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Over 700 Fukushima waste bags swept away by torrential floods
Extensive
and destructive floods across eastern Japan have swept more than 700
bags containing Fukushima-contaminated soil and grass into Japan’s
rivers, with many still unaccounted for and some spilling their
radioactive content into the water system.
Authorities
in the small city of Nikko in Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture, some 175 km
away from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, have said that at least 334
bags containing radioactive soil have been swept into a tributary of
the Kinugawa river, The Asahi Shimbun reports.
According to the
city’s authorities, the washed-away waste was only part of hundreds of
bags being stored at the Kobyakugawa Sakura Koen park alongside the
river. Another 132 bags of waste reportedly rolled down the slopes.
The
incident happened after Tropical Storm Etau caused vast flooding across
Japan forcing the Kinugawa River to burst its banks on September 10.
Twenty bags were found empty downstream on Thursday. Three hundred and
fourteen bags, each with a capacity of one cubic meter, remain
unaccounted for.
A
crane works on the building covering No. 1 reactor (L) at the TEPCO's
tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in this file
photo. Reuters
TOKYO —
Tokyo
Electric Power Co turned down requests in 2009 by the nuclear safety
agency to consider concrete steps against tsunami waves at the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear plant, which suffered a tsunami-triggered disaster two
years later, government documents showed Friday.
“Do you think you
can stop the reactors?” a TEPCO official was quoted as telling Shigeki
Nagura of the now-defunct Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who was
then assigned to review the plant’s safety, in response to one of his
requests.
The detailed exchanges between the plant operator and
regulator came to light through the latest disclosure of government
records on its investigation into the nuclear crisis, adding to evidence
that TEPCO failed to take proper safety steps ahead of the world’s
worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
According to records of Nagura’s accounts, Nagura heard TEPCO’s explanations of its tsunami estimates at the agency office in Tokyo
in August and September 2009 as it was becoming clear that the coastal
areas of Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures were hit by massive tsunami in
an 869 earthquake.
TEPCO said the height of waves was estimated
to be around 8 meters above sea level and will not reach the plant site
located at a height of 10 meters, they show.
But Nagura said he
remembered thinking pumps with key cooling functions, which are located
on the ground at a height of 4 meters, “will not make it” and told
TEPCO, “If this is the outcome, you better consider concrete responses.”
Earthquake hits Tokyo and surrounding areas
Japan Sep. 11, 2015 - Updated 18:01 UTC-4
An earthquake has shaken Tokyo and surrounding areas.
The Meteorological Agency says a quake with an estimated magnitude of 5.3 occurred at around 5:49 AM Japan Time on Saturday.
The agency says the focus of the quake was 70 kilometers deep in Tokyo Bay.
It
registered intensities of 5 minus on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7 in
Chofu City in Tokyo and 4 in some areas in Tokyo as well as Saitama,
Chiba, and Kanagawa prefectures.
Agency officials say there is no possibility of a tsunami.
TV:
Floods threaten Fukushima plant structures… “Nuclear nightmare
territory then” — Expert: A lot of nuclear fuel has actually gone into
ground, and “will come out at the surface” if groundwater rises —
Radiation levels flowing into ocean much higher than usual (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-floods-threaten...
Searches continue for 15 missing in flood
Japan Sep. 12, 2015 - Updated 19:43 UTC-4
Around
1,800 police officers, firefighters and self-Defense Force personnel
are taking part in searches for people missing in a flood-hit city to
the northeast of Tokyo on Sunday.
Wide areas of Joso City in Ibaraki Prefecture have been inundated since the dykes of the Kinugawa River broke on Thursday.
The search for 15 people who remain missing was suspended late Saturday night and resumed on Sunday.
Officials
say helicopters were deployed at the break of dawn for an aerial
search. Rescue workers are also entering houses in the area to look for
survivors.
Firefighters have resumed work to rescue people stranded in parts of the city where the water has not yet receded.
Local weather station officials say rain is expected in some parts of Ibaraki Prefecture on Sunday afternoon.
Authorities will keep close watch on the water levels of the Kinugawa River as they conduct the search.
The heavy rains also hit nearby Miyagi and Tochigi prefectures leaving 5 people dead.
