.be/ylgiQ1KWm48
Video explaining the water treatment system
Some storage issues are also discussed- particularly interesting is the long term storage for used adsorption tanks and for high activity sludge.

NHK NEWS

This is incredibly cool! And great for disabled people as well.

Robot suits tested for Fukushima nuclear plant

A high-tech body-brace machine called a "robot suit" may be used to help workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant move around more easily while wearing heavy protective gear.

A venture in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, originally developed the assistive device with University of Tsukuba researchers for people with disabilities and the elderly.

The device has sensors that move the brace based on nerve signals from the human brain.

The venture has now reinforced the robot suit's materials to strengthen its lifting power so that it can be used at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Those entering the plant have to wear protective gear against radiation that weighs some 15 kilograms.

The venture says the device can help to assist the movement of up to 60 kilograms.

Last Tuesday, the venture team conducted tests to see how well the device can assist workers who are removing rubble and conducting repairs.

University of Tsukuba Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai says the robot suits will enable workers to do many more types of work and stay longer inside the reactor buildings. He says it may be possible to put the nuclear plant under control earlier if the device is used.
Monday, November 07, 2011 10:24 +0900 (JST)

TEPCO begins removing cesium from spent fuel pool

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun removing radioactive cesium from water in the spent fuel pool of one of the damaged reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Company installed a device to remove cesium inside the cooling water of the spent fuel pool at the No.2 reactor. The device became operational on Sunday.

The concentration of radioactive cesium remains high in the cooling water of the spent fuel pools following meltdowns at the No. 1, 2, and 3 reactors.

TEPCO has been removing radioactive material from the reactors' cooling water since July, but the No.2 reactor became the first where the procedure took place in the spent fuel pool.

TEPCO aims to reduce the concentration of radioactive material in the water from one-hundredth to one- thousandth within about a month.

There are fears that the metal pipes and walls of the spent fuel pools will erode, as seawater was used after the accident to cool down the spent fuel pools of the No. 2, 3 and 4 reactors. TEPCO has already begun removing salt from the water in the pool at the No.4 reactor, and plans to do the same at the pool of the No.2 reactor.

The company said removal of radioactive material from the pool water is necessary as a step toward removing salt. The salt concentration of the pools is not particularly high -- about one-tenth of the saltwater -- but erosion caused by salt may cause holes to form.
Monday, November 07, 2011 05:44 +0900 (JST)

If Japan cares about global warming, it should not be importing more natural gas and coal from Australia, and facilitating a natural gas pipeline from Russia. However, that is what it is doing.

Meanwhile the Arctic ice cap will be gone in summer by 2020, if things continue at this rate.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/20...t_13945235.htm

Japan drafts proposals for UN development summit

At a UN summit next year, the Japanese government will propose that emerging economies should accept greater responsibility in dealing with climate change.

The government has drawn up a set of proposals for the summit next June in Brazil. World leaders will discuss how to achieve sustainable development while protecting the environment.

Japan plans to argue that rapidly growing economies such as China and India as well as businesses and NGOs should play a greater role.

The Japanese government will call for a review of international assistance in dealing with climate change, which has been mainly provided by advanced nations to developing countries.

Japan will ask emerging economies to shoulder a large financial burden and propose that private companies contribute more in terms of personnel training and technological assistance.

The Japanese government plans to work with other countries to have these proposals reflected in a document to be compiled at the summit.
Sunday, November 06, 2011 06:43 +0900 (JST)

An odd cartoonization of the debate about closing Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant can be found her. Both pro and anti sides' arguments are pretty much what people are using. Since the video was made by a pro Yankee supporter, the conclusion is left with the antinuclear person not convinced, but thinking over what he has heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR_tg...layer_embedded

[Olympia]

Doris, I love daffodils, and the double ones are so lavish. Thanks for the photo! My area abounds in all kinds of daffodils in spring, from the classic trumpet shape to the little button-cups of a contrasting color to the double ones, and I can never make up my mind which kind I like the best. What a great way for your father to commemorate where the water stopped. And I love the idea of a cherry tree planted for the birth of a child.

[dorispulaski]

Dad used to say he hoped people would remember he loved flowers; and certainly I remember that about him.

I love them too.

TEPCO STATUS REPORTS, November 9th, 3:30 PM JST


Unit 3

At 2:30 pm on November 7, we suspended the alternative cooling in order to clear clogs in the primary strainer resulted from reverse cleaning, as a countermeasure against the alarm suction pressure decrease of alternative primary coolant system pump in spent fuel pool of Unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (water temperature of spent fuel pool as of suspension: approx. 24.8°C). After finishing the reverse cleaning of the primary strainer, then, at 7:17 pm on the same day we restarted the alternative cooling (water temperature of spent fuel pool as of restart: approx. 22.5°C *It is supposed that water temperature as of restart became lower than that as of suspension because water in skimmer surge tank was cooled down by outside air.

