November 1, 2014

NRA rebuts claim that Fukushima cleanup affected faraway rice paddies

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201411010037

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Japan's nuclear watchdog disputed the farm ministry's assertion that radioactive substances churned up by debris removal work at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant contaminated distant rice paddies last year.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority announced at a commissioners' meeting Oct. 31 its estimate that 110 billion becquerels of radioactive materials spread as a result of cleanup at the No. 3 reactor building on Aug. 19, 2013.

This figure is lower than the 130 billion to 260 billion becquerels estimated by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., in August.

Radiation readings rose significantly during debris removal that day, with radioactive substances found to have contaminated plant workers about 500 meters from the reactor building.

However, NRA Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa emphasized, "The affected area of the fallout was within the nuclear plant compound."

"While it is difficult to simulate the spread of radioactive substances (outside the plant), it is unlikely that the debris cleanup caused the contamination (of the rice paddies)," Fuketa said.

The nuclear facility was ravaged by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami, triggering a triple meltdown.

The NRA arrived at the figure of 110 billion becquerels by analyzing radiation levels recorded at monitoring posts north-northwest of the plant on the day in question.

Radioactive fallout on this scale constitutes a Level 0 incident on the International Atomic Energy Agency's International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.

Earlier, the farm ministry pointed to the possibility that radiation from the plant had spread to rice paddies in Minami-Soma more than 20 kilometers away, and called on TEPCO to take preventive measures in its debris removal work.

During the NRA meeting, some experts noted that despite the NRA's estimate, it is unlikely that factors other than debris cleanup at the plant could have caused such high levels of radioactive fallout at the rice farms.

“From a broader perspective, the Fukushima No. 1 plant is responsible for the contamination," one participant said.

October 31, 2014

NRA: Fukushima debris didn't taint rice paddies

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html

Oct. 31, 2014 - Updated 11:27 UTC+1

A member of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority says it's highly unlikely that radioactive particles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contaminated rice fields some 20 kilometers away.

Commissioner Toyoshi Fuketa spoke at the authority's meeting on Friday. Radioactive substances were found in the paddies after workers removed debris from the plant's Number 3 reactor building in August last year.

The authority said the removal work released dust particles with 110 billion becquerels of radiation.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the particles had relatively large diameters of several micrometers.

Fuketa indicated that given the level of radiation, the particles had an environmental impact only in the plant compound. He suggested that the contamination may have come from river and ground water.

The authority is considering whether to make projections on how far radioactive particles will spread during debris removal and how they will affect rice fields.

Fukushima cesium levels fluctuating

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141028_13.html

Oct. 28, 2014 - Updated 04:49 UTC+1

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says the levels of radioactive cesium in the compound's groundwater at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant fluctuated greatly last week.

TEPCO detected the highest concentration of cesium in samples of water taken from 2 monitoring wells near a reactor building on Wednesday.

One well had 428,000 becquerels of cesium per liter of water, while the other contained 458,000 becquerels.

But only 2 days later, the reading in the first well had dropped to 5,200 becquerels, or one-eightieth of the level detected on Wednesday. The concentration in the other well stood at 470 becquerels, or about one-one-thousandth of the previous quantity.

TEPCO says these wells are connected underground with other wells that are highly contaminated. So the operator believes cesium poured into them with this month's heavy rains and then flowed out with the underground water.

The utility says this problem cannot be fundamentally solved because the area around the wells thought to be the source of the contamination has extremely high radiation levels and cannot be decontaminated.

The 2 wells are among those from which tainted groundwater is pumped and discharged into the sea after being decontaminated.

But TEPCO has suspended the operation and is considering whether to resume the work.

October 24, 2014

Residents delay search for radioactive waste site

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20141024_27.html

Oct. 24, 2014 - Updated 11:02 UTC+2

Japan's Environment Ministry has suspended inspections of 3 sites under consideration for a radioactive waste disposal facility due to local opposition at 1 of the locations.

The ministry planned to start field surveys on Friday at 3 state-owned sites in Miyagi Prefecture to find a place for a permanent storage facility for contaminated waste stemming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.

But about 40 opponents of the survey in the town of Kami, including Mayor Hirobumi Inomata, were waiting for ministry officials at the site.

Inomata asked them to stop the survey, saying that State Minister Yasuhiro Ozato had earlier said he took the request seriously.

The officials called off the survey for the day.

Officials at the 2 other sites under consideration also called off planned surveys Friday morning. Those other sites are in the city of Kurihara and town of Taiwa.

A senior official at the ministry's Tohoku regional office said current circumstances make it difficult to go ahead with the surveys. He added he will consult with the ministry about what to do.

October 15, 2014

Government having trouble locating landowners of planned radioactive waste site

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201410150056

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The Environment Ministry has completed briefings for landowners of a site to store radioactive waste from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but attendance at the meetings was less than half the landholders.

A total of 901 property owners of the construction site, located in the towns of Okuma and Futaba near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, attended the 12 meetings hosted by the ministry. Those that participated are believed to account for less than half of the total number who hold land titles to the site.

Ministry officials said many of the landowners evacuated as the March 2011 nuclear disaster unfurled and have yet to be found or contacted, which is just one of the obstacles the government’s purchasing plan has to overcome.

The site also includes land whose ownership remains unclear due to the death of the previous owners.

Dozens of workers at the ministry’s Fukushima Office for Environmental Restoration have tried to locate all current landholders. The office has managed to only send briefing-session invitations to 1,269 people among owners of 2,365 land plots.

While ministry officials said they will continue trying to locate all of the current property owners, they also said they will consider seeking to have family courts appoint interim administrators for the properties.

Many of those who did attend the briefing sessions also reportedly voiced their dissatisfaction with the government’s plan to buy up the land. A woman in her 60s from Okuma, who took part in a meeting in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, said she felt the amount of compensation offered by the government was “too little,” given the fact that many people from the two towns have been forced to live as refugees.

During a news conference on Oct. 14, Environment Minister Yoshio Mochizuki said the ministry will create a system to dispatch officials when land owners come forward with questions.