Weather
officials forecast heavy rain with thunder in some parts of the wider
region from Sunday afternoon to evening as the rain front advances.
They urge people to be on alert against further flooding and landslides as water levels remain high and the ground is loose.
Evacuation order issued too late
Japan Sep. 12, 2015 - Updated 21:12 UTC-4
Officials
of flood-hit Joso City, northeast of Tokyo, failed to issue evacuation
orders to some residents for more than 2 hours after the riverbank
collapsed.
Municipal authorities in the Ibaraki Prefecture city
ordered residents of the Misakamachi area to evacuate at 10:30AM on
Thursday as the water level of the Kinugawa River rose.
At 12:50PM, the dyke broke and the whole of Misakamachi was inundated.
But
it was not until 2:55PM -- 2 hours after the river overflowed -- that
officials gave the evacuation order to 1,182 people of 382 households in
the area.
Most of their houses were damaged in the flooding.
City
officials say they issued evacuation orders to certain areas that
reported rising water. They say they became overwhelmed dealing with
flooding upstream and could not issue orders to other areas.
A similar story was reported in Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.
City
officials failed to inform residents early Friday morning when the
Shibui River broke its banks. City authorities had told people to
prepare for evacuation, but they did not issue evacuation advisory. They
later said they wanted to be careful as evacuation in the dark can be
dangerous.
Some residents told NHK they would rather have known as soon as the levee broke, and received evacuation instructions.
Heavy rain leaves 5 dead, 29 injured
Japan Sep. 13, 2015 - Updated 01:10 UTC-4
Heavy rains have left 5 people dead in eastern and northeastern Japan.
The
National Police Agency says a man was found dead in a submerged car in
Tochigi city on Sunday. This brought the number of deaths in Tochigi
Prefecture to 3. Another 2 people died in Miyagi Prefecture.
In Ibaraki Prefecture, 9 people were injured, some seriously. A total of 29 people have been hurt across 10 prefectures.
The leaked decontamination bag where to go? To the United States across the Pacific Ocean
US
Gov’t Expert: Fukushima is always on people’s minds… a lot of concern
and worry about radiation’s role in unusual marine deaths — Reports of
shrunken or enlarged organs, black kidneys, sores on liver, slime in
mouth, discolored skin — Mortality in intertidal zone like “we haven’t
seen before” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/govt-expert-fukush...
Fukushima fishermen to allow discharge into sea
Nuclear & Energy Aug. 11, 2015 - Updated 01:16 UTC-4
Fukushima's
fisheries federation is planning to conditionally allow decontaminated
underground water from the crippled nuclear power plant to be discharged
into the sea.
In exchange, it has asked the government and the
operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to take measures
to prevent negative harmful rumors.
The Fukushima Prefectural
Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations reached this decision
on Tuesday after a conditional agreement by a fishermen's group in Iwaki
City.
The group handed a written request to officials from the central government and TEPCO.
It
is asking that strict operational standards be observed for the
discharge and that the process be subject to monitoring by a third
party. It also asks that compensation be paid for harmful rumors.
Tokyo
Electric Power Company is planning to pump up contaminated ground water
from wells near the reactor buildings, decontaminate the water, and
then release it into the ocean.
This measure will be taken to deal with the 300 tons of contaminated water that is being produced at the facility every day.
But
TEPCO's plan has been suspended. In February, local distrust of the
operator mounted after it was found to have failed to disclose leaks of
contaminated rainwater into the ocean.
The federation's chairman
Tetsu Nozaki said it was a very troubling decision, but measures to deal
with the contaminated water are necessary. He said they will make a
final decision after receiving a response.
TEPCO's Tsunemasa Niitsuma said they appreciate the understanding of the plan, and will try to respond quickly.
Reactor at Sendai plant reaches criticality
Nuclear & Energy Aug. 11, 2015 - Updated 11:07 UTC-4
A nuclear reactor has been restarted in Japan for the first time in nearly 2 years.
The
No.1 reactor at the Sendai nuclear plant in Kagoshima Prefecture,
southwestern Japan, is the first to go back online under the new
regulations introduced after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.