I believe that what they are calling reverse cleaning would generally be called 'back flushing' here in the US.

Unit 4 Spent Fuel Pool

At 12:25 am on November 8, RO membrane unit of desalting facility in spent fuel pool, Unit 4 automatically stopped due to the alarm indicating leakage. Responding to the alarm, we confirmed that all the isolation valves of each unit were closed by the interlocks. Also, considering that all the spots at leakage risk were equipped with receiving pans which would be able to store all of the liquid in the unit, we judged that further deterioration of leakage or leakage to outside of the unit was unlikely. We will check the site and situation in the future. The operation of circulating cooling system has been continued. Afterwards, as the result of confirmation at the site of this facility, we confirmed that the leakage have stopped, all of the leaked liquid is in the receiving pans (approx. 5 liter), and there exists a trail of leakage from the pump casing of RO membrane unit. At 2:00 pm on the same day, we wiped out the leaked liquid and reset the alarm. We will investigate in detail.

Plans are in order to do power supply reinforcement in Units 2 & 3. Preparatory work is complete.

At 2:55 pm on November 7, we started another boiler by using a spare water transfer pump for boiler. Then, we started evaporative concentration apparatus 3B at 5:24 pm and 3C at 6 pm. Causes of the trouble of the water transfer pump for boiler are still under investigation. At 2:24 am on November 8, we manually stopped the boiler of evaporative concentration apparatus in the water desalinations since alarm worked and indicated decrease of water level in boiler water supply tank at 2:20 am. Then, we stopped evaporative concentration apparatus 3B at 2:28 am ad 3C at 2:31 am. Although all the evaporative concentration apparatus stopped, water treatment by the water desalinations (RO membrane system) and water injection to the reactors have been continued. Causes will be investigated in the future.

Since October 24th, TEPCO has made changes to ocean sampling so that the limit of detection is significantly lower than it was before.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp...1110803-e.html

A new Survey map of the site is up, dated November 8th.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...20111108-e.pdf

Video of dust collecting at Unit 3
http://www.tepco.co.jp/tepconews/pre...s/111108_1.wmv

Analysis of Spent Fuel Pool water for Units 1, 2, 3, and 4
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi...11108_01-e.pdf

All temperature measurements at Unit 1 are about the same as its Spent fuel pool- all between 40 & 50 C.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushi..._data_1u-e.pdf

NHK REPORTS

We knew this before, but it's good to see NISA has confirmed it.

No criticality in Fukushima

Japan's nuclear agency has confirmed that sustained nuclear fission did not take place at the Fukushima nuclear power plant last week.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency disclosed the results of experts' studies on a report by Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO.

The utility detected a small amount of the radioactive material, xenon-135, in the reactor's containment vessel of the damaged No.2 reactor on Tuesday of last week.

TEPCO initially feared it may signal an ongoing nuclear reaction. But it determined that the substance was produced through spontaneous fission, a form of radioactive decay, and not from sustained fission or criticality.

The nuclear agency said the density of the xenon, which did not change when a boric acid solution was injected into the reactor, proved that criticality did not occur.

The agency ordered TEPCO to regularly check the density of nuclear substances inside the vessels and to report any changes.

Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Yasuhiro Sonoda said on Monday that it is regrettable that TEPCO was slow to report the incident to local governments, calling on the utility to share information as quickly as possible.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 02:48 +0900 (JST)

This monitoring is key to determining when evacuees from given areas can return home.

Extensive radiation monitoring begins in no-go zone

The environment ministry has launched a detailed survey of radiation levels in areas near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

This information will enable the government to pinpoint which areas in the irradiated 20-kilometer zone of the plant need to be decontaminated first. Areas with radiation levels of about 20 millisieverts per year will also be included.

About 30 people, including ministry officials and Tokyo Electric Power Company staff gathered at a monitoring point in Iitate Village. The village is in a government-designated evacuation zone, from which all residents were ordered to leave.

Radiation levels for the survey will be measured at 100 meter intervals at an altitude of 50 meters, using unmanned helicopters and cars.

The ministry will provide an interim report on the results in December.

In the 12 designated municipalities, three corporations commissioned by the government have been selected to carry out the survey how to proceed the decontamination work effectively.

The ministry is set to begin full-scale cleanup efforts from next January according to the result of these surveys.

A ministry senior official said he hopes the survey and decontamination work will move forward quickly to allow some 100,000 evacuees to return to their homes.
Monday, November 07, 2011 19:42 +0900 (JST)

Most evacuees still want to return home, survey says:

1/4 won't return to Fukushima restricted zone

A survey in Fukushima Prefecture has revealed that one in 4 evacuees has no intention of returning to the restricted areas around the disaster-stricken nuclear power plant.

