August 7, 8

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Sunday, August 7, 2011




Some parts of Japan celebrate Tanabata, the Star Festival, today.
Even in Sendai, after the earthquake, they celebrated with many floats with paper cranes and slips with wishes for the future of Tohoku.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


. Star Festival (Tanabata 七夕) .


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sources

. . Bulletins from NHK WORLD

. . Japan Times


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Sunday, August 7, 2011

. Remembering Hiroshima - August 6, 2011 .


Sunday, August 07, 2011 05:15 - NHK
Ban to visit Japan to meet disaster survivors
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon will visit Japan later on Sunday to meet disaster survivors and stress the importance of safety at nuclear power stations.
It will be the first time in about a year that Ban will come to Japan. He made a trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki last year.
On Monday, Ban will go to Fukushima prefecture to directly deliver messages from the global community to survivors. ...


Sunday, August 07, 2011 12:46
Decontamination system stops at Fukushima Daiichi
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is facing yet another problem with its wastewater filtering system. The system came to a halt again on Sunday.
Tokyo Electric Power Company has been filtering highly contaminated water in basements to remove radioactive material and then pump the water back into the reactors as coolant.
Shortly after 7 AM on Sunday, some of the pumps in a US decontamination device stopped and could not be restarted. The equipment is used to remove radioactive cesium. About an hour later, a pump in a French device also stopped working.
A back-up pump also failed to work, bringing the whole decontamination system to a halt. TEPCO says it is continuing to inject cooling water into reactors by using treated water.
The decontamination system has faced earlier problems. On Thursday, another pump stopped at one time. On Friday, an alarm went off and the system stopped operating.
TEPCO added a Japanese-made decontamination device to the system to make it more stable. But the utility wanted to treat wastewater before the test run of the new device, because there is little available storage space for the contaminated water.
TEPCO is trying to determine the cause of the malfunctions while working to restart the system.


Sunday, August 07, 2011 22:58
Fukushima evacuees briefly return home
Some evacuees in Fukushima Prefecture have briefly returned to their homes to prepare for the Bon holidays in mid-August.
One district in Kawamata Town is designated as an evacuation zone due to exposure to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Almost all the residents of the district have left their homes.
The zone is off-limits, but the town allowed the evacuees to return to the area for 4 hours on Sunday to weed their homes and graves ahead of the Bon festival, when people pay visits to their ancestors' graves.
Some evacuees left flowers on the graves because they do not know if they can come again during the holidays.
Yoshiichi Miura, who is 65, says it's sad to see the district deserted and his ancestors would never have dreamed about such a situation.
He adds that he will continue to take care of the grave, even though he cannot return as often as he would like to.


. . . . . Japan Times . . . . .

Fukushima nuke crisis invoked at Hiroshima event
Hiroshima marks the 66th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb in a ceremony that pays tribute to victims of the March 11 quake and tsunami and hears calls by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Hiroshima politicians and local residents to consider moving away from nuclear power.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110807a1.html

Plant's 3-km-zone evacuees may get home visit
The government will consider letting evacuees who resided within 3 km of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant visit their homes, nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono says.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110807a2.html

Hibakusha turn against nuke power
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110807a4.html

Revenue halved in fifth of Fukushima hospitals
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110807a6.html


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Monday, August 8, 2011

Monday, August 08, 2011 06:09 - NHK
TEPCO starts evaporating saltwater
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has began evaporating contaminated saltwater, as a way to reduce accumulated radioactive seawater at the plant.
Contaminated seawater has accumulated in the basement of the plant, as a result of Tokyo Electric Power Company injecting seawater to cool down damaged reactors after the March 11th tsunami. The utility later began removing salt and radioactive substances from the contaminated seawater, to use the filtered water for cooling the reactors.
However, TEPCO says the system has the capacity to process only 40 percent of the contaminated seawater into freshwater, leaving 60 percent untreated. As of August 2nd, there was still about 21,000 tons of contaminated seawater left at the plant.
TEPCO had been testing a new system which could reduce 80 tons of saltwater to about 50 tons each day, by evaporating the saltwater. The steam will be recycled back to freshwater for cooling the reactor. The system was put into actual operation on Sunday, after the testing was completed.
So far, 2 units have been installed. TEPCO plans to introduce 6 additional units, hoping that all will become operational by October.

Monday, August 08, 2011 06:09
Minus growth expected for 3rd quarter in Japan
Private research firms expect Japan's gross domestic product for the April-to-June period to shrink for a 3rd consecutive quarter.
Ten financial institutions and research institutes estimate Japan's GDP will decline by 0.3 to 1.2 percent from the previous quarter, in real terms.
... Some of the firms expect Japan's GDP to improve and move into positive territory, saying private consumption and supply chains are likely to turn positive. But, others say Japan's economic recovery depends on foreign exchange rates and economic conditions in the United States and Europe.

Monday, August 08, 2011 12:24
Ban meets evacuees in Fukushima
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has met evacuees of the March 11th disaster and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. He told them that the world body will make efforts to improve the safety of nuclear power.
Ban arrived in Japan on Sunday. During a meeting with Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato on Monday morning, Ban was briefed on the impact of the nuclear accident, including health checks for residents and problems with the removal of radioactive substances.
Ban visited a shelter in Fukushima City and spoke to the evacuees in Japanese, saying the world is behind them.
The UN chief also met students at Fukushima Minami Senior High School.
He told the students that the disaster may have had a serious impact on them, but he believes Japan will recover. He said the United Nations and the world are supporting them.


. . . . . Japan Times . . . . .

Cleanup plan in works for Fukushima
The government wants to set a decontamination goal for Fukushima Prefecture that will target areas where radiation exposure exceeds 20 millisieverts a year.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110808a1.html

Devastated towns stuck in limbo
As the recovery lags behind in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, many survivors remain in limbo, gripped by deep fears and uncertainties about the demolished fishing town's future.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110808a3.html

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