On Tuesday morning, workers in the plant's central control room operated a lever to pull out the reactor's 32 control rods.
The
plant's operator, Kyushu Electric Power Company, says the reactor
achieved a sustained nuclear chain reaction later on Tuesday and there's
been no trouble so far.
If all goes well, the reactor is due to
begin generating power on Friday. After gradually raising its output,
Kyushu Electric plans to begin commercial operations in early September.
The
utility says it will watch carefully for any abnormalities in the
operation of the equipment, as the reactor has been kept offline for
more than 4 years.
Last year, the 2 reactors at the Sendai plant
cleared the new, rigorous regulations introduced after the 2011 accident
at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The necessary inspections were
completed on Monday.
The reactor is the first to go online since September 2013, when the Ohi nuclear plant in central Japan halted operations.
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on
Thursday began pumping up groundwater from wells around the reactor
buildings as part of its plan to dump it into the ocean after treatment.
The plan is aimed at curbing the amount of toxic water buildup at the
complex. Tokyo Electric Power Co says radiation levels in the
groundwater are much lower than in the highly toxic water being pooled
inside the reactor buildings, adding it will discharge it only after
confirming it does not contain radioactive materials exceeding the
legally allowable limit.
Even so, fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture had long opposed the plan
amid concerns over pollution of the ocean and marine products. They
approved it last week on condition that the government and TEPCO
continue paying compensation to them for as long as the nuclear crisis
continues to cause damage to their business, among other requirements.
Approximately 200 tons of highly radioactive water were redirected to the wrong building at the disaster stricken Fukushima
nuclear power plant on April 14 when pumps that were not supposed to be
used were incorrectly turned on, this according to plant operator Tokyo
Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).
The plant’s officials assured that there were no other channels the
contaminated water could leak out of from the building, but the Nuclear
Regulation Authority (NRA) ordered the utility to monitor for leakage
just the same.
TEPCO said that the
highly contaminated water – used for cooling the molten down reactors –
has been wrongly directed to a group of buildings that house the central
waste processing facilities. The embattled operator said that the
basements of these buildings were supposed to function as emergency
storage for contaminated water anyway, but the water was not supposed to
be directed to the buildings at this point. Fukushima workers noticed
something was wrong on April 10, as the water levels in buildings that
should have been pumping out water were noticed to be going up instead
of down.
TEPCO tests filtered vent at nuclear plant
Tokyo Electric Power Company has tested a new safety system designed to deal with emergencies at nuclear power plants.
The
utility tested the newly installed filtered vent system at its
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, on
Thursday.
The system is designed to reduce pressure in reactor
containment vessels in emergencies while limiting emissions of
radioactive materials.
The system is required under tougher safety guidelines that took effect last July.
The vent was installed at the plant's No. 7 reactor.
The
Nuclear Regulation Authority is conducting safety reviews of the
facility's No. 6 and 7 reactors as a step to decide whether to allow
them back online.
In the test, workers funneled nitrogen through a
cylinder measuring 8 meters tall and 4 meters in diameter to determine
whether the gas flowed through piping as planned. Nitrogen was used in
place of gas containing radioactive materials.
Niigata Prefecture has
voiced concern over the system. Officials say radioactive materials
released through the filter may affect residents. A technology panel is
reviewing the system's safety and operation methods.
Tokyo Electric officials say they will explain test results to local governments and discuss operation methods.
Japan mulls over Pacific research whaling
Japan is considering whether to conduct research whaling in the northwestern Pacific Ocean later this month as planned.
The
International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled in March that Japan's
whaling program in the Antarctic cannot be recognized as serving
research purposes in its current form.
Japan also carries out research whaling in the northwestern Pacific, including waters off the country's coast.
This
year's activities are scheduled to start off the coast of Ishinomaki
City, northeastern Japan, on April 22nd. There are plans to conduct it
farther out into the northwestern Pacific next month.
Godzilla
trailer features nuclear plant in crisis: "They're not fooling anybody
that it was a natural disaster... They're lying, I'm not crazy, whatever
they're guarding so carefully, I need to be able to prove it" — "You
have no idea what's coming! It's going to send us back to Stone Age"
(VIDEO) http://enenews.com/godzilla-trailers-...