A group from Fukushima University sent questionnaires to all households from 8 municipalities in the district of Futaba, where the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is located. Roughly half, or 13,500, responded.

26.9 percent of evacuees said they wouldn't be returning to their hometowns. Among people in their early 30s or younger, the figure rose to 52.3 percent.

More than 30 percent of evacuees from 3 towns in the no-entry zone said they won't return. The 20-kilometer zone is where radiation levels are particularly high.

Asked what troubles them most, nearly 60 percent cited a lack of prospects for ending their time in evacuation.

In the comment section of the survey, some evacuees wrote that they loved their hometowns and the people they know there, and that they would want to return home soon if it was possible.

The survey's leader, Associate Professor Fuminori Tanba, says the comments indicate that the evacuees do want to return home, despite the high number of those saying they will not. He also says the central and local governments should come up with steps to satisfy the wishes of the residents.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 13:05 +0900 (JST)

The attempt by the government to be transparent about reactor safety is encouraging.

Govt releases nuclear safety test results

The Japanese government has begun posting the results of nuclear reactor safety tests on a government website.

Industry minister Yukio Edano said on Tuesday that the government aims to boost transparency before idled reactors now undergoing stress tests are restarted.

Kansai Electric Power Company submitted test results on its No.3 reactor at Ohi power plant late last month.

Edano told reporters that the results, along with exchanges of views between the government and utility, are now available on the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency website.

The industry minister said he wants the public to send opinions and questions over the test, and that the government will respond. He said exchanges of views could lead to a better understanding of the nuclear safety examination process.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 13:05 +0900 (JST)

It's not clear why this would be so. When children in the US are obese, it is usually credited to eating the wrong things and being too sedentary. Here the researcher is postulating that children are losing weight because they are sedentary. I wonder wheter children from the shelters were included in the sample. Certainly, for the first two months, food there was inadequate; that could result in children not gaining weight as usual.

Smaller increase in children's weight in Fukushima

A survey shows that some children in Fukushima Prefecture have smaller average weight gains this year compared to the year before. A pediatrician says the results indicate the negative effects of the nuclear plant accident in March.

Doctor Shintaro Kikuchi tracked the weights of 245 children aged from 4 to 6 in 2 kindergartens in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. The results show an average weight increase of 0.81 kilograms over the past year through June. The increase for children in the same age group the previous year was 3.1 kilograms.

The average increase for children aged 5 to 6 in the survey was 0.84 kilograms. But a nationwide health ministry survey conducted last year for children of the same age group showed an average gain of 1.8 kilograms.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident has caused high levels of radioactivity in areas around the plant. Koriyama is located about 60 kilometers from the facility and many children in the city have been forced to play indoors to avoid contamination.

Kikuchi noted that the smaller weight increases could be related to reduced appetite resulting from less exercise as well as changes in the secretion of growth hormones due to stress. He said measures should be taken to restore normal hormone levels in the children.
Monday, November 07, 2011 20:09 +0900 (JST)

I hope we will hear reports from the Fukushima delegation after they return home.

Fukushima delegation ends visit to Chernobyl

A delegation from Fukushima Prefecture has ended a 6-day visit to the former Soviet republics of Belarus and Ukraine. The 2 countries were heavily contaminated following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.

The delegation made up of prefectural officials and researchers visited the office of a civic group "ZEMLYAKI" in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Sunday.

The group was set up by a group of evacuees from Pripyat -- a town about 4 kilometers from the Chernobyl nuclear plant. It has been working to improve medical assistance and international exchanges.

A representative said many evacuees are unemployed, face financial difficulties and need more support.

A former kindergarten director in Pripyat said the authorities failed to disclose the truth. She said she was told by officials that she would be able to return home several days after the accident, but later learned from TV that she would never be allowed to return.

The delegation head, Shuji Shimizu, who is deputy president of Fukushima University, said the group learned a lot during the visit about what people in Fukushima should do. He said he will make use of the findings.
Monday, November 07, 2011 11:09 +0900 (JST)

It's a nice thought, but I doubt that this saving will not lead to more visitors.

No-fee visa for foreigners to quake-hit areas

Foreigners bound for Japan will not have to pay fees for obtaining visas if they visit regions hard-hit by Japan's disasters in March.

The Foreign Ministry says it will charge no fees for issuing visas to visitors to any of the 3 prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.

Usually 3,000 yen, or roughly 38 dollars, is charged for a single-use visa, and 76 dollars for a multiple-use visa.

Visitors going to any of the 3 prefectures will need to verify their trip with documents such as hotel reservations or flight tickets.

The measure will be effective for 5 years from November 15th. The 5-year period is timed during the government's most intensive reconstruction efforts.

The no-fee visa program may be extended depending on future developments.

The Foreign Ministry hopes the measure will help the reconstruction efforts by encouraging foreign tourists to visit the areas.

