Tokyo Electric Power Company announced it will increase monitoring of airborne radiation levels around the damaged reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant.
TEPCo will especially focus on reactors 1 and 4. High levels of contamination are being found in dust and steam emitted from the reactor buildings.
Looks like it was the right move, for the Prime Minister to order standard safety stress tests of all nuke plant in Japan. The Tokai Daini nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture has failed earthquake safety tests for its electronic equipment.
The amazing thing is that the earthquake safety standards for Tokai Daini were created by the very company that runs the nuclear plant.
The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says many of the nuclear plants in eastern Japan are failing their own earthquake safety standards for their electrical equipment. In one case it was discovered that the metal frames holding electric motors were made of such inferior metal that they could be easily broken by twisting. The agency also says they still don’t know the true reason why the electrical systems at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed.
Mitsubishi announced their new electric car can keep you from starving after a major disaster.
They claim that in case of major power loss to your home you can use the electric car to power your home appliances. Supposedly the batteries in the car can hold enough power to run your house for one and a half days.
Well, I guess they weren’t thinking of a really big natural disaster, like what happened on 11 March 2011. But getting through the first day after such a disaster is critical.
What we really need is someone to come up with a portable solar panel that’s powerful enough to cook with, and charge up the batteries on your electric car. Then who needs utility companies?
Mitsubishi plans to start selling their electric survival car in 2012.
06 July 2011, Prime Minister Kan Naoto has ordered those in the government, who’re in charge of nuclear reactor safety, to create new rules. Kan says the numerous and growing complaints from the people have made it clear a new system of rules for reactor start ups need to be created. Many prefectures are refusing to allow reactors to be re-started. Gee, I would’ve thought it was the fact that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is still ongoing.
Under current rules the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the Industry Minister, decide when it is safe to start up a reactor.
Prime Minister Kan wants the new rules to include stress tests, and be in compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kasai Akira, of the opposition Communist Party, pointed out that it is useless to create new rules when local prefectures have the right to override those rules, as they are in not allowing reactors to re-start.
On the night of 05 July 2011, the Japanese Prime Minister issued an order to conduct stress tests on all nuclear reactors in Japan.
The tests are based on European Union standards. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says Japan’s reactors are safe, but many Japanese citizens think otherwise. Several prefectural governments are refusing to allow reactors to re-start. The new EU based tests are meant to ease any remaining fears among the people.
Standard & Poor’s is warning that a French plan to “rollover” Greek debt will force Greece into default. The plan was put forth by the Fédération Bancaire Française.
S & P’s is not the only finance rating company to make such a claim. It’s complicated, but basically they claim the French plan would result in current “investors” in Greek bonds receiving much less of a return on their investment, so much so that S & P’s is willing to declare Greece in default.
The plan was approved by the only economic powerhouse in the European Union: Germany.
“In our view, Greece’s near-term reliance on European Union and International Monetary Fund official financing, the government’s difficulty in reducing its sizable fiscal deficit, and the current pricing of Greek government debt in the secondary market all underscore the Hellenic Republic’s weak creditworthiness and, consequently, point to a ‘realistic possibility’ that financing option would fit the ‘distressed’ category.”-Standard & Poor’s
German car makers are scrambling to keep up with international orders. They expect that by the end of the year they will have exported 4.15 million German made cars. But the majority of those cars are not going to the U.S., they’re going to China, and to some extent India.
“We are seeing international markets pick up much more rapidly than many had expected. The drivers of growth are above all Asian markets.”-Matthias Wissmann, German Car Industry Association
Audi alone saw a 64% increase in their sales to China and Hong Kong, in 2010. But BMW is turning out to be the big money maker, just in the first six months of 2011, their sales in China exploded by 101%!
Executives for German car makers admitted they are scrambling to rethink their corporate strategy, because they never expected such high sales in China, so soon.
Germany, not the United States, is becoming China’s most important business partner.
In fact the latest deal puts to shame the recent deal signed between China and the United Kingdom, by several hundred billion dollars. At the end of June Germany and China signed a $290+ billion deal.
The deal includes not just the purchase of products, but investments into anything from universities to medical research to environmental services. Sounds like everything President Obama promised the people of the United States.
Currently Germany has invested $20 billion into Chinese industries, with China investing only $600 million into Germany. This new deal greatly increases Chinese investment into Germany.
According to Rainer Gehnen, managing director of the German-Chinese Business Council, China, not the United States, is now Germany’s most important market, and will be for the long run.
Almost four months after the world’s worst nuclear accident, is the Japanese government finally taking serious action in Fukushima Prefecture?
On 04 July 2011, the Japanese government announced they will take over all radiation monitoring in Fukushima, including the monitoring being done by Tokyo Electric Power Company.
This comes after growing complaints by residents of Fukushima Prefecture, that the government wasn’t doing enough. Already several cities have begun their own decontamination efforts. One city, Date, said they were going to bill the government and TEPCo.
Residents are also upset about the government’s targeted evacuations. They’re based on radiation levels, however there are different groups taking those readings, and it’s confusing residents.
Before the government decision to take over radiation monitoring, testing was being done by local governments, independent groups, universities and Tokyo Electric. Residents felt it was about time for some standardization.
The Japanese central government will use their monitoring data to determine future evacuations.
A group of residents of the city of Moriya say they will begin monitoring radiation levels, because the central government can not.
Moriya is 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, yet it is showing some of the highest radiation levels in the area.
Residents say when they approached the central Japanese government with their concerns, they were told their government was being overwhelmed by the nuclear crisis, and did not have the man power to conduct the radiation monitoring in their area!