Rescuers at the Lucky Friday Mine cleared about 71 feet of debris, in their attempt to get to where Larry Marek might be. They still have another 149 feet to go. They’ve also started to drill a third air hole.
Nearly 200 people gathered in a local school to hold a vigil for the trapped miner.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says it must cut wages and salaries in order to meet expected compensation payments due to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.
Wages would be cut by 5%, with bonuses cut in half. Salaries will be cut by 20%. TEPCo will also reduce the number of employees by 100 each year, for the next five years.
Tokyo Electric Power Company has given an estimate on the amount of radiation spilled into the Pacific Ocean, during the first week of April: 4,700 terabecquerels, 20,000 times the safe limits for an entire year! Contaminated water is still getting into the ocean.
Radioactive iodine levels on 02 April 2011, were 7.5 million times safe limits. As of 19 April, iodine levels had dropped to 1,700 times the safe limits.
According to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey at least 4,330 foreign students have left Japan. The survey covers only those students actually enrolled in a Japanese school, not those that were planning on attending but hadn’t enrolled.
Most of the students were concerned with the nuclear disaster, and more aftershocks. The schools are worried their budgets will be adversely affected. Japan was hoping to attract 300,000 foreign students.
In another blow to world food supply issues, the nuclear disaster in Japan is making things worse.
Officials say that many livestock left behind in the 20km (12.4 miles) evacuation zone, have starved to death! There were about 30,000 pigs, about 600,000 chickens and about 3,000 cattle the evacuation zone, but the Fukushima Prefectural government believes most have died.
Farmers are demanding that someone go in and humanely put down the remaining livestock, rather than have them starve to death. YouTube video shows many cows starving to death. The farmers fear that their animals are too contaminated with radiation, to try saving.
Radioactive iodine has been found in the breast milk of four women living in Japan.
One woman, living in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, contained 36.3 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram. Milk from two women in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, contained 8.7 and 6.4 becquerels.
A citizens group paid for the analysts of the breast milk. Currently there is no official limits for radiation levels in breast milk, in Japan.
On Tuesday Toyota announced more cuts for North American factories, now more cuts in Europe and China.
For Europe Toyota announced that they will cut production, after the already scheduled production halt for the end of this month. The reason is lack of electronic parts. Toyota’s Chinese factories will also see production cuts, in some cases production will be down to 30%. The production cuts, around the world, could last past May.
Robots from the Idaho National Laboratory have been searching through the damaged reactor buildings at Fukushima Daiichi.
They have discovered temperature and radiation levels too high for humans. Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say they will have to use air conditioners, and filtration systems, to bring heat and radiation levels down enough for workers to operate inside the buildings. Latest NHK video
A company that was going to build two reactors in Texas, abandoned the plan.
NRG Energy, in cooperation with Toshiba, was planning on building two reactors in Texas. The company now says the investment environment has become too risky to continue with the plans. They will now write off U.S.$ 481 million on their taxes, for the canceled project.
Rescue workers say they think there is a void within the caved in roof of the Lucky Friday mine. They drilled through the debris, ran a camera through and discovered that there is open space.
They drilled some other holes to let fresh air in. Rescuers have been working since the the cave in, on April 15. 53-year-old Larry Marek, and his brother were just finishing up watering down the latest dig, when the roof fell in. Larry didn’t get out.
Rescuers gave up trying to dig through the debris, because it became more dangerous as they went. They feared another cave in. Now they’re trying to dig new tunnels.