Massive earthquake in Japan...

[Grey Havoc]

Via JAPAN SECURITY WATCH:

http://newpacificinstitute.org/jsw/?p=6362

 

[Grey Havoc]

Flip-flopping government shoots self in foot

Nobutaka Kuribayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Contradictory statements about emergency efforts to cool the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor have damaged the government's credibility as a source of information, and will do nothing to improve Prime Minister Naoto Kan's standing in the international community.

Last Saturday, the government said the injection of seawater into the No. 1 reactor had been temporarily halted on March 12, but altered its account Thursday after Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the seawater injection had continued uninterrupted.

This reversal follows a correction issued by the government Sunday that amended a quote it had attributed to Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission.

"We haven't been conscientious about checking where information has come from," Goshi Hosono, an adviser to Kan, said Thursday evening at a press conference held by the Government-TEPCO Integrated Response Office.

Hosono admitted the government had based its account on information supplied by TEPCO officials, and that the government had entrusted TEPCO Fellow Ichiro Takekuro, a former vice president of the firm, to gather that information.

Last Saturday, Hosono said Madarame, when told of a plan to inject seawater into the reactor, had said, "There is a danger of re-criticality." Based on that warning, the government began discussing preventive steps, Hosono said.

In the correction, the government said Madarame's actual words were, "The possibility of re-criticality is not zero."

The correction was issued because Madarame had objected to the government's initial statement.

On Thursday, TEPCO corrected a fundamental element of a previous government statement.

The utility said it had continued injecting seawater into the reactor without any stoppage. The government's account had it that TEPCO suspended the operation after learning the Prime Minister's Office was concerned about potential risks.

The government's failure to properly investigate the facts and ensure proper communication--necessities in an emergency situation--have damaged public confidence in it.

Dissatisfaction with TEPCO's response to the nuclear crisis triggered by the March 11 disaster prompted Kan to set up the Government-TEPCO Integrated Response Office on March 15.

However, two months later, communication within the integrated office is neither efficient nor accurate, as the government's flip-flopping over the seawater injection issues proves.

TEPCO's culture is to blame for the firm placing more importance on the concerns of the Prime Minister's Office than on scientific merit, but the incident nevertheless highlights the problematic nature of political initiatives.

The government has been shown to still be lacking in terms of crisis management.

At a press conference on Thursday evening, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano expressed displeasure with TEPCO's performance.

"If the facts aren't accurately reported, we'll struggle to respond to the situation, and the public will become doubtful and suspicious," he said.

However, Edano also said the government does not think TEPCO has intentionally concealed information. "At the very least, there's no reason for the firm to conceal information," he said.

Such faith in TEPCO is apparently a reflection of the attitude of Kan, who, according to officials close to him, places complete confidence in Masao Yoshida, chief of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Some government officials point out that Yoshida's decision to continue injecting seawater into the reactor, despite the apparent concerns of the Prime Minister's Office, was proven to be the better choice.

But because of the erroneous initial statement, from Monday to Wednesday discussions by the House of Representatives' special committee on post-disaster reconstruction were based on the incorrect assumption that the seawater injection had been temporarily suspended.

Later this month, the government will establish a committee to investigate the nuclear crisis, but some government officials have pointed out that the credibility of the committee's findings could also be seen as questionable.

From an international perspective, the government's reversal was terribly timed.

In a speech at the opening of the Group of Eight summit meeting in Deauville, France, Kan was going to explain developments regarding the nuclear crisis, and seek support for Japan's efforts to bring the situation under control.

The International Atomic Energy Agency team is currently in Japan to investigate the accidents at the Fukushima plant.

Repeated revisions to its official statements could make existing suspicion about the government's response grow even deeper in the international community.

===

TEPCO: Govt was told by fax

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said at a press conference Thursday that TEPCO sent a fax to the Cabinet Secretariat on March 12 that read, "We'll begin injecting seawater once we have completed preparations."

This claim contradicts a statement made Monday by Kan.

"We didn't receive any direct report [from TEPCO] saying it had started or stopped the injection," Kan said.

"Those of us at the Prime Minister's Office, including myself, did nothing whatsoever to stop the injection," he added.

(May. 28, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110527004937.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

N-plant chief made 'right decision'


"We have found that the seawater injection actually continued."

With these words, Tokyo Electric Power Co. completely reversed its earlier claim that it temporarily stopped pumping seawater into the No. 1 reactor at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 12, a day after the plant was damaged by a huge earthquake and tsunami.

Speaking at a press conference Thursday at TEPCO's Tokyo headquarters, Executive Vice President Sakae Muto delivered the utility's new account of the events of the March 12 seawater injection, begun as a last-ditch effort to keep nuclear fuel inside from overheating.

According to his explanation, at 7:25 p.m., 21 minutes after the seawater injection started, a TEPCO executive notified its head office that officials at the Prime Minister's Office felt the injection should not have been started without Prime Minister Naoto Kan's approval.

Muto said cooling the reactor with seawater was urgently necessary, something TEPCO wanted to do "as soon as possible."

But TEPCO did not argue with the Prime Minister's Office. TEPCO officials, including President Masataka Shimizu, who was at the head office, and Masao Yoshida, head of the No. 1 plant, agreed to suspend the seawater injection.

However, Yoshida decided on his own that the seawater injection should continue, Muto said. He added that even though Yoshida had defied the head office, "It was the correct decision."

This latest flip-flop by TEPCO has also cast doubt on information released by the government.

At a press conference on May 16, TEPCO said the seawater injection was stopped at 7:25 p.m. and resumed at 8:20 p.m. Goshi Hosono, a special adviser to Kan, gave the same story at a press conference on May 21, where he said confidently this timeline was "based on facts obtained from thorough hearings."

After Yoshida's revelation that the injection had not stopped--finding made by TEPCO in hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday--contradicted Hosono's statement, Kan's adviser told at a press conference Thursday, "I'm sorry for failing to convey the correct information."

Heated debates have raged over the seawater injection into the No. 1 reactor in meetings of a House of Representatives committee on reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake. A main point of contention was whether Kan instructed the injection to be stopped, and whether the prime minister was advised to do so by Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission.

"If there was no suspension, what was all the fuss about me about?" Madarame said at a press conference Thursday. "Everyone's been so focused on who ordered the suspension, so now it's just a big question mark in my head. I'm completely confused."

(May. 28, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110527004964.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

Retailers hit by shortfall in Japanese imports

Published: 21 May 11 11:19 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20110521-35161.html


German retailers are reporting the first shortfalls in imports of electronic goods from Japan, two months after a devastating earthquake crippled factories there.

"There are shortages and waiting lists in the photography and multimedia areas – particularly newer models." a spokesman for the business cooperation Electronic Partner told the financial weekly Wirtschaftswoche.

"We're seeing the first shortages in the photography area," Benedict Kober, head of the electronics retailer Euronics, confirmed. "Not all the models are available. A lot of the cameras that we're selling at the moment are coming from our own back-up stores."

He added that the supply of smartphones was also depleted.

Japanese camera-maker Nikon has informed its German representatives that it currently can't deliver two of its new cameras, while the German headquarters of electronics giant Sony Ericsson has also reported that its import quantities are being reduced.

Mobile phone maker Nokia has said that it expects profits to drop in the second and third quarters of this year.

DAPD/bk

 

[Grey Havoc]

53.1 billion yen needed to clean water

The Yomiuri Shimbun

It will cost about 53.1 billion yen to decontaminate 250,000 tons of radiation-tainted water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant by mid-January, the deadline Tokyo Electric Power Co. has set for the second stage of its efforts to bring the plant under control, TEPCO has announced.

Decontaminating the water will cost 210,000 yen per ton, the company said Friday. Water decontamination will account for more than 10 percent of the about 430 billion yen TEPCO expects to need for the second stage.

Facilities for decontaminating the tainted water are being constructed with technology from French nuclear power company Areva SA and others. TEPCO aims to start trial operations of the facilities in mid-June.

Upon completion of the facilities, TEPCO should be able to realize its plan to remove radioactive materials and salt from the water, and then reuse it to cool the Nos. 1-3 reactors at the plant. The fuel rods in these reactors have melted and dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessels.

However, the decontamination of tainted water is likely to continue after January, and the total costs are likely to increase.

(May. 29, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110528002597.htm

The EX-SKF blog has a somewhat different take on the water treatment contract:
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/tepco-areva-contract-to-treat.html
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/arevas-water-treatment-system-for.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

Also via EX-SKF, this story on controversial debris disposal policies in Fukushima Prefecture:

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/fukushima-radioactive-debris-to-be.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

From The Diplomat, an interesting analysis of how the PRC may benefit from the post-Fukushima hysteria:

How China Gains from Fukushima

East Asia | Environment | China May 20, 2011 By Saurav Jha

As public opinion turns against nuclear power in Asia’s democracies, could China step in—and grab some extra strategic clout in the process?


With Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s popularity sagging over his administration’s handling of the triple earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, and with concerns growing over the safety of nuclear power, it seems little wonder that he announced last week that the country’s energy policy needed to ‘start from scratch.’

The announcement, which included a decision to abandon plans announced last year for 14 new reactors, came shortly after the government had been forced to lean on Chubu Electric Power Co. to shut down the Hamaoka nuclear plant over safety considerations. But the implications of Kan’s announcement stretch well beyond Japan’s shores. Other Asian nuclear democracies such as South Korea and India have also called for safety reviews, while renewing their support for nuclear power. With Western media continuing to run periodic scare stories about the fallout from Fukushima, it’s clear there could be one big winner from Japan’s crisis—China.

Less fettered by popular opinion, China could use its massive nuclear build-up to become the cornerstone of the nuclear industry, with global implications. Even before Fukushima, Chinese authorities believed that rapidly expanding energy demand meant the country had to look beyond its traditional reliance on coal.

And look beyond it China certainly has—while anti-nuclear advocates made much of China’s decision to suspend new approvals pending a review, the fact remains that China already has 13 nuclear power reactors in operation, with more than 27 under construction and dozens more planned. As Zhang Lijun, vice minister for environmental protection, stated in the wake of Fukushima: ‘China will not change its determination and plan for developing nuclear power.’

Looking to indigenize its nuclear power sector as other nations have, China has plans for a first-of-its-kind ‘nuclear city’ at Haiyan. More importantly, by 2012 it will put in place the world’s greatest Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) building capacity. This indigenous capability to construct large reactor components has culminated in its offer of two 1000 MWe reactors to Pakistan.

As a result, China seems poised to benefit from any downturn in the Japanese nuclear industry. If this should be followed by a slowdown in any of the other Asian heavyweights, China could well emerge as the undisputed key mover by cornering, through its sheer size, the necessary technology and nuclear resources. Toshiba-Westinghouse, for example, has already transferred enough know-how to China for the latter to up-rate Toshiba-Westinghouse’s signature product, the AP-1000, into the CAP-1400, the first of which is scheduled to be built in 2013.


This is all in stark contrast to Japan, which seems set to turn away from nuclear power, after having embraced it to compensate for its scarcity of fuel resources. The nuclear option was a logical choice to power Japan’s postwar economic rise, since it allowed for the generation of electricity continuously over extended periods at high capacity—key requirements for satisfying the needs of energy intensive industrial and commercial activities.

