Japan - News/General Discussion

junny wrote:Still, a good effort from Ishikawa! :woot:

Yup. :applaud:

Most likely the best article I've read about the nuclear disaster. A highly detailed expose. Quite long but very informative.

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What happened at Fukushima?

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David McNeill & Jake Adelstein

It is one of the mysteries of Japanfs ongoing nuclear crisis: How much damage did the March 11 earthquake do to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors before the tsunami hit? The stakes are high: If the quake structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then every other similar reactor in Japan will have to be reviewed and possibly shut down. With virtually all of Japanfs 54 reactors either offline (35) or scheduled for shutdown by next April, the issue of structural safety looms over the decision to restart every one in the months and years after.

The key question for operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and its regulators to answer is this: How much damage was inflicted on the Daiichi plant before the first tsunami reached the plant roughly 40 minutes after the earthquake? TEPCO and the Japanese government are hardly reliable adjudicators in this controversy. gThere has been no meltdown,h top government spokesman Edano Yukio famously repeated in the days after March 11. gIt was an unforeseeable disaster,h Tepcofs then President Shimizu Masataka improbably said later. As we now know, meltdown was already occurring even as Edano spoke. And far from being unforeseeable, the disaster had been repeatedly forewarned.

Further reading at the jump:

http://japanfocus.org/-Jake-Adelstein/3585

^ Not surprised one bit.

It's clearly obvious that TEPCO (and others) were covering things up to save face.

They'd rather die with (false) dignity rather than live with (admitting) stupidity... Not uncommon for management... Anywhere around the world.

bmwracer wrote:^ Not surprised one bit.

It's clearly obvious that TEPCO (and others) were covering things up to save face.

They'd rather die with (false) dignity rather than live with (admitting) stupidity... Not uncommon for management... Anywhere around the world.

I agree. As the article indicates, at this point, it's the wider implications that are especially troubling. If Fukushima is but one example of the industrial safety standards at Japanese nuclear plants, or the lack thereof, a crisis of confidence would be the least of one's worries.

Tu_triky wrote:I agree. As the article indicates, at this point, it's the wider implications that are especially troubling. If Fukushima is but one example of the industrial safety standards at Japanese nuclear plants, or the lack thereof, a crisis of confidence would be the least of one's worries.

HOPEFULLY this incompetence will raise a red flag and create more oversight and transparency.... :fingerscrossed:

bmwracer wrote:
HOPEFULLY this incompetence will raise a red flag and create more oversight and transparency.... :fingerscrossed:

Wishful thinking I'm afraid.

Given the flow of money from TEPCO executives to the ruling elite, I think it's highly unlikely.

It reminds me of the clusterf*ck we have here in the States...as public perception and reality coalesce into a picture that illustrates how bad things have become in our country I am constantly reminded that I feel the only way the increasing dysfunction of elected government can be addressed is if we implement serious campaign finance reform. But it will never happen. Nobody has the balls. Disaster will ensue first, and then we can clean up the mess. Officials are more concerned about re-election...and re-elections costs money that is provided from corporate interests that have no desire to change the status quo.

It's the same thing that happened at Fukushima.


Speaking of monied interests as it relates to the Fukushima disaster read the following editorial, critical of the bill drafted as a result of meltdown.

Tokyo Shimbun's Devastating Critique of Fukushima Compensation Bill

Aug. 03, 2011

On July 27, Tokyo Shimbun, a leading critic of the Japanese government's approach to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, ran an editorial which lays bare the many contradictions and problems of the compensation bill currently under discussion. The editors accuse the government of supporitng vested interests at the expense of taxpayers and protecting TEPCO in ways that may make alternative energy strategies impossible.

Below is the Asia-Pacific Journal's translation of the editorial

TEPCO Compensation Bill - What about Shareholder Responsibility?

