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Fukui
Gov Issei Nishikawa will soon give his consent for the restart of two
nuclear reactors in the prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast, sources
close to the matter said Sunday, as the central government seeks to
bring more reactors back online after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.
The
governor will visit the site of the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai
Electric Power Co’s Takahama plant on Monday to check safety measures
before expressing his consent, they said. The governor’s consent is
necessary to restart the reactors.
Earlier in the day, industry
minister Motoo Hayashi, in charge of the country’s energy policy, met
with Nishikawa at the Fukui prefectural office and sought the Fukui
governor’s consent for the restart of the two nuclear reactors.
NASA Photo ID : ISS045-E-21851 Wikimedia.org
...........................................................................................
December 07 2015 08:00 AM
Volcano Eruption
Japan
[Mt Aso volcano] Prefecture of Kumamoto
..........
Volcano Eruption in Japan on December 07 2015 08:00 AM (UTC).
Mount
Aso in southwestern Japan's Kumamoto prefecture had a small-scale
eruption Monday morning, its first since Oct 23, the weather agency
said. The eruption spewed smoke about 700 metres above the No. 1 crater
of Mt Nakadake, one of the five peaks that constitute Mt Aso, the Japan
Meteorological Agency said. There have been no reports of people injured
so far. The agency maintained its volcanic alert level at 2 on the
scale of 5, warning people not to approach the crater. Rocks could fall
within one kilometre of the crater, it said. "An eruption of this level
can happen at any time," an official of the agency's Fukuoka Regional
Headquarters said. The alert level for Mt Aso was raised to 3 following
its eruption on Sept 14, which warned against approaching the mountain,
but it was lowered by one notch on Nov 24 amid diminished volcanic
activity.
I cover science and innovation and products and policies they create.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
A NASA image from 2014
It’s
not exactly a Pacific beach resort just yet, but the Japanese Coast
Guard reports that a volcanic island that first popped up in the middle
of the ocean two years ago has already grown to twelve times its initial
size.
Molten rock cooled by the ocean first poked out of the
water in November, 2013, when it was initially spotted next to island
Nishinoshima, which it eventually grew to engulf.
Click to Open Overlay GalleryThe eruption of Nishinoshima with the new island joining with the original Nishinoshima island, seen on December 26, 2013. Image: Japan Coast GuardVia WIRED.................................................................................................
Tens
of thousands of years ago, an undersea volcano a thousand kilometers
south of Tokyo reached a milestone: Its peak reached the surface of the
Pacific Ocean. It became an actual island. For millennia it slept, but
in the 1970s a series of eruptions grew the island, which was named Nishinoshima. It was tiny, just a couple of hundred meters across.
But
then there were a series of eruptions just south of the island in
November 2013, in a still-submerged part of the volcano. This created a
second peak, which poked through the water’s surface to become a new
island just a few hundred meters from Nishinoshima.
That
wouldn’t last: The new island grew as the volcano continued to erupt,
and just before New Year’s Day 2014, the new island grew so big it actually connected to the old island. Now there is just one … and it’s still erupting, as you can see in this lovely image taken by the Landsat 8 satellite on March 20, 2014:
The new volcanic Nishinoshima Island, seen FROM SPAAAAACE. Click to hephaestenate.
A
shocking new report defies the chronically underestimated impacts of
the Fukushima's triple meltdown on the risk of cancer in exposed
populations, which does not just include Japan, but arguably the entire
world.
A new report from Fairewinds Energy Education (FEE), "Cancer on the Rise in Post-Fukushima Japan,"
reveals that the ongoing multi-core nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima
Daiichi plant that started in March 2011 has produced approximately 230
times higher than normal thyroid cancers in Fukushima Prefecture, and
could result in as many as one million more cancers in Japan's future as
a result of the meltdown.
According to the new report,
data provided by a group of esteemed Japanese medical professionals and
TEPCO, confirm a direct link of numerous cancers in Japan to the triple
meltdown. As transcribed by Enenews.com, Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds stated, Nov. 4, 2015:
"It's
been almost 5 years from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns, and the news
from Japan is still not good. Two reports recently released in Japan,
one by Japanese medical professionals and the second from Tokyo Power
Corporation – TEPCO – acknowledged that there will be numerous cancers
in Japan, much greater than normal, due to the radioactive discharges
from the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi... I believe, as do many
of my colleagues, that there will be at least 100,000 and as many as one
million more cancers in Japan's future as a result of this meltdown...