Successive Japanese governments have made investment in nuclear energy development a strategic priority, meaning that Japan has become a hub in the nuclear supply chain. For example, Japan Steel Works accounts for 80 percent of the world market for reactor pressure vessels (RPV), the key component of the majority of reactors in existence today. Besides having a major commercial nuclear energy sector, Japan is also a world leader in the research and development of nuclear technologies ranging from advanced proliferation resistant fuel cycles, to waste management and reactor safety. Fukushima in some ways is a testament to Japanese build quality, since these very old reactors actually withstood the 9.0 earthquake and had to written off only when a tsunami destroyed the back-up diesel generators that were required to keep the reactors’ cooling system running.

Japan’s centrality to the nuclear industry became even more pronounced as safety worries following the accident at Chernobyl had knock-on effects for the nuclear industry in the United States—the US hasn’t built a single new reactor in more than 30 years, and continues to rely plant extension programmes to keep its 104 reactors operational.

The lack of new orders has made the US nuclear industry look elsewhere, and today most of it is either owned directly by the Japanese or is part of a joint venture with a Japanese major. Indeed, this could be one of the reasons why the United States hasn’t bothered to temper the hysterical reaction that Fukushima has generated there. Despite the US Nuclear Regulatory Committee approving a dozen licenses for new reactors, few if any are likely to be built anytime soon since the lack of a domestic supply base has made new nuclear construction prohibitively expensive in the United States. As John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, the largest nuclear plant operator in the United States, points out: ‘In any event, new nuclear plants are not economic investments with today’s natural-gas forecasts.’ So Exelon will ‘concentrate on keeping its existing plants safe.’

Not so in Asia. Japan’s bullishness (at least until Fukushima) on nuclear power has been shared by all major Asian economies. South Korea, which has sought to emulate Japan’s experience in the manufacturing sector, followed in Japan nuclear footsteps. Today, nuclear accounts for more than 35 percent of South Korea’s electricity generation. The South Korean government was also quick to re-affirm its commitment to nuclear in the wake of Fukushima. ‘Our answer to the nuclear industry is that we need to keep going,’ South Korean Minister of Knowledge Economy Choi Joong-kyung said in speech at a business event recently.

Importantly, Choi added that: ‘Part of our manufacturing industry’s competitiveness comes from nuclear power, thanks to its cheap energy costs. Therefore, it is hard to give up.’ In addition, South Korea has also emerged as an important cog in the global nuclear supply chain, allowing it to pip French and Japanese-American rivals to win a $40 billion nuclear contract for the United Arab Emirates in December 2009.


The UAE isn’t the only state in the Middle East that is turning to nuclear energy to meet electricity needs, and Seoul’s early contract win must give South Korea hope that it can secure further success. Still, although the government remains upbeat about nuclear power, the media has raised concerns about safety issues, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed that South Korea could overtake Japan as the country with the greatest density of nuclear plants.

South Korea isn’t the only place where there are worries over safety; India, too, has announced that it is reviewing operations at existing plants. This comes as the country looks to have 63,000 MWe of atomic energy in place by 2032, with about half of that capacity being made up of imported Gen III designs supposedly able to avoid Fukushima-style problems.

Indian heavy engineering companies are already entering into tie-ups with global nuclear majors to put in place the heavy forging capabilities required to build massive nuclear components such as RPVs. In addition, the oldest civil nuclear programme in Asia has over the years developed its own nuclear technology. For example, India is exchanging small reactor technology (less than 300 MWe in capacity) with countries such as Kazakhstan and Namibia that have modest sized grids in return for natural uranium to power its indigenous reactors.

Yet as in South Korea, the media in India is awash with stories of the crisis at Fukushima, and there is considerable public unrest over a proposed nuclear site at Jaitapur in the state of Maharashtra. The site, set to host six French-supplied reactors, is the target of anti-nuclear groups who say it is being constructed in an earthquake prone zone that also poses a danger to the local fishing industry.

But safety worries over nuclear power in Asia may well be overridden by climate change concerns, especially in China.

China’s low-tech mass manufacturing mega boom has been based around coal. But this has had a terrible impact on the health of many Chinese cities, some of which are regularly rated the most polluted in the world. In 2007, for example, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 600,000 Chinese were dying prematurely each year because of air pollution.

If nuclear fears really do hit Japan’s nuclear sector hard, or lead to more protests in India, then supply and demand could ensure that nuclear manufacturing ultimately moves to China in the same way that many other industries are now almost wholly concentrated there. This could also allow China to eventually possess the most carbon-competitive industrial sector in the world, and raises the prospect of China one day becoming a net nuclear exporter, with all the geopolitical leverage that implies.

One day the United States and Europe may have no choice but to look beyond gas and once again embrace nuclear energy. When they do, they might just find the only place to turn is China.

Saurav Jha is the author of 'The Upside Down Book Of Nuclear Power'' (HarperCollins India 2010). He researches global energy and security issues and writes regularly for World Politics Review, Deccan Herald and Geopolitics.

http://the-diplomat.com/2011/05/20/how-china-gains-from-fukushima/

 

[Grey Havoc]

From the BBC:

28 May 2011 Last updated at 23:24 GMT

Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan 'unready for typhoon'


Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is not fully prepared for heavy rain and winds of a typhoon heading towards the country, officials admit.

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), which runs the plant, said some reactor buildings were uncovered, prompting fears the storm may carry radioactive material into the air and sea.

Typhoon Songda is expected to hit mainland Japan as early as Monday.

Fukushima was heavily damaged by the deadly 11 March quake and tsunami.

'Inappropriate measures'

"We have made utmost efforts, but we have not completed covering the damaged reactor buildings," a Tepco official said on Saturday.

"We apologise for the lack of significant measures against wind and rain," the official added.

Tepco has been pouring anti-scattering agents - such as synthetic resins - around the damaged buildings of reactors one and four.

But some of the buildings still remain uncovered after they were damaged by hydrogen explosions soon after the quake and tsunami struck.

A special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan criticised Tepco, saying that the current safety measures "cannot be said to be appropriate".

Adviser Goshi Hosono added: "We are now doing the utmost to prevent further spreading of radioactive materials".

Typhoon Songda - with winds up to 216km/h (134mph) - was moving north-east and could hit Japan on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was unclear whether Fukushima could be directly in the path of the storm.

Tepco and Japan's government have faced widespread criticism - both at home and abroad - over their handling of the Fukushima crisis.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13587264

 

[Grey Havoc]

Innovation Nation

Blue goo sucks up toxic waste

By Eilene Zimmerman @CNNMoneyTech May 25, 2011: 1:31 PM ET

(CNNMoney) -- Mopping up radioactive waste is messy work. Ever since an earthquake and a tsunami crippled Japanese nuclear power plants in March, cleanup crews have been struggling to decontaminate the area. Typically, this kind of work is performed with low-tech tools: soap, water, pads, brushes and old-fashioned elbow grease.

Enter Hawaiian entrepreneur Hank Wuh, who donated 100 five-gallon pails of his company's hazardous waste cleaner, DeconGel, to the cleanup effort. Japanese officials are using the cleaner on everything from concrete walkways and parking lots to schools and retail shops, both inside and outside of the exclusion zone.

DeconGel starts off as a liquid that can be brushed or sprayed onto contaminated surfaces. It dries to form a gel that encapsulates microscopic bits of radioactive or otherwise hazardous waste, including PCBs, beryllium, mercury and chromium. The gel can then be peeled off, rolled up and thrown away.

The discovery of DeconGel was accidental. Wuh is the CEO of a Skai Ventures, a Honolulu-based venture capital firm and technology accelerator. Late one night in 2006, the firm's researchers got a little sloppy with an experiment. They were working with a gel that dripped from the lab table onto the floor. When they peeled it off the next morning, the floor beneath was "absolutely pristine, completely clean and white," recalls Wuh. They tried to scrub the surrounding area to get it to match, but couldn't.

"That's when the wheels started to turn," Wuh says. "We knew we had something interesting there."

Years of research and development transformed that initial puddle of goo into DeconGel. In 2009, Wuh launched a company called CBI Polymers to market and sell the substance. So far, it's been used to scour everything from shipyards to meth labs to Hungarian villages that were inundated with toxic alkali sludge during an industrial accident last year. The company has attracted about 75 clients worldwide, including power plants, utilities, research facilities and hospitals. Customers also include the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy; the latter provided funding, testing and technical advice. CBI is now working to produce a family of related products with similar properties but different applications, including a graffiti-removal polymer, coatings to boost the anti-corrosive properties of paint, and a substance that helps restore the surfaces of historic buildings.

One gallon of DeconGel nuclear decontaminant sells for $160 and covers between 50 to 100 square feet. For about a year, starting in 2009, the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Albany, Ore., used DeconGel in a remediation project, cleaning lab benches, floors, tables, walls and equipment contaminated with beryllium from research work.

Although federal officials can't promote one product over another, DeconGel "was very effective" on metal and concrete, says Hector Rodriguez, a program manager for the lab. "We reduced the amount of waste water and waste material, and we weren't worrying about the gel becoming aerosolized or leaching."

DeconGel can't neutralize radioactivity -- that's the holy grail of cleanup -- but it can minimize disposal costs, which typically depend on the weight and noxiousness of the waste. Radioactive cleanup is traditionally performed with water, but contaminated water is heavy and hard to contain.

"Disposal will always be an issue, because we can't make waste disappear. We can only contain it and move it somewhere else," Wuh says. "But with the gel, you can fold it or roll it up. It reduces disposal amounts by 90%" compared to traditional remediation methods. And because the gel cocoons the contaminated particles, it reduces the amount of radiation that can leech back into the environment, making disposal less expensive.

Andre Gonzales, president of Foothills Environmental, a hazardous materials remediation company based in Golden, Colo., has been using DeconGel for more than a year. "It's absolutely an innovation over everything else out there," he says, "because it's so easy to apply and remove, and it lowers the risk of workers being exposed."

Japanese officials found DeconGel through Cham Dallas, a radiation mitigation expert who directs the University of Georgia's Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense. After the quake, Dallas flew to Japan to work on the massive cleanup. He convinced CBI Polymers to donate its product to the effort.

"I've been doing this for 20 years, and there's nothing comparable to DeconGel out there that I know of today," Dallas says.

Since the Japan earthquake, Wuh says, "The entire world is calling us. People want to be prepared, whether it's natural disasters or terrorism." He declined to disclose sales figures, but expects his company to be profitable by the end of this year. Business has doubled each year since 2008.

Wuh thinks demand for DeconGel will increase twenty-fold in the next few years. That may not be as crazy as it sounds: Although radiation accidents are rare, Dallas says awareness of the problem is growing.

"There have been more meetings on the federal level about radiation dispersals in the environment in the last two years than we have had in the last 20. In addition to aging reactors, we also have terrorist threats," he says. "Now with what happened in Japan, it's like the nuclear genie is out of the bottle."

