March 17, Thursday - 7

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. . . . . Hope ? ? ?



How Japan's religions confront tragedy
source : religion.blogs.cnn.com


another Jizo was not so fortunate




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Gabi reports:

It started getting very cold, minus 5 centigrade, around midnight and now, as I pick up again at 5:30, it is still minus 5 ...

Geiger Counter in Tokyo : 14.14 cpm (at 9:00)

Last night many TV commentators became more and more frustrated with the kind of information we are given about the meltdown. A photo was shown withe white smoke coming out, but the Plant Manager could not give the exact time when the photo was taken. This is just one small example of all the confusion.

Apart from the meltdown blame game, there is still so much suffering. Shelters do not have enough food, the toilet situation without water since last Friday in unimaginable, hospitals without medicine, even without power ...

China is sending help.
China has about 240 reactors, and 23 new reactors under construction. The Chinese are closely watching what is going on at the Fukushima Power Plant.

Lufthansa stopped flying to Narita airport. A friend got in a lot of trouble after having been told ... come back tomorrow ... and then today, no more flights. No compensation, just go back to where you came from (btw. he was from Sendai and made his difficult way to catch the plain via bus to Akita and down to Tokyo.. . all in vain.)


. . . . . at 9:40
They started to dump water on the Fukushima plant with helicopters now. Let us hope there is a positive efffect. four times water was dumped, about 7,5 tons, on the reactor nr. 3.

There is deep snow now and snowing more and more in Northern Japan, whow.

Natori

More than 5000 officialy dead now.
33.6000 people are in shelters now. Influenza is spreading, children start to get sick.

There are also many rumors about the radiation situation in and around Tokyo ... but please keep calm. Let us hope they are just that, rumors from the anti-nuclear camp.


. . . . . at 12:30
The sea water dumped by the helicopters on the reactor Nr. 3 was not enough to show a measurable drop of the values (about 3750 microsivert). The pool with the nuclear rods needs more.
Helicopters can only fly very short time and rather high to make sure they are not getting too much radiation.

Later on they will (hopefully) start with the pump cars.
Keep your fingers crossed !

. . . . . at 12:40
The price of fresh fish will go up, even in Okayama, since no more fresh fish are coming from the destroyed fishing ports along the pacific coast of Northern Japan.


. . . . . at 13:16
Earthquake M 5.8, off the coast of Iwate.

And it is still snowing very strongly in Iwate ant other parts.



Geiger Counter in Tokyo : 13.94 cpm (at 15:00)


. . . . . at 16:30
People in the Kanto area are asked to save electricity even more, since it is quite cold and heating is up. If they continue like that, there will be a real blackout, not the "organized" one by the authorities.
We also keep the home a lot cooler these days, wear more sweaters ... solidarity.

TV shows close-ups of the damaged power plant and keeps saying
very soon, very soon, ma mo naku
they will start pour water from the ground to cool the reactor, very soon, very soon ... for more than 4 hours now we live with "very soon" . . .

Jeitai wants to bring 30 tons of water to the reactors,
but when, when, when?

Instead of using 10 tank cars in a ralley, with constant supply of sea water, they can now only use 5 full tank cars, because the radiation is so high, the men can not go out to work long, as planned before.
Another setback in the run out of time (at 16:55)


waiting for Godot
waiting for the meltdown
waiting for a miracle


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. . . . . at 18:30

The German embassy is moving out.
May foreigners try to get transportation to Central or Western Japan. The exodus has started.

Die Ratten verlassen das sinkende Schiff ... as someone has put it.


and still we are served this

TV shows close-ups of the damaged power plant and keeps saying
very soon, very soon, ma mo naku
they will start pour water from the ground to cool the reactor, very soon, very soon ...
for more than 6 hours now we live with "very soon" . . .


Geiger Counter in Tokyo : 13.98 cpm (at 19:00)



. . . . . at 19:30
Finally we get some facts:
The five water tank cars could not go to the reactors, because the radioactivity in the area was too high. So it was cancelled.

Well,
maybe by tomorrow morning the meltdown will be anounced ? !!


