Tag Archives: disaster

Business/Economics, International

Japan’s economy shattered by Mother Earth, and Nuclear Power

“Our economy is in a severe state.”-Masaaki Shirakawa, Bank of Japan

The Bank of Japan is struggling to figure out how to pull Japan’s economy out of the dumps after the March 11 disasters.  Officials now admit the economic situation is worse than first thought.

One analyst pointed out that Japan was already in a recession, this could push Japan into a depression (see my March 17 posting “Japan Disaster start of Global Great Depression”).

The Japanese government is estimating that it will need one trillion yen, to ease employment issues in the disaster struck areas.  That’s just to fight unemployment.  They estimate actual reconstruction cost will be at least four trillion yen.  The problem is, just where are they going to get the money from?

Fukushima

6.0 aftershock hits Fukushima & Ibaraki

It just doesn’t stop, since April 8, Japan has been hit with dozens of aftershocks of 5.0 or bigger, including two 7.0 quakes.

In the past few hours Japan has been hit with several large aftershocks, and they’re spread all over the big island of Honshu. The latest aftershock hit Fukushima and Ibaraki Prefectures, magnitude 6.3.

Before that, a magnitude 6.4 quake jolted Chiba Prefecture, just east of Tokyo, and a magnitude 5.6 quake rocked Nagano Prefecture in central Japan

Fukushima, U.S.

U.S. nuke experts barred from Japanese Prime Minister’s office!

“The Japan-U.S. alliance could collapse, completely contrary to [the recent trend of] being strengthened.”-Nagashima Akihisa, Democratic Party of Japan House of Representatives

The Daily Yomiuri is reporting that from the beginning, U.S. offers of help with the nuke crisis at Fukushima Daiichi, were given the cold shoulder by Japan’s government.

On 12 March, the U.S. ambassador made several calls to Prime Minister Kan’s office, asking him to allow nuclear experts from the U.S. to be involved with the decision making in the Prime Minister’s cabinet.  The answer was no.

U.S. officials pointed out that their B5B measures could offer fast response to the Fukushima Daiichi disaster.  B5B was developed after the 9/11/2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  It is designed to provide fast response to any attack on a U.S. nuclear plant, with one of the objectives to provide continuous electrical power to the plants.

Lack of electrical power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant accelerated the disaster. So far the worst case scenario, created by U.S. officials, seems to be playing out.  The real reason why the U.S. imposed a much larger evacuation zone, than the Japanese government, was because U.S. analyst said things were going to get worse.

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, repeatedly told Japanese officials that they should NOT let Tokyo Electric Power Company handle the situation.  He even threatened to have all U.S. citizens evacuated from Japan, not just military families.

Supposedly an official with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, when visiting TEPCo headquarters on 18 March, asked who was really in charge of Japan’s government.

Apparently, it is only after the Japanese government thought it would lose support of the United States, that it got serious about Fukushima Daiichi.

 

 

 

Fukushima

Another Japanese Nuke plant in trouble, CEPCo worse than TEPCo!

‘‘Neither the government nor we would be able to say it is okay to operate (the reactors) unless it is confirmed that they would be able to handle (accidents) in light of the latest findings.’’-Mizoguchi Zembee, Governor of Shimane Prefecture

Chugoku Electric Power Company (CEPCo) runs the Shimane nuclear power plant, and, apparently they have a worse track record than TEPCo.  Reactor 1 is currently shut down due to gross safety violations, and operation of Reactor 2 is under review.

The governor of the prefecture says he will not OK the powering up of Reactor 1, until the Japanese central government enforces new safety standards.  Governor Mizoguchi says the current safety standards are part of the reason for the ongoing disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.

The violation of current safety standards, with the operation of reactor 1, were discovered in March of last year.

In June of 2010, CEPCo officially admitted they had violated safety regulations at their Shimane nuclear power plant.

 

 

Fukushima

TEPCo admits radiation contamination Will Exceed Chernobyl!

‘‘The radiation leak has not stopped completely and our concern is that the amount of leakage could eventually reach that of Chernobyl or exceed it.”-Official statement from Tokyo Electric Power Company

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says most of the radioactive material spewed from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is coming from Reactor 2.  Reactor 2 building exploded on 15 March.  They now know the reactor containment vessel was damaged, possibly breached, resulting in highly radioactive isotopes being emitted.

Also, radiation has been spread by the spent fuel rods, after the explosions, because the spent fuel pools were located on the top of the buildings.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the current readings of radiation emitted is 10% of the Chernobyl disaster, but, TEPCo believes it’s likely Fukushima Daiichi will exceed the contamination caused by Chernobyl.

Fukushima

Tokyo Disneyland hopes to open on Friday

Tokyo Disneyland is set to open on April 15.  Even thought it is more than 200 miles from the epicenter of the 11 March 2011, 9.0 earthquake, Tokyo Disneyland suffered damage from liquefaction.

https://youtu.be/5UiHBH5NLCI

They hope to open Tokyo DisneySea by April 28.  One of the conditions to opening, is a steady and reliable source of electrical power, to run the amusement parks.

International

Another aftershock jolts Japan, more warnings of 7.0 or greater

Initial reports say a 5.5 quake hit Nagano Prefecture.

Also, the Japanese Meteorological Agency warned that more aftershocks of 7.0 or greater could hit Japan.  Keiji Doi, earthquake prediction division chief, said the chance of aftershocks of 7.0 could continue for at least a year.

So far, more than 400 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or larger have occurred since the catastrophic March 11 quake.