First Published: May 25, 2011: 5:51 AM ET

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/25/technology/toxic_waste_cleanup_goo/index.htm

The article doesn't mention it, but it seems that, after being used to clean up low level contaminated material, the resulting barrels of used DeconGel can be taken to special incinerators and safely burned, leaving only low level radioactive ash, which can be disposed of relatively easy. Apparently no other radioactive or toxic byproducts are created in the process (unless you're a global warming fan, that is!). For higher level waste, the DeconGel is a quite a good interim storage medium, as already mentioned.

 

[Grey Havoc]

From JAPAN SECURITY WATCH, an interesting article on JSDF response during the first 24hrs of the crisis: http://newpacificinstitute.org/jsw/?p=6375

 

[Grey Havoc]

Meant to post this earlier:

SDF Loses a Third Member in Disaster Area

BY James Simpson– May 27, 2011
Posted in: casualties, disaster relief, domestic ops, featured, GSDF, Japan Self-Defense Force, personnel, Tohoku Earthquake, traditional press



Multiple outlets are reporting today that a member of the 18th Infantry Regiment (based at Camp Makomanai Base in Sapporo, Hokkaido) on deployment in Iwate Prefecture passed away in the early morning of May 27th. The 27-year old sergeant, deployed to Iwate on May 18th, and was supplying food to evacuees in Miyako. The soldier collapsed during a break at a community center in the north of Takizawamura at around 23:40 on May 26th and was taken to a hospital for emergency care – he passed away at 00:20 on May 27th. The cause of death is being investigated, but it appeared to be a heart attack.

The GSDF commented that no-one had reported anything abnormal about the soldier’s physical condition while he was on duty.

The 18th Infantry Regiment (Light Mechanized) is part of the GSDF’s 11th Brigade in the Northern Army. In other news, 260 troops have been dispatched from the Northern Army’s 5th Brigade to Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. The members from the 27th Infantry Regiment (Light) – commanded by Masayuki Fukunaga – held a farewell party on May 26th. From the regimental base at Camp Kushiro, Fukunaga stated that, “Ishinomaki took a great deal of damage during the disaster, we’ll strive to give every one of those people affected the highest quality assistance.”

http://newpacificinstitute.org/jsw/?p=6430

 

[Grey Havoc]

Live TEPCO PR Webcast of Fukushima, for what it's worth: http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

Water level at Fukushima reactor rises dramatically.

BY TAKASHI SUGIMOTO STAFF WRITER

2011/05/31


Water levels in the basement of the No. 1 reactor building at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant increased dramatically on May 29 and 30, raising fears of radioactive water leaking from the site.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), said the water level rose 19.8 centimeters over the 24 hours to 7 a.m. on May 30, 18 times the increase over the previous 24 hours.

The rising water level, apparently caused by rain flowing into the basement, is the latest headache for workers trying to contain the crisis at the plant.

With the typhoon and rainy seasons already drenching Japan, TEPCO had already expressed concern that a deluge could result in leaks.

TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said before the latest data was announced: "The roofs of the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactor buildings have collapsed, so it is unavoidable that rain will get into those facilities."

With huge quantities of radioactive water being stored in various locations at the plant, and workers continuing to pump water to cool down the reactors, the worry is that additional heavy rainfall will inevitably increase the volume of contaminated water.

In the basements of the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors' turbine buildings, in particular, there is evidence that the pools of contaminated water are not isolated from the surrounding groundwater. Water levels in those buildings do not drop when water is removed.

As long as water is flowing from the surrounding groundwater into the contaminated water, because the level of the groundwater is higher than that in the basements, the threat of substantial leaks is not considered acute.

But if the level of the contaminated water rises above that of the groundwater, water would begin flowing in the other direction and is likely to spread contamination.

It has not been confirmed that contaminated water has leaked into the groundwater from the basements in large quantities, but the levels of contaminated water in the basements are currently only a few meters lower than that of the groundwater.

TEPCO has not yet decided how to deal with the issue. However, it has secured hoses to transfer contaminated water from the basements of the No. 2 and No. 3 turbine buildings. A large floating container, dubbed a "mega-float," is in place offshore to hold the contaminated water.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105300280.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

31 May 2011 Last updated at 07:19 GMT

Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis

By Roland Buerk

BBC News, Tokyo



A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station.

The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.

They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young.

It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.

No longer could he be just an observer of the struggle to stabilise the Fukushima nuclear plant.

The retired engineer is reporting back for duty at the age of 72, and he is organising a team of pensioners to go with him.

For weeks now Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends, sending out e-mails and even messages on Twitter.

Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical.

Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with old friends via e-mail and even messages on Twitter "I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live," he says.

"Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer."

Mr Yamada is lobbying the government hard for his volunteers to be allowed into the power station. The government has expressed gratitude for the offer but is cautious.

Certainly a couple of MPs are supporting Mr Yamada.

"At this moment I can say that I am talking with many key government and Tepco people. But I am sorry I can't say any more at this moment. It is on the way but it is a very, very sensitive issue politically," he said.

Certainly it is likely more workers will be needed.

The plant is still spewing radiation, nearly three months after an earthquake and tsunami knocked out its cooling systems, triggering explosions.

Its operator, Tepco, has now confirmed three of the reactors probably suffered meltdowns.

The plan is to bring the plant to a cold shutdown by January, although some experts believe that is over optimistic.

To cope with the disaster Japan has raised the radiation exposure limit for emergency workers from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.

But Tepco announced this week two workers at Fukushima might have already been exposed to more.

Kamikaze?

Many of Mr Yamada's veterans are retired engineers like him.

Michio Ito is keen to swap his apron for a radiation suit Others are former power station workers, experts in factory design - and even a singer and two cooks - Mr Yamada says they will be useful to keep his team amused and fed.

Michio Ito used to be a primary school teacher but is spending his retirement helping out in a cafe that offers work experience to people with learning difficulties.

He is keen to swap his apron for a radiation suit.

"I don't think I'm particularly special," he says. "Most Japanese have this feeling in their heart. The question is whether you step forward, or you stay behind and watch.

"To take that step you need a lot of guts, but I hope it will be a great experience. Most Japanese want to help out any way they can."

Mr Yamada has already tried on his old overalls for size.

He says he is as fit as ever - with a lifetime of experience to bring to the task.

And he laughs off suggestions his proposed team is comparable to the kamikaze pilots who flew suicide missions in World War II.

"We are not kamikaze. The kamikaze were something strange, no risk management there. They were going to die. But we are going to come back. We have to work but never die."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13598607

 

[Grey Havoc]

Landslides feared at 753 sites in 3 prefs

The Yomiuri Shimbun


There is a risk of landslides at 753 locations in the Tohoku region that were struck hard by the Great East Japan Earthquake, according to a survey by the land ministry.

As the ground in quake-hit areas is expected to loosen during the rainy season, the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and the Meteorological Agency have decided to lower the levels at which flood warnings are issued by as much as 1.7 meters from June.

The ministry conducted the survey at 20,644 locations in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures that recorded at least upper 5 on the Japanese seismic scale on March 11 and have at least one house in the vicinity.

A total of 22 locations were judged to be Level A, meaning construction was considered "urgently needed." Five locations in Sendai and Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, were deemed Level A. Of those, two locations in Ishinomaki were close to evacuation centers.

There were 16 Level A locations in Fukushima Prefecture, including Tamura. Iwate Prefecture had only one Level A location. In the three prefectures, 731 locations were judged to be Level B, which means continuous observation is required and construction should be conducted if necessary.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Agency has relaxed standards for issuing landslide warnings.

The agency has begun to allow 101 municipalities in the three prefectures to issue warnings when the ground is saturated to only 60 percent to 80 percent of the previous standard.

Cracks and collapsed ground also were found at 1,182 locations on riverbanks in the three prefectures, according to the ministry's Tohoku Regional Bureau. However, there has been little progress made in work to restore riverbanks so far, and concern has grown over the possibility of floods during the rainy season.

(May. 31, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110530003773.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

It isn't mentioned in the article, but apparently there was a shortage of potassium iodide tablets at Fukushima.


TEPCO gets worker safety rebuke

The Yomiuri Shimbun


The health ministry on Tuesday ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. and a partner firm to correct practices regarding their failure to prevent workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant from being exposed to radiation.

The order, issued by the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry in connection with the firms' violation of the Labor Safety and Sanitation Law, was made retroactive to Monday.

According to the ministry, TEPCO and Kandenko Co. allowed some employees to work at the plant without wearing dosimeters. The law requires operators to ensure workers wear dosimeters on the job.

From March to May, there were several cases where female employees working at the plant absorbed radiation above the legal limit of five millisieverts per three-month period.

Kandenko, a Tokyo-based major electric engineering company, in March allowed its employees to work in a turbine building among highly radioactive water without wearing protective boots.

The ministry conducted an on-site inspection at the plant to review working conditions before determining there was a problem with TEPCO and Kandenko's handling of radiation dose management.

TEPCO announced Monday that two employees working at the plant and in the central control room when a reactor suffered a hydrogen explosion in March may have absorbed radiation exceeding 250 millisieverts. The ministry plans to rebuke TEPCO over the matter.

The ministry has also asked TEPCO to keep two other employees also in the central control room from work until the amount of radiation they have been exposed to is determined.

===

Workers didn't take medicine

Two TEPCO workers, who were believed to have received radiation exposure in excess of the state-set limit of 250 millisieverts, were found to have not taken potassium iodide pills as directed, according to the company.

Potassium iodide is said to prevent radioactive iodine from accumulating in the thyroid gland.

TEPCO said it told the workers to take the pills for two weeks. However, they took only one dose on March 13. TEPCO is currently questioning the two male employees as to why they did not take them. On March 14, a hydrogen explosion occurred at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor where they were working. A massive amount of radioactive material was believed to have spread in the air.

On Monday, the two were examined at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba. Radioactive matter was detected in their urine, but they did not have health problems such as loss of motor function.

"It is believed that they weren't taking the tablets at appropriate times," said Makoto Akashi, director of the institute. They may not have accumulated so much radioactive material in their body if they had taken the pills right after exposure, he added.

(Jun. 1, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110531004886.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

TBS/JNN live webcam feed (looks like it's socked in by early morning mountain fog at the moment, although there is sound with this feed, birdsong at the moment!):

.youtube.com/watch?v=FptmoVcgpqg

EDIT: Darn. Embedding not working at the moment, so we'll have to make do with the link, sorry. Just add in http://www to the link.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Something odd going on with the TBS/JNN feed at the moment.

 

[Grey Havoc]

TEPCO aims to filter radioactivity from seawater.

2011/06/01


Tokyo Electric Power Co. will begin trial runs on June 2 of a device to remove radioactive materials accumulated in seawater near its troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the plant operator announced May 30.

The device's purification capacity and effectiveness are, however, yet unknown.

TEPCO plans to install two units of the purification device, which has a box-like shape of 2.3 meters in width and depth and 2.2 meters in height. The device will be packed with 2 tons of zeolite, a material that resembles volcanic pumice rock. Seawater will be pumped into the device, and purified water will be pumped back into the sea after radioactive cesium has been absorbed by the zeolite.