Experts:
Nuclear chain reactions may have lasted over 7 months at Fukushima —
Neutron leakage from 'active' molten fuel — "Core producing radioactive
sulfur" — Top Gov't Official: MOX fuel could be neutron source http://enenews.com/experts-nuclear-ch...
Fishermen approve groundwater diversion plan
A
federation of fishermen in Fukushima prefecture has approved a plan to
divert groundwater away from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant and into the sea.
The government and the plant's operator
--Tokyo Electric Power Company -- developed the scheme as a measure to
manage the increasing volume of radioactive water at the plant.
Every
day, about 400 tons of groundwater flows into the reactor buildings and
becomes contaminated when it mixes with water used to cool the melted
nuclear fuel.
Under the plan, groundwater will be brought above ground with pumps and released into the sea, bypassing the reactor buildings.
The
government and TEPCO estimated the method would reduce the volume of
contaminated water by about 100 tons per day. They asked local fishermen
to consider the plan.
The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of
Fisheries Co-operative Associations gave its approval and conveyed the
decision to the government and TEPCO officials at a meeting in Iwaki
city on Tuesday.
Fisheries co-operatives in Iwaki and Soma cities had already approved of the plan.
Abe vows to take lead for better nuclear security
Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to play a key role in promoting nuclear
security. He says Japan learned a lot from the accident at the
Fukushima nuclear power plant.
He made the remarks at a plenary
session of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, on
Monday. 53 leaders are taking part.
Abe said Japan will continue its
efforts domestically and internationally to strengthen measures for
nuclear security. He said the country will advance nonproliferation and
disarmament worldwide and work towards the abolishment of nuclear
weapons.
Reactor maker execs to serve decommissioning body
The
operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says it will
appoint senior industry officials to a new division tasked with
decommissioning.
Tokyo Electric Power Company will launch the internal division, separate to its power generating business, on April 1st.
The new body will specialize in decommissioning the nuclear plant and dealing with a massive buildup of contaminated water.
TEPCO
says senior officials from Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Toshiba and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will work as executives to advise the body's
top official.
The 3 makers are helping to deal with problems at the
troubled plant, such as developing robots to operate in high
radioactivity and removing spent nuclear fuel.
TEPCO hopes that by inviting the personnel, the new body can make better use of their expertise.
TEPCO and the Japanese government plan to start removing fuel from the most damaged reactors in 6 years at the earliest.
TEPCO restarts water treatment system
Engineers
at Tokyo Electric Power Company have restarted a key water treatment
system at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Two of
the 3 lines of the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, were
suspended on Monday after workers found water leaking from one of the
storage tanks.
The workers changed the packing on a side hatch of the
tank. They resumed operation of the 2 lines on Tuesday afternoon after
confirming that no water was leaking.
Inside Source: Gov't
officials are withholding Fukushima radiation data — Levels much higher
than expected — Releasing numbers would "have a huge impact" — Over
2,000 millisieverts per year where residents are being encouraged to
return http://enenews.com/inside-source-govt...
Radiation
Expert: 5 types of plutonium were released from WIPP; Officials not
informing public — Caldicott: "I predict that facility will never be
able to be used again"; Inhaling a millionth of a gram of plutonium will
induce lung cancer http://enenews.com/radiation-expert-5...
ALPS resumes partial operation after 6-day halt
Tokyo
Electric Power Company has restarted a key water decontamination system
at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after a 6-day suspension.
TEPCO resumed operations at 2 of the 3 lines of the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, on Monday.
ALPS
is said to remove almost all types of radioactive materials from
wastewater. This is crucial equipment in dealing with the massive volume
of radioactive water.
Fukushima water treatment system down again
Tokyo
Electric Power Company has shut down a key water treatment system at
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant only 6 hours after a restart.
TEPCO
suspended the Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, on Monday as
workers found water leaking from one of the storage tanks.
The system
was developed to sharply reduce radiation levels of highly toxic water
accumulating at the plant. Experts expect it to play a crucial role in
dealing with huge amounts of radioactive water.
Fukushima fishermen to accept water release plan
A
fisheries cooperative near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant has decided to conditionally allow a scheme to release
groundwater into the sea, bypassing the facility.