[T]he second report received from Japan proves that the incidence of
thyroid cancer is approximately 230 times higher than normal in
Fukushima Prefecture... So what's the bottom line? The cancers already
occurring in Japan are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sorry to say
that the worst is yet to come."
Will the 'stricter regulations' serve as protection?
by Julie Fidler Posted on October 21, 2015
Just
days after 1,800 people from around Kyushu gathered to protest the
planned restart of another reactor at the Sendai nuclear plant, the
second reactor has been brought online. The Sendai Nuclear Power Plant
is the only one working in Japan since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
[1]
There
are currently 20 reactors at 13 Japanese nuclear power plants
undergoing audits to confirm that their safety standards are in
compliance with new regulations adopted since the Fukushima meltdown.
The new regulations are significantly stricter than those that existed
prior to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that crashed into
Fukushima and make provisions for the highest level of earthquake and
tsunami risk. Nuclear power plants in Japan must now have several backup
power sources available, as well as other comprehensive emergency
measures.
[2]
Opinion polls have consistently shown that residents
were against bringing the second Sendai reactor online. On October 12,
nearly 2,000 people protested the restart, waving placards reading
“Nuclear plant, no more” and shouting slogans. The plant’s No. 1 reactor
was brought back on line in August
. [3]
Protesters called the
decision to bring No. 2 online a “suicidal” decision, as a steam
generator in the reactor building has not been replaced with a more
durable one. Kyushu Electric Power Co. had said it would replace the
generator in 2009.
A
powerful typhoon bearing down on the northern Japanese island of
Hokkaido has forced authorities to order the evacuation of thousands of
residents. Thousands of residents in northern Japan have been ordered to
evacuate as a powerful typhoon bears down on the island of Hokkaido.
Local authorities issued evacuation orders for Nemuro city on the coast
and neighbouring areas, as Typhoon Choi-Wan approached from the east,
the Hokkaido daily reports. About 170 flights have been cancelled and
scores of train services suspended, the paper says. The season's 23rd
typhoon, still several hundred kilometres east of Japan, had maximum
sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of 162kph, the Japan Meteorological
Agency says.
Thursday, 08 October, 2015 at 04:58 (04:58 AM) UTC
Last update:
---
Cause of event:
Damage level:
Unknown
Geographic information
Continent:
Asia
Country:
Japan
County / State:
Prefecture of Hokkaido
Area:
Prefecture-wide
City:
Coordinate:
N 43° 16.857, E 142° 43.865
Number of affected people / Humanities loss
Foreign people:
Affected is unknown.
..........
..........
.......... If you are located anywhere in central or northern Japan I am
sure you have at least noticed its it’s a little (or a lot) windy
outside today. Choi-wan a large extra-tropical low and once typhoon
east of
IR / VIS SAT
Japan has grew in size in to Thursday morning covering a vast area of the North West Pacific with gale force winds.
Winds up to typhoon strength have already been reported in parts of
Hokkaido from this storm. Click here for latest reports. The worst of it
will be in the North East Area of the island where the low expected to
pass Thursday evening with a pressure below 950hpa and winds up to
162kph. Prepare to be educated… The Jet Stream is indicated by the arrows
but even without it the best satellite to use to spot it is the Water
Vapor Imagery, you can see it in the areas of drier air in the upper
levels. The Jet is ripping Choi-wan apart today from a tropical to a
massive extra-tropical system. Winds already reported up to Typhoon
Strength in parts of Hokkaido.
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
Rainwater overflows from Fukushima plant
Nuclear & Energy Sep. 11, 2015 - Updated 01:34 UTC-4
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has found that rainwater has intermittently overflowed a drainage channel and spilled directly into the sea.