The equipment was scheduled be installed May 31 and June 1 and be operational for test runs from June 2, although the schedule may be subject to delays depending on the weather. The device can process a maximum of 30 tons of water per hour.

Water contaminated with high concentrations of radioactivity has leaked into the sea from the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. While most of it has spread into the vast Pacific, the remainder is being contained from leaking using curtain-like screens called silt fences.


http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105310385.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

Despite the tone of this article, which can be classified as a pro-Khan propoganda piece, it is now considered likely that Khan will be gone within the week (possibly in a no-confidence motion on June 5th). It is unlikely that the ruling coalition would long survive his fall, if at all. Interesting times ahead.


Shattered Tohoku communities angered, baffled over moves to topple Kan.

2011/06/01


Devastated by the loss of their homes, jobs and loved ones, thousands are still struggling to survive amid debris, shattered communities and the threat of radioactive contamination.

But when the victims of the March 11 disaster now look to the nation's lawmakers in Tokyo for help, they can only feel a sense of disgust.

"A no-confidence motion? Now is not the time for such matters," said a 47-year-old owner of a fish farm in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, whose home was destroyed in the tsunami.

Reports that the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito plan to submit a no-confidence motion this week in the Lower House against Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet have flabbergasted residents and officials in the Tohoku region.

"Once things become more settled in the regions struck by the disasters, they can go ahead and dissolve the Lower House any number of times that they want," said an 82-year-old resident of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, who has evacuated to a local junior high school. "If they dissolve it now, I will abstain from voting."

But the opposition parties show no signs of slowing down. They are still wooing lawmakers loyal to ruling Democratic Party of Japan power broker Ichiro Ozawa to support the motion that would force Kan to either have his Cabinet resign en masse or dissolve the Lower House for a snap election.

"It will be difficult to allow the Kan administration to be in charge of the rebuilding process," LDP chief Sadakazu Tanigaki said May 30. "We have to express our intention to take over from that administration."

However, officials of the prefectural governments of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima say that bringing a sense of normalcy to the devastated areas must come first.

"We are in a situation of having to delay the prefectural assembly election because elections cannot be held in our prefecture right now," Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai said at a May 30 news conference. "It will be difficult to hold a Lower House election, especially in the municipalities along the coast."

In coastal municipalities, government officials in charge of election affairs now have their hands full with more pressing duties. They are issuing certificates to residents on claims for damages suffered from the disasters and handling procedures to distribute donations collected to help the victims.

Many facilities that had been used as voting sites and ballot counting locations were destroyed or washed away in the tsunami.

Masaaki Tobai, the deputy mayor of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, said:, "Even if a Lower House election were held, we would not participate. How can we possibly hold such an election?"

Tobai was put in charge of the town government after the incumbent mayor, Koki Kato, was killed in the tsunami. The town government building was also damaged.

Of the 15,000 Otsuchi residents, about 5,000 are still missing. Town officials have no way of finalizing any roster of voters.

A more urgent task for Otsuchi is holding a mayoral election. But considering the damage to the town, plans for a vote in August may prove impossible.

The anger in Fukushima Prefecture is even deeper, as about 35,000 residents have been evacuated outside the prefecture following the accident at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

About 40 percent of the 20,000 or so residents of Namie are now scattered throughout Japan, from as far north as Hokkaido to as far south as Okinawa.

Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba, 62, would like to remind the lawmakers in Tokyo that there's still a nagging problem that must be dealt with: the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant.

"They should first make every effort to settle the situation at the nuclear plant," he said. "I feel anger at politicians who are engaged in actions" such as the no-confidence motion.

There is no guarantee the no-confidence motion will pass anyway.

The LDP only has 118 Lower House members, meaning it needs to bring about 80 DPJ members on board to pass the motion.

But few within the LDP expect many DPJ members to cross the party line.

Moreover, there is no unified view within the LDP of what form the new government should take if the Kan administration is toppled.

Ozawa and other anti-Kan elements in the DPJ are boasting they have enough votes to pass the no-confidence motion.

Ozawa is eager to push such a motion because if the Kan administration remains in power, Ozawa's influence within the party will weaken.

However, lawmakers close to Ozawa have also acknowledged that their constituents are highly critical of moves to join the no-confidence motion.

DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada and other ruling party executives have warned that strict disciplinary measures would be taken against any member who either votes in favor of the motion or abstains from the vote.


http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105310388.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

SDF Leadership Unhappy about Proceeding with Military Air Review

BY James Simpson– May 30, 2011
Posted in: aircraft, ASDF, bases, disaster relief, events, featured, fighters, Japan Self-Defense Force, MoD, News, shows & demonstrations, Tohoku Earthquake, Toshimi Kitazawa, traditional press


While many celebrations are being cancelled this year – it remains to be seen just how the fireworks industry will survive a year of rampant ‘self-restraint’ – the Ministry of Defense is continuing with its plans to go ahead with the Military Air Review. According to the Sankei, the uniformed leadership within the Ministry are unhappy at having the Review drawing funds from the post-disaster restoration efforts. It’s not hard to understand why:

“Concentrate on the Disaster and Nuclear Power Plant”: Uniformed MoD Staff on Military Air Review Preparations

The Ministry of Defense held a meeting on preparation work for this fall’s Military Air Review. In response to the recent disaster, some within the SDF’s leadership complained that “manpower and base facilities should be concentrated on disaster relief and crisis management.”

The previous Air Review was held in October 2009, and this year’s is planned for October at ASDF Hyakuri Air Base (Ibaraki Prefecture). In February, a directed from the ASDF Chief of Staff requested the dispatch of members from all units to prepare for the event. After the earthquake the dispatched members returned to their units, but returned to Hyakuri Air Base under the same plans in the middle of April.

At the start of May, when bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defense asked Minister of Defense Toshimi Kitazawa to decide whether the Air Review would be held, Kitazawa replied “We should keep to the plans.” Following this, on the 20th, the ASDF distributed a directive presenting detailed plans for the event to all units.

According to the plans, there will be less than 60 planes on display or being exhibited, compared to the 82 involved in the last event, but with plans for visitors up to around 8,500 compared to the previous event’s 7,000.

The ASDF still has over 11,000 personnel involved in the disaster relief efforts continuing to deliver supplies and help in the search for the missing. Should the situation at Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant worsen requiring the repeated dispatched of ASDF and fire crews, Hyakuri Air Base would become the staging point.

While there are usually around 1,800 SDF personnel at Hyakuri Air Base, from August it will be necessary to increase security personnel by around 1,000 troops, increasing the burden on personnel from all ASDF units.

The cost of the previous event, including venue construction, and so on, but excluding fuel,came to around ¥640,000,000. Meanwhile, the cost of restoring ASDF Matsushima Air Base (in Miyagi Prefecture), which hit by the disaster, will require ¥800,000,000 from the FY2011 First Supplementary Budget. The repairs of the water-damaged F2 fighters will also cost several tens of billions of yen. Many are saying that the money that would be used on the Air Review should be left for the restoration and reconstruction work.

The first Military Air Review took place in 1998 and since has been held on a rotating basis with the GSDF and MSDF Reviews once every 3 years. The Prime Minister attends to inspect the force. Alongside fighter aircraft, other acts such as the Blue Impulse aerobatic team also take part.


[H/T @ashigaru, @cro_pel, @JS_Susumu, @Kaname147 for their translation help]

http://newpacificinstitute.org/jsw/?p=6498

 

[Grey Havoc]

This idea will probably be derailled by the imminent fall of the ruling coalition, although it may survive in some form under a new government. The article itself makes a few bo-bos, e.g. forgets to mention use of the T-Hawk (Tarantula) drone, among other things.


Kitazawa: Bring in the Drones!

BY James Simpson– May 31, 2011
Posted in: disaster relief, featured, hardware, Japan Self-Defense Force, MoD, News, nuclear-biological-chemical, Reconnaissance, Tohoku Earthquake, Toshimi Kitazawa, UAV


Something that has long been on the lips of international and domestic observers during the nuclear crisis has been, “where are Japan’s infamous robots?” While the country that most represents the automated dream has seen a book published detailing Japan’s disaster relief robots currently in development, they come as little comfort to the families of those involved in repairing and dealing with the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima. These criticisms have not gone unnoticed, from NHK:

SDF to add robots to drills for nuclear accidents

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces want to add robots to their equipment for dealing with nuclear accidents and incorporate them into their regular training drills.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa told reporters on Tuesday that it’s an irony of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident that US-made robots were initially used to deal with the disaster, even though Japan is a world leader in robot technology.

Kitazawa said he wants the Self-Defense Forces to use robots in its regular nuclear accident drills, including unmanned helicopters that can operate in a high-radiation environment.

He said the SDF needs to develop expertise in using such equipment in order to be able to deal with possible nuclear accidents in Japan and its neighboring countries.

The drones mentioned by Kitazawa are the US Global Hawks provided battle damage assessments in the initial stages of the nuclear crisis, as shown in the top video below (JP). Later PackBots and remote cameras provided surveys of the damage within the facilities, as shown in the video at the bottom of this post.


http://newpacificinstitute.org/jsw/?p=6504#comment-981

 

[starviking]

Despite the tone of this article, which can be classified as a pro-Khan propoganda piece, it is now considered likely that Khan will be gone within the week (possibly in a no-confidence motion on June 5th). It is unlikely that the ruling coalition would long survive his fall, if at all. Interesting times ahead.

I don't think it can be classified as a propaganda piece - the same sentiments were expressed widely in interviews on NHK News last night, and I echo them - what the hell are the opposition and DPJ rebels doing playing politics at a time like this!

 

[Grey Havoc]

I don't think it can be classified as a propaganda piece - the same sentiments were expressed widely in interviews on NHK News last night, and I echo them - what the hell are the opposition and DPJ rebels doing playing politics at a time like this!

Problem is, the choice at the moment seems to be limited, more or less, to between the thoroughly corrupt and the totally incompetent. Khan may have bought some time with his promise to resign, we'll have to wait and see.

No-confidence motion fails.

2011/06/02


A no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan failed in the Lower House on June 2, but it was a hollow victory for the beleaguered prime minister.

With a large bloc of members in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan threatening to vote for the motion submitted by three opposition parties, Kan told a meeting of DPJ lawmakers before the vote that he would step down as prime minister once a certain level of progress had been made in the rebuilding process for the Great East Japan Earthquake as well as in dealing with the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

"I want to pass on responsibility to a younger generation once we have fulfilled a certain role in dealing with the disasters," Kan said.

That promise appeared to convince enough DPJ members to vote against the motion.

The motion was submitted by the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Sunrise Party of Japan.

The major focus of the vote was how many DPJ members loyal to power broker Ichiro Ozawa would join the opposition parties in voting for the motion.

As the vote on the motion approached, lawmakers hurriedly tried to avoid creating a political vacuum at a time when thousands of disaster victims are looking to the government for help in rebuilding lives shattered by the March 11 quake and tsunami.

Shizuka Kamei, head of coalition partner People's New Party, met with Kan on June 2 and urged him to resign as prime minister once measures had been implemented to deal with the nuclear accident.