Monday's decision
by the Somafutaba fisheries cooperative will be formally approved at a
meeting of the regional Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries Cooperative on
Tuesday.
The plan to have the groundwater bypass the facility was
proposed by the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company as a way to
reduce the volume of radioactive wastewater.
Govt. to consider accepting immigrants
The
Japanese government says a newly established panel will discuss not
only raising the country's birthrate, but whether to accept more
immigrants for the labor shortage.
Huge conveyor belt to raise ground levels in Iwate
A
city devastated in the March 2011 disaster has begun moving huge
volumes of soil and sand on a giant conveyor belt. The work is part of a
project to raise the elevation of its urban core to a safer height
above sea level.
Top-rated Host of Top Talk Show Fired — Staff
and higher-ups objected to me talking about Fukushima — "I mentioned
Fukushima every chance I got" despite that (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/top-rated-host-top...
Caldicott:
Fukushima to be pouring radioactive water into Pacific "probably for
the rest of time... forever more" — "There's simply nothing anyone can
do about it" — "Nuclear industry is covering it up because they know if
truth comes out it will be end of nuclear power" (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/caldicott-fukushim...
PBS
Reporter: "The whole world needs to pay attention" to what's going on
at Fukushima — "Magnitude of mess is actually staggering" — "We really
don't know how they're going to clean it up" — "Reminds me of the
cartoon Fantasia" (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/pbs-reporter-the-w...
Video:
"Pacific Ocean is under incredible threat... Americans are now starting
to reap that on their West Coast" — Kamps: "An unprecedented
catastrophe... should be independent monitors sent to Fukushima to try
to get the truth as to how bad this is" http://enenews.com/video-pacific-ocea...
"Radiation
leaks could still be occurring" at WIPP — Locals worried since "no one
knows anything" — Workers to use "military-like tactics... ready to risk
everything" — "Event has changed WIPP" — "Life as we knew it is going
to be different" http://enenews.com/radiation-leaks-co...
(San
Francisco) It is time to call it what it is: It’s a Scam. It’s a Con
Job. There is no solution, never was and never will be. That’s the whole
Con and you, like most people, probably fell for the notion hook, line
and sinker that radioactivity can be removed from water.
Keep
in mind that these pro-nuker monsters are including killing You to
fulfill their sick plan for the Good Life for themselves. You croaking
is just accepted as part of the Requirements – not a problem for the
pro-nukers.
Fukushima world update
Japan decided to stop
treating radioactive water at the Fukushima reactors; it was announced
on Mar 18, 2014 through it’s electrical subsidiary TEPCO, the Tokyo
Electric Power Company.
The Japanese government had previously
announced that as much as 264,172 US Gallons of water a day flow through
the derelict reactors and their abandoned reactor cores, then flows
unhindered into the Pacific Ocean. That’s 5.2 Trillion Radioactive Drops
of water a day poisoning the oceans, not than anybody is counting.
The
fish in the Oceans, of course, absorb or eat the radioactive particles.
The radioactive particles poison the fish and concentrate the poison as
much as 1,000 Times more in the fish than in the water. Humans that eat
the radioactive fish get a permanent case of radiation poisoning; it
will probably kill them.
Around the world about two billion people
(2,000,000,000 people) live on fish and other now radioactive products
from the sea. As these people get progressively more severe radiation
poisoning they will get sicker and die before their God given time is
up.
These two billion people are not expected to die quietly and
without some fuss. Food riots and so-called “civil unrest” are
anticipated. Government propaganda outlets like the New York Times can be expected to gloss over the increased death rates as “natural” and as “something they ate.”
From
a certain sick point of view, the radiation in the fish they ate that
killed them was “something they ate.” Their “shortened life span” was
entirely Unnatural and completely man made by pro-nukers. That
is how the pro-nukers get away with “random premeditated murder,”
normally a Capital Crime; which means it is punishable by the Death
Penalty.
Governments will employ whatever means are necessary,
including lethal force, to maintain a civil tone and public decorum. The
government and corporate slugs that brought us this horror can thank
their lucky stars the dying fish eating people don’t have much money to
buy influence and their passing will not be televised.