The Tourism Agency says the March 11th earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident led to more than a 30 percent decline in the number of foreign visitors to Japan.
Monday, November 07, 2011 17:59 +0900 (JST)

There have been a lot of well-publicized cyber attacks in Japan of late

Nuclear power companies subject to cyber attacks

The operators of nuclear power plants in Japan have become the latest victims of cyber criminals.

NHK asked 10 electric power companies that manage nuclear power plants if they have experienced attacks on their computer networks in the past year.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Hokkaido Electric Power Company and Tohoku Electric Power Company said they had received targeted cyber attacks through emails disguised as business communications from government offices.

TEPCO says, however, that it has no evidence of an information leak.

Five other utilities reported that their computers were hit by viruses delivered through email, but they also said they have had no data leakage.

Noting past cyber attacks on nuclear facilities abroad, Keio University Professor Keiji Takeda says hackers may have sent viruses to try and collect data from plants in Japan.

He says not only electric power companies, but also gas and water suppliers, railway operators and other infrastructure operators should share information on viruses and check again to see if their computers have been infected.

Earlier, Japanese government institutions and defense contractors came under cyber attacks.
Monday, November 07, 2011 19:42 +0900 (JST)

It's good to know that they are checking the ashes for radioactive materials before they bury them.

Disposal of earthquake rubble begins in Tokyo

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has begun work to bury rubble left behind by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

Tokyo began accepting large amounts of debris from Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, for disposal last Thursday. The rubble is being broken into pieces or incinerated at facilities in the city.

On Tuesday, ash was transferred from a local incinerator to a landfill site in Tokyo port, where it was buried using large construction equipment.

The metropolitan government said it plans to accept up to 500,000 tons of debris from Miyako and other disaster-hit areas by March 2014.

The head of the landfill assured residents that there is no cause for concern, as authorities are disposing of the ash only after conducting detailed radiation checks.

Tokyo is the first prefecture outside the quake-hit areas to offer help in disposing of the debris.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 12:37 +0900 (JST)

and in the fishing and agricultural news:

Fish market in tsunami-hit town reopens

A fish market in a northeastern Japanese town that was devastated by the March tsunami has begun trading again.

The market in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, had been closed for about 8 months after the tsunami swept away the market building and an ice-making facility.

On Monday, 20 tons of mackerel, salmon and other fish were brought in. The market's first fish auction since the tsunami was about a half the normal haul for this time of the year but enough to bring life to the market again.

Before the auction, about 30 fishermen and market officials observed a moment of silence for those killed in the disaster.

The head of the town's fisheries cooperative says he has mixed emotions. He says the reopening is only a small step forward and that more fisheries workers should come back to the market.

One dealer says the market will gradually be revitalized now that the fish have returned.
Monday, November 07, 2011 12:41 +0900 (JST)

I hope the positive dealer is right.
mot would be happy if he were in Japan! Crabs!

Snow crab season opens

Tourists visiting a fishing area on the Sea of Japan have been treated to the season's first catch of snow crabs.

The snow crab season opened on Sunday in Japan's central and western coastal prefectures.

In Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, a fisheries cooperative offered tourists the first catch of the season, taken on Sunday by more than 40 crab boats.

The organizer boiled 100 of the female crabs and 100 of the much larger males in a huge pot. A pair of the crabs sold for about 13 dollars, less than half the usual price.

Despite the rainy weather, the event attracted many visitors.

One said the crab tasted even better because he was able to enjoy it before anyone else.
Monday, November 07, 2011 12:00 +0900 (JST)

Who knew that in Japan, they make Turnip Sauerkraut! And that it was a cause for celebration. My husband makes sauerkraut. The process is very similar, preserving cabbage with salt, other than there is no soup stock involved, since the salt leaches enough liquid out of the cabbage.

Kyoto marks winter with turnip pickling
The pickling of turnips, known as "senmaizuke", began in Kyoto on Tuesday, the first day of winter according to the traditional Japanese calendar.

One of the city's culinary specialties is made from shaved "Shogoin" turnips. The turnips get sweeter as nighttime temperatures start to drop around this time of year.

Workers at a pickle factory peeled the turnips, which are 20 centimeters in diameter and weigh about 2 kilograms each, and shaved off slices as thin as 2.6 millimeters using special planes.

They arranged the shaved turnips in wooden barrels in fan shapes, and then sprinkled salt on them.

The turnips are taken out of the barrels after 3 days and soaked in a soup stock with kelp.

A typhoon in September delayed the seeding of the turnips, but a good harvest came in this year.

The factory's foreman says the work is hard because the entire process must be done by hand. He says he hopes that the pickles will become more delicious as temperatures drop and sweeten the turnips.

The peak of pickling will come next month.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011 13:45 +0900 (JST)