Passage of the no-confidence motion in the Lower House would have meant that the Kan Cabinet would have to either resign en masse or Kan would have to dissolve the Lower House and call a snap election.

Either outcome would have delayed by weeks the passage of legislation through the Diet to push through rebuilding measures.

Even if the motion failed, the break within the DPJ if Ozawa and his allies voted for the motion would have meant further problems for Kan in pushing through legislation as head of government.

To avoid confusion within the government, Kan indicated his intention to resign at a meeting of DPJ lawmakers held a few hours before the Lower House plenary session in which the no-confidence motion would be voted on.


http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106020337.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

N-compensation panel's job not done yet / OK's payments for damage due to radiation fears, but fails to set rules to gauge eligibility

Mitsuhiko Totsuka and Kakuchi Funatsuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers


A government panel in charge of compensation for people affected by the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant made some progress with its second set of guidelines, but the committee has been criticized for leaving important tasks undone.

The guidelines adopted Tuesday allow for compensation for losses to the agricultural, fishery and tourism industries stemming from fears over radiation contamination. Critics have said the guidelines are not complete, and pointed out the panel failed to set rules for calculating compensation for the tourism industry.

Although the Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation is expected to compile interim guidelines in July, it faces a number of difficult tasks before its job is done, observers said.

The panel said losses incurred by farmers due to harm to their products' images--which caused consumers to shy away from food from affected areas and led to broken businesses deals--would be shouldered by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The new guidelines say compensation schemes would cover "cases in which it can be recognized as rational for an average consumer to have aversion [to products] due to concerns over radioactive contamination."

The compensation committee decided that all farm products for human consumption that were restricted from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, and three municipalities in Chiba Prefecture, would be eligible for damage payments. Farm products from other areas were left out, and losses incurred in May or afterward would not be covered.

When an accident occurred at JCO Co.'s nuclear fuel conversion facility in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1999, the government did not restrict farm shipments, but compensation schemes covered losses due to products' damaged images across the prefecture.

As the Fukushima disaster is many times more serious than the JCO accident, many see the panel's compensation target as too narrow.

In the JCO accident, evacuation instructions were issued for residents within 350 meters of the site for only three days. But the crisis at the Fukushima plant is still out of control, and there are as many as 15,000 rice farming households and 3,400 vegetable farming households eligible for compensation just within 30 kilometers of the crippled nuclear plant.

Farmers unable to sell their products due to the nuclear accident are depending on rapid compensation payments.

Most of Chiba Prefecture was excluded in the panel's latest guidelines. JA Zenno Chiba strongly objected to this, saying the entire prefecture should be eligible for compensation, as farmers no longer get as much for their products, just because they bear the Chiba label.

===

Where to draw the line?

The panel has had difficulty in bringing together the different opinions on compensation measures.

The panel decided to recognize damage to the tourism industry caused by harm to the areas' images only in Fukushima Prefecture, saying losses due to cancellations and some other factors would be compensated. But the panel put off setting specific criteria to determine payment amounts because members could not figure out how to determine to what extent losses were due to the nuclear accident. Other factors that could have caused cancellations include sluggish consumption and disruption of public transportation by the March 11 earthquake.

The panel plans to compare the Fukushima tourism situation with that in neighboring prefectures.

Kozan Yabuki, director general of Fukushima City Kanko-Bussan (tourism and local products) Association, said he was not happy about the guidelines. "We aren't sure how the compensation will be calculated," he said.

The panel had considered providing different levels of compensation for psychological trauma according to where evacuees were settled, such as public shelters or relatives' homes. But after Norio Kanno, mayor of Iitatemura, Fukushima Prefecture, said how long people have been evacuated should be more important than where they were sent, the panel decided not to include details on the scheme.

In the interim guidelines to be compiled in July, the panel is expected to set rules governing the range of compensation to be provided. But the panel still must figure out whether to expand coverage of tourism losses to other prefectures, how to deal with damage to industrial producers because their products were believed to be contaminated and other knotty issues.

Ibaraki Gov. Masaru Hashimoto told reporters Tuesday that all losses caused by damage to products' and places' images should be included in compensation schemes as long as cause can be established.

But other government officials have been cautious about setting generous limits, as the government would need to finance any compensation TEPCO is unable to shoulder.

"If everything were eligible for compensation, even 100 trillion yen wouldn't be enough," a senior Finance Ministry official said.

===

Payouts may be delayed

The government in April set up a task force, comprising the entire Cabinet, to assess economic damage from the disaster at Fukushima No. 1. The government has said it intends to make psychological trauma and losses due to damage to products' images eligible for compensation.

But some government officials have expressed concern that payouts may be delayed due to rocky discussions at the compensation panel.

"The government intends to ask the panel to work quickly, and to provide help, if necessary," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a press conference Tuesday. "The panel's guidelines will not be decided politically, but will be devised objectively by third-party experts...Politics will not be involved in the process."

Observers have said the government's early announcement that it would provide wide-ranging compensation was to show the public politicians were taking the initiative over bureaucrats. Some government officials, however, have grumbled about the process.

A senior official of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, which has jurisdiction over the panel, said, "Politicians say, 'Do it, quickly,' but it's not easy to draw up guidelines that can anticipate possible court cases."

(Jun. 2, 2011)


http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110601006435.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

Kan falls into bureaucrats' trap with G-8 energy proposals.

BY YASUAKI OSHIKA ASAHI SHIMBUN WEEKLY AERA

2011/06/02


Largely pushed aside in disaster-response talks, Prime Minister Naoto Kan found himself with too much time on his hands. That's when bureaucrats lectured him about the benefits of renewable energy sources, leading to his announcement at the Group of Eight summit in France that Japan will increase the ratio of electricity generated by renewable energy sources to at least 20 percent by 2020.

But Kan made that international pledge without careful thought--and not realizing that he had been skillfully used by bureaucrats trying to protect their turf.

The promise at the G-8 summit had its embryo in a meeting on May 9.

Environment Ministry officials, including Administrative Vice Minister Hideki Minamikawa, Junichi Shiraishi, director-general of the Environmental Policy Bureau, and Masaki Suzuki, director-general of the Global Environment Bureau, explained various policy possibilities to Kan. They knew which topics the prime minister was genuinely interested in.

"Prime minister, how about building a monument in memory of the disaster victims from the rubble that was produced by the earthquake and tsunami?" one of the officials said. "Moreover, our ministry has conducted an analysis that found the Tohoku region has the latent ability to introduce various forms of renewable energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal power."

Kan was particularly interested in the renewable energy proposal, partly because he had grown increasingly frustrated at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s delayed response to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Not only did Environment Ministry officials stress the possibilities for natural energy sources, but they also submitted a report of a study about the feasibility of introducing renewable energy sources in the Tohoku region.

Kan responded immediately.

"I have always been thinking about changing society through renewable energy," Kan said. "The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has no interest in pursuing it. Can your ministry do it?"

Suzuki responded, "There will be a need for measures that can guide the entire government."

Kan's eyes lit up, according to those at the meeting.

"This will be a chance to utilize renewable energy," Kan said. "Even though there were separate small measures, there was no comprehensive, macro-level picture. Can the Environment Ministry put together a radical new picture? I will assume the responsibility, so think of this as homework and come back with an answer by the end of this week."

Kan added: "We will rethink the government's energy policy from zero. I want to have two new pillars for that policy, renewable energy and energy conservation."

The following day, Kan held a news conference in the afternoon to announce the government's intention to review its energy plan, which called for raising the ratio of electricity generated through nuclear power to 52 percent by 2030.

But there were no signs that Kan made careful preparations or thought deeply about that review. He simply repeated what he told the Environment Ministry bureaucrats at the May 10 news conference.

"While nuclear energy and fossil fuels were the two main pillars of the government's energy policy, we believe two additional pillars are necessary based on the latest nuclear accident and in thinking about global warming," Kan said. "One pillar will be renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. The other will be energy conservation."

The media played up Kan's plan. And given the nation's growing apprehension toward nuclear energy, the prime minister found an issue that could push up his sagging public support ratings.

In its March 11 morning edition, The Asahi Shimbun reported that Kan had received 1.04 million ($12,700) in illegal donations from an ethnic Korean living in Japan.

Because the Great East Japan Earthquake struck a few hours later, Kan was able to escape the fate that befell Seiji Maehara, who resigned as foreign minister after reports that he received similar donations.

Having received an extension on his political life, Kan used the momentum to visit the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and yell at TEPCO executives for their slow response.

His anger at the TEPCO executives was welcomed by the public. But his request on May 6 to Chubu Electric Power Co. to stop operations at its Hamaoka nuclear power plant drew even wider applause.

Four days later, Kan announced the government would review its energy policy.

At that time, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama, a close Kan associate, excitedly told those close to him, "This will unquestionably become a page in history."

However, other staff at the Prime Minister's Official Residence painted a different picture of Kan.

"He wants to put on airs and makes haphazard decisions," one staff member said. "Not just Kan, but many DPJ politicians are only concerned about how they appear to or are seen by the public."

Because Kan has berated experienced bureaucrats in their 50s, few want to establish close ties with the prime minister.

Most of the day-to-day matters of the government are left to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and his deputies.

When the final touches were being put on the framework to help TEPCO make compensation payments, meetings of the relevant Cabinet ministers were held on an almost daily basis. But Kan was not invited to those talks.

"He will always wreck the discussions if he takes part," a source in the Prime Minister's Official Residence said.

Kan was only allowed to take part on May 12, the day before the framework proposal was formally announced.

Despite Japan's unprecedented crisis on several fronts, Kan's appointment calendar had many blank spaces from late April until the Golden Week of national holidays in early May.

Worried about such an unacceptable situation, officials quickly made arrangements for the administrative vice ministers of the central government ministries to explain policy to Kan.

Minamikawa and his subordinates at the Environment Ministry visited Kan on that premise.

Minamikawa was only the third administrative vice minister to have come up through the ranks of the Environment Ministry.

For a long time, bureaucrats from the old Finance Ministry and Health and Welfare Ministry often served in important posts at the Environment Ministry, giving it the appearance of an affiliated agency.

Minamikawa was dispatched for about two years to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, so he was knowledgeable about energy policy.

It wasn't long before officials of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which normally is in charge of energy policy, realized what the Environment Ministry officials had proposed.

METI officials had also presented Kan with a proposal to increase solar power generation by 15 times by 2030, but they did not receive a similar positive response.

After the Environment Ministry bureaucrats visited Kan, documents marked confidential were submitted to Kazuo Matsunaga, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, and other top METI officials.

Some METI officials were concerned about the Environment Ministry intruding on their jurisdiction. Others were more calculated.

The Environment Ministry, Hiroshi Tasaka, a professor at the Tama University Graduate School of Business who was serving as special adviser to the Cabinet and advocates renewable energy sources, and Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Softbank Corp. who has called for a move away from nuclear energy, appeared to be drawing Kan into their camp. That would mean trouble for METI.

But one METI official said: "We should do the same thing and plant our ideas into Kan's head. We can also bring Son into the picture as well."