Also, they are also mostly not White. They will just be – gone. Others, still living, will be thankful they are still alive.
The Times
and other establishment “outlets” will interview scores of scientists
on the issue who will say they are “befuddled,” amazed,” “surprised,”
“stunned” and they “don’t know the cause.”
Is it possible to remove radioactivity from water?
Riddled with problems since the beginning, TEPCO has called this system "key" to its clean-up strategy
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Workers
at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station work among
underground water storage pools on 17 April 2013. (Photo: Greg Webb /
IAEA)At the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant, a defect
has again forced the shutdown of the decontamination system that is
central to the radioactive water cleanup strategy, owner Tokyo Electric
Power Co. announced Tuesday.
According to TEPCO, the Advanced
Liquid Processing System (ALPS) — designed to decontaminate the water
used to cool melted reactors — was turned off after leaks were
discovered by workers Monday night, Al Jazeera Americareports.
At
the time of the suspension, the cleaning system had just been restarted
after being shut down for nearly a week, due to a glitch, Jiji news network reports.
Just one example of the highly-criticized clean-up operation, this
system has worked inconsisently since operations began a year ago, AFPreports.
The
latest shutdown is a major blow to TEPCO's stated strategy, which
"regards ALPS as a key facility to deal with contaminated water at the
plant," according toJiji.
The
incident comes as the facility continues to produce huge volumes of
radioactive water, with 436,000 cubic meters of contaminated water
currently being stored in approximately 1,200 tanks — an amount that is
constantly growing, according toAFP.
_____________________
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Report: "It's a big lie, everybody
in Japan knows" — Fukushima "far worse" than authorities admit, they
must come clean about what really happened — Forbes Even Getting
Suspicious? "Nuclear disaster at Fukushima perhaps the worst of all
time" http://enenews.com/reports-fukushima-...
Japan
Newspapers: It appears 'high-level radioactive contaminated water' is
flowing into ocean at Fukushima — "Fear nuclear complex might not be
scrapped" — Nuclear official admits disaster at plant "is barely being
managed" http://enenews.com/japan-newspapers-i...
Survey: Evacuees unsure about choice of residence An
NHK survey shows that more than half of evacuees affected by the March
2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan are feeling unsure
about their choice of new residence. NHK conducted the survey in
January among 2,878 evacuees from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima
prefectures and received 1,201 answers. Eighty-six percent of the respondents said they had decided on their new residence. 71
percent said they will go back to exactly where they lived before, or
to other areas in their former communities. Fifteen percent answered
that they will move to other municipalities in their home prefectures or
elsewhere in other prefectures. Forty-five percent of the
respondents said they have no doubts about their decision. But 55
percent said they often or sometimes wonder whether their choice of
residence was right. Those who are feeling undecided were asked about
what they miss most. Thirty-five percent said land, houses and family
graves, while others mentioned bonds with neighbors, friends and
acquaintances. Forty-six percent of the respondents unsure about their choice were those who are planning to return to their hometowns. Associate
Professor Reo Kimura from the University of Hyogo says the survey shows
that even 3 years after the disaster the evacuees have to choose from
limited options for rebuilding their lives. He added that both
central and local governments should explain once more their
reconstruction plans and visions to reassure people.
Japanese NPO aid for Chernobyl affected Officials
from a Japanese civic group that supports people affected by the 1986
nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, say the current situation in the
country is hampering their humanitarian activities. The non-profit
organization in Nagoya, central Japan, has been sending medical
equipment and funds to its counterpart in Ukraine for 24 years. The aid
is used to help workers who deal with the crippled power plant and to
treat children suffering from radiation exposure.
Japan eyes joint research on Monju with France Japanese
government officials plan to work with their French counterparts in
developing next-generation nuclear reactor technologies to reduce
radioactive waste. They are apparently aiming to use the nation's troubled Monju fast-breeder reactor. Engineers
in France are developing the ASTRID prototype reactor, which is
expected to begin operation around 2025. Both reactors are designed to
reduce nuclear waste. Sources say Japanese officials are preparing to
reach a basic agreement with France in late April. This will be
followed by a formal accord.
