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- - - September 2012 - - -
Orchids to support Japan !
Japan Flower Growers Association Orchid Section,
consisting of orchid producers throughout Japan, has made labels and stickers that will be attached to their products.
source : www.agpress.net, July 2011
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. - Restarting Reactors - INFO - .
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Saturday, September 1, 2012
Judges hold rethink on nuke safety
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120901a2.html
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Sunday, September 2, 2012
Tepco hikes household rates to cover thermal fuel costs
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120902a3.html
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Monday, September 3, 2012
Zero option for nuclear power may be added to revamped energy plan
The goal of eliminating nuclear power is expected to be added to the government's revamped energy policy after adopting the 15 percent option as an interim target.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120903a3.html
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Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Disaster-awareness tours on rise
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120904a6.html
Radioactive waste site proposed for Tochigi
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120904b1.html
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Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Yen 50 trillion for renewables needed to end nuke power
The nation will have to invest at least \50 trillion in renewable energy by 2030 if nuclear power is completely phased out, according to a government estimate.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120905a1.html
Fukushima zones to be prepared for evacuees' return in two years
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120905a2.html
Steam blasts at France's oldest nuclear plant
A steam blast occurred at France's oldest nuclear power plant on Wednesday. The plant operator is reporting no radioactive leaks.
The blast took place at the Fessenheim complex in the east of the country near the German border.
Operator Electricite de France says hydrogen peroxide water used for maintenance work generated a burst of steam in a chemical reaction. ... President Francois Hollande has pledged to close it down during his term in office.
Fukushima to export peaches to Thailand
Peaches produced in Fukushima Prefecture will be sold in Thailand next week.
Farm products from prefecture will be exported to the country for the first time since last year's nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Exports of farm and marine products from Fukushima Prefecture have been increasing, mainly to Hong Kong and Taiwan. But many countries and territories have completely halted food imports from Fukushima due to fears of radioactive contamination. ...
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Friday, September 7, 2012
Eliminating all nuke power cheapest option: Softbank's Son
Softbank CEO and renewable energy advocate Masayoshi Son says choosing nuclear power as either 15 percent or 20 to 25 percent of the total energy mix by 2030 would actually mean marginally higher electricity costs than phasing it out completely.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120907a6.html
Few uses subsidies for disaster-affected workers
A survey has found that few employers in northeastern Japan have applied for state subsides designed to promote employment in areas hit by last year's earthquake and tsunami.
Companies in disaster-affected Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures are eligible for grant money if they hire local workers for one year or longer.
Under the program, which started in March, the government will grant the companies up to about 28,800 dollars per employee over a period of 3 years.
... Officials of the 3 prefectures say that many local firms are still unable to resume their operations due to slow progress in the recovery of the disaster-hit areas....
About 25% of 3/11 debris dealt with
Japan's environment minister says about a fourth of the debris generated by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami last year in the country's 3 most affected prefectures has been dealt with. ...
Nuclear policy review irks Rokkasho village
A village assembly in northern Japan says the village should return all spent nuclear fuel stored at a local plant if the national government scraps its project of recycling the fuel. . . .
... Rokkasho Mayor Kenji Furukawa asked why the energy policy is being discussed without consulting his village. He said he will press the government not to pull out of the nuclear fuel reprocessing project.
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Saturday, September 8, 2012
Global help urged to avert reactor 4 pool fire
Arnie Gundersen, in Kyoto on Monday
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120908f1.html
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Sunday, September 9, 2012
Children in tsunami-hit area ride in balloon
Dozens of children in tsunami-hit Iwate Prefecture have enjoyed views of their hometown from a hot-air balloon. ...
Fukushima plant clean-up efforts face challenges
Efforts to deal with problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan still face many challenges more than a year after the meltdown.
Tuesday will mark one and a half years since the earthquake and tsunami that caused the accident. But the leaking of tainted water and other troubles still plague the clean-up efforts.
Experts say one of the pressing challenges is how to ensure the reliability of emergency facilities built to cool the troubled reactors.
one and a half years since the earthquake and tsunami
One and half years after Fukushima accident
One and a half years have passed since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company has many problems to overcome before achieving its promise to decommission the crippled plant in about 40 years.
TEPCO has been testing the spent fuel rods in the No.4 reactor pool over the past 2 months. The building structure at the No.4 reactor became fragile after the explosion and possibly unsustainable to more earthquakes in the future.