. . . . . at 20:30
Now we get some other facts ...
The five water tanks did go and spray water into the reactor, but we have to wait and see the results later ...


It is still snowing heavily in Northern Japan and temperatures are dropping.
Many shelters do not have heating any more, no heating oil.

It is snowing lightly here in Okayama too .. ..

Well, I am off to cool down now ...

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Three words to sum up today :

frustration
anger at the information chaos
helplessness


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Bulletins from NHK Online

source : www3.nhk.or.jp

A computer system that forecasts the spread of radioactivity has not been working due to malfunctioning monitoring posts around a troubled nuclear power plant in quake-hit Fukushima Prefecture.

The death toll from Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunamis that hit northeastern Japan stands at 4,340. More than 9,000 others are still missing.

As of Wednesday, the water was still off in 320,000 households in Fukushima Prefecture, 290,000 households in Miyagi, 110,000 households in Iwate, and 670,000 households in Ibaraki.
The water shortages may increase, as communication lines are still down in some of the devastated areas.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 18:43
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has ordered the measurement of radiation levels at locations across Japan, and called for the provision of accurate information to the public.


Wednesday, March 16, 2011 20:19
The United States says it will conduct its own measurements of radioactivity in Japan in the wake of radiation leaks from an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
US Ambassador John Roos told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday that measuring equipment and 34 experts arrived in Japan the previous day. The equipment included instruments for measuring radiation levels on the ground and in the air and computer systems to process the data.
Toyota Motor says it will partly suspend production at its 14 factories in North America following the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 01:57
Yen-buying accelerated in New York on Tuesday in the wake of Japan's disaster, pushing its currency towards a record high marked nearly 16 years ago.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 01:59
An additional 28,000 people have been forced to evacuate from their homes to other areas to avoid possible radiation from a nuclear power in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Friday's earthquake and tsunami crippled the nuclear plant.
NHK has learned that as of Wednesday, 31municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture accepted at least 28,152 evacuees, in addition to those who had already taken shelter in those municipalities.
But many temporary shelters set up in the prefecture were already too crowded to accept the newcomers.
At a shelter about 100 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 295 evacuees joined the 38 people who had already been staying there since the earthquake.
Some of them say they were forced to move there because the first shelter they went to was overcrowded. They also say some of them have not yet received any radioactive screening tests.
The number of Fukushima people trying to evacuate to other prefectures is increasing.
Neighboring Niigata Prefecture says it has booked another 17 hotels in Niigata City and elsewhere for evacuees from Fukushima to stay since it expects the number to rise. About 2,700 people from Fukushima have already taken shelter in Niigata.
Yamagata Prefecture has started providing screening tests and health counseling services at 4 health centers for the Fukushima evacuees. At least 1,600 Fukushima residents have already moved to that prefecture.
By Wednesday evening, Tochigi Prefecture had also received 320 people. They were divided among 3 shelters after getting a health check and radioactive screening test.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 08:35
The death toll from Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunamis that hit northeastern Japan stands at 4,377.
At least about 9,000 others are still missing.
Fukushima Prefecture is looking into the deaths of 14 hospital patients at an emergency shelter where they had evacuated.
Prefectural officials say 128 hospital patients evacuated on Monday to a high school in Iwaki city. Two of them reportedly died en route on a bus, and 12 others died shortly after arriving at the shelter.
Most of the patients were elderly, and some bedridden. They were asked to stay at the shelter before being moved to another hospital.
The high school principal says there were 4 medical staffers at the shelter, but medical equipment has been in short supply. The patients were laid on a blanket on a tatami mat, with heaters placed nearby.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:34
Two helicopters from Japan's Self-Defense Forces are dropping water on the Number Three building at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The helicopters began dousing the damaged reactor-housing building at 9:48 AM on Thursday.
The SDF has dispatched two CH-47 helicopters equipped with a device for dropping 7.5 tons of water.
They're being accompanied by another helicopter that is measuring radiation levels above the plant. The first water-dropping operation was completed at around 10:15 AM.
The SDF is also sending 11 high-pressure fire trucks from their bases across Japan to spray water on the reactor buildings.
A high-pressure fire truck from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is also set to begin spraying water onto the Number Four reactor building.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 11:22
More evacuations
A city near the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is preparing to move about 30,000 people out of the prefecture.
A part of Minami Soma falls within the plant's 20-kilometer zone, where residents have been told to evacuate.
Another part of the city is in the 20 to 30 kilometer zone, where people are being urged to stay indoors. The city says many of the estimated 50,000 people in the zone have moved out, but about 30,000 remain.
The city is preparing to shift those people out of Fukushima Prefecture, as shelters within the prefecture are already full.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 11:44
Cooling operations at the Number Four reactor will be carried out from the ground after authorities judged that it would be more effective to spray water from gaps in the wall of the reactor building.