Both Japanfs ruling party and the opposition have agreed on a revised draft of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident compensation bill [formally known as the Nuclear Power Damage Compensation Support Bill]. The revised draft will not only not go after stockholders and financial institutions, but incorporates the idea of pouring in tax dollars. The burden borne by ordinary citizens has just gotten heavier.

With the sale of cattle fed with straw contaminated with radioactive cesium banned in various areas, the damage caused by the nuclear accident is only getting worse. If we consider the necessity of a huge settlement, it is clear that TEPCOfs liabilities are far greater than it is worth.

In light of the principles of corporations, the burden of the disposal of TEPCO, which is in a state of collapse, must be borne by management and employees and next by stockholders and financial institutions. However, from the beginning, this bill has not sought 100% capital reduction for TEPCO, nor has it demanded that banks forgive the companyfs debts.

When we examine the revised bill that the government – the Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Komeito – have agreed on, in the end there is really nothing devoted to the central problems of shareholder responsibility and the lender responsibility of banks.

There is a minor provision that reads gThe [newly established] support mechanism. . . must confirm whether the requests for cooperation by those in the nuclear energy business to the parties concerned are appropriate or adequateh but this is only a formality. It has no meaning in reality.

Because of this, what was originally thought to be a burden amounting to five trillion yen for shareholders and banks will ultimately be placed directly on the shoulders of ordinary citizens in the form of electricity price hikes.

Thatfs not all.

The original plan was that a newly established compensation organ/mechanism would be supported with an issuance of official bonds which TEPCO would turn to cash as necessary, with money paid out over a long period, but the revised bill now says that gthe country can provide the capital for the compensation organ/mechanism.h In other words, itfs our taxes.

With this, no matter what financial trouble TEPCO falls into from now on, cash from official bonds and even direct infusions of tax money will allow them to stay on their feet. It is as though they have secured life-support equipment that can never fail.

Within the Liberal Democratic Party some are praising the new plan saying, gThe current measure is a temporary one and in the future we can enter a second stage where TEPCO can be placed in bankruptcy liquidation.h This is because, with a supplementary provision, the bill technically allows for future reconsideration, but this as well is nothing more than a formality.

The reason why the bill ended up this way is because TEPCO, Kasumigaseki (the bureaucratic elite), and financial institutions with a stake, all of which only want to protect vested interests, had already seen that the Kan government is weak. The Liberal Democrats and Komeito also have to bear responsibility for allowing a deal that tramples the basis of free market principles.

If TEPCOfs regional monopoly is allowed to continue, new power companies will not be able to move in and the Kan governmentfs call for support for renewable energy will only ring hollow.

http://japanfocus.org/events/view/106

More evidence of the Japanese government's criminal negligence. :shakehead:


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New York Times

Japan Held Nuclear Data, Leaving Evacuees in Peril
By NORIMITSU ONISHI and MARTIN FACKLER

FUKUSHIMA, Japan \ The day after a giant tsunami set off the continuing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, thousands of residents at the nearby town of Namie gathered to evacuate.

Given no guidance from Tokyo, town officials led the residents north, believing that winter winds would be blowing south and carrying away any radioactive emissions. For three nights, while hydrogen explosions at four of the reactors spewed radiation into the air, they stayed in a district called Tsushima where the children played outside and some parents used water from a mountain stream to prepare rice.

The winds, in fact, had been blowing directly toward Tsushima \ and town officials would learn two months later that a government computer system designed to predict the spread of radioactive releases had been showing just that.

But the forecasts were left unpublicized by bureaucrats in Tokyo, operating in a culture that sought to avoid responsibility and, above all, criticism. Japanfs political leaders at first did not know about the system and later played down the data, apparently fearful of having to significantly enlarge the evacuation zone \ and acknowledge the accidentfs severity.

gFrom the 12th to the 15th we were in a location with one of the highest levels of radiation,h said Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie, which is about five miles from the nuclear plant. He and thousands from Namie now live in temporary housing in another town, Nihonmatsu. gWe are extremely worried about internal exposure to radiation.h

Read on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/world/asia/09japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Something neat that's going on in Tohoku on the 11th:http://lightupnippon.jp/en/

For the Japanese version click on the “ú–{Œê in the upper right.