TEPCO is preparing to remove the rods from the pool in December next year. But the debris scattered in the pool could hamper workers from taking them out.
The operator also faces difficulty in handling the melted fuel in the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors.
It hopes to fill water in the containment vessels to cool down the fuel and is now using endoscopes and robots to find cracks and holes in the vessels. But high-levels of radiation are disrupting these operations.
TEPCO also wonders if it can secure enough workers for the next 5 years. It said it will see a shortage of workers unless it finds ways for them to avoid exposure to radiation.
But the utility said apart from a few places in the plant, most areas now register radiation levels below 3 millisieverts per hour, compared with 100 millisieverts per hour soon after the accident.
Fukushima aftermath: Fish contamination
Eighteen months after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, fishermen working mainly in Pacific coastal areas of northeastern Japan are catching more fish and shellfish off Fukushima Prefecture on a trial basis.
Mitsui opens power-saving model 'smart house'
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120911a1.html
Tohoku long way from healing 18 months on
The Tohoko region reaches the one and a half-year anniversary of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, with confirmed deaths standing at 15,870 and 2,814 people still missing.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120912a2.html
More than 75,000 people leave disaster-hit areas
An exodus is taking place from parts of northeastern Japan that were devastated by last year's massive earthquake and tsunami. . . .
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Scientists sound alarm on plan to bury nuclear waste
An organization representing the nation's scientists calls on the government to drop its plan to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste deep underground, saying the risk of geological-based problems is too high.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120912a3.html
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Thursday, September 13, 2012
First snow on Mount Fuji !
Tepco reforms seen as reactor restart bid
Tokyo Electric Power Co. says it has set up teams to reform its nuclear division, a move viewed by some as laying the groundwork for the restart of idled reactors amid the disaster at its Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120913a1.html
Checkup subsidy halted for nuclear plant workers
The Japanese health ministry's halt to subsidies for medical checkups for some subcontracted workers at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is making it difficult for some of them to continue having regular checkups.
The financial support was stopped last December after the government declared that the reactors had been stabilized
Fukui Governor upset about new energy policy
..... Nishikawa said if the government wants to decommission the reactors in his prefecture, it must remove all the spent nuclear fuel kept there immediately, and restore the plant sites back to their original state.
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Friday, September 14, 2012
Nuclear recycling program to continue amid looming storage crisis
The government, under its new energy goal of ending the nation's dependence on atomic power by the 2030s, will nonetheless continue to pursue the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120914a1.html
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Saturday, September 15, 2012
Typhoon Nr. 16 is approaching Kyushu.
No-nuke plan official, quick to draw flak
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet officially adopts a new long-term energy strategy that calls for elimination of nuclear power dependency by the end of the 2030s, but the new goal quickly comes under fire from experts, antinuclear activists and lobbying groups.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120915a1.html
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Monday, September 17, 2012
Typhoon 16 still raging, and heavy rain in many parts of Japan.
Head of nuclear disaster investigation defends report
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120917a5.html
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Tuedsday, September 18, 2012
Vicious nuclear fuel cycle proving difficult to break
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120918i1.html
Typhoon Sanba passes western coast of Kyushu
A large and powerful typhoon is moving away from Kyushu, the most southwesterly of Japan's main islands.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
IAEA told of new policy to end nuclear power
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120919a9.html
Two of Japan's nuclear safety bodies fade into the sunset
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120919b2.html
3/11 teachers' stories help others prepare
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120919f1.html
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Friday, September 21, 2012
In hunt for energy, Japan calls for LNG market fix
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120921a5.html
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
Town in Fukushima adopts 5-year no-return policy
The Okuma assembly in Fukushima Prefecture has voted to stop people returning to the town for 5 years. Okuma was declared a no-entry zone after last year's nuclear accident.
The policy decided by Friday's vote is part of Okuma Town's reconstruction plan drafted by a panel that included residents.
Okuma hosts the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant where a meltdown accident occurred in March last year.
The reconstruction plan says 95 percent of the town's residential areas are likely to be reclassified by the central government as unsuitable to live for a long time.
It adds that the remaining area can be decontaminated, but it would still be difficult for the residents to return soon. .....