This happened after the area was hit by the recent heavy rains.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Friday that it confirmed the leaks through video footage of the complex. The operator said the leaks occurred at 3 AM, 5:20 AM and 6 AM on Friday -- for a total of more than 2 and a half hours.
TEPCO is now checking the radioactive levels of rainwater samples taken from the channel.
Radioactive rainwater was first found spilling into the sea from the channel in February.
As a stopgap measure, TEPCO built a barrier at the channel's far end to pump up water before it reached the sea.
The channel repeatedly floods during heavy rains.
Work to reroute the drainage channel so that the rainwater does not leak outside the plant's port, which began in May, has yet to be completed.
3 dead, 23 missing in eastern Japan floods
Japan Sep. 11, 2015 - Updated 03:22 UTC-4
Authorities in eastern Japan say massive floods and landslides caused by record-high rainfall have left three people dead and 23 missing.
Rescuers are searching for the missing, 22 of whom are from Joso City in Ibaraki Prefecture, north of Tokyo. A levee of the Kinugawa River gave way in the city on Thursday.
City officials had said 25 people were missing, but later contacted three of them.
The other missing person is from Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture.
One of the three dead, a man in his 20s, fell in a drain on Thursday while working at an overflowed river in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture.
A 63-year-old woman died after her house was hit by a landslide in Kanuma City, also in Tochigi.
Officials in Kurihara say a 48-year-old woman died on Friday morning after her car was washed away by floodwaters.
Recovering radiation contaminated bags
Nuclear & Energy Sep. 11, 2015 - Updated 08:43 UTC-4
Floods have washed bags of material contaminated by radiation into river in a village in Fukushima prefecture. Some of them have reportedly been recovered, but others are still missing.
Environment ministry officials say they received a report on Friday morning that floods from heavy rain carried the plastic bags into the Niida River. They were being stored on farmland in Iitate village near the Crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The bags contained grass and other materials tainted with radioactive substances from the 2011 nuclear accident. They were being kept outdoors near the river before being transferred to storage sites.
The officials say 82 bags have been washed into the Niida and nearby Hiso rivers. Workers involved in decontamination efforts reportedly recovered 37 of them as of 6 PM Friday.
The officials say they will continue searching for the remaining bags and check whether any other bags have been washed away.
Rescues continue along flooded Shibui River
Japan Sep. 10, 2015 - Updated 23:46 UTC-4
Emergency rescue teams are struggling to reach people stranded by floodwaters in a wide area along the Shibui River in Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, in northeastern Japan.
A 20-meter section of a levee collapsed on Friday morning. The area is the latest to suffer extreme damage from flooding caused by the recent record rains.
City authorities say calls for rescue are pouring in from stranded residents. Ground Self-Defense Force personnel called in to help say about 100 buildings have been inundated.
Firefighters and GSDF personnel are using boats and helicopters to try to get to the stranded people. Firefighters say they had rescued 66 people by noon on Friday.
City officials say more than 700 residents, including those who have been rescued, have evacuated to shelters. About 1,250 people live in the district where the levee broke.
The Meteorological Agency has issued an emergency warning for Miyagi Prefecture. Local municipalities are calling on residents to evacuate to safer places.
Earlier on Thursday, Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures, south of Miyagi, suffered extreme damage from floods.
Twenty-five people are missing in Joso City, Ibaraki Prefecture. About 580 others remain stranded and are waiting for help.
Who Opens a Reactor Next to a Volcano? Japan’s New Nuclear Gamble
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...
Kyushu Electric begins putting nuclear fuel in 2nd reactor for restart
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/ne...
Energy Policy Agenda for the Next Administration and Congress
http://www.heritage.org/research/repo...
Fukushima leaks radioactive water after Typhoon Etau busts drainage system
Flooding from Typhoon Etau has caused new leaks of contaminated water to flow from the Fukushima nuclear power station into the ocean. The incident came after a rush of water overwhelmed the site’s drainage pumps.
Typhoon Etau brought lashing rains, floods and storm winds to Japan. Tens of thousands of Japanese people have been ordered to leave their homes across the country.