On May 12, Matsunaga and Ikuro Sugawara, director-general of the Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau, visited the Prime Minister's Official Residence.

While presenting their own documents, Sugawara explained to Kan: "We will create three energy revolutions through a non-consecutive technology development. Japan will be reborn as a technology superpower that no other nation in the world can emulate."

Sugawara, who served as an assistant to Yasuo Fukuda when he was prime minister, has long been known for his skill in convincing politicians.

After the DPJ took over the government, Sugawara contacted an influential DPJ official and presented a proposal for handling the bankruptcy of Japan Airlines Corp., even though it was out of METI's jurisdiction. DPJ officials considered Sugawara as someone they could work with.

It was not difficult for Sugawara to convince Kan about new energy policy possibilities.

When Sugawara said quantum dot solar cells would have three times the energy efficiency of normal solar cells, Kan said: "What did you say? That's incredible."

Sugawara also mentioned that lithium-air batteries would allow electric vehicles that can now only travel 100 kilometers to cover up to 1,000 kilometers.

Kan responded, "This is simply incredible."

Sugawara also said with superconductivity technology, the power transmission energy loss would be cut to one-tenth current levels.

Kan repeated his comments: "This is incredible. This is truly incredible stuff."

Sugawara added that by using nanocarbons, automobiles and airplanes could be made about 30 percent lighter.

Kan said: "It would have electrical conductivity that was 1,000 times that of copper. That is incredible."

And when Sugawara said METI has innovative catalysts, Kan's response was as expected.

"Incredible," the prime minister said. "Would that mean artificial photosynthesis? Would the catalysts be used in place of chlorophyll?"

When METI officials explained that using such technology would produce the same amount of electricity now generated by 14 nuclear power plants, Kan was so stunned he did not realize he had fallen into the carefully laid trap by the ministry.

The secret to the METI strategy was to take advantage of the fact that Kan studied natural sciences when he attended the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Knowing that Kan was interested in specific technology, METI officials concentrated their explanation on such technology.

METI's ultimate goal was to win budget approval for new programs.

If an organization was established for companies wanting to take part in technology development, the head of that organization could one day be led by a retired METI official.

But the METI strategy was indeed "incredible." None of the technologies mentioned in the meeting with Kan can be realized in the near future.

"They deceived the prime minister by taking advantage of his exaggerated interest in the sciences. It is a terrible ploy," a bureaucrat said.

Kan, of course, never realized the true motives of the METI officials.

The Environment Ministry, meanwhile, had not given up.

On May 17, Minamikawa visited the Prime Minister's Official Residence, prepared to submit his "homework."

He explained forecasts for electricity generation in 2020 and 2030 based on renewable energy sources and energy conservation.

Under that forecast, renewable energy would account for 26 percent of Japan's electricity by 2030.

Kan used that figure to make his G-8 pledge on renewable energy.

During his talk with Minamikawa, Kan handed the bureaucrat documents submitted by METI and told him: "Because you were so earnest, METI also took hasty action and proposed a very drastic package of measures. Why don't you use it as a reference point?"

The science buff in Kan then took over and he rambled on about energy measures.

"For biomass, the brewing method is out. Gasification is the way to go. For gasification, there is a steaming method using low levels of oxygen and another where steam is added. The steam addition method is more realistic. Electricity will be wasteful as a heat source," the prime minister said.

"The Environment Ministry is in charge of rubble, isn't it? I want you to come up with a radical way of turning rubble into fuel. Of the 26 million tons of rubble created by the quake and tsunami, 5 million tons is lumber. That will be a very valuable asset as a fuel. We should build a rubble generator. After first using rubble as fuel, we can then move to lumber gathered through thinning of forests. There is such a project in Okayama, do you know about it?"

Minamikawa could only sit quietly and listen to Kan.

In the end, Kan said: "You should have more energy conservation measures. Electricity should be reduced by 30 percent through energy conservation. Can you redo the proposal along those lines?"

Minamikawa faces more difficulties because a 30-percent reduction goal is a high hurdle. Environment Ministry officials have yet to submit their new homework assignment.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Via the EX-SKF blog and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the Preliminary Summary of the IAEA's fact finding mission to Fukushima: http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/kinkyu_img/20110601_01.pdf

 

[starviking]

"Prime minister, how about building a monument in memory of the disaster victims from the rubble that was produced by the earthquake and tsunami?" one of the officials said. "Moreover, our ministry has conducted an analysis that found the Tohoku region has the latent ability to introduce various forms of renewable energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal power."

Wind - yes, lots of that on the Sea of Japan coast - we had a train derailed by sudden wind gusts a few years back, and wind generator turbine blades snapped.

Solar - we've snow cover for four months of the year, high humidity in the summer, lots of cedar pollen, and the two rainy seasons. Oh, and all of our plains are used for agriculture - not available for solar plants. We've lots of mountains though! Good luck planting solar panels on 'em!

Geothermal - a few plants, but the problem is that Geothermal surveys take a long time, and the most promising sites are in national parks - they'll need a revison of the law to get at them.

In its March 11 morning edition, The Asahi Shimbun reported that Kan had received 1.04 million ($12,700) in illegal donations from an ethnic Korean living in Japan.

Because the Great East Japan Earthquake struck a few hours later, Kan was able to escape the fate that befell Seiji Maehara, who resigned as foreign minister after reports that he received similar donations.

More childish politics - ethnic Koreans in Japan are descended from citizens of the Empire of Japan who were stripped of their citizenship after the war - but retained the right to live in Japan as second-class citizens. They have Japanese names, speak perfect Japanese, and the only way to tell who is one is to investigate. Seiji Maehara's resignation was the result of him not demanding to know the citizenship status of everyone he meets...

The Environment Ministry, Hiroshi Tasaka, a professor at the Tama University Graduate School of Business who was serving as special adviser to the Cabinet and advocates renewable energy sources, and Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Softbank Corp. who has called for a move away from nuclear energy, appeared to be drawing Kan into their camp. That would mean trouble for METI.

Son has been offered unused farmland in Hokkaido (Snow 5 months of the year!) for his solar plans. The farmland could be better used!

When Sugawara said quantum dot solar cells would have three times the energy efficiency of normal solar cells, Kan said: "What did you say? That's incredible."

Sugawara also mentioned that lithium-air batteries would allow electric vehicles that can now only travel 100 kilometers to cover up to 1,000 kilometers.

Kan responded, "This is simply incredible."

Sugawara also said with superconductivity technology, the power transmission energy loss would be cut to one-tenth current levels.

Kan repeated his comments: "This is incredible. This is truly incredible stuff."

Sugawara added that by using nanocarbons, automobiles and airplanes could be made about 30 percent lighter.

Kan said: "It would have electrical conductivity that was 1,000 times that of copper. That is incredible."

And when Sugawara said METI has innovative catalysts, Kan's response was as expected.

"Incredible," the prime minister said. "Would that mean artificial photosynthesis? Would the catalysts be used in place of chlorophyll?"

When METI officials explained that using such technology would produce the same amount of electricity now generated by 14 nuclear power plants, Kan was so stunned he did not realize he had fallen into the carefully laid trap by the ministry.

Jeez - and in the year 2000 we will all have our own personal jet packs! I hope someone is taking a not of these officials' name so they can be named and blamed when some of these technologies don't pan out.

 

[starviking]

I don't think it can be classified as a propaganda piece - the same sentiments were expressed widely in interviews on NHK News last night, and I echo them - what the hell are the opposition and DPJ rebels doing playing politics at a time like this!

Problem is, the choice at the moment seems to be limited, more or less, to between the thoroughly corrupt and the totally incompetent. Khan may have bought some time with his promise to resign, we'll have to wait and see.

Well the real problem is that Japan is largely run by the Bureaucracy, for the Bureaucracy. The corrupt LDP let it all slide for 50 years, and the DPJ have found that it is very difficult to push back against the bureaucrats as all the levers of power are in their hands. A panel investigating wasteful spending by the government ministries found that when it asked for projects to be cancelled, they returned under different names after a few months. Add to the mix the idea of 'sole responsibility' that exists in Japan - i.e. TEPCO is solely responsible for their affairs, and you get the almost laissez-fair government response. To be honest they can hardly help it - they don't have the information they need to make more robust actions, or the legal framework.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Well the real problem is that Japan is largely run by the Bureaucracy, for the Bureaucracy. The corrupt LDP let it all slide for 50 years, and the DPJ have found that it is very difficult to push back against the bureaucrats as all the levers of power are in their hands. A panel investigating wasteful spending by the government ministries found that when it asked for projects to be cancelled, they returned under different names after a few months. Add to the mix the idea of 'sole responsibility' that exists in Japan - i.e. TEPCO is solely responsible for their affairs, and you get the almost laissez-fair government response. To be honest they can hardly help it - they don't have the information they need to make more robust actions, or the legal framework.

However, since the early '90's, Japanese politicians have (or have been perceived as having) been taking more and more decision making authority away from bureaucrats in general and giving it to themselves. This has allowed bureaucrats to say in effect 'Don't blame us, ask the politicians', as things went increasingly awry for Japan, even before the current crisis. In fact, the current situation could be the final straw that sees a permanent shift of power back to the bureaucrats, for better or for worse.

I wouldn't be surprised if any new government that comes into office finds that they have much less real power than politicians have become accustomed to in the last 20yrs or so.

 

[Grey Havoc]

New cooling system to ease humidity at Fukushima plant.

BY TAKASHI SUGIMOTO STAFF WRITER

2011/06/02


A new cooling system has started operations that will make it easier to work in the extremely humid No. 2 reactor building of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. started operating the circulating cooling system at the spent fuel storage pool for the No. 2 reactor on May 31.

The company hopes to lower the pool's water temperature from 70-80 degrees to 41 degrees within a month, thus reducing vapor from the pool.

Humidity levels in the No. 2 reactor building are at 99 percent, delaying recovery work by dampening workers' masks and filters in ventilation systems.

Water heated by the nuclear fuel is cooled through a heat exchanger and returned to the No. 2 reactor's storage pool. The pool contains 615 fuel units, including those for replacement.

The No. 2 reactor's storage pool is the first to have a new cooling system installed.

TEPCO plans to complete new cooling systems for the storage pools of the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors in June and for the No. 4 reactor's storage pool in July.

An official said the company will probably be able to set up new cooling systems considerably ahead of schedule.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106010193.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

Jeez - and in the year 2000 we will all have our own personal jet packs! I hope someone is taking a not of these officials' name so they can be named and blamed when some of these technologies don't pan out.

From your lips to God's ears, as the old saying goes. Time for heads on pikes!

 

[Grey Havoc]

Radioactive water level plunges in No. 1 reactor

The Yomiuri Shimbun


The level of radioactive water has fallen significantly in the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday.

The water level, which had risen 376 millimeters in the 24 hours from 7 a.m. on Monday, fell one millimeter in the following 24 hours, and plunged 79 millimeters from 7 a.m. Wednesday to 7 a.m. on Thursday.

The underground water level around the No. 1 reactor facility is higher than the water level in the reactor building.

TEPCO is checking whether the water is leaking from the No. 1 reactor building into the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor.