Steel beam gets knocked into No. 3 fuel pool
A 7-meter long steel beam was accidently knocked into a spent nuclear fuel pool during work in the No. 3 reactor building at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, says it has not discovered any serious problems as a result of the accident and the cooling system is working normally.
The accident occurred on Saturday, while workers were operating a large crane to remove debris at the No.3 reactor building. The end of the crane accidentally hit a 470 kilogram steel beam, knocking it into the cooling pool where 566 spent fuel rods are stored.
TEPCO says the dosimeter at the pool showed no irregularities. It confirmed that radiation and water levels have remained constant.
However, the plant operator plans to use an underwater camera to check if any fuel rods have been damaged.
The government's new nuclear regulatory agency says this is a grave mistake and it will investigate the accident.
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
Futaba worst hit by Fukushima fallout
The district most heavily contaminated by the nuclear disaster was in the town of Futaba, which was zapped by 1,590 microsieverts of radiation per hour on March 12 last year.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120923a3.html
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Monday, September 24, 2012
Leadership for a nuclear weapons-free world
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20120924rt.html
Nuclear decontamination technologies showcased
Cleaning up nuclear fallout is a top priority for municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture and surrounding areas affected by last year's nuclear accident.
An exhibit showcasing the latest technologies for decontamination opened in Tokyo on Monday. .....
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Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Cesium contamination in food appears to be on wane
Fukushima
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120925i1.html
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Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Amano to seek new term as IAEA chief
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120926a8.html
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Thursday, September 27, 2012
New renewable energy generation program gets off to promising start
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120927a4.html
City opposes radioactive waste site proposal
Japan's government has again met severe local opposition when proposing a site for permanent disposal of ash and mud exposed to radiation from last year's nuclear plant accident.
Senior Vice Environment Minister Katsuhiko Yokomitsu met Ibaraki Governor Masaru Hashimoto and Takahagi Mayor Yoshio Kusama separately on Thursday, to seek their cooperation on the matter.
Yokomitsu suggested a national forest in Takahagi City for the site, saying the forest has enough space and is far from residential areas.
Mayor Kusama voiced firm opposition, criticizing the government for abruptly reporting the decision without consultation during the selection process.
. . Earlier this month, the ministry triggered similarly strong opposition when it proposed a national forest in Yaita City in Tochigi Prefecture as a disposal site for the prefecture's own contaminated ash and mud.
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Friday, September 28, 2012
Nations renew resolve for nuke disarmament
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120928b1.html
Panel advises to set up communities outside Namie
A panel has proposed to set up new resident communities outside Namie Town in northeastern Japan within 18 months, as it expects the town's reconstruction to take about 5 years.
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Saturday, September 29, 2012
Islands were stolen, China says at U.N.
China accuses Japan of stealing the Senkaku Islands and grossly violating its sovereignty as the dispute blows up into a war of words at the United Nations.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120929a1.html
Edano's new book says government should run nuke plants
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120929a8.html
Powerful typhoon Nr. 17 moves north off southwest Japan
A powerful typhoon is moving north off southwestern Japan. The main island of Okinawa and Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture are engulfed in the storm zone.
The Meteorological Agency says at 10 AM on Saturday, typhoon Jelawat was about 30 kilometers west of Okinawa's Naha City.
The agency says it gained speed and is heading northeast at 25 kilometers an hour.
...
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Sunday, September 30, 2012
Typhoon approaching Japan's main island
A powerful typhoon is approaching Japan's main island. Forecasters are warning of the danger of windstorms, landslides, and flooding.
This seems to be going right over Tohoku.
Radiation near Fukushima plant falls by 20%
Japan's Science and Technology Ministry says the average radiation level 1 meter above ground within an 80-kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi plant fell by more than 20 percent during a 7-month period up to June.
Radiation levels were calculated using data collected both on ground and in the air using a helicopter in June.
The average radiation level at about 140,000 locations within an 80-kilometer radius of the plant fell by about 23 percent from early November of last year to June.
The decrease was almost 10 percentage points higher than 14 percent, the amount believed to be due to natural decline.
The ministry says, although radioactive materials may have been washed away by rain, it will continue to carry out the survey, as flight routes of the helicopters may have influenced the data collected.
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. - Restarting Reactors - INFO - .
sources
. . Bulletins from NHK WORLD . .
. . Japan Times - JT . .
August 2012
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