Lighthouse in Fukushima shines once more
Lighthouse in Fukushima shines once more
The Shioyasaki Lighthouse was illuminated on Nov. 30 for the first time since it was damaged in the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The lighthouse, which was opened on a promontory on the Fukushima coastline in 1899, is one of Iwaki’s most popular tourist attractions.
It was featured in the 1957 movie "Yorokobi mo Kanashimi mo Ikutoshitsuki" (Years of joy and sorrow), and is also featured in the 1987 song "Midaregami" (Disheveled hair) by Hibari Misora (1937-1989).
via AJW
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operator 'ignored tsunami warning'
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant ignored warnings that the complex was at risk of damage from a tsunami of the size that hit north-east Japan in March, and dismissed the need for better protection against seawater flooding, according to reports.
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) officials rejected "unrealistic" estimates made in a 2008 internal report that the plant could be threatened by a tsunami of up to 10.2 metres, Kyodo news agency said.
The tsunami that crippled backup power supplies at the plant on the afternoon of 11 March, leading to the meltdown of three reactors, was more than 14 metres high.
Evidence that the utility was unprepared for the tsunami, despite previous warnings, came as the firm announced that the manager of the Fukushima plant, Masao Yoshida, was being treated for an unspecified illness and would leave his post on Thursday.
The company refused to disclose the nature of Yoshida's illness, but said it was not related to his exposure to radiation during the nine months since the crisis began. "On doctors' advice, I have no choice but to be hospitalised for treatment," Yoshida, 56, reportedly said in a message to staff. "It breaks my heart to have to bid farewell in this way to all of the people with whom I have worked since the disaster."
Yoshida, who led the department overseeing the plant's management when the 2008 report was submitted, has been credited with preventing a more serious accident in March.
In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, he approved the continued injection of seawater into one of the damaged reactors, despite being told to abandon the measure by Tepco officials. He was later reprimanded, but won praise from experts who said he had helped cool overheating fuel rods and prevent a worse disaster.
via guardian.co.uk
TEPCO's Fukushima Plant Head Leaves The Plant
TEPCO announced on November 28 that Masao Yoshida, head of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, has fallen ill and been hospitalized; he will resign as the head of the plant as of December 1st.
Yoshida, head of Fukushima I Nuke Plant, issued a message to the plant workers as follows: "An illness was found during the medical exam, and I have no choice but to leave the plant, despite the on-going plant accident. To have to part with you like this is gut-wrenching, and I apologize from the bottom of my heart for any inconvenience that my leaving the post may cause."
As usual, TEPCO says it won't disclose what kind of illness that Yoshida suffers, or the cumulative radiation exposure he has received ever since March 11, as such information is "private".
Fukushima Atomic Plant Still Pouring Out The Radiation
8% of Japan's land area, or more than 30,000 square kilometers, has been contaminated with radioactive cesium from the Fukushima atomic power plant.
Spanning 13 prefectures, the affected area has accumulated more than 10,000 becquerels of cesium 134 and 137 per square meter.
Senior government officials withheld from reporting Russia's offer to store and reprocess spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants in Japan to other relevant government bodies in a bid to thwart any unfavorable move toward the operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant in Aomori Prefecture.
On November 17, the architect of Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3, Uehara Haruo, was interviewed in Japan. He warned that a “China Syndrome” situation is inevitable at the plant. Haruo said that considering eight months have passed since the tsunami and the crippling of the nuclear plant without any improvement in the condition of the reactors, it is likely melted fuel has escaped the container vessel and is now burning through the earth. On September 20, 2011, Hiroaki Koide, assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, estimated that material from the nuclear fuel rods may be twelve meters deep underground at reactors one and three.
All farming east of Fukushima City should be suspended for 7-10 years. The atomic power plant continues to release very high levels of radiation.
Scientists and doctors are calling for a new national policy in Japan that mandates the testing of food, soil, water, and the air for radioactivity still being emitted from the nuclear power plant.
The government and TEPCO have still not reported the total amount of the released radioactivity. On Aug.2, the science ministry stated that readings of 10,000 millisieverts (10 sieverts) of radioactivity per hour were detected at the plant. Nov.20, TEPCO stated that the radiation level inside reactor No2 building was 1.2 sieverts/hr, and inside No3 building, 1.6 sieverts/hr. That level of radiation would kill any worker exposed for a couple of hours.
10,000 millisieverts (mSv) is the equivalent of approximately 100,000 chest x-rays. The Aug.20 readings are 250% higher than levels recorded at the plant in March. The readings could have been higher but the measuring device used by TEPCO had a maximum reading of 10,000 mSv.
Early on in the disaster, Dr Makoto Kondo of the department of radiology of Keio University's School of Medicine warned of "a large difference in radiation effects on adults compared to children".
Kondo explained the chances of children developing cancer from radiation exposure was many times higher than adults.
Some months ago, the Fukushima government stated it would start a free 30 year annual radiation check for all residents of the prefecture. This should be extend to include free health care for all residents, for any radiation related medical problems.
In a recent Tokyo court case involving the owners of two golf courses and TEPCO, the lawyers for TEPCO stated to the court, that once the radiation leaves the atomic power plant, the radiation is no longer the property of TEPCO.
A quarter-century after the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, some 14 percent of the land area in neighboring Belarus remains contaminated with radioactive cesium.
As of January, levels exceeding 37,000 becquerels per square meter were recorded. As such, the land is designated as "polluted."
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