We
are now in the throws of the Earth's 6th Mass Extinction, and humans
will soon be on the endagered list; according to Stanford University,
Oxford, and others. Many studies are being done, and while they admit
that this extinction event is not a natural one, as the past 5
extinctions have been, (they say this one is caused by human beings) not
one of the studies covers, or at least admits the true, final cause...
man-made radiation.
Since
Fukushima, much interest has developed in the application of checking
food and water for possible radiation contamination. Here are your
options: Rely on government agencies, such as the EPA (Environmental
Protection Agency) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US,
or Procure the same equipment used by those agencies and conduct
your own tests. These include specialized devices like Multi-Channel
Analyzers for Gamma Spectrometry, etc. which are quite thorough and able
to detect very low levels of contaminants, along with which isotopes
are present. Or, acquire a personal radiation detector which, while
not as effective or thorough as the above alternatives, is readily
available to the lay person and easy to use. http://www.geigercounters.com/FoodCon...
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.
Forced to Flee Radiation, Fearful Japanese Villagers Are Reluctant to Return
“The
government and the media say the radiation has been cleaned up, but
it’s all lies,” said Miyakoji villager Kim Eunja, with her husband,
Satoshi Mizuochi. Credit Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
.....
MIYAKOJI,
Japan — Ever since they were forced to evacuate during the accident at
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant three years ago, Kim Eunja and her
husband have refused to return to their hilltop home amid the majestic
mountains of this rural village for fear of radiation.
But now
they say they may have no choice. After a nearly $250 million radiation
cleanup here, the central government this month declared Miyakoji the
first community within a 12-mile evacuation zone around the plant to be
reopened to residents. The decision will bring an end to the monthly
stipends from the plant’s operator that have allowed Ms. Kim to relocate
to an apartment in a city an hour away.
“The
government and the media say the radiation has been cleaned up, but
it’s all lies,” said Ms. Kim, 55, who is from South Korea, and who with
her Japanese husband runs a small Korean restaurant outside Miyakoji. “I
want to run away, but I cannot. We have no more money.”
She
is not the only one. While the central government and national news
media have trumpeted the reopening of Miyakoji as a happy milestone in
Japan’s recovery from the devastating March 2011 accident, many
residents tell a darker story. They insist their homes remain too
dangerous or too damaged to inhabit and that they have not received
enough financial compensation to allow them to start anew somewhere
else.
Photo
Yoshikuni
Munakata works to repair his home, which was abandoned for three years
after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.Credit Ko Sasaki for The New York Times
They
criticize the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, for
failing to reimburse them for the value of their homes, usually their
family’s largest financial asset. Depending on where they lived, they
say they have received amounts from half the preaccident value to just
$3,000, a tiny fraction of the original value of their homes.
The
study, covering the city of Tamura and the villages of Kawauchi and
Iitate, showed that the radiation level in many areas is still beyond 1
millisievert per year — a level the government is seeking to achieve at
contaminated lands in the long term.
The
government lifted an evacuation order imposed on the Miyakoji district
in Tamura on April 1, but the content of the interim report, compiled in
October, was not conveyed to the citizens or the local governments
before the action was taken.
The
government explained the content to local governments later, while the
report was posted on the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry on Monday. It also plans to release a final report on Friday. A
government team tasked with supporting people affected by the crisis
said it did not initially plan to release the interim report but decided
to make it public because of the “high attention among residents.”
The
government kept a report about a study of individual radiation doses
around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant — including an area recently
released from an evacuation order — under wraps for six months.
The
study, which covered the city of Tamura and the villages of Kawauchi
and Iitate, showed that the radiation in many areas is still over 1
millisievert per year — a level the government is looking to achieve in
the long term.
The government lifted an evacuation order on the
Miyakoji district in Tamura on April 1, but the content of the interim
report, compiled in October, was not conveyed to its citizens or local
governments before the action was taken.
Skepticism about the
government’s disclosure habits concerning radiation levels from the
Fukushima crisis has been growing, and the latest incident is likely to
amplify public health concerns.
The government explained the
content to local governments later, and the report was posted on the
website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Monday. It
also plans to release a final report on Friday.
A government team
tasked with supporting people affected by the crisis said it did not
initially plan to release the interim report but decided to make it
public because of the “high attention among residents.”