Tu_triky wrote:More evidence of the Japanese government's criminal negligence. :shakehead:

Wow, everything's starting to hit the fan.

bmwracer wrote:
Wow, everything's starting to hit the fan.

Big time. This fiasco of a response by the government is taking on the tragic tone of the Japanese government's culpability in covering up the Minamata Disease in the 1950s.

^ a lot of people (who knew that I had spend some time in Japan) asked my opnion on what I thought about how the Japanese would deal with the double shock and I always said what worried me the most were the too old men in power, bureaucrats glued to their seats detached from reality.

Here Todai's professor Kodama having a go at the situation - as it seems he's widly ignored as it seems by the mass media and official bodies in Japan (last sentence edited)
Part 1
http://youtu.be/Dlf4gOvzxYc

Part 2
http://youtu.be/mDlEOmcALwQ

Tu_triky wrote:Big time. This fiasco of a response by the government is taking on the tragic tone of the Japanese government's culpability in covering up the Minamata Disease in the 1950s.

Deja vu all over again. :sweat:

It's possibly the one bright spot to emerge from Japan's tsunami and nuclear crises; a surge in marriages and people looking for love.

Match-making firms have reported a jump in membership, with many singles reporting that the disasters have made them ponder their mortality and re-think their lives.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3292707.htm

EstherM wrote:^ a lot of people (who knew that I had spend some time in Japan) asked my opnion on what I thought about how the Japanese would deal with the double shock and I always said what worried me the most were the too old men in power, bureaucrats glued to their seats detached from reality.

Here Todai's professor Kodama having a go at the situation - as it seems he's widly ignored as it seems by the mass media and official bodies in Japan (last sentence edited)
Part 1
http://youtu.be/Dlf4gOvzxYc

Part 2
http://youtu.be/mDlEOmcALwQ

This is extremely worrying, but I guess ignorance is bliss, there is only so much reality human can take. There is so much people don't know, not only to the public but also the long-term medical effects. And the costs and reform involved sound prohibitive, I will be very surprised if anything near what is needed will be done. Read the government has already passed legislation to control/censor information regarding radioactivity or something, so they will probably continue cover-up and pretend everything will be fine...

xploring wrote:It's possibly the one bright spot to emerge from Japan's tsunami and nuclear crises; a surge in marriages and people looking for love.

That'll probably reverse Japan's population decline...

With seemingly no end in sight to Japan's nuclear crisis, many parents living around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are packing up their children and sending them away.

Others are staying put, but are keeping their kids indoors and banning them from playing in parks which may have been exposed to radiation.

Schools are also grappling with the crisis, removing top soil and forbidding students from playing outside.

More: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-15/parents-pack-up-fukushima-children/2839210

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bmwracer wrote:[image]

At least if things don't work out for his re-election he can go kick it there and get some love.

:hehe:

Breaking news: 6.5 earthquake off the shore of Honshu.


EDIT: From http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0005gmg.php

Magnitude: 6.5

Date-Time:
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 05:36:32 UTC
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 02:36:32 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
37.667‹N, 141.747‹E

Depth:
39.1 km (24.3 miles)

Region:
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
99 km (61 miles) SE of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
103 km (64 miles) NE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan
113 km (70 miles) E of Fukushima, Honshu, Japan
283 km (175 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

Latest info from http://earthquake-report.com :

11:38 UTC : 2 people have finally been injured during this very strong aftershock. One person was reported injured in Sendai and one person was injured in Hitachi.

07:58 UTC : All the agencies have recalculated the earthquake by a seismologist and these are their updated results :
USGS : 6.2 @ 43.6 km
GFZ : 6.2 @ 52 km
EMSC : 6.3 @ 48 km
JMA : maintains their initial information at 6.8 @ a depth of 20 km (JMA is the official Japanese seismological agency)