The utility said the water temperature in the temporary storage pool for spent nuclear fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor had declined from 70 C at 11 a.m. on Tuesday to 42 C Thursday morning.

As a cooling system for water outside the reactor building has been working since Tuesday, the water temperature has declined.

Regarding the No. 3 reactor, TEPCO said it would transfer contaminated water accumulated in the turbine building to a condenser.

However, as the condenser is already used to store contaminated water, TEPCO will transfer 2,000 tons of contaminated water to a condensate storage tank first to provide space.

===

Photos of tanks released

TEPCO on Thursday released photographs of temporary tanks it has set up to store contaminated water that is accumulating in the basements of the turbine buildings of the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

TEPCO has set up 45 tanks capable of holding a combined 12,200 tons of water. The utility began putting in the tanks at the beginning of May, and as of 9 a.m. Thursday they held 4,340 tons of water.

The Nos. 5 and 6 reactors are in cold shutdown, with their temperatures below 100 C. However, groundwater levels have been rising nearby, and water has flowed into the basements of the turbine buildings.

This led to concern that pumps, switchboards and other equipment vital to cooling the reactors could be submerged, which prompted TEPCO to increase the number of storage tanks.

(Jun. 3, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110602005193.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

Looks like Kan's own party are expecting him to resign around the end of June, or shortly thereafter. I think they are plum out of luck if they think they can keep the LDP out of power, though.

Kan survives no-confidence vote / Prime minister links timing of resignation to progress on disaster recovery

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Prime Minister Naoto Kan indicated Thursday he would resign as soon as the response to the March 11 disaster had been stabilized, hours before the embattled leader survived a no-confidence motion against his administration in the Diet.

Kan likely judged it would be impossible to avoid a split in his Democratic Party of Japan unless he gave some sign he would step down as prime minister, sources said.

Many DPJ lawmakers, including former party President Ichiro Ozawa and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, had been expected to vote for the no-confidence motion submitted by opposition parties Wednesday.

"After the earthquake response is settled to some degree, I would like to pass the responsibility on to a younger generation," Kan said at a meeting of DPJ lawmakers prior to the vote in the House of Representatives. Kan said the no-confidence motion against him showed he lacked leadership.

He then said he would act based on the following three principles:

-- Devote himself to the response to the disaster and nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

-- Avoid destroying the DPJ.

-- Avoid handing over power to the Liberal Democratic Party.

At the party meeting, Hatoyama said he had asked Kan to resign during talks earlier in the day at the Prime Minister's Office. "I told him to step down soon after a basic disaster reconstruction law is passed and the compilation of the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 is in sight," Hatoyama said.

Kan said he had exchanged a memorandum with Hatoyama, which included references to the reconstruction law and the second supplementary budget.

The three-point memorandum was drawn up by Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano through consultations with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada from Wednesday night, sources said.

Following Kan's remarks, Hatoyama told party lawmakers at the meeting he would oppose the no-confidence motion.

An intraparty group led by Ozawa also decided its members could vote of their own accord. Ozawa himself was not present at the vote during a lower house plenary session. The former DPJ leader reportedly told people close to him after the party meeting: "Let [group members] make their own decisions. We got some new things out of [Kan]."

The no-confidence motion was rejected with 293 lawmakers voting against it and 152 in favor. In an open vote, 445 ballots were cast in the 480-seat chamber. The DPJ's junior partner, the People's New Party, voted against the motion, which was submitted by the LDP, New Komeito and the Sunrise Party of Japan.

DPJ lawmaker Kenko Matsuki, an avid Ozawa supporter, voted for the no-confidence motion despite last-minute efforts by senior party members to change his mind.

Katsuhito Yokokume, a DPJ lawmaker who has recently expressed intent to leave the party, also voted for the motion.

Amid nonstop criticism from the opposition, Kan had flatly refused to resign, saying he would fulfill his responsibilities by putting the postquake reconstruction efforts on the right track and bringing the nuclear crisis under control. He had also indicated he was ready to dole out strict punishments to DPJ members who voted for the no-confidence motion--including kicking them out of the party.

A large number of DPJ lawmakers were thought to be ready to vote for the motion, including members of groups led by Ozawa and Hatoyama. Former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi had also suggested he would vote for the motion.

A large-scale intraparty revolt could have split the DPJ and caused the party to lose its majority in the lower house if Kan followed through on his threat to expel any rebels, which would leave Diet proceedings at a near standstill.

On the other hand, if Kan left a large group of disobedient members unpunished, Ozawa and others would have likely stepped up their calls for him to quit.

Kan had suggested he would dissolve the lower house for a snap election if the no-confidence motion passed, but stepped back from this position partly out of consideration for disaster-hit local governments, which would have found it difficult to hold elections, sources said.

The second extra budget is expected to be compiled in the summer. But Hatoyama indicated an even faster timeline for Kan's resignation to reporters after the vote: "It won't be too far away. It'd be too long if it came in the summer."

"The content of the second extra budget will be decided around the end of June, so the right situation might emerge around then," he also said.

(Jun. 3, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110602005835.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

Regulations hinder return to normalcy in Tohoku.

2011/06/03


When the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami destroyed most of the city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture on March 11, convenience store chain operator Lawson Inc. stood ready to dispatch one of its blue-and-white "Mobile Lawson" vehicles to the scene.

But the Iwate Prefecture health department put the brakes on, turning down a business permit for the mobile store, saying the vehicle's 160-liter water tank didn't meet its requirement for a 200-liter one.

The mobile store "would have been welcomed by people in areas which have been left without convenience stores," said a disappointed Lawson official.

As people in the devastated areas labor to rebuild their shattered daily lives, the thicket of government regulations is hobbling various businesses trying to put them back to work and have some sense of normalcy. The Mobile Lawson epitomizes the struggle.

The convenience store on wheels is equipped with store shelves, a refrigerator and a cooking stove to make croquettes, fried chickens and other hot dishes. It was transported from Osaka in April and headed to Rikuzentakata.

However, more than one month passed after the mobile Lawson store arrived in the disaster-hit Tohoku region when it finally started operation. It is now in the tsunami-ravaged town of Minami-Sanriku in Miyagi Prefecture, parked by the side of a temporary Lawson store--a warehouse remodeled by the company.

Since it opened on May 15, the mobile convenience store has been attracting droves of customers because the temporary store is not equipped for cooking.

"I like it because I can buy hot dishes," said a local junior high school student who bought fried chicken with his two friends.

Iwate Prefecture's business permit ordinance is based on the food sanitation law that requires vehicles for selling foods to be equipped with a water tank with a capacity of at least 200 liters of water.

The rule is designed to ensure that enough water is available for washing hands and cleaning.

But the minimum size of the water tank required differs from prefecture to prefecture. In Osaka Prefecture, for instance, a food van operating in the prefecture must be equipped with an 18-liter tank. The Tokyo metropolitan government's requirement is an 80-liter tank and in Miyagi Prefecture, it is 100 liters.

"In large cities, it is easy to refill the tank," said the official in charge at the Iwate prefectural government. "But it is not necessarily the case in this large prefecture. We may be criticized for being inflexible, but we cannot give special treatment to anybody."

- Full-time foreman required at a construction site

Over two months since the disaster, work to repair damaged buildings is in full swing in central parts of Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture. There are many buildings in the city that are covered with plastic sheets used by construction companies for preventing accidents, noise control and other purposes.

Local construction companies, however, are not thrilled about the surge in building repair work.

"There are simply too many work sites," sighed an employee at a building firm in the city.

A total of about 12,000 buildings have been judged to be in danger of collapsing or otherwise unsafe due to damage from the quake and tsunami in 13 prefectures, mainly Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima prefectures, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Some 1,500 of these dangerous buildings are in Sendai.

As orders keep flowing in, local construction companies are facing a serious shortage of technicians qualified to serve as a foreman.

At every construction work site of a certain scale or larger, there must be a qualified technical director in charge, under the construction industry law. And such a technical officer must be a full-time employee of the original contractor.

To deal with the shortage of technical officers in stricken areas, Taisei Corp., a major general contractor, has deployed some 100 qualified employees from its local branches around the nation to the areas.

But the number of the company's work sites in the Tohoku region is expected to soon surpass 100.

"When work starts in devastated coastal areas, there will be no doubt an acute shortage of technicians in the industry," said Masayuki Yajima, the administration manager at Taisei's Tohoku branch.

Taisei is considering tapping the pool of qualified former employees, however, one big obstacle is the requirement that the technical director at a construction site must be a full-time employee of the original contractor.

The shortage of technical officers is threatening to cause delays in the post-disaster reconstruction in the region.

Nippon Keidanren, the nation's most powerful business lobby, is urging the government to exempt the areas from the regulation, but there are no signs that the government is willing to show flexibility.

"Regulations are important, but this is a time of emergency," said a senior executive at a major construction firm. "The government should try to figure out ways to make good use of experienced but retired veterans wishing to contribute (to the reconstruction efforts)."

- Opposition to deregulation

It is not that the central and local governments have been idle in the face of numerous regulatory barriers hampering the recovery and reconstruction in the affected areas. In fact, ministries and agencies had eased some 170 regulations by mid-May.

Many of the measures are temporary and limited to certain areas, such as simplifying administrative procedures in disaster areas for a certain period.

But many in the business community think the steps that have been taken so far are insufficient.

Nippon Keidanren has urged the government to carry out some 250 regulatory reform proposals to expedite rebuilding in afflicted areas.

They include many ideas for long-term efforts to revitalize the local economies and communities, such as measures to expand the use of renewable energy sources in the region.

Policy debate on reconstruction plans has also addressed the issue of regulatory constraints on reconstruction efforts.

In a May 10 meeting to discuss reconstruction plans held at the prime minister's office, Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai proposed a special deregulation zone be established to rebuild the region's battered fisheries industry. Murai called for a system that allows private-sector businesses to start coastal fishing.

Most of the fishermen operating off tsunami-devastated coastal areas are self-employed workers on a shaky financial footing.

The governor envisions a future of the region's coastal fishing in which local fishermen will set up new businesses with outside capital or work for companies.

Realizing the vision, however, requires revising the fisheries law, which effectively gives local fisheries cooperatives a monopoly over fishing rights.

Unsurprisingly, the Miyagi fisheries cooperative is opposed to the proposal, which would threaten its monopoly.

"Companies would pull out of the business as soon as they fail to make profits," said an official at the cooperative. On May 13, senior officials at the cooperative asked the governor to withdraw his proposal.

There are many policymakers within the central and local government calling for special deregulation zones for easing regulations concerning land use and other activities in disaster areas. But once debate on specific proposals starts, there will be opposition from parties whose vested interests would be threatened.

"Many government regulations exist simply to protect vested interests or have outlived their usefulness," said Tatsuo Hatta, an economics professor at Osaka University. "The regulations that are causing serious harm to reconstruction in disaster areas should be reconsidered boldly. Reforms that turn out successful in special zones would help shore up the Japanese economy as a whole if they are applied nationwide."

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106020169.html

 

[Grey Havoc]

Looks like the roof is about to fall in; Kan pulled a fast one.