Thursday, March 17, 2011 13:57
Radiation levels at municipalities around the quake-damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture continue to be higher than normal. But authorities say the detected levels pose no harm to human health.
As of 9 AM Thursday, at Fukushima City, 65 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, radiation level was 13.9 microsieverts per hour. This is more than 340 times the usual background level.
At Koriyama City located west of the plant, the reading was 2.71 microseiverts, 45 times the normal level.
South of the plant, in Iwaki City, radiation levels were as high as 20 times the usual level at 1.25 microseiverts.
At the Onagawa nuclear power plant 120 kilometers northeast of the Fukushima plant, radiation levels measured 3.2 microseiverts, 32 times the usual amount.In Kitaibaraki City south of the Fukushima plant, radiation found to be 1.19 microseiverts, 23 times the normal figure.
But health authorities say one-hour of exposure to radiation at any of the observed levels would range between one 500th to one 40th of the amount of radiation the body would receive in a single stomach X-ray.



Thursday, March 17, 2011 15:14
The United States government is advising US citizens within 80 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to evacuate the area or to remain indoors.
White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters on Wednesday that the advisory is in line with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's evacuation guidelines for a domestic nuclear accident.
Carney said US citizens living within the 80 kilometer radius are being alerted through the US Embassy in Tokyo.
The Japanese government has asked people living within 20 kilometers from the plant to evacuate, and those between 20 to 30 kilometers to stay indoors.
Asked about the discrepancy, Carney said the US advice is based on its independent analysis of the deteriorating situation.
Carney said the situation is very fluid and that the Fukushima nuclear power plant is facing a crisis.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 20:06
Japanese police have failed in their attempt to use water canon to cool the No.3 reactor at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The high-pressure water did not reach the reactor and the police squad has now evacuated to a safety zone.
The operation on Thursday evening followed efforts by the Self-Defense Forces using helicopters earlier in the day.

and then at the same time slot

Japan's Self-Defense Forces have started cooling operations from the ground at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The mission started on Thursday evening.
2 of 5 powerful fire engines launched the operation, in an effort to cool down a spent fuel storage pool at the Number Three reactor.
Self-Defense Forces had earlier used helicopters to drop tons of water on the plant.


Thursday, March 17, 2011 20:20
Japanese nuclear power plant operators have shelved plans to build 2 plants in northern Japan, in light of the nuclear crisis unfolding at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
On Thursday, Tokyo Electric Power Company, which was due to start building one plant in Aomori Prefecture next month, has notified the local government of its decision.
The No. 1 reactor of the plant was expected to go online in 6 years, with a projected capability of 1,380 megawatts, making it the most powerful in Japan.
Another plant operator, Electric Power Development, said it has put on hold the 3-year-old construction of a plant, also in Aomori.
That would have been the first in Japan to burn a mixture of uranium and plutonium extracted from spent fuel. The target year for its completion is 2014.


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Voices from around

quote
Japan’s faceless heroes
A group of 50 Japanese workers have decided to stay behind at the Fukushima power plant, in a bid to prevent a massive radiation leak. Workers’ names haven’t been revealed but they are thought to be volunteers, firefighters and police officers. Prepared to risk their lives and face Japan’s worst catastrophe in decades, the workers are seen as heroes
source : www.france24.com


quote
by Richard A. Lovett
Shortened days and more wobble
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan last Friday was powerful enough to shorten Earth's day by 1.8 microseconds and throw an extra 6.7 inches (17 centimeters) into the planet's wobble, scientists say.
. . . the quake shifted what's called Earth's figure axis, an imaginary line around which the world's mass is balanced, about 33 feet (10 meters) from the north-south axis.
source : news.nationalgeographic.com


quote
Japan Earthquake Not the "Big One"?
Megaquake long predicted—but in totally different region.
by Richard A. Lovett
Though Friday's Japan earthquake—which spawned a tsunami and damaged a nuclear power plant—was the largest to strike the country since the dawn of modern seismology, it wasn't the long dreaded "big one," experts say.
Not because the magnitude 9 earthquake wasn't big, but because it was in the wrong place.
Seismologists have long predicted that the big one would probably be a repeat of the 1923 Kanto earthquake, which occurred in a dangerous fault zone close to Tokyo and killed an estimated 142,000 people.
. . . . . Last week's earthquake occurred farther north, in the southern part of the Japan Trench, formed by the collision of the Pacific and Okhotsk plates.
source : news.nationalgeographic.com



quote (Reuters)
Nuclear Plant Problems
– Operators of a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan said they would try again on Thursday to use military helicopters to douse overheating reactors and avert a disaster, but U.S. officials warned that radiation levels may be too high to allow repairs.

While officials scrambled to contain the nuclear crisis with a variety of patchwork fixes, health experts said panic over radiation leaks from the Daiichi plant may divert attention from potentially worse threats to survivors of Friday's 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami, such as the cold or access to fresh water.

The head of the world's nuclear watchdog, meanwhile, said while it was not accurate to say things were "out of control" in Japan, the situation was "very serious," with core damage to three units at the plant.

Japan's government said radiation levels outside the plant's gates were stable but, in a sign of being overwhelmed, appealed to private companies to help deliver supplies to tens of thousands of people evacuated from around the complex.

LAST-DITCH EFFORTS
Nuclear experts said the solutions being proposed to quell radiation leaks at the complex were last-ditch efforts to stem what could well be remembered as one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

"This is a slow-moving nightmare," said Dr Thomas Neff, a physicist and uranium-industry analyst at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Panic over the economic impact of last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami knocked $620 billion off Japan's stock market over the first two days of this week, but the Nikkei index rebounded on Wednesday to end up 5.68 percent.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Agency plan to keep the stock market open despite calls for a halt to trading, mainly from foreign financial institutions, the Nikkei business daily said.

Scores of flights to Japan have been halted or rerouted and air travelers are avoiding Tokyo for fear of radiation. Russia said it planned to evacuate families of diplomat on Friday.

China has about two dozen reactors under construction and plans to increase nuclear electricity generation about seven-fold over the next 10 years.

Several experts said the Japanese authorities were underplaying the severity of the incident, particularly on a scale called INES used to rank nuclear incidents. The Japanese have so far rated the accident a four on a one-to-seven scale, but that rating was issued on Saturday and since then the situation has worsened dramatically.

At its worst, radiation in Tokyo reached 0.809 microsieverts per hour on Tuesday -- 10 times below what a person would receive if exposed to a dental x-ray. For Wednesday, radiation levels were barely above average.
But many Tokyo residents stayed indoors. Usually busy streets were nearly deserted. Many shops and offices were closed.

source : news.yahoo.com



. . . . . at 7:30

quote
Fukushima Power Plant
Nuclear plant operators trying to avoid complete reactor meltdowns said Thursday that they were close to completing a new power line that might end Japan's crisis, but several ominous signs have also emerged: a surge in radiation levels, unexplained white smoke and spent fuel rods that U.S. officials said could be on the verge of spewing radioactive material.
. . . The new line could revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to maintain a steady water supply to troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool. The company is also trying to repair its existing disabled power line.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said in Washington on Wednesday that all the water was gone from the spent fuel pools at Unit 4 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, but Japanese officials denied it. Hajime Motojuku, spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said the "condition is stable" at Unit 4.