Kan denies early exit plan / Opposition bloc, some DPJ members furious over 'swindle'

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Prime Minister Naoto Kan has denied any intent to resign soon and instead suggested he plans to stay in power at least until the end of the year, sparking criticism from both the ruling and opposition parties.

Kan survived a no-confidence motion against his Cabinet on Thursday only hours after hinting he would step down once reconstruction from the March 11 disaster is put on a stable track. Yet, the prime minister later the same day appeared to change his tune, expressing willingness to stay in office for the foreseeable future.

"We need to formulate the second supplementary budget and build a system for reconstruction [from the Great East Japan Earthquake]. We also need to work harder to steadily bring the nuclear crisis under control," Kan said at a press conference Thursday night.

"We are in the first stages of creating a new society," he said.

As for the timing of his resignation, Kan indicated he would remain in power until the so-called Step Two is completed at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a stage that is scheduled to come sometime from mid-October to mid-January according to projections by the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.

"I'll do everything in my power to stop the radiation leaks and achieve [the Step Two] goal as soon as possible. That is my responsibility," Kan said at the press conference.

However, if Kan does not step down at an early date, calls for his resignation are certain to rekindle. On Friday, lawmakers slammed Kan not only from the opposition parties but even from within his Cabinet and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.

At a Cabinet meeting early Friday morning, Kan told his ministers, "As the Diet may stay in session until the end of the year, I want you to submit legislation without pause."

At Thursday's press conference, Kan said the current Diet session, now scheduled to close June 22, could be extended through the year-end.

"If we are to respond to the people's desire that the Diet will be there to discuss important issues whenever it's necessary, we need to have the Diet session continue throughout the year," the prime minister said.

Observers interpreted these remarks as implying Kan does not plan to step down soon and intends to stay in office.

Prior to the no-confidence vote Thursday, Kan reportedly promised his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama he would quit soon. During their meeting, the two also reached an agreement aimed at preventing a split in the DPJ.

Kan later said, however, "We didn't talk about anything except what's in the memorandum."

Hatoyama later expressed frustration with Kan.

"Right before the no-confidence vote, he said he 'would quit,' but once the motion was defeated, he started saying he 'wouldn't quit.' The sitting prime minister shouldn't be a swindler," Hatoyama told reporters in front of his home. "I should've voted for the no-confidence motion."

Hatoyama claimed that during their meeting Thursday Kan agreed to step down once the compilation of the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 and the passage of other major reconstruction efforts came into sight. In return, Hatoyama opposed the no-confidence motion against Kan's Cabinet.

Members of Hatoyama's intraparty group met Friday morning and agreed to demand the Kan Cabinet resign quickly at a general meeting of DPJ lawmakers. The general assembly can be convened through the agreement of one-third of the party's Diet members.

Meanwhile, Cabinet ministers have had mixed reactions toward the changes in Kan's attitude and remarks.

Ryu Matsumoto, state minister for disaster management, hinted he is in favor of early resignation, saying Kan's stepping down would come in late June. Koichiro Gemba, state minister in charge of national policy, said, "The prime minister isn't attached to the post."

Meanwhile, Kaoru Yosano, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, defended Kan. "It's a matter of course for a prime minister in power to try to keep his job to fulfill his duties," he said.

Opposition parties, however, had nothing but criticism.

Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki told party members at a meeting Friday, "I question why [Kan] expressed intention to remain in power even after he announced he would step down."

"We'll cooperate on a basic disaster reconstruction law, but we can't extend any other cooperation to a lame duck administration," Tanigaki said.

(Jun. 4, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110603005363.htm

 

[Grey Havoc]

Hatoyama fumes over Kan's 'political promises'

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Prime Minister Naoto Kan defused a no-confidence motion against his Cabinet Thursday, but was his suggestion that he would resign at a later date a standard political ploy, or a pledge he should be made to fulfill?

An investigation by The Yomiuri Shimbun verified behind-the-scenes developments before Thursday's vote, which saw the motion rejected 293 votes to 152.

A stir was caused Thursday by a memo agreed to by Kan and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama that listed three points of action: to avoid destroying the Democratic Party of Japan, to prevent the Liberal Democratic Party from returning to power, and to rebuild areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and help survivors.

The third point had two clauses--passage of a basic disaster reconstruction law, and deciding a schedule for compilation of a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2011.

The three points were interpreted by Hatoyama as conditions which, if satisfied, would oblige Kan to offer his resignation.

The memo was crafted by Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Kan's mentor, and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, a close aide of Hatoyama.

Hirano and Kitazawa started drafting the memo Wednesday night. According to sources, they thought Hatoyama would waver if they engaged in time-consuming talks with him, and felt it better to simply send a straightforward message.

Although Hatoyama had announced he would support the no-confidence motion, Hirano was trying to confirm Hatoyama's actual intentions. Kitazawa, meanwhile, was trying to confirm Kan's position.

On Thursday morning, Kitazawa arrived at Kan's office, and showed the just-finished memo to Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Referring to the content of the memo, Kan asked Kitazawa: "Does the phrase 'compilation of the second supplementary budget' include its passage through the Diet?"

"We need it [the language of the memo] to be vague," Kitazawa replied.

About one hour later, Kan and Hatoyama declared their agreement on the memo in front of Hirano and DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada.

Hatoyama, regarding the memo as a virtual contract, asked Kan to sign the document, to ensure Kan will resign if the three conditions are fulfilled. Kan fended off Hatoyama's request, saying, "Please trust me."

===

Doomed from the start

Problems caused by the deliberately ambiguous language used in the agreement between Kan and Hatoyama soon surfaced.

The gap in the intentions of Kan and Hatoyama was evidenced by the fact that on Thursday Kan never referred specifically to a "resignation."

Around noon that day, Okada told reporters after a meeting of the party's House of Representatives members that the memo did not stipulate a time for Kan to resign.

At the meeting, Hatoyama said Kan had agreed to step down once the compilation of the second supplementary budget came into sight.

Later, Hatoyama reacted angrily to Okada's remarks. "It's lies. I talked with the prime minister about conditions for him to resign," Hatoyama said.

Kan was infuriated by this, and openly expressed his feelings to government officials.

"There's nothing written on the paper [the memo] about it [the timing of my resignation]. What's he talking about?" Kan was quoted as saying.

Throughout the backroom machinations, Hatoyama was also trying to protect the interests of former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa, who does not want Kan to continue as prime minister.

Sources said that when Hatoyama reported to Ozawa on Thursday morning--after the meeting with Kan, but before the gathering of DPJ lawmakers--Ozawa asked, "How specific were the details of the agreement you made?"

Hatoyama dodged the question, according to sources, who quoted him as saying, "I'll explain properly at the meeting of DPJ's lower house members."

After the no-confidence motion was rejected Thursday afternoon, Hatoyama expressed distrust of Kan.

"We have to stay on our guard," Hatoyama told an aide in an elevator in the building that houses lower house members' offices.

"If he [Kan] breaches the agreement, we'll need to collect 150, no, 250 signatures to hold a general meeting of [DPJ] lawmakers of both Diet chambers [where Kan will be called on to step down]."

"I feel this the beginning of the end of the DPJ," a first-term DPJ lower house member said after the lower house plenary session Thursday.

===

Repeated reversals

Hatoyama had great difficulty this week committing himself to a firm position.

When he left his home in Denenchofu, Tokyo, on Thursday morning, he said he intended to vote for the no-confidence motion. "We must rebuild the DPJ. I never intended to create a party like the current DPJ," Hatoyama said.

A mere three hours later, he expressed a different view.

"We're now in a time of national crisis. I ask you to act in unison," he said at the meeting of the DPJ lower house members.

On Wednesday night, Hatoyama was persuaded by his close aides to vote against the no-confidence motion, but then he reversed his position after hearing about 70 people had attended a meeting of Ozawa supporters--strong numbers, suggesting the motion stood a chance of being passed.

"We might pass the motion. It's amazing that we've reached this stage," Hatoyama said, according to sources.

Hatoyama's inability to make up his mind over the no-confidence motion was due to his complicated relationship with Kan.

After the DPJ presidential election in September last year, Kan took steps to confine Ozawa to the margins of the party, flying in the face of Hatoyama's calls for building party unity.

On the other hand, Hatoyama and Kan were founders of the DPJ together, and he has an emotional stake in avoiding the party's breakup.

In the end, Hatoyama voted against the no-confidence motion. He feared Ozawa's plan to cooperate with the LDP and New Komeito would lead to the destruction of the DPJ.

But on Thursday night, Hatoyama was appalled to see Kan smiling at a press conference--an expression long absent from the prime minister's face--and saying he would not resign until the situation at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was brought under control.

"I've been betrayed. He [Kan] couldn't be worse as a human being. He is a crumb," Hatoyama was quoted as saying. Sources said he was shaking with anger.

Hatoyama reportedly fumed: "We've got no choice but to hold a general meeting of all DPJ Diet members and 'take his head off.'"

(Jun. 4, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110603005011.htm

There is a saying: "Treachery is it's own reward". Something Kan is about to learn, methinks.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Water decontamination at N-plant to start June 15

The Yomiuri Shimbun


Decontamination will start June 15 of highly radioactive water that has accumulated in the basements and other areas of four reactor buildings and a waste processing facility at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday.

The date was included in TEPCO's schedule for storage and disposal of the radiation-contaminated water, which was made public Friday. The estimated total amount of the water was 105,100 tons as of Tuesday.

As there are concerns that the contaminated water in the reactor buildings could begin flowing into the ocean as early as June 20 due to rainfall, a decontamination facility will begin operation June 15. The water will be decontaminated there and then transferred to tanks for storage.

The schedule was drawn up under the instruction of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The agency has said the water could flow to the ocean and other places during the rainy season and the typhoon season. According to TEPCO, an estimated 720,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances is contained in the water.

Water that has accumulated at the waste processing facility also will be processed at the decontamination facility from June 15. The water's radioactive density will be lowered to mid- to low level, after which the water will be stored in tanks that are now under construction. Another underground tank with a capacity of about 10,000 tons will be set up around mid-August to store highly radioactive water.

TEPCO determined the date of June 20 after calculating how much the level of the radioactive water accumulated in the reactor buildings' basements would rise based on the about 145 millimeters of total rainfall from last Saturday evening to Wednesday evening.

(Jun. 4, 2011)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110603005358.htm

 

[starviking]

Hatoyama fumes over Kan's 'political promises'

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Prime Minister Naoto Kan defused a no-confidence motion against his Cabinet Thursday, but was his suggestion that he would resign at a later date a standard political ploy, or a pledge he should be made to fulfill?


There is a saying: "Treachery is it's own reward". Something Kan is about to learn, methinks.

There's a lot of political posturing going on. Kan made an indefinite promise, so he's ok to use his judgement as to when the conditions are fulfilled. Hatoyama and Ozawa are actually traitors, in a political sense as they made moves with the enemies of their party to advance their political careers.

 

[Grey Havoc]

The latest video from TEPCO. It's a short clip from inside the Reactor 1 building at Fukushima:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/news/110311/images/110604_09.zip