Jaczko did not say how the information was obtained, but the NRC and U.S. Department of Energy both have experts at the complex of six reactors along Japan's northeastern coast, which was ravaged by last week's magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.
source : news.yahoo.com/



quote 　　
Tsunami killed thousands of seabirds at Midway
HONOLULU – Thousands of seabirds were killed when the tsunami generated by last week's massive earthquake off Japan flooded Midway, a remote atoll northwest of the main Hawaiian islands, a federal wildlife official said Tuesday.
At least 1,000 adult and adolescent Laysan albatross were killed, along with thousands of chicks, said Barry W. Stieglitz, the project leader for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuges.
Many drowned or were buried under debris as waves reaching 5 feet high rolled over the low-lying atoll about four hours after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck Friday.
source : news.yahoo.com


. . . . . at 13:40

quote 　　
US starts evacuating some Americans out of Japan

WASHINGTON –
The United States on Wednesday authorized the first evacuations of Americans out of Japan, taking a tougher stand on the deepening nuclear crisis and warning U.S. citizens to defer all non-essential travel to any part of the country as unpredictable weather and wind conditions risked spreading radioactive contamination.

The travel warning extends to U.S. citizens already in the country and urges them to consider leaving. The authorized departure offers voluntary evacuation to family members and dependents of U.S. personnel in Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya and affects some 600 people.

The decision to begin evacuations mirrors moves by countries such as Australia and Germany, who also advised their citizens to consider leaving Tokyo and other earthquake-affected areas. Tokyo, which is about 170 miles from the stricken nuclear complex, has reported slightly elevated radiation levels, though Japanese officials have said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital.

. . . . "We have consular teams on the ground," Toner said. "Where they can, they are going door to door. They are going to hospitals. They are trying everything in their power to reach out and find American citizens."
The Pentagon said troops are receiving anti-radiation pills before missions to areas where radiation exposure is likely.

With the arrival of three more ships to the massive humanitarian mission, there were 17,000 sailors and Marines afloat on 14 vessels in waters off Japan. Several thousand Army and Air Force service members already stationed at U.S. bases in Japan have also been mobilized for the relief efforts.
source : news.yahoo.com


quote
China urges Japan to give swift radiation information
BEIJING (Reuters) – China urged Japan on Thursday to give the world prompt and accurate information about radiation leaks from a crippled nuclear plant, but said Tokyo had already been giving regular updates to Beijing.
Officials fear that a major breakout of radioactive pollution from the complex could pose a health risk, and China and other nearby countries have stepped up monitoring of radiation levels.
So far, there have been no signs of abnormal radiation levels in China.

Japanese media have criticized the government's handling of the disaster and operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. for its failure to provide enough information on the incident.

On Wednesday, Beijing suspended approvals for proposed nuclear power plants and launched a comprehensive safety check of its own atomic plants operating or being built, in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis.
source : news.yahoo.com


. . . . .


quote 　　
Mit einem riskanten Hubschraubereinsatz soll der befürchtete GAU verhindert werden. Helikopter lassen Wasser auf die freiliegenden Brennelemente im Atomkraftwerk Fukushima ab. Zudem stehen Wasserwerfer bereit und die Stromversorgung wird repariert. Offiziell bestätigt wurde der Tod von 4.000 Menschen, 13.000 sind verschollen. Ein nächtlicher Kälteeinbruch verschlimmerte die Lage der hunderttausend Obdachlosen. Wie der Fernsehsender NHK berichtete, flohen weitere 28.000 Menschen vor der Gefahr radioaktiver Verstrahlung. Weiter im Nordosten kämpfen die Menschen unterdessen gegen bittere Kälte. Benzin und Nahrungsmittel werden immer knapper.
Genaue Darstellung des Ablaufs ist hier
source : www.rtl.de




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Further reading in my library

Why Japan embraced nuclear power
after suffering the atomic bomb
JOHN ALLEMANG
. Nuclear Power in Japan


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